Races of Stone--What do we know about it?

[johnsemlak]

THis product hasn't gotten much discussion yet as far as I recall. Do we knwo much about its contents?

What should be in it?

I'm guessing a bit of the 'Races' series will be taken from the early Dragon articles devoted to each race.

I'm really hoping it has a lot of fluff and game information on how each race can play the different classes, particularly some of the non-traditional combinations like dwarf spellcasters, elf paladins/knight-types, etc.

A favorite Dragon article of mine from way back was one called the 'Elven Cavalier', whihc offered both fluff and game info on how to play an elven Cavalier. I'm hoping the series has this kind of stuff.

 

[Knight Otu]

I guess the best information can be found in the goliath preview on the WotC website. There's also some text in the In the Works article where the link is from:

Races of Stone is the first in a new series of race-specific books. It's a 192-page hardcover that details various races that live on, under, or around mountains in the D&D world. I'll let the back cover copy do a little more explanation:

Heroes Carved from the Earth

From underground caverns to rolling canyons to mountain crags, bold adventurers emerge from among the hardiest people -- folk who possess an affinity with the earth itself. Drawing strength and security from their surroundings, along with the skills needed to survive, the champions of these races of stone have etched their names in legend.

This supplement for the D&D game provides detailed information on the psychology, society, culture, behavior, religion, folklore, and other aspects of the races of stone: dwarves, gnomes, and goliaths -- a new race presented here. In addition to new subraces and monster races playable as characters, Races of Stone also provides new prestige classes, feats, spells, magic items, equipment, monsters, and rules for magic rune circles.

While the book starts out with a chapter on dwarves and moves on to the gnomes, I'm going to jump to Chapter Three to show you the book's all-new race: the goliath. Chris Thomasson has been playing a goliath barbarian/cleric named Keanak Scarmaker Gaukanithanu in our Wednesday-night game. Keanak has been a lot of fun to have around, particularly during and after fights (though his/her tendency to enthusiastically experiment with new, untested, magic items has lessened since the accidental discovery of that suit of gender-bending plate armor). Chris had been playing Keanak for a while before I had a chance to examine Races of Stone, and while I was reading about goliath culture, I recognized a lot of things that typified Keanak's behavior. That's because in addition to the nuts-and-bolts information you need to fill out a character sheet, Chapter Three is full of all kinds of information that really help you bring your character to life in a way that's particularly goliath-ish. Check out this excerpt, which is a cobbled-together collection of bits and pieces from Chapter Three: Goliaths.​

​

I don't think we know much more.

​

 

[johnsemlak]

Anyone know the street date? Isn't it a July release?

 

[trollwad]

maybe next july

 

[hafrogman]

WOTC says this August
Amazon says August 25, 2004

 

[Dark Jezter]

It's a book devoted to dwarves and gnomes. That alone automatically ups the cool factor.

 

[Krug]

I'm sure it'll answer one of the great unsolved mysteries of the universe..
--Spoiler--

Spoiler

Do dwarf women have beards?

--Spoiler--

 

[johnsemlak]

I'm sure it'll answer one of the great unsolved mysteries of the universe..
--Spoiler--

Spoiler

Do dwarf women have beards?

--Spoiler--

One think I'd like to know is if it would provide enough background to run something like an all-dwarf campaign centered around the Axe of the Dwarven Lords or a similar plot motif.

 

[qstor]

I'm sure they'll have preview copies available at GenCon before the 25th. I might pick it up.

Mike

 

[Michelle Lyons]

I can assure you that despite Gimli's fondness for hirsute females, dwarven ladies remain blessedly without facial hair.

I'll admit, I'm pretty anxious to see this one myself. I know some of the content got shifted around a little (it typically does in editorial), so I'm interested to see the end product. The comp copies can't get here fast enough.