Another race by myself

[ninja_kitsune]

Ok, so I think my Kitsune race was a complete failure in everyone's eyes, so I think I'll try again with the Soratami. Remember, the races I've posted on here are made from Wizard's Kamigawa set, not actual Japanese folklore. Also, I really suck at thinking these things ok, so I want as much criticism as possable, thanks. Oh, before I forget, I know that when you see their constitution penalty, you will flip, so you needn't mention that.

* -4 to constitution
* +1 to INT, WIS
* +2 to CHA
* Favored class: All
* Forbidden Class: Barbarian
* Telepathy

Personality: The Soratami (a.k.a. Moonfolk) are believed by some to be demi-divine. Regardless of how a Soramtami has been raised, all Soratami have an almost exact personality. They believe that all other races are beneath them. No matter how powerful a foe is, a Soratami believes that they are more powerful, even in defeat. They are VERY proud and will never let others know that one of theirs has failed in any circumstance. When one of theirs is struck down, the rest will remove all remnants of the body, so that no “lesser beings” would know this. The Soratami are also very mysterious. If they have been discovered, whether it be a simple back-alley sale or inter-planer domination, all who discovered what they were doing must die on the spot. Some Soratami are more egotystical, and will toy with their prey before killing them off. The Soratami believe the world will reach the apocholypse, one day, and when that happens, they will be safe in their cloud cities, then rebuild the world in their image. It is for this reason, that they someties install themselves as advisors of great figures. By doing this, they believe they can make their day of reckoning arrive faster.

Physical Description: The Soratami all have pail bluish-white skin. It is nearly impossable to tell males from females. They stand at the same build as a human, with long, rabbitish ears, that they will usually keep tied around their head, to keep them from being a distraction. The Soramtami are highly intelligent, and persuassive, but their bodies are extremely fragile, while somehow maintaining an average strength.

Relations: The Soratami will relate with other races only to get what they want. They will take the role of advisor to sway events to their favor. To a Soratami, all other races are inferior, and nothing more than scum.

Alignment: A Soratami will almost always be N.E.

Soratami Lands: If you were to call their homes any kind of land, you would be dead. The Soratami live high up in their cities hidden in the clouds, floating on the air. Soratami will be found in other areas, for the sole purpose of shifting events to their favor or gaining new power.

Languages: The Soratami have no language of their own. They mainly use their telepathic abilities to speak to each other in common.

Adventures: A Soratami will adventure for either personal gain, or gain of the race in general.

[Deleran]

Couldn't Soratami fly? And in any event, just say no to odd numbered ability bonuses.

[Brickwall]

And I really think -4 is bad for any ability score, unless we are referring to a creature of somehwere around Tiny size or less.

This, actually, isn't well-constructed otherwise either. They don't have a flying ability, but do have cities among clouds. Seems like poor planning. A forbidden class seems totally wrong in 3.0 and 3.5. A sentient race can grasp any alignment and way of life. An ostracized Soratami might live off the land and become wild. Of course, his rages would only last .5 rounds because he has such low Con. And telepathy period? No. Nonononono. Maybe you could give them a 100 foot-range 1/day limited message or something, but otherwise, no. And no odd bonuses to abilities. I'd get rid of the Charisma too. they seem like jerks.

EDIT: And don't give them All as their favored class. It's a human trademark, and really doesn't make sense with their race. Maybe wizard or another scholarly class.

[Deleran]

Yeah, for stats, I'd probably go +2 dex, -2 con, +2 int. Favored class: wizard. With a race like the soratami, you're gonna have to bite the bullet and give them a LA, they aren't gonna work any other way.

[ninja_kitsune]

Ok, I agree with pretty much everything you all say, except 1 thing. The soratami themselves could not fly, even though they were all given flying on the cards. If you read the books (which I loved, myself) they summoned cloud chariots to propell themselves up to their capital, Oboro. Anyways, I appreciate the input. Deleran, you're, like the one guy whom I make an effort to read the posts of. Oh, even though the Soratami are jerks, they are exceptional at persuading others to their will, so I think the CHA bonus will stay, regardless. Any other input would be nice.

[Deleran]

Err, thanks, I spose. If you notice, racial modifiers tend to physical much, much, more than mental. This is because WotC probably believes, (I haven't seen it put down in writing) as do I, that most races think basically the same way that humans do, and their mental stats should reflect this.

With that in mind, I think they should get one mental bonus, tops. If you want to keep their persuasive ability, I would recommend a bonus to Bluff, Diplomacy, or both instead of a charisma bonus. If you want to keep their cunning, perhaps a bonus to sense motive instead of wisdom. And instead of int, perhaps a bonus to spellcraft or a knowledge skill or two. I think Wizard would make a good favored class instead of any, especially because almost (if not) all of the cards had the wizard subtype. I agree that you shouldn't ban a class from them, it goes against the nature of 3rd. Edition. You should just make it very clear in the fluff that they will almost never be barbarians.

I haven't read the books, so I'm not familiar with the telepathy ability, but if you have the FR campaign book, you may want to look at the ghostwise halfling ability.

[Berserk_ferrit]

Didn't they make a moonfolk race in the oriental adventures book anyway?, besides +1 to stats is a bad idea, if you look at the "average" stats for say a human (+0) it is always 10 or 11, and since it makes no difference, no one cares. A plus 1 would only confuse, does the average person have 11 or 12? in which case it does indeed make a difference. If i were you i would get rid you the +1's, and reduce the con penalty, or you can change them to + 2 and introduce a str penalty....

[ninja_kitsune]

Yeah, I thought they had one in oriental adventures... I haven't seen that book in a while. Um... yeah... I knew this race would suck, I'm just not good at designing things and drawing them out very well. Makes me a sucky DM, doesn't it? Oh well, if at first you don't suceed, try again. I probly will post later with ANOTHER race I'm trying to make.

[Brickwall]

Races don't seem to be your thing. Try, maybe, classes, cultures of existing races, PrCs, campaign worlds, etc. Many fields for you to work in.

[ninja_kitsune]

tf... I've tried all of those. I suck all the same. At least everynody's being honest about it though. I hate when people lie and say I do great. Thanks man.

[Deleran]

Don't beat up on yourself. That never helps. Just keep plugging away and you'll start getting better.

[ninja_kitsune]

Who said I was beating myself up? I was just merely acknowlaging my weak points. Those are what I need to work on.

[ILM]

Side note : making Wiz a favoured class for this would be a horrible waste, since they don't have a language. If you look at the magic rules, you'll see that you can't cast a spell with a verbal component if you can't speak them. This is further stated in the Alter Self spell description :
You retain any spellcasting ability you had in your original form, but the new form must be able to speak intelligibly (that is, speak a language) to use verbal components and must have limbs capable of fine manipulation to use somatic or material components.
Conclusion : no language, no spells.

[ninja_kitsune]

no, they can talk! They just don't have any racial languages, thats what is meant.