Crothian
First Post
Fourth Edition D&D has been out a little over a year and while there has been some books and PDFs done by third party companies nothing has really seemed exploded onto the scene. There have been mostly modules and smaller books that deal with races and classes. While I wait for something to take the industry by storm I am looking at some of the lesser known titles that are out there.
The Oakling is part of the Remarkable Races line of products from Alluria Publishing. The thirteen page PDF is written by J. Matthew Kubisz. The book is done in full color and has plenty of bookmarks for a PDF of this size. The layout is well done and the book is nicely organized.
The Oakling as one might guess from the name is a humanoid plant race. It is designed to be a player character and the format of the race is exactly like that of other races produced by Wizards of the Coast. Mechanically the race gets some nice abilities. They have a healing encounter power, they get resistance to most damages when bloodied, and are harder to knock prone then most characters, The race gets a bonus to Strength and Wisdom. While they can be any class it looks to me they might be best as a defender like a Paladin or a Fighter. Based on the description of the class though a Paladin does not seem to fit as well.
The author took an interesting twist with the race by not making them environmentalists like many plant based races have been portrayed. The race likes open areas but it is not comfortable in big cities or the deep and heavily over grown forests. They have no particular like for other plants and non sentient animals. They also do not place any emphasis on history or artifacts of the past that do not serve a solid function in the now. It is a nice change and an interesting choice that can make the character both different and enjoyable to play. There are plenty of character role playing opportunities presented with the race.
The PDF has some nice feats for the Oakling but what is not there is most noticeable. One of the big things that have come out with feats are ones for a specific race and class and there are none here like that. There are also no racial oriented Paragon Paths and I think that option would make a good addition to this line of products. That could be because of the GSL as I am not a publisher or a writer that uses it I am not familiar with everything that can and cannot be published under it. There are seven feats presented here. I would have expected a few more especially ones that make use of the racial abilities of the Oakling. There is a a nice creative take on a magical items that is the Magical Mistletoe. It is a new type of item but works a lot like potions or an alchemical item. They are one use and gone and do a variety of things like some healing, protection from fire, make light, or a minor poison effect. The book ends with four nicely done NPC Oaklings that can be used as monsters.
Remarkable Races: Oaklings is a fine PDF for anyone that wants to add a different and interesting race to their game. As a plant creature it could be too different for some players to be able to embrace the alien mindset of an intelligent non animal creature. It certainly has a different view on the world and that is nicely gotten across in the book. I think there could have been a bit more mechanical options offered but the PDF does not need them to be useful.
The Oakling is part of the Remarkable Races line of products from Alluria Publishing. The thirteen page PDF is written by J. Matthew Kubisz. The book is done in full color and has plenty of bookmarks for a PDF of this size. The layout is well done and the book is nicely organized.
The Oakling as one might guess from the name is a humanoid plant race. It is designed to be a player character and the format of the race is exactly like that of other races produced by Wizards of the Coast. Mechanically the race gets some nice abilities. They have a healing encounter power, they get resistance to most damages when bloodied, and are harder to knock prone then most characters, The race gets a bonus to Strength and Wisdom. While they can be any class it looks to me they might be best as a defender like a Paladin or a Fighter. Based on the description of the class though a Paladin does not seem to fit as well.
The author took an interesting twist with the race by not making them environmentalists like many plant based races have been portrayed. The race likes open areas but it is not comfortable in big cities or the deep and heavily over grown forests. They have no particular like for other plants and non sentient animals. They also do not place any emphasis on history or artifacts of the past that do not serve a solid function in the now. It is a nice change and an interesting choice that can make the character both different and enjoyable to play. There are plenty of character role playing opportunities presented with the race.
The PDF has some nice feats for the Oakling but what is not there is most noticeable. One of the big things that have come out with feats are ones for a specific race and class and there are none here like that. There are also no racial oriented Paragon Paths and I think that option would make a good addition to this line of products. That could be because of the GSL as I am not a publisher or a writer that uses it I am not familiar with everything that can and cannot be published under it. There are seven feats presented here. I would have expected a few more especially ones that make use of the racial abilities of the Oakling. There is a a nice creative take on a magical items that is the Magical Mistletoe. It is a new type of item but works a lot like potions or an alchemical item. They are one use and gone and do a variety of things like some healing, protection from fire, make light, or a minor poison effect. The book ends with four nicely done NPC Oaklings that can be used as monsters.
Remarkable Races: Oaklings is a fine PDF for anyone that wants to add a different and interesting race to their game. As a plant creature it could be too different for some players to be able to embrace the alien mindset of an intelligent non animal creature. It certainly has a different view on the world and that is nicely gotten across in the book. I think there could have been a bit more mechanical options offered but the PDF does not need them to be useful.
