Psion said:
You know, I am not seeing this deluge of cat-races. Until races of the wild, I only knew of one in a generic supplement that had a cat-race. And there are one or two in settings.
By my count so far: Vah Shir (EQPHB), Litorian (AU/AE), Artathi (Mythic Races), Catfolk (RotW), Wemic (RoF), Pershala (Galactic Races), Nasimir (AEG's Monster, but they are more of a half-race), Cat Folk (D20 Modern Menace Manual), Cathar (UAA), Farghul (UAA), Trianii (UAA), and Paka (Ravenloft's Denizens of Dread). I'm sure I'm missing a couple. (I didn't count Rakastas since they haven't been done in an "official" capacity that I know of yet.) I know that not all of these are D&D-specific, but when you use just about every book in your library (as I do) there are a proliferation of cat people. This is also just the list of the cat-races that are in print, in my own collection, this doesn't cover books that I don't own or all of the pdf's that I do. (I think there's another cat race in Silverthorne Games' Races of Evernor line...)
Psion said:
Bastards and bloodlines is a good example of what not to do, but I'll raise you with Eberron.
While I thought a lot of the race were a little weird in Bastards and Bloodlines, I still liked many of the races...I just felt dirty reading the origin descriptions! Eberron had some great ideas for races that were mixes of two species. If B&B would have been closer to what Eberron brought us, I wouldn't have had to do a lot of re-writing for my games.
All in all, I like having a LOT of options, I just wish that some avenues that haven't been done to death would get explored a little more often. I hate having to tell a player that they can't use the newest Elven or Dwarven subrace because we already have a world chock full of Elves and Dwarves!
Kane