Monte's AU races

[Zaukrie]

You should check out Monte's site for his first design diary. Reading it, I'm already sure I'll be buying the books.

 

[dreamthief]

Finally, those down under get some respect!

 

[Geoffrey]

Good show, Monte!

I am very thankful that Arcana Unearthed is going to break out of the old "dwarves, elves, gnomes, and halflings" mold. I can't express just how sick of that I am.

I couldn't care less about the revised D&D books. My money is going for Arcana Unearthed!

 

[Desdichado]

Dude, this rocks! Since it's not in the thread yet: http://www.montecook.com/diary.html

 

[CCamfield]

Well, I felt they were decidedly "ehhh". The giants changing themselves "from a warlike race that defeated the dragons to a noble race of stewards" strikes me as extremely cheesey. Why are these two elements impossible to reconcile in one race? In fantasy, wouldn't that phrase sound a bit like a description of Gondor?

The faen seem... weird. Playing sprites doesn't strike me as exactly original; fairies of that size were a PC race as far back as Tunnels & Trolls, after all. The other races I like more, except for the runechildren. Well, I guess a template is better than a multi-level class that a character might never totally invest in, so maybe that will be good.

 

[Tonguez]

Good show, Monte!

I am very thankful that Arcana Unearthed is going to break out of the old "dwarves, elves, gnomes, and halflings" mold. I can't express just how sick of that I am.

I couldn't care less about the revised D&D books. My money is going for Arcana Unearthed!

So what exactly is so very different between the the old "dwarves, elves, gnomes, and halflings" mold and this
new "giants, sprytes, cats, dogs and 'aliens'" mold

none of these are new in roleplaying fantasy generally even if they are new to DnD. In fact the various 3e Websites already have a vast selection of Noble (half) Giants, tiny sprites, catmen, dogmen and telepathic alien-humans etc as PC races and although I don't doubt that Montes versions will be good I hardly think they are anything to rave about...

 

[LostSoul]

Yeah, I agree. It doesn't seem terribly new or original. Cat-men, dragon-men, etc. There are tons of those out there.

However, the interactions between the races might be very interesting. Worth checking out, even if you are just going to use regular PHB races, for the politics.

 

[hong]

Yeah, I agree. It doesn't seem terribly new or original. Cat-men, dragon-men, etc. There are tons of those out there.

The half-human template. I see a great need.


Hong "have I said this before?" Ooi

 

[Aitch Eye]

While the outline of the races in his earlier announcements left me cold (closer to repelled, actually), seeing what he's doing with them and how they fit together has me interested. I don't think the points about them being similar in broad concept to stuff that's already out there are really fair (though I was thinking the same things before I read this piece), as it looks like the details are where all the interesting stuff is going on.

 

[Sanackranib]

montes races

his cat people seem too powerfull for an ecl +1 creature
+2 STR, DEX, AND CON at ecl+1 not to mention all of the other abilities puts them IMO off par with the other races in D&D including the races in the Mythic races book. maby its just a style of play but all of his conversions that I have seen are just too powerfull and if you allow them in a regular game just unbalance it for everyone else. Perhaps if someone runs a solely monte cook game this won't be a problem. but I don't think I'm gona allow his stuff in my SL game. I'll have to review the feats on a case by case basis if my players seem interested.

Thats just my opinion. I'm sure that a lot of other peolpe will be quick to jump on his bandwagon.