PHB3: Githzerai and Seeker

[Belorin]

The lack of races in the PHB's is, so far, being made up for in the PG's.
PHB 2 had five races, FRPG had two; PHB 3 has four races, the EPG has three. Plus there was the Bladeling from MotP, if you can count that.
So on the average we have 7-8 races per year, or whatever time period the books come out in.

Bel

 

[CasvalRemDeikun]

The lack of races in the PHB's is, so far, being made up for in the PG's.
PHB 2 had five races, FRPG had two; PHB 3 has four races, the EPG has three. Plus there was the Bladeling from MotP, if you can count that.
So on the average we have 7-8 races per year, or whatever time period the books come out in.

Bel

Well, we had the following:

2008 - PHB1 (8) + FRPG (2) = 10
2009 - PHB2 (5) + EPG (3) = 8
2010 - PHB3 (4) + Setting (x) = 4+x

From 2008 to 2009, we saw a 37.5% drop in PHB races, and a 50% increase in PG races, and a 20% reduction in total races. In 2009 to 2010, we are seeing a 20% decrease in PHB races, with a total loss of 50% from 2008 to 2010.

This, of course, does not include Dragon articles (which many of those races are making their way into the PHBs and PGs anyway). But, the trend seems to be the number of PHB races are decreasing, while the number of PG races is increasing, albeit, at a slower rate than the PHB is decreasing. We will have to see what the 2010 setting has in store for us to get a real picture of what the trend is.

If Dark Sun is 2010, we would almost be guaranteed to see Thri-Kreen, Muls, and Half-Giants. Perhaps if we get another race or two to keep the trend going. I can't even guess what we would see from DL in a PG, since I know more about the setting and know more of the races, it is harder for me to pick just three to four. though Sea Elves, Half-Ogres, and Centaurs would be pretty good picks, IMO.

Perhaps WotC is doing this on purpose, to make the PGs much more useful, since they have a lot more rules info in them, such as races.

BTW, can they just come out and say what the setting is, already? That way we can have productive discussions on what we feel the PG of that book should have, not whether or not said PG will even exist.

 

[Glyfair]

From 2008 to 2009, we saw a 37.5% drop in PHB races, and a 50% increase in PG races, and a 20% reduction in total races. In 2009 to 2010, we are seeing a 20% decrease in PHB races, with a total loss of 50% from 2008 to 2010.

And I, for one, approve. New races are one of the areas with quickly diminishing returns, in my opinion. At some point you end up with races that are so bizarre few will want to play them (and even then, usually no more than once), or else so similar to other races that there isn't much to distinguish them ("they're elves with a +2 to Con instead of Dex!").

 

[CasvalRemDeikun]

And I, for one, approve. New races are one of the areas with quickly diminishing returns, in my opinion. At some point you end up with races that are so bizarre few will want to play them (and even then, usually no more than once), or else so similar to other races that there isn't much to distinguish them ("they're elves with a +2 to Con instead of Dex!").

That is true. We haven't really entered the realm of "this race with one trait switched" yet. I guess I never really saw it that way. I do approve of that as well. I also hate the idea of races put in books just to satisfy one of the classes or power sources. The notion of "we need at least one race that seems designed to fit this class" is really irritating. Genasi (swordmage), Elf (ranger), and now Githzerai (monk) all suffer from this.

 

[tsadkiel]

It's not as if Githzerai were ever presented as being a heroic PC race before either--they too are presented as opposition, just to the imperialistic extent of the yanki.

Um, Planescape?

 

[Belorin]

If Dark Sun is 2010, we would almost be guaranteed to see Thri-Kreen, Muls, and Half-Giants. Perhaps if we get another race or two to keep the trend going. I can't even guess what we would see from DL in a PG, since I know more about the setting and know more of the races, it is harder for me to pick just three to four. though Sea Elves, Half-Ogres, and Centaurs would be pretty good picks, IMO.

I can see Muls and Thri-Kreen, but Half-Giants? Wouldn't Goliaths fill this niche? Just have them develop psionics due to Athas skewed ecology.

Bel

 

[CasvalRemDeikun]

I can see Muls and Thri-Kreen, but Half-Giants? Wouldn't Goliaths fill this niche? Just have them develop psionics due to Athas skewed ecology.

Bel

One would think so, but seeing as Dark Sun isn't my strong suit, I didn't want to go ahead and say the two were the same for fear of getting numerous facts from all directions shoved down my throat. Kinda like how I think the Goliath might make a good substitute for the half-ogre when it comes to Dragonlance. The problem is, the goliath shouldn't just be a go-to substitute for a "big guy" race, it kinda runs their coolness factor through the mud.

You know, something that would make my day would be for WotC to take this opportunity to release a Large sized race. I really hope the fourth race in the book isn't Medium race 20. Seriously, we have eighteen races thus far, and only TWO are small sized? No wonder small races get screwed over so much.

 

[Nikosandros]

And I, for one, approve. New races are one of the areas with quickly diminishing returns, in my opinion. At some point you end up with races that are so bizarre few will want to play them (and even then, usually no more than once), or else so similar to other races that there isn't much to distinguish them ("they're elves with a +2 to Con instead of Dex!").

I also approve. I always like new classes (provided that they are well designed), but I really don't need that many races... it's often problematic to find a meaningful place for them in the campaign world.

 

[The_Fan]

I'mn thinking Maenad is out because in the Dragon article on Gith, they mentioned that Githzerai will be the only true "psionic race" in PHB3.

Makes sense that they want to get away from 3.5's "power source race" phenomenon, where if you were playing an incarnum race as a non-incarnum class, you were missing out on half the class features. They simply did not apply, and this resulted in unnecessary shoehorning and races of questionable balance (overpowered sometimes, underpowered others).

Maenad are one of the "psionic races" that I think could stand on their own as a non-psionic race, though, something that you can't say for the likes of the Elan.

 

[I'm A Banana]

PS: Half-giants were mentioned in Eberron's campaign guide.

This might be ultimately meaningless, but we know somewhere, half-giants exist at least as an idea, unique from goliaths.

Saying goliaths are like half-giants is like saying that dragonborn are like dray. Not really. Not every "big guy" or "lizard critter" is the same.