Monstrous PCs

[Kesh]

Only slightly. I figured that gnolls deserve their own empire. Just not under Chardun. Vangal works for me! Or maybe just a gnollish empire with no gods involved period.

Heh. Similar to what I"m doing for my homebrew. Essentially, the gnolls blame the other gods for the death of their patron god, so they turned to worship of Yeenoghu. Now, they want to destroy or subjugate the other god's creations (aka. every other sentient race).

 

[Greybar]

I have a campaign-specific "monster" race PC in my game, and I do find myself wondering if the ECL is right (since I had to make it up). It makes me careful, I guess...

John

 

[megamania]

I generally don't allow much for none standard races but when (not if) I do, I want EVERYONE to play something different. Think of it as a "...well I can top that..." kind of game.

 

[Timothy]

If I let my players play one monster (gobbo's or something) they immediatly want to play dragons, deamons or vaps, saying, if you allow gobbo's, you have to allow dragons too. (I don't obviously)

 

[Viktyr Gehrig]

One of my favorite characters (though it took me a week straight of wheedling to be able to play it) was a Drider Ranger/Sorceror, when the DM decided he wanted to run an Underdark campaign.

He was the classic "good drow exile" except that, as a spellcaster, Lolth tested him-- and she didn't take his morality very kindly. He picked up Ranger to learn how to survive in the Underdark, outside the (marginally) safer city.

I have a taste for freak characters, and I actually enjoy the roleplaying challenge of trying to overcome the ostracism of human civilization-- or even the other party members. Though, some of my non-standard characters have avoided it pretty well, like my Doppelganger Fighter/Rogue/Holy Liberator and the various Planetouched.

 

[Buttercup]

I couldn't vote because you don't have "It depends on the situation" as a choice.

 

[Zappo]

Maybe a better poll would have allowed some degrees. There's a campaign where I allow the standard races, plus planetouched, bariaur and githzerai. There's another where I allow anything that has a mostly humanoid shape, isn't bigger than Large, and doesn't have major magical abilities.

 

[Gez]

It depends on the campaign.

Although I could say yes, since I have allowed subraces (who are from the MM, and from the FRCS, not from the PH).

I would allow in most campaigns:
* All subraces of humanoids, including orcs, goblinoids, and reptilian humanoids like kobolds. Exception: Troglodyte. I won't allow playing a character having a fixed alignment. PCs always have free will.
There may be some additional restrictions ("sorry, no drow") though.
* Some monstrous humanoids/fey/magical beast, on a case-by-case basis. One thing I'm willing to agree in nearly any campaign would be an awakened animal -- provided a player wants a character with a subservient role, as it will be considered more a "mascot" than a heroe in the story.
* Some of the lesser giants (but I don't see any of my players wanting such a character).
* Lesser undead (for a special campaign). Not vampire or lich, but why not a sentient, talking skeleton ?

ECL would be low. +3 seems a maximum to me. Playing something with a +4 ECL ? No.

This mean that some of the creatures would not be played as from the MM, but in a reduced version (notably, removing all HD, and making some of the race ability depends on levels; like a rock giant who would have his full rock giant strength only at level 10, for example).

 

[Morrow]

Are Monstrous PCs allowed in your campaigns? What sort of characters walk the world.

By Monstrous, I mean any non-core PHB race, especially orcs, ogres, giants, centaurs or the like.

I am not so much talking about the effect of prestige classes (e.g. Dragon Disciple) that turn you into a monster.

Can you start play as a monstrous PC?

Cheers!

I played in Forrester's Against the Elves campaign for a while. The campaign featured an array of humanoid heroes. Among them were:

• Inek, the Kobald Sorceror
• Gromit, the Goblin Rogue
• Kyth, the Kobald Witch
• Hedkarakk, the Orc Barbarian/ Ranger/ Fighter
• Ugluck, Orc Psychic Warrior
• Thar, the Goblin Cleric
• Ive, the Kobald Necromancer
• Krikara, Darkcreeper Rogue
• Atarax, the Goblin Bard
• Foleful, the Xvart Sorceror

We killed many elves. It was good.

Morrow