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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Raven Crowking" data-source="post: 2841264" data-attributes="member: 18280">IMC, you can play alot of different non-human PC types, including a lot of fey, giants, beastfolk (humanoid animals), and intelligent animals.  I make it work simply; taking one of the stranger races has both bonuses and penalties within the crunch.  The bonuses and penalties are intended to balance, both in terms of the character and in terms of the campaign.  If your goal is a cool character, then the limitations on the crunch shouldn't bother you.  If your goal is to crunch it up, then you can do that with a human type as easily as with anything else.As far as prestige classes go, I think that this was one of the great innovations of 3.0.  (Yes, I know that they existed earlier conceptually, but what a great thing to coidify for gaming/world building purposes!)  A fire temple of Cuthbert could be handled by a unique prestige class rather than a new racial type...in fact, the racial type could have been simply modified into a prestige class.  Same general idea; less suspension of disbelief.  Using prestige paladins?  Why not make them different based upon their divine patron?  Most of the published prestige classes don't tie into your campaign world in a unique way, but how could they?  The DM can determine campaign-specific prerequisites to make the option far more meaningful in role-playing terms.   <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /> Also, while I am sure that there are many people out there who want the strange combos because the character concepts draw them in role-playing-wise, I am equally sure that there are more people out there looking for crunch advantage.  Thing is, if you get enough crunch monsters, you can lose sight of the people who are really pulled to the strange combos.  Add to that the fact that most people really do "role-play" elves as pointy-eared humans, and you can (I hope) understand where the OP is coming from.  I know I can.My solution to the problem is to give game (i.e., crunch) benefits for role-playing non-humans as non-human.  Or crunch penalties for failing to do so.Example one:  A humanoid cat who becomes distracted by a small mammal rustling in the bushes, and thus deserts his guard post, gains 1 Action Point if there is a consequence to his behaviour.Example two:  Elves in my campaign world are fey, not humanoids.  A Glamdras elf (elf of twilight) who is a member of the Revelry of the Court of Dreams might enter Crux (a turning point with the power to kill, maim, or leave the fey changed forever) if he does any of the following:  break a promise, commit an obviously evil act, change his alignment, aid a mortal who broke a promise to him, allows his cynosure (think a dryad's tree) to be damaged or destroyed, or cause a mortal to give up a worthwhile dream.  Of course, he gets some nifty abilities to make up for these restrictions......(Thank you Goodman Games!)  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f60e.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":cool:" title="Cool    :cool:"  data-smilie="6"data-shortname=":cool:" /> RC</blockquote>

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