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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(un)reason" data-source="post: 5788112" data-attributes="member: 27780">Dragon Magazine Issue 262: August 1999part 3/7Half-pint heroes: Well, it seems that this issue's theme is not just being shared amongst Gnomes and Halflings, but a whole bunch of other races as well. I guess you really can fit more of them in the same space and people won't mind. Still, making more races available as PC's seems to be perennially popular, which is why they hard-code it into the next edition. In the meantime, there's certainly plenty of races left to treat in this fashion.  Buckawn, like other fae races, can only become fighters and thieves, cost extra xp to advance, and only get their more powerful spell-like abilities at higher levels. These nerfs probably don't prevent them from being rather useful to a team though, and less irritating than many of the more pranksterish fae that might attach themselves to a party. As long as you don't mind a little eco-preaching, let them stick around. Chitine also make rather good rogues, due to their wall climbing and web spinning abilities. Plus they can fight four-handed with minimal penalties, making them engines of death compared to a normal fighter at low level. While not as flexible as thri-kreen, they could well be picked for the twinking potential. But they do have light-sensitivity issues to keep them from being over dominant, and no spellcasting abilities at all, so they can't fill every role. Grippli also get superhuman climbing abilities in their amusing sticky froggy way, plus camouflage in their natural terrain. Their class selections are fairly typical for humanoids; despite their above average inteligence, they don't seem to have the knack for wizardry or technology. Good social skills are just as important for building a large-scale civilisation as brains. Ravenkin are even smarter, but wings and prehensile feet don't allow for as complicated tool-using as a decent pair of hands. Plus they're originally from Ravenloft, where you're too busy trying to keep things that go bump in the night from turning whole cities into ghost towns to grow and advance as much as you'd like. Still, they do have the best class options of this lot, including lots of multiclass wizard ones. And flight. Funny that small things are actually more mobile on average. Tasloi are another one that have exceedingly high potential as rogues, and not too much at other classes. A dexterity bonus and strength penalty'll focus the mind towards indirect solutions. Once again, climbing is a real strength of theirs, but they're not fond of bright light. Still their pack instinct means if they've ben kicked out of their home, they'll probably be loyal to a group that takes them in. And although some of these races could be a little inconvenient socially, none of them are completely game-breaking. Yet more to add to the list of useful crunch then. Elmshire - A halfling heaven: Time for Roger Moore to give us one of his periodic returns to a topic he pioneered in the first place. Halflings in D&D worlds aren't quite the same as the hobbits in middle-earth, as many of your young becoming an adventurer is almost expected in trouble heavy places Oerth or Toril. And without powerful wizards like Gandalf looking out for them, they have to do their own hard work to make sure their homes remain places of bucolic serenity. This is of course important for actual play, because it means there can be some conflict within and around them to keep things from getting boring, and the players from leaving for good. This is certainly the case in Elmshire, which has seen a nasty plague, and had to deal with the Greyhawk wars just a few years ago. This leaves a definite undercurrent of suspicion and emotional trauma in their makeup, and more than a few problems to solve. Perfect adventure fodder, in other words. So Roger provides an example of a homebase rather faster than Ray did, and with more distinct flavour as well. Save your own shire. It'll make you feel like a big damn hero! I think this definitely qualifies as both a useful and distinctive article. How is it that the long-term writers often wind up producing the most unusual stuff? By any other Name: No surprise that this is tackling the naming conventions of halflings & gnomes. Along with the usual syllable soup, they have a tendency to pick up nicknames based on things they've done, which you'll probably want to do in play, rather than roll on the table. Once again, this isn't very interesting, although you can get a few silly results on the nickname table if you're so inclined, so I don't have much to say here. I think this series is already running out of steam. PC Portraits is in theme as well, with a whole bunch of short folks. Since all we see is faces here, this is represented by giving them generally rounded, child-like features, even when they also have beards and wrinkles. I think that works, but watch out for the perverts. You don't want to play with someone who seems a little too into playing up the child aspects, especially when also combined with sexualising. Nuff said.</blockquote>

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