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DarkEternal
2010-04-24, 09:58 AM
Now that I have been DM-ing for some time and killed my share of PC's, I was wondering if there is a book or some source where I could find different races then the ones presented in the PhB to play as.


While the traditional races such as human, elf, dwarf and the like are great, I wouldn't mind letting my characters play something different from time to time, be it a kobold, goblin or whatever other race has it's official stats. Of course, some races don't seem all that feasible, like playing a giant or something, but you know, some could be pretty fun to see pulled off.

Also, in case there is such a book, is it also described how people react to these creatures? I mind, if a character plays a kobold, I don't know how would people in human towns or any towns with a well organised police force react to a monstrous humanoid/different species like that. Would there be restrictions?

Eldrys
2010-04-24, 10:02 AM
There are 4 books that have pretty much exactly what you want. Races of Destiny, Races of Stone, Races of the Wild, and Races of Dragon. Some other books such an Magic of Incarnum and Expanded Psionics Handbook have several races as well.

Divide by Zero
2010-04-24, 10:02 AM
Now that I have been DM-ing for some time and killed my share of PC's, I was wondering if there is a book or some source where I could find different races then the ones presented in the PhB to play as.

Almost every book has a section for monsters related to its theme. Usually at least a couple of them are playable. Alternately, Savage Species has rules for creating monster classes.


Also, in case there is such a book, is it also described how people react to these creatures? I mind, if a character plays a kobold, I don't know how would people in human towns or any towns with a well organised police force react to a monstrous humanoid/different species like that. Would there be restrictions?

Usually it's implied in the fluff at the beginning of the entry, but the DM always has to wing it a bit with things like that.

Runestar
2010-04-24, 10:03 AM
There are, but they are scattered about different books, I don't think there is a consolidated source.

You can try the various races of X books. Races of dragon has a lot of information about playing a kobold, for instance.

Savage species has rules for playing more powerful and exotic monsters such as giants and even astral devas, though it is very poorly edited and not all the information presented inside is 3.5 compliant, plus the debilitating LAs assigned tend to make them too weak to be viable PCs.

The Dark Fiddler
2010-04-24, 10:06 AM
Now that I have been DM-ing for some time and killed my share of PC's, I was wondering if there is a book or some source where I could find different races then the ones presented in the PhB to play as.

A lot of the expansion books give extra races, usually naturally suited to the new mechanic introduced. Psionics and Incarnum do this I know, but Tome of Battle is the main exception I know of.



While the traditional races such as human, elf, dwarf and the like are great, I wouldn't mind letting my characters play something different from time to time, be it a kobold, goblin or whatever other race has it's official stats. Of course, some races don't seem all that feasible, like playing a giant or something, but you know, some could be pretty fun to see pulled off.

Oh, that's all you want? The monster manuals offer stats for most of the more humanoid races, also helpful for making NPCs with class levels out of them. Unfortunately, a lot of these suck (Kobolds get a net -4 to ability scores and light sensitivity, and Strength tends to be overvalued a bit), but with a bit of editing they could work.


Also, in case there is such a book, is it also described how people react to these creatures? I mind, if a character plays a kobold, I don't know how would people in human towns or any towns with a well organised police force react to a monstrous humanoid/different species like that. Would there be restrictions?

That depends a lot on your universe and how you want the players playing them. If your players are playing Drizzt Do'Urden style (decent members of an otherwise evil, hated race) then people would most likely react negatively until they prove themselves, and even then the racism might still be a problem. On the other hand, if you're just taking the races and adding them to the 'civilized' races (Kobolds are a common choice for this) then I imagine they'd be like any other race.

Tiki Snakes
2010-04-24, 10:09 AM
Assuming 3.5, there are stats for PC Goblins and Kobolds in the Monster Manual already. (As well as a good number of other such races. Guidelines are in there somewhere, too.)

Though, in those two particular cases, it's worth baring in mind that they are pretty weak choices. Even with the Races of the Dragon write-up and extra web material, Kobolds will almost never be a more powerfull choice than a PHB race.

With the very wonky exception of particularly risky Sorcerer builds, or if you're daft enough to let the little dragon-droppings get their hands on a couple of Eberron specific dragon-templates. :smallbiggrin:

DarkEternal
2010-04-24, 10:11 AM
I see, alright, I'll check these books out then to see and recommend my players something in case they want. We usually only play by core, so I am doing the same with classes as well. While the core classes are great, sometimes something different could be just as fun.

Marillion
2010-04-24, 10:15 AM
The Dragon Magazine Compendium has several new races, from the Tibbit (were-cats) to the Dvati (twins who share a soul) to the Diopsid (insect people)

Captain Six
2010-04-24, 10:33 AM
Savage species if you don't mind 3.0. Also Arcana Evolved claims to be a variant Players Handbook and has a ton of new races and base classes.

The Glyphstone
2010-04-24, 10:41 AM
Ta-Da! (http://www.crystalkeep.com/d20/rules/DnD3.5Index-Races.pdf)

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nedz
2010-04-24, 12:18 PM
You could start by looking at the Crystal Keep List for Races.
This summarised all the mechanics and tells you in which source you can find the fluff.

Critical
2010-04-24, 12:45 PM
Ta Dah! (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19546874/Master_Player_Race_List_Version_2.0)

(my Ta-Dah is better than yours)

Devils_Advocate
2010-04-24, 04:47 PM
Also, in case there is such a book, is it also described how people react to these creatures? I mind, if a character plays a kobold, I don't know how would people in human towns or any towns with a well organised police force react to a monstrous humanoid/different species like that. Would there be restrictions?

The other key distinctions between adventuring in a city and delving into a dungeon is that a dungeon is, almost by definition, a lawless place where the only law is that of the jungle: Kill or be killed. A city, on the other hand, is held together by a code of laws, many of which are explicitly designed to prevent the sort of behavior that adventurers engage in all the time: killing and looting. Even so, most cities’ laws recognize monsters as a threat to the stability the city relies on, and prohibitions about murder rarely apply to monsters such as aberrations or evil outsiders. Most evil humanoids, however, are typically protected by the same laws that protect all the citizens of the city. Having an evil alignment is not a crime (except in some severely theocratic cities, perhaps, with the magical power to back up the law); only evil deeds are against the law. Even when adventurers encounter an evildoer in the act of perpetrating some heinous evil upon the populace of the city, the law tends to frown on the sort of vigilante justice that leaves the evildoer dead or otherwise unable to testify at a trial. - the SRD (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/wilderness.htm#urbanAdventures)

Humanoids are people. That spells affecting only humanoids have names of the form "______ Person" should be a hint to this. Some races consist mostly of evil people, but evil people aren't necessarily even discriminated against. Some forms of evil are tolerated or even endorsed.

Even if France is at war with Germany, the Paris police force isn't going to kill any German who comes into town, and in fact they're going to look very unkindly on anyone who does. But that doesn't mean that some bastard won't try it anyway, so a German might be well-advised to stay out of Paris and watch out if he needs to go there for some reason. Certainly, he should expect people there to distrust him.

Savage Species talks a bit about potential attitudes towards "monsters". Obviously, this is one of those things that's going to vary a lot from place to place.


Though, in those two particular cases, it's worth baring in mind that they are pretty weak choices.
Goblins are quite good at being small, stealthy, and quick, just not at anything else. They do all right in their rather small niche, the halflings to the orcs' dwarves.

AslanCross
2010-04-24, 04:59 PM
Races of Eberron was also meant to be used as a supplement for using its races outside of Eberron. Monster Manual III has three of the four Eberron races (Warforged, Changeling, Shifter).

Runestar
2010-04-24, 05:43 PM
Oh, that's all you want? The monster manuals offer stats for most of the more humanoid races, also helpful for making NPCs with class levels out of them. Unfortunately, a lot of these suck (Kobolds get a net -4 to ability scores and light sensitivity, and Strength tends to be overvalued a bit), but with a bit of editing they could work.

Races of dragon goes a long way towards making kobolds more playable, with web enhancements offering a PC-worthy upgrade, free sorc lv and the book having the dragonwrought feat and fighter-sub adding +2str/con. :smallsmile: