Freaky Awesome Races

[malonkey1]

Out of 3e, 3.5 and Pathfinder, what are your favorite of the truly weird races?

Mine has always been the Dvati. One of my favorite characters was a Dvati in a Gestalt game, where my DM ruled that each twin had one side of the Gestalt.

[VariSami]

The Dvati are indeed awesome. I have had a pair as a friendly NPC who has levels in Spellthief. Even when they are separated, one side may steal buffs from their benefactor for the other to cast, and they allow communication between the aforementioned benefactor and the party.

The Thri-Kreen are, of course, a classic race. I simply adore them. From a gaming perspective, particularly the non-psionic variant is useful although I am sure it must go against their original fluff from Dark Sun.

The Warforged are actually quite weird once you begin to think of their circumstances. These robots are not simply metal people - they have been born into this world ready to fight and they never rest, for example. While mechanically they have no real problems with their personal identities, aside from their ability penalties, I like giving them slightly robotic maneuvers such as addressing themselves by name or as 'this one'.

Finally, there are the Synads. While the Dvati may be many bodies with one mind, the Synads are of course three minds in one body. Especially once you consider the implications of one of these minds being a collective hive mind, it starts becoming fun. Personally, I prefer having each mind be a part of the Synad's name. For example, all Synads which are connected to a particular Overmind (unless it is specified as a racially shared mind) would have a particular name in their tripartite whole name.

[Kazudo]

Anthropomorphic Baleen Whale. One of the better LA +0 large races out there.

[Necroticplague]

Sharn. ECL9. A bit high"? yes indeed. However, in exchange, you can screw over the action economy (3 standards, one move), fly, cast as two casters at level 6. And the very interesting RP that comes from the fact each one was, in the past, at least three creatures. Not even similar ones, its entirely possible for a chole dragon, a human, and a dwarf to all be sharing a 3-headed body.

[Jeff the Green]

I like Illumians. They're literally made of words, and they're very good at thurging, a style I'm fond of. They can also make paladins less MAD by swapping their bonus spells to Strength.

Tibbits, because no one expects the Spanish Inquisition a psychic house cat.

Kenku, because they're anthropomorphic ravens and can mimic any sound.

[malonkey1]

Sharn. ECL9. A bit high"? yes indeed. However, in exchange, you can screw over the action economy (3 standards, one move), fly, cast as two casters at level 6. And the very interesting RP that comes from the fact each one was, in the past, at least three creatures. Not even similar ones, its entirely possible for a chole dragon, a human, and a dwarf to all be sharing a 3-headed body.

I managed to find stats for that just now. Holy cow. With Mystic Theurge 10, that's Sorcerer/Favored Soul 16 at ECL 19. If you can take one of the few negative LA templates (I know they exist, but I'm not sure what they are, nor do I know if the Sharn qualifies), you might be able to get double-nines, or at least 9/8.

[BWR]

Hrm. Most of the races I like are because of culture more than race.
Illithids, because illithids (and their culture is pretty homogenous).
Ethergaunts.

If we're going for culture,
Athasian halflings (how can you dislike cute little lifeshaping cannibalistic bastards?)
Rakasta, espcially Myoshiman rakasta. Smilodon-riding samurai cats from an invisibile moon? Yes, please. Catfolk with a Regency-esque culture locked in eternal struggle or at least dislike with their 18th-century canine neighbors? Very yes please.

[Xaroth]

Are there any caps on this CR/LA wise?

[BWR]

If 3rd party products are available, the ulb from Dragonstar: giant sentient amoebas.

[TheMonocleRogue]

Create an awakened horse using the awaken druid spell
Give it levels in bard
Name it "Mr. Ed"

[Vedhin]

I like Mechanatrix, especially Lesser Planetouched versions. Immunity to and healing from an entire energy type is too fun to play around with.

[Muggins]

I managed to find stats for that just now. Holy cow. With Mystic Theurge 10, that's Sorcerer/Favored Soul 16 at ECL 19. If you can take one of the few negative LA templates (I know they exist, but I'm not sure what they are, nor do I know if the Sharn qualifies), you might be able to get double-nines, or at least 9/8.
Sharn have 9 RHD and +5 LA, for a base ECL of 14. You also need a level in both Sorcerer and Cleric in order to progress them via Mystic Theurge (which specifically progresses the spellcasting of a class, not a race's innate spellcasting). The highest result I can think of is a RHD 9/Sorcerer 1/Cleric 1/Mystic Theurge 4/LA 5, which gets CL 14 for each and, thus, 7th level spells.

However, the Sharn comes with some cheesy text which makes getting 9ths possible. Read its innate spellcasting and you'll discover a phrase which boils down to "for every hit dice, increase either its sorcerer or cleric casting by 1 effective level." Not racial hit dice, hit dice (e.g. class levels). You gain an extra 6 levels to allocate between your effective Sorcerer and Cleric spellcasting, which can be used to give you CL 17 for both (8th level Sorcerer spells, 9th level Cleric spells).

Dat cheese.

[Chaosvii7]

I'm a fan of the Lumi race. They're outsiders whose bodies are made of pure light, and their heads are detached from their bodies. They're actually very well balanced for a 2 RHD, LA +2 race in my opinion. They're immune to energy drain, death spells, magical death effects, energy drain, negative energy, they can't die from temp HP from positive-dominant planes, light-based effects(searing light, color spray, etc.), vorpal weapons(specifically), and they get a few cheap SLAs. They make good clerics or gish(which I have done myself) and have a decent amount of flavor for what they're worth.

[Curmudgeon]

Marrulurk (Sandstorm, page 170) is fairly awesome. See here (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ub/20050317a) for some highlights.
Small
Speed 20'
3 Monstrous Humanoid HD (ouch, but still full BAB at least)
+1 LA
+2d6 Sneak Attack
Death Attack (but DC 13 save only)
Nauseating breath (free action 1/day Fort or be nauseated, 15' cone)
Move Silently, Hide, Listen all +4 racial
Discriminating Hearing - a racial ability for Marruspawn. Essentially, if anything corporeal either moves or has respiration within 30', you know it's there. If you're within 5', you can pinpoint the square. Pretty much Scent with a different sense.
+2 STR, +6 DEX, +4 CON, +6 WIS, +4 CHA (Yowza!)
Point Blank Shot and Precise Shot as racial bonus feats
Poison Use
Resist Fire 5
Low-light vision and darkvision 60'
Favored Class: Rogue
Can use Marruspawn Zymes (which take a standard action to drink):
Speed: +10' for 1 minute
Marrucraft: Heals 3d8+5 points of damage

[Necroticplague]

Sharn have 9 RHD and +5 LA, for a base ECL of 14. You also need a level in both Sorcerer and Cleric in order to progress them via Mystic Theurge (which specifically progresses the spellcasting of a class, not a race's innate spellcasting). The highest result I can think of is a RHD 9/Sorcerer 1/Cleric 1/Mystic Theurge 4/LA 5, which gets CL 14 for each and, thus, 7th level spells.

However, the Sharn comes with some cheesy text which makes getting 9ths possible. Read its innate spellcasting and you'll discover a phrase which boils down to "for every hit dice, increase either its sorcerer or cleric casting by 1 effective level." Not racial hit dice, hit dice (e.g. class levels). You gain an extra 6 levels to allocate between your effective Sorcerer and Cleric spellcasting, which can be used to give you CL 17 for both (8th level Sorcerer spells, 9th level Cleric spells).

Dat cheese.

They got a 3.5 update in an adventure books that makes them 4HD, LA5, casting is sorceror/favored soul, and specifically only get casting from HD gained by integrating more creatures into themselves.

[Muggins]

They got a 3.5 update in an adventure books that makes them 4HD, LA5, casting is sorceror/favored soul, and specifically only get casting from HD gained by integrating more creatures into themselves.
I probably should've checked my books before saying all of that. Though, praytell, what adventure book are you talking about? The most recent version of the Sharn I know of are from the Player's Guide to Faerun web expansion.

[Necroticplague]

I probably should've checked my books before saying all of that. Though, praytell, what adventure book are you talking about? The most recent version of the Sharn I know of are from the Player's Guide to Faerun web expansion.

Anaruoch:The Empire of Shade.
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