Opinions on the non-PHB races?

[Nifft]

So no gnolls in your game, either? Nor aarakockra, lizardfolk or yuan-ti?

Basically correct.

"Gnoll" is the common name for the demonically transformed beast that was once a human cultist of Yenoghu. There's an eight level transformational class for it in my 3.5e BoVD thread. It's NPC-only.

Yuan-Ti are NPC-only, and they are similarly transformed humans.

Lizardfolk haven't featured in my campaign, and might not exist. Kobolds do exist. However, neither one is a "furry" race, so they offend me less.

No clue what an Aarakockra is. Rooster-person?

Cheers, -- N

 

[Ripzerai]

No clue what an Aarakockra is. Rooster-person?

Bird people. Mostly eagle, with parrot flourishes.

 

[Nifft]

Bird people. Mostly eagle, with parrot flourishes.

Uh, right. None of those in my campaign.

-- N

 

[Greg K]

Much love for the Half-Ogre here. In fact, it's the only "non-core" element I allow in my otherwise core-only game.

IMHO, it was a real shame that the Half-Ogre wasn't included in the 3.5 PHB races, or at the very least, in the MM.

I actually do like the half-ogre. In parts of my current homebrew setting, they are also called half-trolls as trolls are just a cultural variant of ogres (I don't use the DND troll).

 

[Nifft]

Actually the munchkins prefer the changeling warshapers

(Missed this before.)

Yes. Yes we do.

-- N

 

[GuardianLurker]

So how do races from the following stack up? Whether in play or for flavor and story potential?

I can't speak for play for most of these, but I've read through most. My responses are mainly flavor/concept based

Races series: Goliaths, Illumians, Raptorrans

Don't forget the "minor" races.
Catfolk, Centaur, Gnoll, Killoren; Chaos Gnome, Dream Dwarf, Feral Gargun, Stonechild, Whisper Gnome; Aasimar, Doppleganger, Half-ogre, Mongrelfolk, Sea kin, Sharakim, Skulk, Tiefling, Underfolk.

In order: Good, Atrociously bad, Meh; No furries, awkward in dungeons, not in a normal campaign, no plants; Why?, Why?, Goliaths are better (but yetis are cool), Not bad, Munchkin-love is not a recommendation; Not appropriate for my campaigns, not in a normal campaign, power-attack heaven (so nope, so sorry), Huh?, overly limited for most campaigns, Good, No, Not appropriate for my campaigns, not for a normal campaign.

Eberron Campaign Setting: Changelings, Kalashtar, Shifters, Warforged (well I guess the question would be about outside of Eberron)

If I was going to use dopplegangers I'd allow dopplegangers, No, Maybe (but look OK), No

Expanded Psionics Handbook: Mainly interested about Dromites, Maenads, Elan and Xeph since they're completely new. The Duergar, Half-Giants, Githzerai, Githyanki and Thri-Kreen are old established races.

No bugs, Human dress-up and crystals are funky (so no), Humans in fancy dress-up (so no; especially no "created" races), Human dress-up but OK; Dwarf dress-up not appropriate for my campaign, power-gamers choice in Dark Sun (so no), No, No, No bugs.

Magic of Incarnum: Skarn, Duskling, Rilkan, Azurins.
Environment Series: I'm drawing a blank here on what belongs in what, but I guess it would be the ones that aren't an environmentally adapted version of a PHB/MM race, or appeared in previous editions of D&D (ie not the Hadozee).

I don't use these. I don't even have Incarnum or Sandstorm.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

I like the Maenads, as they had an interesting twist to them.

Heap, have you seen my Maenad Paragon?

 

[Tsillanabor]

Most of the races from the Races books left me cold. I really don't know why anyone would need the (probably) hundreds of intelligent races on any one world. They are nice for adventures on alien worlds are alternate realities though.

 

[Dragonbait]

I like adding some new races into the mix to spice things up, or replacing the standard Grayhawk (and, thus, every WoTC-published D&D setting) races with some other ones.

Of the three main Races book (Stone, Destiny, Dragon, Wild) I'd say the Goliath is my player's favorite (They can do damage as a large creature and only have LA+1, damage dice orgy!!) and my personal favorite is the kobold, but they are not a new race. Since my palyers rarely buy other books, I rarely see races from the non-core rules and those made by the GM himself.

I find that the images of the characters really affect how a player sees a race. Because of this, I get annoyed when the description of the race and the artists interpritation conflict, or when different artists draw the same race differently. For instance, the Xeph for the Expanded Psionics Handbook. Are they dark-skinned humans with pointed ears and glowing eyes? Are they humanoids with small noses and elongated faces? There is no standard design for them.
Xeph 1 is on the far right: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/xph_gallery/80443.jpg
Xeph 2: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/xph_gallery/80512.jpg <- Was this supposed to be a githzerai?

Another race was in the Wild book, a fey-like race that I think looked exactly like a half-elf. However, the illustration shows them to be green feline humanoids.
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/row_gallery/86635.jpg

WTF, mate?

In the end, as long as it has a good concept, I'm cool with it. Not every setting will have (or should have) every race, but not every setting need to have the core races, and nothing else.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Most of the races from the Races books left me cold. I really don't know why anyone would need the (probably) hundreds of intelligent races on any one world. They are nice for adventures on alien worlds are alternate realities though.

I don't think anyone DOES use them all in one world.