Races of... contrasting views

[Dragonhelm]

When I think of books on races, I expect to see sections on subraces. For example, when I see a book on elves, I want to see wild elves, moon elves, avariels, and so on and so forth. None of that was present.

I've had some mixed feelings on the new races. I'm indifferent about the goliaths. I actually sort of like the illumians. I don't care for the Raptorans. Beyond how silly the footbow bit is, I don't see why a new bird-man race was created (and there are plenty already) when they could have developed an elven subrace - the avariel.

The racial substitution ideas are good, but I don't see why they limited the classes on this. I want to know what substitution levels one can expect to see for all the classes.

Personally, I think the designers would have been better off trying to emulate the Complete series of race books from 2e. The Complete Elves Handbook was perhaps the best one. I would have liked to have seen that model followed a little closer.

 

[Crothian]

I don't see why a new bird-man race was created (and there are plenty already)

What other bird races are there?

 

[The Shaman]

And maybe I'm weird, but I don't think monsters belong in a player book. Save that stuff up for the next monster compilation...

But that would fly in the face of WotC's design and marketing strategy of making sure that every book appeals to the broadest possible cross-section of gamers in order to move more units of product.

(The fact that some gamers then ignore the books as providing too little of value for the money doesn't seem to enter the picture.)

I have none of the race books, though if I was creating a D&D homeworld I might consider RotW due to the fey-race that "changes its aspect" each day - that's very much the sort of thing that would make it into my game. Other than that, like so many of the books that WotC publishes these days, I'm happy to stay away.

 

[Dragonhelm]

What other bird races are there?

Avariel - Winged elves
Kyrie - Dragonlance bird-men
Phaethon - Dragonlance race related to elves with fiery wings

Some book I picked up recently had another phoenix-like race that transforms into a phoenix-like bird.

The Aerial Adventure Guides have a bird-man race which is probably closer to the raptorans. I forget the name right off.

I think there might have been one in Cloud Warriors by Fast Forward as well.

I'm sure there's others out there too. That's what I can think of off the top of my head.

 

[Psion]

Well, it looks like Joe and I have hit the web together with our respective reviews of the final "core" book of the Races series.

For those looking to see how we marked them, here's the links:

Races of Stone: Merric: 4 stars, Joe: 4 stars
Races of Destiny: Merric: 3 stars, Joe: 4 stars
Races of the Wild: Merric: 4 stars, Joe: 3 stars

So, those are the review scores (and links) from the cynic and optimist of ENworld. Remarkably similar, aren't they?

My views of the books are approximately equal to the lower of your two ratings in each case.

 

[Felon]

Avariel - Winged elves
Kyrie - Dragonlance bird-men
Phaethon - Dragonlance race related to elves with fiery wings

Some book I picked up recently had another phoenix-like race that transforms into a phoenix-like bird.

The Aerial Adventure Guides have a bird-man race which is probably closer to the raptorans. I forget the name right off.

I think there might have been one in Cloud Warriors by Fast Forward as well.

I'm sure there's others out there too. That's what I can think of off the top of my head.

Well, some of those are from 3rd-pary products, so I don't think they are really relevant to WotC's decision to create their own. The avariels I'd never heard of (for a minute, I thought you might be referring to the avorals in the MM).

I thought the raptorans were well-designed in the respect that it met the goal of creating a flying race with no level adjustment. The overall design doesn't screw up those low-level adventures that depend on PC's having limited mobility options, nor does it make it a no-brainer to take to wing and use ranged combat at every opportunity (before 10th level, anyway), and it actually does all it can to encourage a player to not dismiss investing ranks in Climb and Jump out of hand. I've had a couple of players try to play monster classes from Savage Species that could fly at very low levels (1st for the trumpet archon, and 4th for the ogre mage), and it certainly can make a mess of things.

 

[Darkness]

is there a way to give negative scores.

i would give all of the Races of.. at least a negative 4 scores each ( -80).

I give this post a 2.

 

[Turjan]

What other bird races are there?

Well, the Aarakocra would be the classical one. They first appeared in the Fiend Folio (1981), and in 3.x they came back with the Forgotten Realms.

The avariels I'd never heard of (for a minute, I thought you might be referring to the avorals in the MM).

Finally someone who doesn't know the FR !

 

[Felon]

Finally someone who doesn't know the FR !

Well, I have not read the novels. Have most of the 3e setting books though. Did I miss mention of them?

 

[Darkness]

Well, I have not read the novels. Have most of the 3e setting books though. Did I miss mention of them?

Races of Faerun. They're probably mentioned elsewhere as well, though.