Maenads

[Cicciograna]

I was re-reading XPH and...is it me or this race sucks?
What's the point of Maenads? Energy ray (sonic) 1/day, 2 PP bonus and...Outburst? -2 to Int and Wis for a +2 to Str 1/day for max 4 rounds? I fail to see its purpose.

No really, if I missed something, please tell me.

[cfalcon]

I think they aren't totally terrible if your character isn't a psionic class, or isn't a psionic class *much*. Starting with PPs is never bad, and an actual ability that deals energy damage as baseline is interesting and uncommon.

That final thing is probably why they are generally a weak choice. I suspect the designers viewed that as being Pretty Darned Neat. To an extent it is.

[Forged Fury]

I fail to see its purpose.
It is pretty bad, but you can totally do an awesome Heavy Metal singer blaster concept with it. ;)

[Amphetryon]

Maenad Wilder emulating an Egoist/Psychic Warrior schema does pretty well, all things considered. There are *better* races, but eventually that road leads to Human or Venerable Dragonwrought Kobold. It's not horribad.

[Coidzor]

Hope you can find a flimsily built shack if you wanna be able to get into Sonokineticist though.

[Eldan]

You get free tickets to all of Dionysus' orgies. :smalltongue:

[Tokuhara]

I say this: Maenads are cool because if you are a Maenad Barbarian/Frenzied Berserker, you can Outburst, Rage, and frenzy all at once. You are one angry dude...

[arguskos]

You get free tickets to all of Dionysus' orgies. :smalltongue:
/threadover

Actually, Maenads aren't all that bad really. For an LA +0 race, they are fairly interesting. Free power points, a sonic laser, and an untyped Ex +2 to Strength for 4 rounds. That's not bad actually. They need more uses/day, but otherwise, it's lookin' alright.

Are they humans? No. Are they playable? Sure.

[Zaq]

They are also, if memory serves, the only race that naturally gets PP and doesn't have any stat penalties, so if you just want to qualify for psionic feats, they'll never interfere with your concept. (Kalashtar might also have neutral stats, but I don't remember. Either way, maenads don't have any setting ties, and they were there first.)

Basically, they're in that 85% of races that don't have anything special about them but aren't going to hurt you to play one. The Energy Ray can come in handy when you least expect it. Outburst is situational, but unless you're a WIS- or INT-based caster, it's unlikely to be unwelcome when every point of STR counts. Remember, relatively few races in 3.5 have racial features that really affect your day-to-day adventuring career in an interesting and useful way. Most of them are just the word you write before your classes. Yes, the ones that have the really interesting and powerful racial features tend to be the rockstars, but as long as the race has something interesting about it, it'd still be playable.

[Greenish]

They are also, if memory serves, the only race that naturally gets PP and doesn't have any stat penalties, so if you just want to qualify for psionic feats, they'll never interfere with your concept. (Kalashtar might also have neutral stats, but I don't remember. Either way, maenads don't have any setting ties, and they were there first.)Yeah, kalashtar have no stat penalties (or bonuses), and they invented the tashatalora style. Beat that. :smalltongue:

Also, do synads have stat penalties?

[Forged Fury]

Yeah, kalashtar have no stat penalties (or bonuses), and they invented the tashatalora style. Beat that. :smalltongue:
Plus, the kalashtar power point bonus is waaaay better. But yeah, it is setting specific... very setting specific. In fact, I think kalashtar have far more of a tie to Eberron than any of the other races, even warforged (unless you add in the Secrets of Xen'drik fluff and then I guess the two races are kind of related.

[arguskos]

Also, do synads have stat penalties?
No, they do not.

[Viktyr Gehrig]

Nope, they're just really boring. I was about to make a biting and totally unfair criticism of the new races in the XPH, but then I remembered the Elan.

[Viktyr Gehrig]

Remember, relatively few races in 3.5 have racial features that really affect your day-to-day adventuring career in an interesting and useful way. Most of them are just the word you write before your classes.

I really, really hate this. It's completely and utterly true, and I hate it.

[Zaq]

Yeah, kalashtar have no stat penalties (or bonuses), and they invented the tashatalora style. Beat that. :smalltongue:

Also, do synads have stat penalties?


No, they do not.

Shows what I get by posting on my lunch break (i.e., without my books). I stand corrected.

I do like the default fluff on the maenads (and I have a player in my group who does very fun things with her maenad, so I'm kinda biased), but I'll be the first to tell you that fluff is mutable.

They're a pretty unremarkable race. I definitely won't deny that. I'd still take one over, say, a rilkan or a shifter.

[FMArthur]

They are just one of those races where the designers only cared if their features were relevant at low levels, as if that were the norm and classes were supposed to take over entirely after a couple levels.

[Viktyr Gehrig]

They are just one of those races where the designers only cared if their features were relevant at low levels, as if that were the norm and classes were supposed to take over entirely after a couple levels.

Isn't that like, all of them? The only races I can think of that significantly affect high-level play are Humans because of PrC access and the Elan because of PP fueled powers. Race is good for finding a +2 to a stat you need and a -2 to a stat you don't, but it's otherwise insignificant.

edit: You know, this is one area where Pathfinder is a little better. If you use the Alternate Favored Class Bonuses from the APG, your race becomes an interesting and flavorful decision. Most of the time.

[RaginChangeling]

Isn't that like, all of them? The only races I can think of that significantly affect high-level play are Humans because of PrC access and the Elan because of PP fueled powers. Race is good for finding a +2 to a stat you need and a -2 to a stat you don't, but it's otherwise insignificant.

edit: You know, this is one area where Pathfinder is a little better. If you use the Alternate Favored Class Bonuses from the APG, your race becomes an interesting and flavorful decision. Most of the time.

Elans, Planetouched, and Dragonwrought Kobolds can all matter for alter form stuff, and playing a large creature, or a quadruped, will help with some martial builds. Granting access to Hulking Hurler is pretty significant.

Actually, playing a Changeling or Warforged can matter quite a bit. Warforged for the amazing living construct type and Changelings for some of their prestige classes and abilities.

[Viktyr Gehrig]

You're right. I overlooked a lot of good stuff on account of the "standard" races and all the sundry variations thereof.

[faceroll]

For a rather specific, low level build, Maenad Duskblade 6 with a greatsword can use psychic weapon, and greater psionic weapon, channeling a shocking grasp through his weapon, does 11d6+1.5 str+power attack x2 damage. Not bad; that's approaching 50ish damage on a standard action.

[Lord.Sorasen]

Isn't that like, all of them? The only races I can think of that significantly affect high-level play are Humans because of PrC access and the Elan because of PP fueled powers. Race is good for finding a +2 to a stat you need and a -2 to a stat you don't, but it's otherwise insignificant.

edit: You know, this is one area where Pathfinder is a little better. If you use the Alternate Favored Class Bonuses from the APG, your race becomes an interesting and flavorful decision. Most of the time.

Thri-Kreen perhaps. Access to the multiweapon fighting line and all. And raptoran flight powers improve as the raptoran gets more hit dice so that's sort of a thing.

[FMArthur]

Also half-giants, goliaths and diospids have nigh-irreplacable racial benefits that come from your body size/shape and affect what a melee character can do all the way from 1 to 20. Bonus feats, small size, scaling abilities (raptoran and dragonborn flight come to mind), useful creature types or just a massive slew of bonuses (dwarves) all carry you into at least mid-high levels. Ability score adjustments are also a rather difficult to replace racial benefit, and the +4 variety can make a pronounced difference well into one's career (and before you say it, anything you might do to catch up is also something they can do to stay ahead).