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Ilmryn
2010-06-23, 05:36 PM
With templates and awaken spells, almost any creature can be played as a race. What is the weirdest race you have ever played/seen someone play?

Marriclay
2010-06-23, 05:40 PM
I once played in game like this. my character was your vanilla human malconvoker. the other two players were a half-vampire draconic raptoran and a lolth touched mineral warrior kobold.

For Valor
2010-06-23, 05:46 PM
A Large Iron Heart Ironborn (Book of Iron Might) with the templates: Incarnate Construct (Savage Species), Arboreal and Cave (Advanced Bestiary), and Dragonborn (Races of the Dragon).

Large-sized with ridiculous bonuses to Constitution and Strength, and I think minor penalties to everything else.

And LA +0.

Mongoose87
2010-06-23, 05:51 PM
I once played in game like this. my character was your vanilla human malconvoker. the other two players were a half-vampire draconic raptoran and a lolth touched mineral warrior kobold.

What were their characters like?

Marriclay
2010-06-23, 05:55 PM
What were their characters like?

oh, you know. The raptoran was a necromantic experiment meant to turn him into an undead half-dragon but it didn't quite work. Angst angst angst.

The kobold, on the other hand, was played more like a tiny mobile fortress - with damage reduction, crazy AC, and everything like that, all he ever did was act like a tiny little wall for us. whenever roleplay popped up, the player would get all quiet and say something that made it sound like he thought he was roleplaying a dwarf

Eurus
2010-06-23, 06:00 PM
With templates and awaken spells, almost any creature can be played as a race. What is the weirdest race you have ever played/seen someone play?

Awakened cat with the shadow template would have to be up there somewhere.

Marriclay
2010-06-23, 06:02 PM
Awakened cat with the shadow template would have to be up there somewhere.

Shadowcat? Isn't that a superhero?

arguskos
2010-06-23, 06:10 PM
Shadowcat is a Marvel Comics mutant superhero, yes. She's also a human being, not a cat.

My stranger characters include: a silentium (http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20071012010539/starwars/images/thumb/a/a9/VuffiNew.jpg/180px-VuffiNew.jpg) binder//barbarian/fighter/ranger, an awakened small viper Archivist/Divine Oracle, and a dvati (http://psyko.homeftp.net/images/dvati.jpg) twin binder/warlock.

Most of my stuff is highly unorthodox, to say the least. :smallcool:

balistafreak
2010-06-23, 06:12 PM
For strange but not overly templated, try the Dvati from Dragon Magazine/Compendium.

You play a literal pair of twins who share a single set of attributes. They're twice as squishy, sharing a single HD's worth of hitpoints between them, although fortunately they both receive the Constitution modifier. There is a rule-roadblock that completely destroys the option of spellcasting for them, involving both twins having to concentrate/able to be disrupted/something or the other that's too awful for me to even remember properly. Because they're so squishy, putting them into melee is usually a Bad Idea. If one of the twins dies, the other does within days, giving you a very small Raise Dead/Resurrection window. They also have +1 LA, but chances are if you were thinking of playing such a weird race you have LA buyoff or free LA anyways.

However, you do receive twice as many actions. Ranged combat through archery works well; they also make brilliant Dragonfire Adepts due to your thirst for high Constitution. They also have a couple of other random flavorful twin benefits to with their weaknesses.

I seem to have an obsession for DFAs these days. :smallannoyed:

EDIT: Wow, swordsage'd on the Dvati. Well, I described why they're so weird, so ha. :smalltongue:

Heliomance
2010-06-23, 06:16 PM
A Voidmind Werebear Incarnate Dustform Half Ethereal Dragon Goliath.

Lycan 01
2010-06-23, 06:25 PM
A Half-Orc Bard who spoke in 3rd person but had 18 Charisma.

Greenish
2010-06-23, 06:32 PM
Dragonborn Muckdweller DFA (complete with dragon tail feat). World's Smallest Dragon.

nedz
2010-06-23, 06:35 PM
A Celestial Mule Sorceror, called Muffin naturally:smallsmile:

Mongoose87
2010-06-23, 06:44 PM
oh, you know. The raptoran was a necromantic experiment meant to turn him into an undead half-dragon but it didn't quite work. Angst angst angst.

The kobold, on the other hand, was played more like a tiny mobile fortress - with damage reduction, crazy AC, and everything like that, all he ever did was act like a tiny little wall for us. whenever roleplay popped up, the player would get all quiet and say something that made it sound like he thought he was roleplaying a dwarf

I make joke: You said "my character" then "the other players," implying that those were not their characters' races, but their own.

Optimystik
2010-06-23, 06:45 PM
Agreed on Dvati, they are officially the weirdest base race in the game, imo.

Marriclay
2010-06-23, 07:03 PM
I make joke: You said "my character" then "the other players," implying that those were not their characters' races, but their own.

oh...

I see...

woops

Doc Roc
2010-06-23, 07:50 PM
Beguiler, I think. Shining South. Somewhere between an adorable Pug and the legendary lightning rat in appearance, they bring good stat mods and racial true-seeing to the table at +1 LA and a dissolving RHD. He was a factotum and pretended to be the Tainted Scholar's familiar. It was a wonderful, if short-lived, campaign.

Cealocanth
2010-06-23, 08:14 PM
One of the players in my group got polymorphed into a chimp. They decided to stick with being a chimp. Sadly, the chimp was short lived...

Greenish
2010-06-23, 08:18 PM
One of the players in my group got polymorphed into a chimp. They decided to stick with being a chimp. Sadly, the chimp was short lived...Reminds me of the librarian.

Prime32
2010-06-23, 08:22 PM
For strange but not overly templated, try the Dvati from Dragon Magazine/Compendium.

You play a literal pair of twins who share a single set of attributes. They're twice as squishy, sharing a single HD's worth of hitpoints between them, although fortunately they both receive the Constitution modifier. There is a rule-roadblock that completely destroys the option of spellcasting for them, involving both twins having to concentrate/able to be disrupted/something or the other that's too awful for me to even remember properly. Because they're so squishy, putting them into melee is usually a Bad Idea. If one of the twins dies, the other does within days, giving you a very small Raise Dead/Resurrection window. They also have +1 LA, but chances are if you were thinking of playing such a weird race you have LA buyoff or free LA anyways.

However, you do receive twice as many actions. Ranged combat through archery works well; they also make brilliant Dragonfire Adepts due to your thirst for high Constitution. They also have a couple of other random flavorful twin benefits to with their weaknesses.

I seem to have an obsession for DFAs these days. :smallannoyed:

EDIT: Wow, swordsage'd on the Dvati. Well, I described why they're so weird, so ha. :smalltongue:They're even more awesome as Fiends of Possession.

I'm currently playing a symbiotic Mimic//Wyrmling silver dragon with fiendish ancestry (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=7498.msg253018#msg253018). Basically it can turn into just about anything (with a +51 Disguise mod at 7th level!) and has a butt-load of immunities. Specialised in grappling due to the mimic's adhesive ability.

Il_Vec
2010-06-23, 08:24 PM
One of my friends will be DMing Eberron. I am between playing a Neraph Wizard or a Dragonborn Incarnate Construct Dustform Water Orc Warblade.

CubeB
2010-06-23, 08:57 PM
I'm playing a Half Dragon Earth Kobold Warblade, which isn't too odd. He does have 26 STR though. He's a regular Kobold Hercules, that one.

My friend, however, built a Awakened Cat Wizard with a Human Familiar, but eventually decided for just a Dwarf.

BobVosh
2010-06-23, 08:58 PM
Were-Dire-Vulture Hulking Hurler.

AngelOmnipotent
2010-06-23, 09:21 PM
One of my current players got his hands on a 3rd party book called the Noble Wild. He's currently playing a raccoon Druid with an awakened-wolf-polymorphed-into-a-human animal companion. Whilst a talking raccoon is too freaky for the general population, the animal companion pretends to be the druid, mimicking gestures and words whenever the raccoon needs to cast any spells.

Doc Roc
2010-06-23, 09:41 PM
One of my current players got his hands on a 3rd party book called the Noble Wild. He's currently playing a raccoon Druid with an awakened-wolf-polymorphed-into-a-human animal companion. Whilst a talking raccoon is too freaky for the general population, the animal companion pretends to be the druid, mimicking gestures and words whenever the raccoon needs to cast any spells.

So, in eberron, where you have philosophically inclined robots, draconic merchants, and hobgoblin warblades chilling in the same city-states as affable inquisitors, changeling factotums, and shifter druids, all trying to get invited to the gala thrown by the gnomish scribes....

A talking racoon sticks out?

AngelOmnipotent
2010-06-23, 09:42 PM
So, in eberron, where you have robots, dragons, and hobgoblins chilling in the same city-states as inquisitors, changelings, and shifters, all trying to get invited to the gala thrown by the gnomish scribes....

A talking racoon sticks out?

Not the same game :smallwink:

Doc Roc
2010-06-23, 09:44 PM
Not the same game :smallwink:

Honestly, I think eberron is the least bizarre setting in D&D, because it doesn't have outsiders coming in for tea while abominations try to get the custards to set in the kitchen. :)

I kinda feel like it'd be better to ask which races aren't wildly bizarre.

Marriclay
2010-06-23, 10:07 PM
Honestly, I think eberron is the least bizarre setting in D&D, because it doesn't have outsiders coming in for tea while abominations try to get the custards to set in the kitchen. :)

I kinda feel like it'd be better to ask which races aren't wildly bizarre.

Human, Elf, Dwarf, Half-Elf, Half-Orc, Orc, and Halfling. That's actually about it

And no, I didn't forget about the Gnomes.

Arbitrarity
2010-06-23, 10:10 PM
Y'know what would work REALLY well?

Dvati Totemist. YEAH.

Also, Dragonborn Mongrelfolk. 0 LA, -2 Dex, +6 CON -2 Int, -2 Cha, IIRC..

Doc Roc
2010-06-23, 10:14 PM
Human, Elf, Dwarf, Half-Elf, Half-Orc, Orc, and Halfling. That's actually about it

And no, I didn't forget about the Gnomes.

I play a Tinker Gnome. You didn't leave anything out from my perspective.

Felyndiira
2010-06-23, 10:33 PM
Mimic Wizard for the laughs. Stripped away the hit die on the mimic, let it keep its class features, and 'assumed' that it's a 0 LA class. Pity the game never started, though.

Thajocoth
2010-06-23, 10:33 PM
I've got a Wilden Druid right now. Wilden are somewhere between Ents and Humans. They're humanoid tree people that are about the same size as a Human. They've got a few roleplay quirks I like:
* Society as a concept is a bit unfamiliar. Wilden don't really have a society so much.
* They refer to themselves in the plural, because they're not just an individual, they're a part of everything else. (My Wilden can also turn into a swarm of glowing fey bees, so using the plural for myself doubles for this.)
* They're a fairly new race with no longstanding grudges with another race, but believe their race came into existence to help combat the invasion of Aberrants (Foulspawn, Mind Flayers, Aboleths, Carrion Crawler, ect...) into the Feywild and Natural World.

I also added a few quirks of my own:
* Not squeamish at the sight of blood, but squeamish at the sight of cut plants. Also not a fan of materials like wood, but doesn't mind wearing hide armor.
* Instead of smelling like BO, his hand-me-downs of any gear he's used to someone else have a nice pine scent.

-----

My weirdest outside D&D was a giant hovering eyeball wearing a fedora. Used to be human, before the accident. Has an evil twin (who had the same accident.) It was in a superhero campaign and was my first character ever.

Lost Demiurge
2010-06-23, 10:40 PM
Thanks to savage species, I put together an Umber Hulk once. Was going to be a barbarian, but she never got that far.

Still came in handy for getting around "unavoidable" ambushes. We'd send the rogue to scout ahead, then I'd burrow a tunnel to a point behind the ambushers and hit'em from behind.

Skeppio
2010-06-23, 10:49 PM
Were-Dire-Vulture Hulking Hurler.

Which book has all these Lycanthrope templates outside of the monster manuals? The only one I could find outside of the Monster Manuals is the Werecrocodile from Sandstorm. :|

Dusk Eclipse
2010-06-23, 10:58 PM
Which book has all these Lycanthrope templates outside of the monster manuals? The only one I could find outside of the Monster Manuals is the Werecrocodile from Sandstorm. :|

There are not many official were-x templates, the normal lycanthrope template in the MM tells you how to make lycanthropes of different animals.

IIRC it is adding the HD of the animal you are a lycanthrope and either LA +2 for infected and LA+3 for natural lycanthrope... you gain the shapechanger subtype, DRx/Silver.... scent in all forms, hybryd and animal form... etc.

See the MM entry for lycanthrope more closely there it is the Making a.....

JonestheSpy
2010-06-23, 11:35 PM
In my current campaign, two players are animated suits of clothing, Professor Donegal Tweed and Lt. Burberry. Lots of Construct traits, high resistance to bludgeoning and some to piercing, very vulnerable to slashing. recently fireproofed. Usually confused about the bizarre habits and physical traits of humans and other flesh and blood creatures.

They work for the Bureau.

mikej
2010-06-24, 01:42 AM
Just a Vampire.

Err . . . Humans? The group I tend to play with always want non-standard races. So I play the Human since the norm is the strange in that group. So far I've seen Ogre, Minotaur, Goblin, Werewolf, Dracotaur, Naztharune Rakashasa, Ju-Ju Zombie, Unbodied, Lumi, Trumpet Archon, Tri-Kreen, Centaur, Dark-template, and I'm probally forgetting some. Most of those games I was either an Elf ( High/Gray ) or plain Human.

CubeB
2010-06-24, 01:54 AM
In my current campaign, two players are animated suits of clothing, Professor Donegal Tweed and Lt. Burberry. Lots of Construct traits, high resistance to bludgeoning and some to piercing, very vulnerable to slashing. recently fireproofed. Usually confused about the bizarre habits and physical traits of humans and other flesh and blood creatures.

They work for the Bureau.

I see what you did there. :smallamused:

Zaq
2010-06-24, 03:53 AM
We have a well-beloved NPC ex-Buomman on our team. She's currently a Wood Woad, due to a scroll of Reincarnate cast by a Wild Mage and a GM with a sense of humor and a taste for huge random tables. Being a Healer, she rides a unicorn. Interestingly, she's the only party member for whom I have a truly accurate mini, unicorn included.

Ajadea
2010-06-24, 04:20 AM
Vampire Yuan-Ti Abomination Fighter/Blackguard. Epic-level game, if you were wondering, and couldn't produce vampire spawn due to a rather unfortunate incident with a Storm Giant Cleric and a holy symbol the size of 'a deep-dish pizza'. Humor campaign. We weren't expecting the Yuan-ti though.

The funny bit is the entire Epic level party got beaten by our 6th-8th level good party heading the opposite way.

Amphetryon
2010-06-24, 06:23 AM
Anthropomorphic Giant Octopus Totemist. Fun times.

PairO'Dice Lost
2010-06-24, 01:42 PM
Oh boy. Two campaigns ago, everyone wanted to play templated monstrosities, so every PC was ridiculous. Two parties of five, and everyone started with incarnate construct ice beast+incarnate construct elder eidolon+incarnate construct effigy for -6 LA to fill up with templates, and there were some special allowances on top of that. Let's see if I can remember the exact builds...

Party the First
The Shadow. If there's an elemental template for it, he had it, plus paraelemental-ish ones like dustform. We nicknamed him the Shadow because he ended up with ridiculous Dex and could be really small and sneaky, so in-game the party didn't even know he was there half the time. Combat modus operandi? Using the smoke-elemental creature's "go into your lungs and kill you from the inside" abilities with his humongous claw damage.
The Achilles. He had wendigo, half-brass-golem, half-troll, and a few other templates that granted more immunities and resistances. It wasn't quite Emerald Legion-level invulnerability, but it was close. We called him Achilles because he had exactly one weakness that could be exploited occasionally without obvious DM fiat: a graymantle spell to suppress regeneration, made into a (Su) ability to bypass spell immunity (luckily one of the recurring villains was a dweomerkeeper, huh?). That didn't work often, but it struck fear into his heart when it did. Also, he wanted to ascend to become the God of Weasels; long story.
The Thrower. Tauric dire-something goliath with other brute-type templates on top. It was a basic hulking hurler build (the player was a fan of "Hulk smash!" barbarians) except that he counted as a Colossal quadruped with something like 60 Str and had levels in Bloodstorm Blade, so his weapon of choice was ricocheting houses.
The Zombipocalypse. This one was relatively straightforward: Greater Spawn of Kyuss and Half-Illithid, plus several applications of Evolved Undead. His mission was to voidmind-ify and spawn-of Kyuss-ify everything he came into contact with, and he had two spawnified elven children follow him around everywhere. Did I mention that this was an all-evil party?
The Arm-y. Phrenic Insectile Warforged with a thing for grafts. He'd cut the arms off every creature they killed and graft them onto himself, using generous interpretations of Multiweapon Fighting and Multiattack to get attacks with all of them.
Party the Second
The Host. A half-Daelkyr who went crazy with symbionts and the symbiotic creature template and then went into spellwarp sniper as a focused specialist evoker. He had fireball rays, lightning bolt rays, symbiont rays, beholder eye rays, and more.
The Pyro. Every fire-related template he could fit, he used. Half-red dragon, half-fire elemental, everything. He went focused specialist evoker/warlock/hellfire warlock/eldritch theurge and relied on hellfire blast and Searing Spell. Also had a Holocaust Disciple (Fire Avatar of Elemental Evil) cohort.
The Dragon. He had at least six half-dragon templates, one or two levels in every vaguely dragon-related class (he didn't take a second level in any class until 8th level), and was a dragonborn of Bahamut spellscale. He also acquired breath weapons from as many other places as he could. This party was very much the blasty type.
The Controller. Another multi-Evolved undead, this time a flaming frozen acidic skeleton. He went wizard/archivist/true necro with a few levels in sovereign speaker to pick up every domain that lets you rebuke creatures. He had enough minions to fill several monster manuals.
The Monk. Thri-kreen with every Cha-boosting template he could find, going into monk/wilder/fist of Zuoken, dipping sorcerer for Ascetic Mage, and ended up the party face. Ugliest sonofabitch you will ever meet, but every NPC forgot that once he opened his mouth mandibles.
So...yeah. :smallamused: Coming up with challenges for the parties (much less for the encounters for when they came together for a session) was...challenging.

Skeppio
2010-06-24, 08:34 PM
I haven't tried any wierd race-class-template combos yet, but this thread gave me some cool ideas.

An Incarnate Construct Tauric Wicker Man-Megapede named Wickerpedia.

An Awakened?* Eggify Anthropomorphic Octopus named Launch Octopus.

A Human Wizard/Effigy Master with Willing Deformity [Obese] named Dr Robotnik.

*Is there a template/spell to give sentience to a construct without it losing the construct type? (Not including the Soulfused Construct template from Incarnum)

PairO'Dice Lost
2010-06-24, 09:19 PM
*Is there a template/spell to give sentience to a construct without it losing the construct type? (Not including the Soulfused Construct template from Incarnum)

A spell called, appropriately enough, awaken construct in Savage Species.

Skeppio
2010-06-24, 10:01 PM
A spell called, appropriately enough, awaken construct in Savage Species.

Sweet. Launch Octopus shall become a reality.

The Endbringer Xaraphim
2010-06-26, 12:26 AM
I had a character that was a wizard turned intelligent sword.

I made a tarrasque ranger from the home plane of tarrasques. He traveled the multiverse, hunting down his rogue kin. His name was unpronounceable in the human tongues so he was known as Mittens.

Drow. All kinds of weird drow. A half-nymph priestess of Lolth (utter psycho-b*tch), a former masseur turned reluctant savior of the world (he ended up carrying around a god in his chest after his heart was cut out), a dark alicorn sex slave assassin...thing (he was a strange one) not to mention countless others.

A human gunslinger follower of Tymora named Fox McKay. He had a Southern gentleman's accent and he grew up on a giant spherical mushroom farm on the Astral Plane.

Maurice Harpell, a wizard who was turned into a chicken via Harpell-ishness. He lived under his friend's hat (the DM's character, also a wizard), wore spectacles and was scathingly sarcastic.

Um...what else? Oh, back in 2nd edition I played a dwarven bard named Stumpy Bastard. He continually belittled his audience in his songs but he was so good that the crowds always loved him for it. This drove him to write even more vitriolic songs, inspiring even greater adulation, thus fueling his hatred for everything that lived even more. He was Neutral Evil.