Savage Species

[Pinkcrusade]

Hello all.

I had a few questions pertaining to Savage Species. First off, in your opinion, which races do you think are viable at a higher level of optimization relative to others? Also, is there anyway to make the Fire Elemental found in the book comparable to other party members, or is it destined to be unused?

Thanks for any input.

[QuickLyRaiNbow]

Which races from SS? Or which monster races generally? And are you including templates?

[Pinkcrusade]

Just races from SS. Templates too, I suppose.

[Dread_Head]

Many of the Anthropomorphic animals are pretty ridiculous. The ECL0 ones all have high boosts to wisdom, of particular note is the anthro bat which has +6wis, flight and blindsight(sense?) which is perfect for a druid. The Anthropomorphic Baleen whale is great for a bruiser, 3 Monstrous Humanoid HD which are ok and large size with really nice stat boosts. They're the only races I know in savage species that are viable at high op levels (particularly the anthro bat).

[Pinkcrusade]

Hello. I was mostly wondering about the racial progression classes (like Fire Elemental or Kyton). Would any of those compare to other PCs?

[Forrestfire]

Many (or most, thinking about it) will end up weaker than an even-level PC on account of LA being horribly limiting, even in a savage progression form.

[Dread_Head]

Hello. I was mostly wondering about the racial progression classes (like Fire Elemental or Kyton). Would any of those compare to other PCs?

As ForrestFire says all of the racial progressions suck a little due to the general poorness of LA and the fact that class features are generally better than racial ones. The ones I listed are the races from that book most suited to higher optimisation levels relative to the others. The racial progression classes may be suited to lower op groups but I've not really looked at them in much detail so couldn't tell you for sure.

The online savage progressions (if you can find a link to them after the wizards purge) are much better because you don't have to take the whole class at once so you can grab just the abilities you want or gain it slowly buying the LA off (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/races/reducingLevelAdjustments.htm) every three levels.

[Pinkcrusade]

Hmm, thanks for the replies.

Now, is there anyway possible to combine the Fire Elemental with a certain class to play to its strengths? Or perhaps any other elemental?

[sideswipe]

i personally think pixie can be very good in high op. you get the irresistible dance for free in SS but the MM version gets DR. so go with that.

its great for a rogue'y type, ranged or finesse. yes there are better but i have played pixie rogues and the like and they are great fun and when built right can be very powerful. since melee's don't really rely on having 20 class levels you don't lose too much. and there aren't many other races that have similar adjustments and abilities for the same adjustment or better. 20k saved with the perma invis.

[unseenmage]

Anything with either LA or racial HD is going to tank against characters with straight class levels in the mid to high op range.

One way around this is to play in a Gestalt game.

[QuickLyRaiNbow]

Anything with either LA or racial HD is going to tank against characters with straight class levels in the mid to high op range.

One way around this is to play in a Gestalt game.

Depending on the optimization level and goals this isn't always true. Steel Dragon wyrmlings, for instance, make for pretty excellent gishes.