Races of Destiny excerpt...

[Arcane Runes Press]

I don't like the Sharakim, I don't like them one bit.

Partly it's the mechanics - they're a cursed race, their bodies and spirits transformed by magic... but their favored class is wizard. The Sharakim origin screams out sorcerer to me, and if they'd just dumped the damn Int/Cha mods things would be better.

Beyond that, they're not a justifiable +1 race by any means, judging by the description in the teaser. The Strength and natural armor are offset by the Dex penalty, and the light sensitivity sure as heck doesn't do them any favors (especially since it works to counter the bonus to hit gained from Strength).

I suppose it might be a case of the designers saying "Well, they're more powerful than half-orcs", but really.... that's not saying much.

Other than being grabbed by the flavor, I can't see a reason for a player to want to be a Sharakim.


And honestly, the flavor text bugs me too. The "mongrel race that's eager to please" is laid on a little thick for me, to the point of being distasteful.

Patrick Y.

 

[Greatwyrm]

Hopefully, since it's just a preview, there's something more to them.

 

[MerricB]

Situational penalties like Light Sensitivity should be ignored when setting LAs - you have to assume the best combination. (And I'd only play a Sharakim in a dungeon-delve/Underdark campaign).

I'd be very tempted to play one as an Eldritch Knight or Spellsword, actually.

They are a marginal LA +1 race; but they might well be an overpowered LA +0 race. No win, really.


Cheers!

 

[Arcane Runes Press]

Situational penalties like Light Sensitivity should be ignored when setting LAs - you have to assume the best combination. (And I'd only play a Sharakim in a dungeon-delve/Underdark campaign).

I'd be very tempted to play one as an Eldritch Knight or Spellsword, actually.

They are a marginal LA +1 race; but they might well be an overpowered LA +0 race. No win, really.

Cheers!

No, you really shouldn't entirely ignore situational penalties when setting LAs for a new race, as ignoring them creates two problems:

1) It's a design philosophy that creates special edition action figures, not character races that a DM will want in his campaign.

"Well, you've got some dwarves, elves, gnomes, humans, and halflings. And then, to the north is the kingdom of Aratem, where live the mysterious people known only as Artic Camo Batmen. To the south, the Principality of Thunder, where dwell the Urban Assault Batmen. To the east, the village of Rathel, which is where Night Maneuvers Batmen live - they only come out at night, and then only to fight at the side of adventurers of at least 2nd level."

The Sharakim and the other new races released in these books don't have the advantage of being an established part of D&D culture (for lack of a better word). They aren't like gnolls or lizardmen or bugbears, who have become staples of campaigns. With a brand new race, a DM needs to be convinced to include them - and if he feels he'll only see a new race used as a component of a power combo, then he's likely to not bother incorporating it.

2) It's a design philosophy that creates a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you ignore situational penalties when assigning LAs, then you create mechanics that guarantee people will only want to play the race when the situation is optimal.


Beyond that, I don't see them as even a particularly strong +0 race, certainly not in comparison to dwarves, or even gnomes.

Their +1 bonus to attack rolls is extremely specialized (only orcs and half-orcs)

Their racial bonus to Hide and Move Silently checks is partly offset by their Dex penalty (giving them an effective +1 bonus instead of +2), and also offset by the fact it applies only in shadow and darkness.

Their +1 natural armor is a wash against their Dex penalty, as the situational benefit of natural armor against flatfooted attacks won't appear more often than the situational penalty of touch attacks will.

Yes, they're more powerful than the half-orc and half-elf, but that isn't exactly an accomplishment. As it stands, I'd put them on par with the gnome and still below the dwarf, in terms of potential effectiveness.

Patrick Y.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Well, I'm not really a fan of Half-Orcs so it doesn't bother me to much to ignore another version of them.

On a good note, I DO like that LE human deity in the preview. Name escapes me suddenly and I'm too lazy to check, but I like the background on him.

 

[BryonD]

This looks like a Must-Not-Have ...

It really is a truly awful preview.
I didn't see a single appealing thing.

Of course I thought the preview for Frostburn was bad (not THIS bad, but bad) and the book turned out to be pretty good.
So maybe.....

Of course I'm quite confident they will make the same goliath mistake with illumians and foolishly assume we want as much stuff customized to their out of the blue race as we do for the standards......

I've gone from a certain to buy to will hold off and find out more.

 

[BryonD]

They are a marginal LA +1 race; but they might well be an overpowered LA +0 race. No win, really.
Cheers!

Why did they design themselves into a no win?

 

[MerricB]

Why did they design themselves into a no win?

Because they're conservative about stat bonuses, I'm afraid.

This race has the following bonuses that they're wary of:
* Darkvision
* +2 Str
* +2 Int

Those are pretty nice in a dungeon-delving campaign. A negative to Charisma is negligible - it just rules out the bard and sorcerer classes. A negative to Dexterity is balanced by the +1 natural AC. Light Sensitivity just doesn't come into play enough in the dungeon delve.

So, you have a race that is better (+4 Int) than the Half-Orc. Intelligence is a more significant ability because of skills and wizard spells.

Cheers!

 

[MerricB]

Consider also the race against the Human.

The Human has 2 benefits:
* +1 skill point/level
* bonus feat

(I'll ignore the multi-classing bonus, as I consider it a minor benefit).

The Sharakim has
* +2 Int (which gives +1 skill point/level plus other bonuses)
* Darkvision (worth more than a feat? - probably)
* +2 Str

Looking pretty good to me.

Cheers!

 

[Dalamar]

Their racial bonus to Hide and Move Silently checks is partly offset by their Dex penalty (giving them an effective +1 bonus instead of +2), and also offset by the fact it applies only in shadow and darkness.

Their +1 natural armor is a wash against their Dex penalty, as the situational benefit of natural armor against flatfooted attacks won't appear more often than the situational penalty of touch attacks will.

So that -2 to Dex alone is negating: +2 Str, +1 natural armor, and 1/4th of the skill bonuses? Aren't you making that Dex penalty pretty big?