D&D 5E Wandering Monsters- Bird People

[Plaguescarred]

I think their descriptions squared with the D&D history and i could see myself using them in my campaigns.

I think the aarakocra should absorb the raptoran with either a pact with djinn.

I like dire corby bred by drow as slaves in the underdark.

I think the tengu should just be kenku in asian settings.

I prefer crow headed kenku

 

[Nymrohd]

I had the aarakocra in a campaign in FR. There the Aarakocra are the direct descendants of the Aerae, a creator race whose empire fell to the dragons after the Tearfall. By lore the Aerae of Aerae Kocra turned to Pazuzu, however they had moved to the western reaches of their empire and so went over to Maztica when the world was sundered. My players met them there as an advanced civilization of demon worshippers locked into eternal war with a clan of black dragons.

Kenku I used for the first time in Eberron tbh, loved the way they fit in that setting as guild thiefs.

Tengu should be fey; they are spirits and for whatever reason D&D spirits have always been fey, undead or elementals.

 

[avin]

I like lot of races, make them all different and save them for suplements.

I'd stay away from ties like Drow (slave races are boring) or Pazuzu... it's free space for designers to work.

 

[Iosue]

Nagoya are not related to kenku....they are cursed people....please do not mess with their original stories.

Well, sure, it's not as big or famous as Tokyo or Osaka, but I wouldn't go that far.

 

[steeldragons]

Right-o. So, out the gate, aarakocra were, in fact, in the 2nd monster book for 3 editions. For AD&D, that was [they appeared in] the Fiend Folio. Not the MM2...we'll chalk that up as an honest mis-type...moving on...

As for the nagpa being "a lot like the skeksis from the Dark Crystal" [1982]...that is so, I suppose, seeing as they were D&D's most direct rip-off, from appearance right down to the cursed wizardy backstory, in the Creature Catalogue [1986]. The likes of which wouldn't be seen again until "Soulknife" tried to make us all "oo and ah" with a D&D version of X-men's ninja-iteration Psylocke.



I like the question in the poll that asks about aarakocra and raptorans, as creatures AND about their "pact connection"...but you can't answer, "leave them separate, but flush the pact nonsense!" They do seem to be getting a better grasp of asking for "feedback" while still receiving the answers they want to hear.

Next question: "What do you think of the Dire Corbies connections?" WHY does everything have to be connected to something or the other? They're evil bird-men monsters. They want to attack and kill you. If you're also evil maybe you can (as evil folks do) coerce them into serving/attacking stuff cuz you say so. Connections done. Why do they have to be bred by Drow? Or "Underdark" connected at all. How about just in normal depth caves/caverns or rocky areas?

And I couldn't agree with [MENTION=2067]Kamikaze Midget[/MENTION] more. [Yes, that says "agree!" hahaha ;D ] For the love of the gods, STOP making every-blessed-thing [you don't know what else to do with] a "fey creature" or "an elemental/demonic/evil god pacted creature." Why are those the only, constantly invoked, options?

I also find it ironically humorous that be "tying something more to the world" they inevitably decide to make something "fey" or "elemental spirit" or "tied to a deity or demon"...all things that are/originate OUTSIDE of the actual physical world of the game...unless 5e is going to say demons and elementals are just roaming around on/in the prime material...would certainly squash a whooooole lotta planar arguments if there are no planes.

HOW does "making kenku fey" make them "more tied to the world"? Either they are crow-humanoids who are an actual race in the world (with magical abilities innate/inbred), spirit-folk as their Japanese mythological roots have them, or extra-dimensional actual "demons" or demonic-humanoids that have to be summoned into the world for whatever purposes. How/why "spirit-folk" translates to "you'll find 'em in the Faerie World" I do not understand. Why can't they just be creatures native to the Prime and still have magical abilities, so common folk call them "spirit [or 'magic'] folk" since "normal folk" don't have crow heads, mimcry or magical disguises...[or fly, but you get the gist]?

HOW does saying "Dire corbies are aligned/created by/pacted to Pazuzu" make them more "tied to the world"? Why aren't they just bird-ish CE monsters that want to tear your flesh off...cuz they're monsters...based on raptors or carrion birds...so they're always hungry to rend some flesh?

And I don't get where this whole aarakocra are pacted/servants of air elementals comes from...just because the race has some magical ability to conjure them? Svirfneblin can conjure earth elementals...are they pacted to or servants of earth elementals? All that kinda thing needs to be campaign/world specific. It doesn't belong in the descriptions nor should attempt to become part of the definition of these creatures.

And along those lines, what [MENTION=52734]Stormonu[/MENTION] said...leave the setting-specific stuff in the setting-specific books. Dark Sun aarakocra belong in the DS setting book. If Dire Corbies are raised or bred or descended from Drow in some Forgotten Realms novel, then put that in the FR setting book. If FR has separate tengu and kenku, or both hawk- and crow-headed, or one's a samurai and one's ninjas or whatever...then they go there as well...and/or in a Kara-tur setting book.

All in all, they're the bird people. Big whup. Put 'em in ('cept the sneezing thing that I'd never even heard of, thank gods)...along with the dog people and cat people and horse people and goat people and lizard people and frog people and snake people. They don't need pacts and fey and evil gods to make them "fantasy-enough" or "interesting", they're bird-friggin-people!

If they're really interested in paring down, I'd say:
Aarakocra:Goes in the MM as humanoid race for Interactive or Combat encounters.
Raptoran: Doesn't need an appearance in the MM. Just put them into a 2ndary PHB or Monster PC Races book, not in the "official core" PHB as a PC race. I'll also reiterate that there's no reason a 1st level pc shouldn't be able to fly. In the theatre of the mind there is no issue. The raptoran's possession of actual arms along with wings trumps the aarakocra arm-wings they can't use while flying as a playable race. Though, again, if they are FR specific, then they belong in a FR setting book, even if they also appear as a supplemental "monster pc" race.
Kenku: Crow-head. Goes in the MM as a monster, primarily [or ultimately] for intrigue and combative encounters, if you can track them down and corner them. Sneaky buggers. Throw them in the 2ndary PHB/Monster Races supplement for PCs as well when that supplementary product comes out.
Tengu: Doesn't need to go in the MM. Go in a setting-specific book (FR or Oriental Adventures or whatever), if they go anywhere at all.
Dire Corbie: Goes in the MM as a straight up "gonna kill ya/fight 'em immediately/"brute" monster.
Nagpa: Goes in the MM as a straight up "BBEG/mastermind or magic-using evil vassal to some greater BBEG/master" type opponent. Interactive might be possible, combat is likely.
The other thing whose name I can't even remember, flush 'em.
So, MM: Aarakocra, Kenku, Nagpa, Dire Corbie
Settings and/or Supplemental Races book: Raptorans, Kenku, Tengu...maybe even Nagpas [? Nagpai? Nagpae? Whichever] here...but let's say no, for now.

 

[Zaukrie]

Love auto correct.....

 

[I'm A Banana]

For the record, I think the idea with "connecting" them is to make them more broadly used in play: if you use Creature A, maybe you'll also use Creature B! I can absolutely get on board with the end-point of that plan, I'm into seeing aarakocra more used in more games, 'cuz I like the parrot-people. And I'm not against connections that make sense and advance the creature's core appeal. Aarakocra and air elementals and even djinn can go together nicely, I'm in. Link them with brass dragons (who love djinn), too!

But there's a significant change in dynamic when you go from "Aarakocra and air elementals and djinn and brass dragons are allies!" to "Aarakocra/Raptorians owe their powers of flight to a pact made with air elementals or the Wind Dukes or whatever." You go from an alliance of like-minded creatures to a dependence, which is a power dynamic that wasn't at all at play in the creature before.

Want aarakocra to be used more? Having a solid exploration/interaction system that allows for tense negotiations and useful guides is going to be a HUGE step in that direction already. And, sure, increase their allied base so that it's a bigger net. And maybe turn them into PC-playable creatures that avoid caverns like hobbits avoid adventures and can fly at level 1.

Leave the pact-swearing to something a PC can do in play to get flight if they want, and become a Raptorian like that. Expanding the concept so that creatures of any race can join the raptorians will help that spread deeper, and more naturally fit with the gradual ramp-up of flight that is the raptorian's signature mechanical schtick.

Want kenku to be used more? Put 'em in the thieves' guild in the local city, have 'em hang out with stabbitty halflings and other shadowy denizens. There's the link.

Want dire corbies to be used more? Put a swarm of 'em just below that same city, a cavern full of beady blinking eyes and hungry beaks, ready to swarm at the slightest provocation.

....in fact, I'm now getting ideas for a "city of birds" as a setting that feels pretty frickin' awesome in my brain. Giant eagles and crane-like nobles alongside owl sages and raven necromancers....hehehe....

 

[Hussar]

I've always like aaracockra. They were fun and cool. Meh, tone down the claustrophobia thing a bit for PC's and let players have a flying race.

On the idea of fey ties - I think they're trying to get the idea that any sort of "spirit folk" is going to be a fey creature. Same as anything not native to the Prime Material Plane is an Outsider and any sort of "natural monster" is a Magical Beast.

They just want to have a fairly workable taxonomy. I can get behind that. Makes things easier to organize and makes for clearer rules.

I mean, if a kenku, for example, is a fey, then it's subject to any effects which affect fey. If it's not a fey creature, is it a humanoid? Beast? what? They have to slot it in somewhere, so that you can pin down game mechanics.

 

[Klaus]

Chalk me up as another who wants pact-swearing to take a backseat (preferrably so in the back that they're outside the bus).

Conversely, I like positioning the dire corby as a servant race of Pazuzu. Ol' Pazzy could use some defining. If you borrow stuff from mythological Pazuzu, you can even give the corbies an ancient Summerian vibe.

For the Aarakockras, I'd jettison the "claws unlock back to reveal capable hands" and the claustrophobic stuff. Just have their feet be dextrous enough to manipulate things, and say that while they dislike enclosed spaces, they can overcome that if in dire need.

Below I'm attaching my own concept for the Aarakockra. The "eagle + parrot" description ended up directing me to the osprey as an inspiration.

 

[Argyle King]

In contrast to what others have said, I don't like first level PCs being able to fly. It is a big deal to be able to fly for a lot of reasons; especially in combat.

Think of it this way, the normal non-flying PC has 8 directions they can move on a square battle mat. A flying PC has 36 directions they can move; that's over a four-fold increase in tactical options. The three basic functions of a combat unit are to be able to fight, move, and communicate. Thus far, in one of those areas, just being able to fly increases ability.

Now, let's turn to being able fight. Naturally, the increase in movement leads to more options for attack and defense. Being able to simply fly over the front line of the enemy is a huge advantage. You can virtually ignore the defensive set up of a ground based enemy and strike at their valuable assets which are placed behind the front line. This is one of the reasons why a knight in chess can be a valuable piece. It's also a big reason why paratroopers and helicopters are integral to modern tactics and the modern battlefield. In fantasy combat, wizards and similar combatants tend to rely on their allies to keep them out of melee. Now, to be fair, the last few iterations of D&D haven't been particularly good when it comes to applying real world tactics; the way the worlds have worked tend to reward things which would normally be considered poor tactics in most contexts outside of D&D. Still, the playtests of Next I've done seem to imply the game is at least giving a passing nod to applying battlefield tactics to how the game works. Even if that's not the case, let's take a look at how being able to fly helps to aid a caster or a ranged attacker.

One of the really nice things about being able to drop a bomb from an airplane is having the knowledge that you're above the killzone. D&D casters have area attacks which are quite deadly, but this is occasionally balanced by the fact that you need to be concerned about hitting your own people while in a confined space (dungeon.) At later levels, spells which allow flight help alleviate this by allowing you to float above the battlefield and rain hellfire down upon your enemy while being safely above the area of effect. Flight at first level allows this right away. Even better are spells which originate from the space you occupy and expand outward. A really cheesy trick in 4th Edition was to jump before setting off a burst or blast so as to expand the area you were hitting; flight allows this tactic without even needing to make a skill check.

For the ranged attacker, the benefit is similar to movement. The possible directions which you can fire a bow or throw a dagger increases by nearly four-fold. Since there's no facing nor any penalty for targeting multiple targets in D&D, your ability to attack is increased and you don't suffer any drawback for having the benefit.

Communication... there's not much of a concept for that in D&D; at least not in the sense I'm thinking of it, so I'll shift my mind toward things like healing and utility. Everything I've said thus far helps in this regard. A cleric can fly over enemies to reach a fallen ally. A cleric could also float above the battlefield in such a way to heal allies without also healing enemies.

All of this is only looking at one aspect of the game: combat.

Exploration and environmental challenges also greatly benefit from being able to fly.