Twin Peeks: Races of Faerun and Arms & Equipment Guide

[Kae'Yoss]

You know, the more I look at RoF, the more I realize why it's not all that useful.

That's a lot of races that can't be used without the FRCS. There are still a lot of races that do have stat information, but I think the book could have had a much more universal appeal if it had taken the space to outline the racial stats for the various dwarf, elf, halfling, and planetouched sub-races already covered in FRCS.

It's a FR book, after all.

On the pro, these info would make the book useful for non-FR games, and it is one of the more rules-heavy books, at least it looks so: It's got new sub-races with stat-blocks, racial feats (never mind the regional prerequisite, they can be changed to suit other campaigns, or be thrown out of the window altogether, in many cases anyway), PrC's (they're adapted to the Realms, but even the splat books, which are "neutral", have Grayhawk-Flavored Stuff like Fist of Hextor, and Temple-Raider of Olidammara, which can be adapted - in the Realms, they would be of Bane and Mask, for example) and equipment. Also, you needn't use both books for the racial stuff: FRCS for the stat adjustments, RoF for other things. And MaoF had the FRCS spells in the lists, too.

On the con, the book will contain quite a bit stuff that cannot be used outside the realms, at least without tweak: The part about the Chondathan humans for example, the regional preferences of arctic dwarves or the deity choices of the races and peoples in the book. Also, the accumulated stat blocks for those races would amount to two whole pages or more, and putting them in would mean that other stuff went out. So IMO better stay with the modular nature of campaign accessories than have redundant info and less content.

 

[Aloïsius]

You know, the more I look at RoF, the more I realize why it's not all that useful.

... If you don't play in the realms. If you do play in the realms, it's of course better to not have twice the same info.

 

[EricNoah]

... If you don't play in the realms. If you do play in the realms, it's of course better to not have twice the same info.

I wouldn't say it's better, necessarily. The way it is now, you'll have to flip back and forth between two books. And the racial abilities sections usually aren't that long, so they wouldn't take up much space.

WotC has been trying to push the FR stuff as being filled with enough crunchy bits to be useful enough to stand alone as a supplement for other campaigns. Magic of Faerun is a good example of a FR product that does a good job of "standing alone." For those races I listed above (minus the humans and the PHB ones), Races of Faerun does not stand alone in that sense.

 

[Gez]

Dwarf, Gold (in FRCS) [Dex penalty rather than Cha, bonus to hit aberrations rather than orcs and goblinoids)
Dwarf, Gray (in FRCS) [Easily extrapolated from the MM]
Dwarf, Shield (as PHB dwarf)

Elf, Drow (in FRCS) [Easily extrapolated from the MM]
Elf, Moon (as PHB elf)
Elf, Sun (in FRCS) [-2 Con +2 Int, just like strong and clumsy grey elves from the MM]
Elf, Wild (in FRCS) [Easily extrapolated from the MM]
Elf, Wood (in FRCS) [Easily extrapolated from the MM]

Gnome, Deep (in FRCS) [Easily extrapolated from the MM]
Gnome, Rock (as PHB gnome)

Half-elf, common (as PHB half-elf)

Half-orc, common (as PHB half-orc)

Halfling, ghostwise (in FRCS) [halfling skill bonuses replaced by 30-ft. telepathy, favor the barbarian class IIRC]
Halfling, lightfoot (as PHB halfling)
Halfling, strongheart (in FRCS) [halfling skill bonuses replaced by a free feat]

Humans (all ethnicities -- no human group has different stats/abilities)

Aasimar (in FRCS) [Easily extrapolated from the MM]
Genasi (all) (in FRCS) [They have different ability modifiers than those from the monster compendium of Faerûn, everything is brought back to a +2/-2 amplitude]
Tiefling (in FRCS) [Easily extrapolated from the MM]

Not totally useless, as most subraces are already in the MM. However, it's a background book (fluff, in skreynese), so if your own background is not compatible, it do is useless.

 

[Tanis Half-Munchken]

I wouldn't say it's better, necessarily. The way it is now, you'll have to flip back and forth between two books. And the racial abilities sections usually aren't that long, so they wouldn't take up much space.

WotC has been trying to push the FR stuff as being filled with enough crunchy bits to be useful enough to stand alone as a supplement for other campaigns. Magic of Faerun is a good example of a FR product that does a good job of "standing alone." For those races I listed above (minus the humans and the PHB ones), Races of Faerun does not stand alone in that sense.

But isn't that the classic `manage page count/ bang for buck' issue? What would we have lost to repeat all that info?

If anything, the point becomes `Why didn't we get this in the FRCS for the listed races?'

 

[EricNoah]

Yep, it's all about tradeoffs.

If you buy RoF but don't have the FRCS, then there are 15 races in RoF that you can't use. I'm not counting the human ethnicities or the races you can find in the PHB.

If you buy RoF and want those 15 races, then you have to buy a $40 book, or you need to come up with stats yourself. Probably not too hard to do, but then why buy the book at all if you're going to make up your own stuff?

If you include the racial data for those 15 races, then you either up the page count and presumably the cost, or reduce the added info like the new spells, prestige classes, magic items, or feats. Here's the thing, though -- I would argue that the racial data on average is no more than 1/6 of a page long. At most it's 1/4 of a page long. So let's use the conservative estimate and say that this adds 4 pages to the book (or removes 4 pages of stuff to make room). [I personally think that would be the ideal situation. Then you truly have a stand-alone race book where all of the races could be plopped into other settings, homebrews, etc. ]

The other "ideal" situations, of course, are a) you already own the FRCS and so this isn't a big deal (I own the FRCS, for instance, so I can make use of all of the races in Rof); or b) you didn't want to use those 15 particular races anyway and only need the stats of the other races.

 

[Tanis Half-Munchken]

. . . b) you didn't want to use those 15 particular races anyway and only need the stats of the other races. [/B]

Web enhancements: Got it. Should have thought of that . . .

 

[fba827]

That's a lot of races that can't be used without the FRCS.

Don't forget -- there is probably text somewhere that says "To use this accessory, you also need The FRCS, PHB, DMG, and MM" (or something to that effect) -- it's on all the accessories either the back cover or first page after the title page.

All the non-FR accessories have a similar thing but leave out FRCS from the listing ....

So, my point.. presumably on the book somewhere is that clause. That being true, the intended audience (from the perspective of the writers and book as a whole) are people that already have the FRCS.

 

[Gez]

Yep, it's all about tradeoffs.

If you buy RoF but don't have the FRCS, then there are 15 races in RoF that you can't use. I'm not counting the human ethnicities or the races you can find in the PHB.

Provided you have the Monster Manual, that's only 8 races:

• Dwarf, Gold
• Elf, Sun
• Halfling, Ghostwise
• Halfling, Strongheart
• Planetouched, Air Genasi
• Planetouched, Earth Genasi
• Planetouched, Fire Genasi
• Planetouched, Water Genasi

 

[Gez]

Re: Re: Re: Twin Peeks: Races of Faerun and Arms & Equipment Guide

You mean calis<i></i>hite? Calis<i></i>hite calis<i></i>hite calis<i></i>hite!!

Ah, that's how you do it. Sneaky. Calishite. Fuckimi-Bari.