Which "Races of" sourcebook is best?

[Haffrung Helleyes]

Yes.

It's a substitution level for Dwarf Sorcerer. A 9th level (or higher) Dwarf Sorcerer can add his Con modifier to his Cha score to determine bonus spells, but doesn't gain a new 4th level spell known.

Crazy unbalancing? I think not.

Cheers!

If that's what it does I agree with you. For some reason, I was thinking it was a feat that let dwarf sorcerers use CON instead of CHA for all spellcasting purposes. Unfortunatly, I seemed to have loaned out my copy of Races of Stone and forgot who I loaned it out to, so I can't check ;-)

Ken

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

It's the wrong comparison. Whisper Gnomes are balanced wrt Gnomes. They're overpowered compared to Halflings...

Cheers!

The real answer is to remove halflings/kender from the campaign.

 

[Greg K]

I suggest you spend some time examining each of them for yourself.

I probably spent anywhere from a half-hour to an hour at the local bookstore on each of the following: Races of Stone, Races of the Wild, Races of Destiny, and Races of the Dragon . I found each of the books to have too much overly specific fluff for a non-campaign specific product and very little crunch that I would add to my campaign. Therefore, I decided that each of the books was worthless to me and left them on the shelf. You, however, might find them more useful.

 

[Sunderstone]

Stone and Wild (and formerly Faerun) have seen frequent use in my campaigns so far.

Races of Stone is great IMO. Although the Goliath is nice, I dont know if I'll use it in my campaign any time soon.

Races of the Wild was pretty decent (I loved the Champion of Corellon PrC btw). I do agree that they didnt give enough information of the elven subraces which would have made this book much better.

Races of the Dragon's Kobold section is the only salvageable part of the book IMO. Races of Destiny I could definately do without.

Races of Faerun was excellent, I still think that RoF, the Underdark, and the Serpent Kingdoms FR books should have been mainstream.

 

[Mercule]

Races of Stone is pretty decent.

Races of the Wild doesn't suck, but is only marginally worth owning.

If I was doing more Eberron, I'd be all over that book, but I'm not interesting in porting them to my world. Still, it's the best-done book of the series.

Wouldn't touch the others.

 

[Aus_Snow]

I (and another GM, and a couple of players) have used Wild and Stone. In that order. There's been a lot of outdoorsy goings on though. So maybe that's partly to blame.

I personally don't think they're quite as bad as is often claimed. Yes, that's subjective (either way) but I think they do achieve what appears to have been their design goals, just fine.

 

[Felon]

Isn't Races of Stone the book with the feat that lets Dwarven Sorcerers use CON instead of CHA for their spellscasting stat? That seems quite imbalancing to me. Am I wrong?

At least you give up a spell to get that. It's not as gross as the 1st-level dwarf fighter substitution level. On top of gaining the benefit of Weapon Focus with all axes, it grants d12 hit dice. Is there some give-and-take there I just missed? It's described as giving up some versatility, but since substitution levels are completely a la care--you just take the levels that appeal to you--that's pretty much a joke.

The goliath's win the prize for "Most Broken New Race". Even with the +1 LA, it's still pretty over-the-top. The Powerful Size racial trait is rather lame--I'm large, but only when I wanna be. Seems to me that if you're on the cusp between medium large, you shouldn't get full large-size benefits when it comes things like grapple checks and wielding large-sized weapons. You should get halfway benefits.

In general, I like Races of Stone--exotic armors and shields were way overdue--but of the entire series it is the powergaming fighter's book of choice, rather like the dwarf race itself.

I voted for Races of the Wild. It offers up some interesting options without going overboard. The raptorans present a nice balanced approach to a flying race. I also liked the bows that can be used staves in a pinch and the various types of specialty arrows. The only thing that strikes me as completely nuts in that book is the ruathar prestige class.

 

[MerricB]

At least you give up a spell to get that. It's not as gross as the 1st-level dwarf fighter substitution level. On top of gaining the benefit of Weapon Focus with all axes, it grants d12 hit dice. Is there some give-and-take there I just missed?

Yes. Axes. They have an image problem.

It'd be an interesting poll. I've rarely seen any PC with an axe. The greater critical damage isn't worth not doing criticals as often, from what I've observed.

I voted for Races of the Wild. It offers up some interesting options without going overboard. The raptorans present a nice balanced approach to a flying race. I also liked the bows that can be used staves in a pinch and the various types of specialty arrows. The only thing that strikes me as completely nuts in that book is the ruathar prestige class.

I love Races of the Wild. I'm playing a Raptoran Cleric in the XE campaign, and that's very interesting. Dave is running a halfling druid/wizard/arcane hierophant which is also very effective, and having all the mithral armours listed is cool.

Cheers!

 

[Blue]

I don't play Ebberon, so I don't know that one. Races of Stone is pretty good - it's got stuff I can us in both the game I play and the game I run, both of which don't allow new races. Races of Destiny is nigh worthless - much of the book is new races or feats for new races only or prestige classes for new races. Races of Wild is somewhat like this, but a bit better, I could actually recommend it. Races of the Dragon is odd - it's all new races instead of details on existing PC races, but it does have useful feats and spells. In some ways, it's "Races of the Sorcerer" to me. Races of Faerun is a different style book. Came out quite some time ago, and doesn't have the same focus, nor the "1/2 races, 1/2 character options" - it's mostly about races, with a much larger number then the others. Because it's for a specific world, it is the only one where new races are allowed from in the FR game I play, so it's useful there,b but since I don't run FR, the small section of character options isn't worth it for a non-FR game.

Cheers,
=Blue

 

[TheAuldGrump]

I was only impressed with odd little bits in each of the books, and did not feel the need to purchase any of them. In the case of Races of the Wild only the Arcane Hierophant and a few feats were worthwhile, at least to my fading memory.

I have had better luck with the Complete series.

The Auld Grump