Michele Carter's Big Playtest Post!

[Kintara]

Willing to bet it's like the Knight's "Yo, everybody attack meeee this round!" trick.

I could see a limited version of that ability making a lot of sense. Certain enemies (demons, undead, etc.) could be compelled towards a Paladin. Also, I think there's room for some sort of Showdown ability that locks two characters into combat with each other.

 

[Aloïsius]

About the mystery race : it probably has good playability as a cleric.

 

[OakwoodDM]

The race is described as being distracted by shiny things.

I think that might be a misreading of the post. I read it as an attempt to distract the reader from the lack of a race with the promise of shiny things.

Maybe it's what many people have been angling for as a PC race - full Orc. Other than that, there's always the Duergar or the Svirfneblin (I, personally, think it'd be hilarious to take out the Gnome from PHB1 and replace it with the Svirfnebiln!)

 

[Aloïsius]

The more I think about it, the more I think it will be a draconic race. Look at those "tiefling" pictures. I bet they are draconic guys in disguise. Some of those horns really look like a half-red dragon one. They are hiding the mystery race under just under our noses...
And I'm quite sure a draconic race would make a fine leader.

 

[fuindordm]

In the desert of desolation minis, both tieflings have red skin, horns, and tails.

As for something draconic, I don't think we really need another "ancient arcane empire" race.

If I had my druthers, the mystery race would be the goblin/hobgoblin/bugbear triad. Three for one! I'm strongly influenced by Eberron's take on them, which is just great.

Ben

 

[Green Knight]

I'm guessing the mystery race are Changelings or whatever that race from Eberron is. Hmm. Or maybe they're Warforged? Whatever the case, it'd be interesting to see a campaign in which either race conquered the world (The Changelings doing it by subversion while the Warforged do it through pure military force).

Incidentally, is anyone else as thoroughly envious as I am at how many games this woman's able to pack into a week?

 

[Aloïsius]

None of those two, I think.
1) They don't want to steal Eberron thunder
2) Changelings are impersonators. I don't see a boat full of them saying "hello, we are changeling and we rule the world".
3) Warforged seems unlikely either.

Draconic people and hobgobelins seems more likely. I still think the PHB lack a "big strong" race, so we may add goliaths/half-giants/bears-men or what you want.

 

[erf_beto]

Incidentally, is anyone else as thoroughly envious as I am at how many games this woman's able to pack into a week?

Totally

As for mystery race: a Dungeons & Dragons game should benefit from a draconic race, but I'm not sure this is it. We heard a lot about PC Goblins in playtests, wich I think would be nice too, but where's the mystery in a race that's already known?
OTOH, I was thinking about the new cosmology, the infernal/feral/shadow pacts and wondering if the mystery race would have a conection with the shadow world (since tiefling-infernal and eladrin-feywild are already covered)...

 

[Green Knight]

Draconic people and hobgobelins seems more likely. I still think the PHB lack a "big strong" race, so we may add goliaths/half-giants/bears-men or what you want.

True enough. Something which I've always wanted to see is a race that fulfills a similar role to humans in most fantasy settings. A race which multiplies quickly, is industrious, and civilized. Hobgoblins definitely fit that bill, although I didn't care for their 3.5 iterations (What with the +1 ECL).

A humanoid dragon race like Draconians would be cool, too. Didn't I see something somewhere about something called a Dragonspawn? Although that sounds like a new name for the Half-Dragon, which would make it a half-race, not a fullfledged race.

 

[Largomad]

My guess is the Dragonborn as the mistery race.

Cheers.