Tell me about the Races series

[Nightfall]

Yeah if you just avoid looking too hard at Races of Destiny. Glad at least even an optomist like you can see that Merric.

 

[MerricB]

Yeah if you just avoid looking too hard at Races of Destiny. Glad at least even an optomist like you can see that Merric.

Map Folio II was worse than RoD. :-/

Cheers!

 

[Thanee]

While they are not all around great, there is some really, really neat stuff in those books (all of them).

They contain much more detailed descriptions of the PHB races, which can be very interesting and useful.

The racial substitution levels are pretty cool, differentiating some common classes for each race to make it more unique and more 'racial'. I really like that approach.

There are some great feats in there (though some are utter trash, too). Races of Destiny has some of the best ones.

The new races are usually pretty much useless (with few exceptions).

The new equipment is often nice.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Moon-Lancer]

well I’m a big fan of elves, so i got races of the wild, and i have to say, Raptorans SUCK. they don’t fit me as a woodland/wild race. The art DZN for most of the creatures also suck a big one. However i think Kiloran a playable LA0 fey race is kind of nice if you scratch out the picture of them. The text says they look like half elves but the art shows them looking like lizards. I was hoping for more high fantasy inspiration for this book, but it wisent their. I really would have liked Kilorans or Katfolk to be the pampered race in this book. However this was not the case, and so feel like 1-2 thirds of the book tanked becuse of it. The elf stuff is ok but not awesome. I do like the Kiloran though, even if they are kind of silly. WE LOVE NATURE AND WALK AMOUNGST YOU.... eh. I think they should have been more mysterious. But they are one of my favorite races aside from elf.

Arrows that do slashing is kind of nice along with retractable dagger pummels along with metal lined bows. The mythril table is good too. breast plate as light armor, the way I always thought it was.

But really NOT ENUFF fey . Full stop. Prc's are only so so as well. Really I was hoping for a races of fey book.

So if their is better books written in the past about this, I would just convert those.

well thats my take on the book,

Your local Elven fanboy

Devin.

 

[prosfilaes]

I for one didn't mind the Races of Destiny. The half-ogre stats came in handy for a character, and while most of the rest of the book wasn't worth much, I liked the Illumians. They're a nice near-human race, secretive enough to hide in the shadows of the campaign, and with some interesting minor powers that gave a lot of flexibility to players and encouraged multi-classing.

I read the Races of Stone and of Wild, but I don't recall much. The race descriptions tended to be bland and unuseful to someone who's been playing the game for a while. They annoyed me by including new subraces, instead adapting from old material, and I used a prestige class from Races of Stone, to some success. Races of Wild annoyed me by introducing a major "secret" halfling god; she stayed secret in the campaign for about 35 minutes game-time, and I can't imagine it staying a secret in most game worlds for long.

 

[Felon]

Any new races, or just redoes of old ones?

See, specific questions like that would serve you better than just asking folks what they think.

Races of the Wild is a good book IMO. It covers halflings and elves, and introduces the raptorans. The raptorans provide a campaign with a solid approach to a flying race that's LA +0. In essence, a raptoran glides at first, then as it gains character levels it gradually develops sufficient wing strength until it hits 10th level, at which point it can fly as easily as humans can walk or run. Lots of good feats, and there's coverage on catfolk, centaurs, and gnolls (with the latter two served up as racial classes playable from 1st level). I particularly enjoyed the equipment section. Good book for archers; lots of trick arrows, and a bow that's sturdy enough to clock somebody with (wieldable as a quarterstaff). Has good feats, including some great tactical feats.

Races of Stone is also pretty decent. It covers dwarves and gnomes, and introduces the goliath. The goliath has interesting flavor, but mechanically it's overgunned to hell and back, even with a +1 level adjustment. Good book for tanks; lots of different suits of heavy armor and specialized shields, and feats that improve armor and shield use (at last we get Exotic Armor and Exotic Shield Proficiency feats).

Races of Destiny seemed pretty pointless. It doesn't tell you anything about being a human that you didn't know already, and it doesn't have much to say about half-elves or half-orcs. The illumians are like a lot of classes and races today: their existence is purely mechanical in nature. No new equipment.

Don't know anything Races of Dragon or Races of Eberron. Wouldn't mind hearing more.

 

[MerricB]

You can find my extensive review of Races of the Dragon here:
http://merricb.multiply.com/reviews/item/4

(It was on EN World, but I think the server reset may have killed it).

Cheers!