Where do orcs live? Kobolds? I was surprised to learn.

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

I don't get it?

Lothar of the Hill People!

And on topic:
I did look over those enviroment things a while back, but pretty much through them all out and put the races where I felt they went best IMC. Interestingly, most of them ended up in places generally the same as the MM lists...except Kobolds. Kobolds IMC usually live in the desert and mountain regions of the main continent.

 

[David Howery]

I always thought bugbears would be a natural for subarctic and tundra regions.. all that long hair would be good for keeping out the cold wind....

 

[Ed Cha]

Did you know the normal environment (terrain) for these humanoids is:

Halflings - warm plains

Kobolds - temperate forests

Quasqueton

When I wrote "The Hamlet of Thumble", I put the halflings in a temperate flat area near a river. One of the artists complained that their homes would get flooded, but hey, that happens in the Mississippi!

Kobolds were in a burrow in the forest, so I don't disagree with them being placed in temperate forests. I do think that they would live in dark parts of the forest where elves do not dwell though.

 

[Guillaume]

Because Hyena's can see very well in the dark. While that would be low light, there is no Darkvision in the real world, so it makes sense that a diernal predator could have darkvision.

Hmm... That would be nocturnal. Diurnal refers to something that happens between sunrise and sundown (ie during the day).

 

[Astos]

I don't get it?

Also, see http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/series/TNG/episode/68510.html

 

[Voadam]

I included all the humanoid races (except for lizardfolk, which I just now remembered) for completeness.

The four you mention are pretty much as I expected. But . . .

Why do gnolls have darkvision if they live in open plains?

It's interesting that only deep dwarves live underground. "Normal" dwarves apparently live above ground. (And again, then why have darkvision?)

Quasqueton

I think underground means underdark without general access to the surface while the others could include subterranean dwellings in those regions.

For instance I believe Hill and Mountain Dwarves living in mountains includes tunnels under the surface, but within reach of the surface of the mountain.

And you missed

Troglodyte - Underground
Dwarf Duergar - Underground
Svirfneblin - Underground
Forest Gnome - Temperate Forest
Locatha - Warm Aquatic
Lizard folk - Temperate Marshes
Merfolk - Temperate Aquatic
Deep Halfling- Warm Hills
Tallfellow - Temperate forests
Half-elf - Temperate forests
Aquatic - Temperate aquatic
Gray - Temperate mountains
Wild - Warm forests
Wood - Temperate forests

But there are a bunch of odd ones in the humanoid list, goblins don't live in forests or mountains, they live in the open plains along with worgs.

 

[alsih2o]

Get enough members of a race with INT 6-7 and they will adapt to almost any environment.

 

[zoroaster100]

I noticed that one change from 3.0 to 3.5 was that the Monster Manual reduced the terrains for each monster/creature to one single terrain, whereas the 3.0 Monster Manual listed a range of terrains. For the most part the terrains listed in the 3.0 book made more sense to me. I wonder why the change to just one single terrain being listed for each monster?

 

[Saeviomagy]

Because Hyena's can see very well in the dark. While that would be low light, there is no Darkvision in the real world, so it makes sense that a diernal predator could have darkvision.

Like an owl?

Sorry - if it's because hyenas see well in darkness, then they should have lowlight.

IMHO, it's to screw with the players. Note that of the creature types out there, the only ones without darkvision are:

animals, fae, humanoids, giants and plants

and of THOSE, the only ones without low-light vision are humanoids

In otherwords - if you're not a PC, you can see well in the dark. If your a PC, you've usually got to give up something to see in the dark.

 

[Quasqueton]

IMHO, it's to screw with the players. Note that of the creature types out there, the only ones without darkvision are:

animals, fae, humanoids, giants and plants

and of THOSE, the only ones without low-light vision are humanoids

In otherwords - if you're not a PC, you can see well in the dark. If your a PC, you've usually got to give up to see in the dark.

And note that all evil humanoids have darkvision. And 95% of the non-evil humanoids have low-light vision.

Of all creatures in all of the D&D universe, only humans and halflings have "normal vision". Makes you wonder why darkvision isn't considered "normal vision."

Its a pet peeve of mine.

Quasqueton