Wednesday Boy
The Nerd WhoFell to Earth
The Star Pact Hexblade article mentioned that Shades are going to be an available race appearing in Heroes of Shadow.
New Playable Races?
- Thread starter Firebeetle
- Start date
Ryujin
Legend
I think that I would stay away from tiny races, just for the ease of mechanics. Dreamlings could fairly easily be created out of Kalashtar (I think it fits that race's flavour very well, in fact). As stated elsewhere, Foulborn are somewhat covered. Satyrs would make for a great race. Half-Ogres are largely covered by a reskinned Goliath. Goblins would certainly work, at least in a traditional rather than old school D&D way.
Any of the other small-to-medium Fey races would also work pretty well. I would think that a generic Fey-based set of powers/feats might be a better idea than detailing them individually though, just to insure that racial feat support didn't get left by the wayside.
dangerous jack
First Post
I'd really like to see Snaketongues. I've toyed with the idea of writing something up myself, but found myself veering away from D&D canon too much.
Ryujin
Legend
That concept has always sounded, to me, like a great Sancho to a Dragonborn Paladin's Don Quixite.
A large race, or one that could become large just with a few feats? No.
A race with a paragon path that made them large as one of its level 11 benefits? Sure, that sounds awesome, and well within the scope of a PP, racial or otherwise.
I don't see the problem of dealing with large creatures beyond balance, though. Large comes with benefits (more than not, particularly if you're a defender; reach is great, threating/close bursting 12 squares instead of 8 (or 16 instead of 9, if you fly), also great; also, more damage with weapons), but also drawbacks (having to squeeze to get through small spaces, easier to flank, can be surrounded by more enemies simultaneuously, easier to catch in burst and blasts).
A race with a paragon path that made them large as one of its level 11 benefits? Sure, that sounds awesome, and well within the scope of a PP, racial or otherwise.
I don't see the problem of dealing with large creatures beyond balance, though. Large comes with benefits (more than not, particularly if you're a defender; reach is great, threating/close bursting 12 squares instead of 8 (or 16 instead of 9, if you fly), also great; also, more damage with weapons), but also drawbacks (having to squeeze to get through small spaces, easier to flank, can be surrounded by more enemies simultaneuously, easier to catch in burst and blasts).
Where did they say this? I haven't found any statement so definitive as that. In the githzerai preview, Wyatt and Mearls said they wanted to be "careful" about turning monsters into PC options, and they "didn't want every villainous race to go the way of the drow," but they certainly didn't say they were never going to turn a monster into a PC race ever again.
(Although even that rather tepid statement irritates me. D&D has already committed itself to a "kitchen sink" approach to races, so why are they now getting all squeamish about giving us some more bad-guy options? And why the obsession with re-casting every PC race in a heroic light? Some people like to play evil PCs now and then, and we're not all disruptive munchkins. Throw us a bone.)
Dausuul? Why? Because it's much, much harder to provide guidelines for functional play with evil PCs (and it is!), and most play is heroic, they've went with "heroic party, no evil PCs" as the standard ruleset.
Of course you can break this and still have functional play; it just requires knowing what you're doing and not being a jackass. But if you do so, you're already playing off-warantee, so it makes sense that when they're presenting "evilish" options for general consumptiom, they provide flavor in the best possible light. After all, they -are- providing options like the half-orc, the reventant, the assassin, the warlock, and genasi, and the minotaur (and, of course, the drow), so it's not like they're not giving out mechanical crunch that can be used to dark ends.
Of course you can break this and still have functional play; it just requires knowing what you're doing and not being a jackass. But if you do so, you're already playing off-warantee, so it makes sense that when they're presenting "evilish" options for general consumptiom, they provide flavor in the best possible light. After all, they -are- providing options like the half-orc, the reventant, the assassin, the warlock, and genasi, and the minotaur (and, of course, the drow), so it's not like they're not giving out mechanical crunch that can be used to dark ends.
