Twin Peeks: Races of Faerun and Arms & Equipment Guide

[EricNoah]

*paint a question in red so that it is more eye-catching*

Ok, the Spellsinger: it's basically a bard PrC. Gotta have Kn: Arcana and Perform. Abilities include Bardic Music, Compelling Song, Spellsong (it's kind of a spontaneous casting ability but just for enchantment spells), Improved Countersong, and Amplified Music. It's a 5-level class.

 

[EricNoah]

What info do they have on the Fey'Ri?

One thing I found interesting is that the level adjustment is +2 or +3, depending on which spell-like abilities are selected (it's +3 if you select dimension door, enervation, or damage reduction -- and you can only pick one of those three to have along with your other choices).

 

[Aloïsius]

Ok, the Spellsinger: it's basically a bard PrC. Gotta have Kn: Arcana and Perform. Abilities include Bardic Music, Compelling Song, Spellsong (it's kind of a spontaneous casting ability but just for enchantment spells), Improved Countersong, and Amplified Music. It's a 5-level class.

Sound cool. There aren't so many bard prc...
Now, I wonder if a Sorcerer/Spellsinger/Spelldancer is possible...

 

[everchanging02]

Okay... Not trying to be annoying, but more seeing a reason why my earlier post could have been over-looked (it was at the bottom of page 3, so easily missed).

Question 1:
In Savage Species, lycanthropes are given a +3 Level Adjustment. However, it was said in Races of Faerun that they are given hit die and then a +1 or +2 LA (dependent upon if it was inflicted or natural). Does RoF over-rule SS in this, or does RoF give the 'template' in a leveling system, as Appendix A of SS does for other races?
In Other Words: Does RoF give a different description of the LAs of lycanthropes than SS? And, if so, does it over-rule?
(Sorry about the minor bits of redundancy.)

Question 2:
I will be running a game where I am allowing my characters to be pretty much whatever they want. How adventageous would it be for me to pick up RoF? Is it more geared for the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, or is it a good, over-all races book to have?
I have the MM, MM2, and SS, and I really don't want to pick up RoF unless it might give some better options for players for their character races.

Sorry for all the babble.

 

[Kai Lord]

One thing I found interesting is that the level adjustment is +2 or +3, depending on which spell-like abilities are selected (it's +3 if you select dimension door, enervation, or damage reduction -- and you can only pick one of those three to have along with your other choices).

Interesting.

 

[EricNoah]

Okay... Not trying to be annoying, but more seeing a reason why my earlier post could have been over-looked (it was at the bottom of page 3, so easily missed).

Question 1:
In Savage Species, lycanthropes are given a +3 Level Adjustment. However, it was said in Races of Faerun that they are given hit die and then a +1 or +2 LA (dependent upon if it was inflicted or natural). Does RoF over-rule SS in this, or does RoF give the 'template' in a leveling system, as Appendix A of SS does for other races?
In Other Words: Does RoF give a different description of the LAs of lycanthropes than SS? And, if so, does it over-rule?
(Sorry about the minor bits of redundancy.)

Question 2:
I will be running a game where I am allowing my characters to be pretty much whatever they want. How adventageous would it be for me to pick up RoF? Is it more geared for the Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, or is it a good, over-all races book to have?
I have the MM, MM2, and SS, and I really don't want to pick up RoF unless it might give some better options for players for their character races.

Sorry for all the babble.

1) The RoF template is not given as a "leveling" system -- you get all of the benefits in one lump. You've seen my description of the RoF lycanthrop template; I'll leave it up to you to decide how different it is than Savage Species. I don't know whether this book overrules the other book.

2) I personally think most monster races can be fairly easily "reverse engineered" to come up with stats for a race. Esp. if you have Savage Species, there are probably enough guidelines in there to convert just about any monster you have stats for into a race you don't have stats for. If it's just one or two races you're concerned about I'd save my money. If you liked a lot of the ones on the list I provided, you might find it worthwhile. I don't think the culture/history stuff is so "special" that it's particularly necessary, nor so Realms-specific in most cases that it couldn't be used generically.

 

[Zander]

There's no "racial trait" info for the core races that are in the PHB or in FRCS. So we aren't getting any early hints that way. Presumably you can then play these races with 3.0 or 3.5 rules.

I don't have FRCS and don't intend to get it. Which races are in FRCS and in RoF but do not include racial traits in RoF? I was thinking of getting RoF to use the material in my homebrew but if the races are only partly done, I probably won't.

I'll definitely be getting A&EG. It was on my "probably get" list before. Now it's on my "must have" list.

Thanks for the info.

 

[EricNoah]

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

The following races in Races of Faerun have no "racial stat block":

Dwarf, Gold (in FRCS)
Dwarf, Gray (in FRCS)
Dwarf, Shield (as PHB dwarf)

Elf, Drow (in FRCS)
Elf, Moon (as PHB elf)
Elf, Sun (in FRCS)
Elf, Wild (in FRCS)
Elf, Wood (in FRCS)

Gnome, Deep (in FRCS)
Gnome, Rock (as PHB gnome)

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

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

Halfling, ghostwise (in FRCS)
Halfling, lightfoot (as PHB halfling)
Halfling, strongheart (in FRCS)

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

Aasimar (in FRCS)
Genasi (all) (in FRCS)
Tiefling (in FRCS)

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.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

I don't have FRCS and don't intend to get it. Which races are in FRCS and in RoF but do not include racial traits in RoF?

Afaik, it's:
- Gold, Grey, Shield Dwarves
- Drow, Moon, Sun, Wild, Wood Elves
- Deep, Rock Gnomes
- Half-Drow
- Ghostwise, Strongheart, Lightfoot Halflings
- Aasimar, Tieflings
- Air, Earth, Water, Fire Genasi.

Amongst the normal Races, there's usually one sub-race that practically is the standard D&D version of that race, with changes of the appearance (skin color, height, wight....)

[edit]....as Eric already said....[/edit]

 

[Zander]

Thanks Eric and KaeYoss. You're both stars!

It doesn't look like RoF has what I want. I think I'll give it a miss.