Your favorite obscure race?

[SangoProduction]

By obscure race, I mean one that's going to take some time to find without already knowing about it, or is so incredibly uncommon that many players probably didn't know they were a thing.

Mine is the Dvati. It always kinda resonated with me in a way. Also, I did kinda like playing rogue-like characters back in the day, so having a self-flanker was kinda cool.

[Ellyth]

Daelkyr half-bloods. Never got any love outside of Magic of Eberron, and they’re really not all that great, but I like ’em.

Marrulurks are neat too; something actually worth its LA! That certainly qualifies as obscure...

[Buufreak]

I have always said and will always say that for this, I chose wemic. It's a centaur, but you take the horse and replace it with lion, then take the human and replace it with more friggen lion.

[Maat Mons]

I've always kind of liked faun, half-human elf, and laika.

[ben-zayb]

Warforged Scouts are pretty obscure IMO, but the DEX bonus means they're occasionally better suited for Warlock at early levels than their more famous cousin. PEW! PEW!

Asherati is a personal favorite, if only because of their weird sand-swimming ability.

[Ravens_cry]

Aranea. I just find them delightful. You could have a race of werespiders be your classic slavering monster, or some insidious threat but, no, they're just slightly jerkish, magically skilled people. Who are giant, hunchbacked spiders with hands. Most of the time. It's really too bad all their magical abilities make them basically unplayable as an actual player characte race, but they just strike a chord with me despite, or maybe because, of my fear of spiders. They show that something I fear can be a friend.

[Venger]

muckdweller. tiny and nonhumanoid for la0. what's not to love?

[StevenC21]

Human.

Nobody seems to talk about them outside of optimization handbooks.

[Andezzar]

Human.

Nobody seems to talk about them outside of optimization handbooks.I wouldn't call them obscure, they are pretty much everrywhere.

As for favorites: Poison Dusk Lizardfolk.

[Particle_Man]

Stonechild. No racial substitution levels, 2 racial HD and +4 LA makes them less attractive to some. They are in Races of Stone (and before that in the Miniatures Handbook of 3.0, I think). I like these guys. They make good warblades as in addition to their awesome Str and Con they get an Int bonus. I could also see them as Horizon Walkers. I even tried to fit one into Master of Nine with a fighter/crusader base just 'cuz. I guess in theory Eldritch Knight would be on the table. But I have never played a stonechild, alas.

Another obscure one that IMHO shouldn't be: Intelligent Skeleton. It finally appears in 5th ed (albeit as an NPC race in the DMG, so it would take a permissive DM to allow it).

[False God]

I have always said and will always say that for this, I chose wemic. It's a centaur, but you take the horse and replace it with lion, then take the human and replace it with more friggen lion.

I....really can't argue with this one. Hmmm...I really want to make some wemic variants for other animals now, like bears.

[Palanan]

I love the Samsarans from Pathfinder. Not sure if they're all that obscure, since they're featured in the Advanced Race Guide, but they're hardly ever mentioned in the Playground and I've never seen one played.

I also like the hybsils from Monsters of Faerûn, although I don't think they're intended to be a playable race. Which is a pity, because they'd be a lot of fun. A Small-sized fey quadruped? Yes please.

[Cygnia]

Spiker...one day I hope to finally play my Spiker Dervish!

[Blackhawk748]

Hobgoblin is one i love who gets no recognition. The other is the Tell Amhothlen from Kingdoms of Kalamar. It's a half or half elf and it's wonderful

[schreier]

Irda, from Dragonlance ... which is 1st party (just the campaign setting book) - they are reprinted in Races of Ansalon, and I like that version better but it is 3rd party. It is a +2 LA, but for +2 Int, +2 Cha, -2 Con with Low Light and Change shape and some SLA I think that is reasonable. Particularly since we allow buy-off.

In the Races book, they also have a feat that upgrades their change shape ability.

In the Campaign setting book, they have:
Change Shape (Su): Three times per day, an irda can assume the form of any humanoid-type creature of Small to Large size ...

In Races of Ansalon, it is changed to:
An Irda has the supernatural ability to assume the appearance of any Small, Medium, or Large humanoid, monstrous humanoid, or giant ...

The second is written more precisely and I believe is similar in its potential forms, but changes from three times per day to at will

In Races, there is also a couple supporting feats:
Changer Adept (requires Irda, 17 Int, lvl 7)
May add animal, magical beast, ooze and blank to the list of creatures ... +2 save vs transmutation, and can change effective caster level of incoming transmutation by +/- 1

Changer Savant (requires Irda, 19 Int, lvl 13, Changer Adept):
May polymorph as a spell-like ability usable 3 times per day, CL = character level.

[MisterKaws]

Anthro-Squid. There's just so much bs you can pull with them. They're just the most amusing race ever.


I....really can't argue with this one. Hmmm...I really want to make some wemic variants for other animals now, like bears.

I did it once for Iron Chef(with squid of course) . You can do Anthro-[animal] - Tauric-[animal] for most of them. Though the results usually come off quite a bit higher than Wemec and Centaur.

[Bohandas]

Mine is the Dvati. It always kinda resonated with me in a way. Also, I did kinda like playing rogue-like characters back in the day, so having a self-flanker was kinda cool.

I think they're cool too. They remind me of that one character from Discworld.

[Gallowglass]

I love the Samsarans from Pathfinder. Not sure if they're all that obscure, since they're featured in the Advanced Race Guide, but they're hardly ever mentioned in the Playground and I've never seen one played.

Story Time!

Played a game where a player made a Samsaran Gunslinger. Storyline was that he and his family were killed by an enemy Samsaran and he reincarnated and is now hunting down the one who killed him. Player didn't elaborate on whether his wife and child reincarnated.

So this turned into the major plot of the game. The enemy Samsaran jokingly called "The Man in Black" became a power-hungry fiend who had found a way to steal the reincarnation energies of samsarans he killed to fuel his foul magic. Then, at the end game, they learned that he was stealing the energy to try and free the world they were in from a sort-of curses-state and the players had to decide whether to help or stop him. Half chose to help, half chose to stop. Made a fun end-game.

However, as proof that games never turn out like books, the player of the Samsaran gunslinger had dropped out before the end of the game, so the rest of the players ended up fighting a final battle against a nemesis that wasn't even theirs. lol.

[Vizzerdrix]

Daelkyr half-bloods. Never got any love outside of Magic of Eberron, and they’re really not all that great, but I like ’em.

+1. I wish they had gotten more support. I did find a decent paragon class for them once but It was homebrew.

I'm still looking for an easy way to get living armor too. PAO feels wrong but is what I have so far.

I'd like to present the bariaur from manual of the planes. +1 la. Medium quadrupled. Bad stats. But cool looking ram/elf taurs.

[calam]

Hobgoblin is one i love who gets no recognition. The other is the Tell Amhothlen from Kingdoms of Kalamar. It's a half or half elf and it's wonderful

hobgoblins were always one of my favorites when it comes to non mainstream races, I especially like how they are incorporated into tome of battle with them making the first sword and having a connection to the iron heart discipline. Its rare to see a non core race have an impact in a non setting book and its probably why I like them so much.

[Willie the Duck]

Killoren from Races of the Wild are a nifty idea - kinda a halfway point between 'nature as flowers and furry friends' and 'nature red of tooth and claw.' They kind of got pigeonholed into the thing people took if they wanted an non-psionic, non-undead no-set-lifespan race before warforged were cemented as the iconic race for that role.

[Troacctid]

Arcane gnomes are buried in a Dragon Magazine, but they have bonuses to Int and Con and always have Use Magic Device as a class skill.

Cynidicean humans from Elder Evils are regular humans with low-light vision and light sensitivity. Since light sensitivity can be negated with a 10 gp pair of sunglasses, it's basically a free upgrade.

Strongheart halflings and water halflings are both pretty well known here, but they're easy to miss if you don't already know about them.

Combining the savage progressions for feytouched and half-fey lets you gain the half-fey template for only +1 LA, which is an excellent bargain.

[Malphegor]

I keep feeling Grigs have way more potential than other fey. Plus they're kinda cute. Super smol fey (Tiny in fact, so you could have a tiny fey based on tina fey if you were so inclined), with big old cricket-like legs. Still have wings (a touch slower than a pixie), still have level adjustment (but it's one less than a pixie so more viable for LA reduction), and still seem to have a decent charisma.

Plus they come with a fiddle, and as a former violinist, I can say that any race that comes with or gets special features via fiddle magic is one that is pretty high in my book.

One day, I will get my head around level adjustment reduction, and I'll get to whip out a fiddle and get everyone to irresisteable dance until the slaad come home!

(plus it's nice to see a musical class that isn't straight up 'is a bard', instead it's 'basically a bard ability but a racial ability'.)

I'm pretty sure that +3 LA is manageable- that gets written off after level 12 in class levels right? So when everyone else is level 15 if we were milestoning it, I should be able to swiftly start catching up.

Plus I'm pretty sure there's no other mention of fiddles in D&D. So if you want to get into a fiddle-off with a devil, boy let me tell you so, the Grig's the race to go!

[Oberron]

By obscure race, I mean one that's going to take some time to find without already knowing about it, or is so incredibly uncommon that many players probably didn't know they were a thing.

Mine is the Dvati. It always kinda resonated with me in a way. Also, I did kinda like playing rogue-like characters back in the day, so having a self-flanker was kinda cool.

Ditto on the dvati. But I always enjoyed playing them as two handed fighters or warblades

[False God]

I did it once for Iron Chef(with squid of course) . You can do Anthro-[animal] - Tauric-[animal] for most of them. Though the results usually come off quite a bit higher than Wemec and Centaur.

I was mostly thinking of a thematic reskin, keeping the underlying stats the same(ish) but flavoring it with different setting/culture/behaviour.

[Buufreak]

I was mostly thinking of a thematic reskin, keeping the underlying stats the same(ish) but flavoring it with different setting/culture/behaviour.

Or even go more tauric with it. Have a bear torso on top of a snakes belly. When all else fails, blame a mad wizard for creating such abominations.

[Xania]

Hobgoblin is one i love who gets no recognition. The other is the Tell Amhothlen from Kingdoms of Kalamar. It's a half or half elf and it's wonderful


They are fine, in my case it's the "hobgoblin" name what i don't like.

For now i would agree on muckdwellers, they look funny, like a cheap dinosaur toy.

[PoeticallyPsyco]

One day, I will get my head around level adjustment reduction, and I'll get to whip out a fiddle and get everyone to irresisteable dance until the slaad come home!

I'm pretty sure that +3 LA is manageable- that gets written off after level 12 in class levels right? So when everyone else is level 15 if we were milestoning it, I should be able to swiftly start catching up.

Not quite. Each point comes off after Level = total LA x 3. So with +3, the first point comes off at level 9, the second six levels later at level 15, and the 3rd 3 levels later at level 18. So starting at ECL 15 you've bought off one level and start the game with 13 class levels and 2 LA if you've got a generous DM (a less generous one may make you calculate the total experience, which puts you at 94,000 XP; 11,000 away from reaching ECL 15).

[Ravens_cry]

The favorite obscure race I've actually played was a Tibbit. The concept just delights me to no end of adventuring as a cat that is occasionally a humanoid when most useful. And you qualify for the mostly April Fool's but still very useful Cat feats. Sadly, that campaign only lasted one session, but I would definitely be inclined to do again in future.

[PoeticallyPsyco]

Darfellans (Stormwrack) are super cool for an aquatic/sailing campaign. Bite attack, 40ft swim speed, hold breath, and echolocation are all useful and flavorful features, and their racial history makes for great campaign hooks and roleplaying. 0 LA.

[False God]

Or even go more tauric with it. Have a bear torso on top of a snakes belly. When all else fails, blame a mad wizard for creating such abominations.

Now I wish I still had the book with my stats for the Multi-Bear.

[Thurbane]

If you don't mind LA +1/buy-off, I like Sunscorch Hobgoblins (DM) and Gray Orcs (RoF): both make great Clerics.

Very fond of Underfolk (RoD), but they are a bit subpar, mechanically.

Also, the previously mentioned Cynidiceans (EE), who I only discovered recently.

[Bphill561]

Shadovig from dragon Magazine #299, diminutive fey with 1/2 HD and a +1 LA. They are specifically associated with the shadow weave in forgotten realms.

[Cygnia]

My husband had fun with a vanara (from Oriental Adventures) druid in a brief campaign we were both in.

I loved my stonehunter gnome in another game. I know whisper gnomes are the subrace that gets all the optimized love, but stonehunter just FIT for this character (a Favored Soul of Bahamut).

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Gallowglass
The enemy Samsaran jokingly called "The Man in Black" became a power-hungry fiend who had found a way to steal the reincarnation energies of samsarans he killed to fuel his foul magic. Then, at the end game, they learned that he was stealing the energy to try and free the world they were in from a sort-of curses-state and the players had to decide whether to help or stop him.

Sounds like a great concept and a really fun game.

I have a cabal of samsarans in my campaign setting, but they’re less overtly evil, more controlling from the shadows.


Originally Posted by Willie the Duck
Killoren from Races of the Wild are a nifty idea….

The killoren have a lot of promise, but sadly that promise was never really developed. I don’t think they received any support in any other Wizards product, and because of that they seemed strangely bland and unexciting.

I had a niche for them in a campaign setting, but found them so blah that I ended up brewing a custom race that I like much better. Some people likely appreciate the killoren as a tabula rasa, but I found them a little too rasa to ever pique my interest.


Originally Posted by Cygnia
My husband had fun with a vanara (from Oriental Adventures) druid in a brief campaign we were both in.

I played a vanara magus in a Pathfinder game and loved it, although the campaign wasn’t ideal for the character. I also played a tengu druid in a Kingmaker campaign, which again was not as great as it could’ve been. But I did enjoy trying out those races.

.

[Sheogoroth]

Eyekin from Complete Guide to Beholders.

They are basically humans with eyeballs covering their entire body. They have a very niche racial class that let's them become beholders over time. It's basically a sorcerer with wizard progression from a very small spellbook. All spells become ranged rays, and you only ever learn 2 spells per level.

Again, it's very niche and only designed for someone who's always wanted to play a beholder... which is me!

[Arctus Tyrvar]

I think the Adu'ja is my absolute favorite obscure race. I love the idea of sentient plant people. Beyond that though, honorable mentions to both Thri-kreen and Armands. Got a lot of mileage and fun out of them as well.

[Andezzar]

I never heard of Adu'ja or Armands. where can I find them?

[MisterKaws]

I never heard of Adu'ja or Armands. where can I find them?

Dragon 317 and Monster Manual III, respectively.

[Makiru]

The jaebrin in MM5 were always a favorite of mine. They were LA+0 or 1 (don't recall), had a natural bite, the fey type, and the odd ability to spoof being under a hostile enchantment if they made the save.

The fey'ri tiefling from Races of Faerun was one that I really liked during my edgelord years, but that LA+2 made it unusable in most games.

One I did get to play was the neraphim from Planar Handbook, if only for one session. They were playable slaad, to put it simply, with a 1/target ability to bend space to make a ranged attack seem slower than it actually was, leaving the target flat-footed.

As far as Pathfinder is concerned, the Yaddithian always brings me joy. They're immortal Lovecraftian humanoids that can keep mental spellbooks by snorting the scribing components with their tapir noses. Unfortunately, the little lore they got says the lowest level one you could find in the setting is a level 7 wizard, so that's a no go for most games.

And if we want to go max sadness, the fact that the flumph has never gotten a race write-up is downright criminal.

[Malphegor]

The favorite obscure race I've actually played was a Tibbit. The concept just delights me to no end of adventuring as a cat that is occasionally a humanoid when most useful. And you qualify for the mostly April Fool's but still very useful Cat feats. Sadly, that campaign only lasted one session, but I would definitely be inclined to do again in future.

What class did you go for? Been looking at them myself, and warlock looks tempting for a ‘SURPRISE! I AM A MAGIC PERSON!’ sneaky attack, though being unable to cast spell-likes when in cat form (because somantic components on invocations) sounds sensible but not overpowered.

Seen a lot of peoppe go swordsage or swashbuckler for a Puss in Boots build on tibbits on a search through these forums.

[Psyren]

Astomoi! (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/other-races/more-races/race-points-unknown/astomoi/) The artwork alone gets me going:

https://66.media.tumblr.com/30937aa59d9fd198867ed3785c73de5b/tumblr_inline_opgoq8miTF1s2vv7d_400.png

They're a mouthless psionic/psychic race with telepathic speech and a keen sense of smell. Lousy archers and bards though.

[Vizzerdrix]

What class did you go for? Been looking at them myself, and warlock looks tempting for a ‘SURPRISE! I AM A MAGIC PERSON!’ sneaky attack, though being unable to cast spell-likes when in cat form (because somantic components on invocations) sounds sensible but not overpowered.

Seen a lot of peoppe go swordsage or swashbuckler for a Puss in Boots build on tibbits on a search through these forums.

Tibbit psychic warrior/ stoneblessed (goliath) / Mt. Rage barbarian is a build I've been tinkering with. Become a large house cat by 6 when you rage.

[Ravens_cry]

What class did you go for? Been looking at them myself, and warlock looks tempting for a ‘SURPRISE! I AM A MAGIC PERSON!’ sneaky attack, though being unable to cast spell-likes when in cat form (because somantic components on invocations) sounds sensible but not overpowered.

Seen a lot of peoppe go swordsage or swashbuckler for a Puss in Boots build on tibbits on a search through these forums.
I convinced my DM to let me play them in Pathfinder (and let me take the April Fool's Fabulous Cat feat (http://archive.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/fools/20030401c)s when in feline form), and I played a Pathfinder Ninja. 3.5 Rogue or similar class would still be fun though. I mean, you're a cat. Of course you're sneaky little bastard.

[PoeticallyPsyco]

What class did you go for? Been looking at them myself, and warlock looks tempting for a ‘SURPRISE! I AM A MAGIC PERSON!’ sneaky attack, though being unable to cast spell-likes when in cat form (because somantic components on invocations) sounds sensible but not overpowered.

A friend of mine plays a Tibbit Psion, and pretends that he's just the familiar of my character (a jack-of-all-trades Crusader/Rogue who's more than happy to pretend to have mysterious psychic powers).

[Ravens_cry]

A friend of mine plays a Tibbit Psion, and pretends that he's just the familiar of my character (a jack-of-all-trades Crusader/Rogue who's more than happy to pretend to have mysterious psychic powers).
Heh, I like it. Petrol, my Tibbit, spent all the session in cat form, and for the first half of it, the other players thought she was just a random cat, as the DM had a quirk of handing control of random NPC and even monsters to players who didn't have a character 'on screen' to give them something to do. The characters only realized there was something different about that cat when she went invisible.

[Crake]

I feel like tibbits don't actually count as "obscure" because even people playing 5e who've never touched 3.5 have heard of them and want to play them, if anything, they're quite a common meme among the tabletop community, you don't even need to be that well versed to know about them.

[PoeticallyPsyco]

I feel like tibbits don't actually count as "obscure" because even people playing 5e who've never touched 3.5 have heard of them and want to play them, if anything, they're quite a common meme among the tabletop community, you don't even need to be that well versed to know about them.

Fair enough, here's a weirder one: Hengeyokai, from Oriental Adventures (and updated to 3.5 in Dragon #318). Kind of a halfway point between Tibbits and Lycanthropes, they can transform between a specific animal, a hybrid form, and a fully humanoid form a number of times per day equal to their character level (limitless duration, though). While not a novel sight in optimization competitions, I don't think I've ever heard them mentioned elsewhere in the Playground. +1 LA in 3.0, +0 in the Dragon update.

EDIT: I also recently used a monkey Hengeyokai to create a character that could both ride and be ridden by her eagle Wild Cohort. Check out Jackie the Jinx in my sig.

[Crake]

Fair enough, here's a weirder one: Hengeyokai, from Oriental Adventures (and updated to 3.5 in Dragon #318). Kind of a halfway point between Tibbits and Lycanthropes, they can transform between a specific animal, a hybrid form, and a fully humanoid form a number of times per day equal to their character level (limitless duration, though). While not a novel sight in optimization competitions, I don't think I've ever heard them mentioned elsewhere in the Playground. +1 LA in 3.0, +0 in the Dragon update.

EDIT: I also recently used a monkey Hengeyokai to create a character that could both ride and be ridden by her eagle Wild Cohort. Check out Jackie the Jinx in my sig.

I am actually quite fond of hengeyokai, and a fun fact to note is that technically a fox hengeyokai is actually a kitsune. Another interesting fact about them is that their name, hengeyokai, translates roughly to "transforming apparition", which certainly matches their description.

Speaking of interesting names, Dvati translates to, in many eastern european tongues, roughly "Two of you", in a similar manner you might use two address two people "Oi, the two of you, come over here" sort of way.

[Remuko]

I feel like tibbits don't actually count as "obscure" because even people playing 5e who've never touched 3.5 have heard of them and want to play them, if anything, they're quite a common meme among the tabletop community, you don't even need to be that well versed to know about them.

id never heard of them before coming here and seeing them mentioned. Anecdotal of course, but not nothing.

[Crake]

id never heard of them before coming here and seeing them mentioned. Anecdotal of course, but not nothing.

When you say coming here, do you mean the forums? or this thread? If it was these forums, then it would depend on how long ago that was, because they definitely were, once upon a time, quite obscure, but they've become very popularized as of the last few years.

[DanTG230]

Umbragen are pretty cool, they are at a DrMag and are a "secret race" even bardic knowledge or knowledge checks won't yield anything about them.

Dracotaurus and Skullcrusher Ogres and Hassarf are pretty awesome too

[DanTG230]

Hengeyokai, from Oriental Adventures (and updated to 3.5 in Dragon #318). Kind of a halfway point between Tibbits and Lycanthropes, they can transform between a specific animal, a hybrid form, and a fully humanoid form a number of times per day equal to their character level (limitless duration, though). While not a novel sight in optimization competitions, I don't think I've ever heard them mentioned elsewhere in the Playground.

I think I saw one used for the Iron Chef MoMF comopetition it was a sparrow hengeyokai.

[Remuko]

When you say coming here, do you mean the forums? or this thread? If it was these forums, then it would depend on how long ago that was, because they definitely were, once upon a time, quite obscure, but they've become very popularized as of the last few years.

I meant GitP by "here". A lot of races commonly talked about here I'd never heard of.

[DEMON]

I like Kenku.

Reminds me of the diguise Robin Hood used for the archery tournament in the Disney animated version of Robin Hood...

[Spore]

Goblins. If anyone plays a Lv 1 cannon fodder race for their game it is usually a kobold (or a dragonwrought kobold for abuse shenanigans).

[Crake]

Goblins. If anyone plays a Lv 1 cannon fodder race for their game it is usually a kobold (or a dragonwrought kobold for abuse shenanigans).

Ok, goblins need to be quite possibly the least obscure non-standard fantasy race, come on.

[Thurbane]

Ok, goblins need to be quite possibly the least obscure non-standard fantasy race, come on.

I think he may possibly have meant underused rather than obscure...

[False God]

I think he may possibly have meant underused rather than obscure...

I'd agree, if Pathfinder wasn't making them a starring race of PF2. Either Paizo has a real thing for Goblins (which I think is the case) or Pathfinder players REALLY love playing them. I've never seen the latter so I can only assume the former.

[Palanan]

Yeah, Pathfinder definitely has a thing for goblins. They've taken a certain perspective on the race and run hard with it.

From what I can tell, We Be Goblins! is genuinely popular, so there are certainly plenty of Pathfinder players who like running goblins, at least for that module. I've never seen anyone run a goblin in other Pathfinder games, so probably not as common outside that specific product.

[ZamielVanWeber]

Athasian Human. For +1 level adjustment you get a pile of PP, several powers off the psion/wilder list, and +1 to any two stats of your choice.

[Spore]

I'd agree, if Pathfinder wasn't making them a starring race of PF2.

Which isnt even out yet. I picked goblins because I didnt want to mention fourlegged moon humans or psionic dwarf-halfling hybrids just something you see EVERYTIME as monsters but almost never as PCs even though they are available.

[Xania]

Goblins. If anyone plays a Lv 1 cannon fodder race for their game it is usually a kobold (or a dragonwrought kobold for abuse shenanigans).

Because for whatever reason goblins have to be pathetic beyond words in most people minds, but they see kobolds beyond a completelly different light. As names are important to me can't understand why neither of them should be wasted like that.

[Malphegor]

I'd say Spellscales are probably fairly obscure. They pop up in that one 'we let Gwendolyn Kestrel go wild with race creation' (I've gotten the sense from the books she's involved in that she had the best and weirdest ideas in 3.5) dragon book Races of the Dragon, they're basically scale-covered humans who REALLY like magic, and get free metamagic feats for X times a day (and a few other abilities that would be feats) by meditating on the natures of specific dragon gods. No LA I recall.

There's probably something to be said about a floating limited metamagic feat each day for optimisation purposes. plus it includes eschew materials in the list of blood quickening abilities which are otherwise mostly metamagic, so I guess Races of the Dragon was written early on when eschew materials was still considered a metamagic feat from the 3.0 version?

The artwork for them is kind of funny. The description of them is basically 'elf-esque humanoids with scale skin and each one is a unique snowflake of personal identity', but the actual artwork is 'scaled drow with lighter skin and basically the same hairstyle but different hats'.

Still, they seem more dignified than playing a kobold.

[Crake]

Because for whatever reason goblins have to be pathetic beyond words in most people minds, but they see kobolds beyond a completelly different light. As names are important to me can't understand why neither of them should be wasted like that.

That's pathfinder's doing, trying to portray goblins as bumbling idiots, rather than the terrifying swarm that tolkien portrayed them as. Doesn't help that other popular media like world of warcraft also protrays them in a much more harmless light, as greedy/haphazard engineers for example.

[Asmotherion]

Spellscales: They're my favorite option for a Sorcerer-incantatrix because of the Ritual that gives them a huge bonus to Spellcraft. Plus you can get a free metamagic feat that you can change each day.

[Shocksrivers]

Now I think this is technically 3.0, but many of the races in Bastards and Bloodlines. Decataur (half elf half horse either satyr or centaur) and TRIXIE (half gnome half pixie)!

From 3.5 proper, I don't know...

[Gnaeus]

Marrulurk. Pretty competitive with rogue levels, with lots of side benefits like great stats and poor mans blindsense.

[Andezzar]

What's poor man's blind sense? Blind sense is pretty poor already. Did you mean blind sense, the poor man's blind sight?

[Gnaeus]

What's poor man's blind sense? Blind sense is pretty poor already. Did you mean blind sense, the poor man's blind sight?

Discriminating Hearing (Ex): A marruspawn can hear across great distances with ease, gaining a +4 racial bonus on Listen checks. A marruspawn's hearing is so sensitive that it can sense the presence of most creatures merely by the sound of their breathing, their heartbeat, or their movement if they are within 30 feet.

When a marruspawn detects a noise, the exact location of the source is not revealed - only its presence somewhere within range. A marruspawn can take a move action to note the direction of the sound. Whenever a marruspawn comes within 5 feet of the source, it can pinpoint the sound's location. Undead, constructs, and other creatures that have no metabolism are not subject to being detected by discriminating hearing unless they move-in any round when they move, they are detectable by the sound they make while moving through the air or shuffling along the ground. Only incorporeal creatures are completely undetectable, unless they wish to be detected.

[Andezzar]

Wow that is even less useful than blind sense

[Psyren]

What's poor man's blind sense? Blind sense is pretty poor already. Did you mean blind sense, the poor man's blind sight?

It's an ability they have called "Discriminating Hearing (Ex)". It basically works like scent for hearing - it tells you something is within 30ft if it moves (or even if it's standing still as long as it has to breathe or has a heartbeat) but not what square it is in the way blindsense would. A move action will tell them the direction of the source, and they can tell what square it's in if they come within 5ft. of it.

Blindsense is stronger than that because it does tell you right off the bat what square something is in, even if the target still has concealment. Blindsight meanwhile tells you the square and negates most forms of concealment.

EDIT: Marrulurk'd

[Troacctid]

Wow that is even less useful than blind sense
It's closer to scent, really.

[Particle_Man]

Because for whatever reason goblins have to be pathetic beyond words in most people minds, but they see kobolds beyond a completelly different light. As names are important to me can't understand why neither of them should be wasted like that.

A long time ago there was an article in Dragon Magazine called "Tucker's Kobolds" about a DM named Tucker who made his kobolds tactical geniuses and scared a level 10 party into just getting past them and down to "Safer" levels of the dungeon (this was 1st ed.). I think kobolds kept this reputation through the editions somehow. That said, I have seen both races as PCs in campaigns I have been a player in.

[Xania]

That's pathfinder's doing, trying to portray goblins as bumbling idiots, rather than the terrifying swarm that tolkien portrayed them as. Doesn't help that other popular media like world of warcraft also protrays them in a much more harmless light, as greedy/haphazard engineers for example.


Certainly, even Tolkien's ones are affected by it, because sometimes they are seen as if they were the ones from the Labyrinth movie


@Particle_Man Thanks. Sometimes i found about Tucker's kobolds but don't knew exactly what they were.
Somebody must use them. Most people must prefer them over gnomes, i only know about the deep gnomes being somewhat liked.

[PraxisVetli]

I wouldn't call them obscure, they are pretty much everrywhere.

As for favorites: Poison Dusk Lizardfolk.

Came here to say this.

[Âmesang]

Equicephs, horse-based "minotaurs" native to Western Oerik of the WORLD OF GREYHAWK® (via 2002's adaptation of Chainmail), though they're mostly found as animated skeletons — remnants of an ancient civilization. From what I recall the worst of their kind was cast out onto an Australia like continent, so while the rest of their kind went extinct the criminals escaped and plied the seas as pirates.

I still don't see how their depicted weapon is a "great axe," though… :smalltongue:
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/mhbk_gallery/76981_CN.jpg

[Vizzerdrix]

Did I mention vrill? I don't think I did, but I'm rather infatuated with them.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Âmesang
Equicephs, horse-based "minotaurs" native to Western Oerik....

That is definitely an obscure race. I've never heard of it, though I'm not familiar with the Greyhawk setting.


Originally Posted by Âmesang
...(via 2002's adaptation of Chainmail)....

What is this, exactly? Was there a 3.0 reissue of Chainmail?

[Âmesang]

That is definitely an obscure race. I've never heard of it, though I'm not familiar with the Greyhawk setting.
I don't think they ever released a figurine of a regular equiceph, just the animated skeletal version.


What is this, exactly? Was there a 3.0 reissue of Chainmail?
More-or-less. It's background tied it into the WORLD OF GREYHAWK® via Western Oerik (as opposed to Eastern Oerik, a.k.a. "The Flanaess"), with some further details written up in issues of DRAGON Magazine, but it was eventually canceled and folded into D&D proper via the Miniatures Handbook.

I tried bookmarking much of the old web archive here:
https://www.schadenfreudestudios.com/forum/thread.php?thread=21#4

[Thurbane]

Equicephs, horse-based "minotaurs" native to Western Oerik of the WORLD OF GREYHAWK® (via 2002's adaptation of Chainmail), though they're mostly found as animated skeletons — remnants of an ancient civilization. From what I recall the worst of their kind was cast out onto an Australia like continent, so while the rest of their kind went extinct the criminals escaped and plied the seas as pirates.

I still don't see how their depicted weapon is a "great axe," though… :smalltongue:
http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/mhbk_gallery/76981_CN.jpg

Very interesting. I run a Greythawk based campaign, and have used Equicephs as villains. I was unaware of their Greyhawk history. Thank you.

[Aniikinis]

Mine has to be the Slyth from Underdark.
https://78.media.tumblr.com/719b8038beb0a6fb8eb8c9fa0d188829/tumblr_p7zdip9ZWC1r31a3io5_400.png
Dopey-looking humanoid-ish slimes that get along well with most people, act as the underdark janitors, and have the ability to get into places others can't get to easily with a +2 to dex and Wis and a -2 to strength? That's just begging to be made into a druid, bard, or rogue. Additionally, it's always nice to have some of those perks like:

Alternate Form: a moving ooze(most ooze benefits and penalties) or slime-man(default form)
Water Breathing: Campaign dependent, yes, but there are lots of lakes in the underdark so it could come in handy.
Immunity to polymorph and poison
Sonic Resistance 5: Not much, admittedly, but it's not a very common resistance and it tends to add up.
+4 Racial Bonuses to Disguise, Escape Artist, and Survival: useful, if not all that common.
Weapon Familiarity(Flutter Blades): Admittedly not too good( 1d4 for medium, 19-20 x3 crit, slashing or piercing and switch between with a move action), but it's free so can you really complain? Even better if the DM lets you switch it out for something else (like gnome quickrazor or spiked chain).

My biggest gripe with the race, however is the +2 LA, but that can be reduced with LA rules from UA. For those bonuses it can be a bit hard to swallow at first glance, but it has no HD, a good amount of ooze traits, the ability to switch between ooze and humanoid form as a standard action, and the above benefits for 2 LA that can be reduced. I'll take that.

Plus if Inevitability ever does Underdark, they might get a lower LA, so that's another selling point.

[Malphegor]

[QUOTE=Aniikinis;24066229]Mine has to be the Slyth/QUOTE]


That art kinda makes me think of red dwarf's Kryten but in a fantasy setting.

their fluff's cool. Unknown origins, either made by gods, descended from earth and water genasi via humans and their rampant breeding with anything tendencies, so I guess you could consider them unofficially 'mud genasi', which is rad.

Weirdly based on them having a purpose on cleaning the underdark and keeping it from being defiled, they probably wouldn't be that common as oozemaster and slime lords which is generally about making a mess of things with slimes.

Which is kinda funny- you have slimepeople who probably wouldn't want to be the slime-focused class.

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by Aniikinis
Plus if Inevitability ever does Underdark….

Who or what is Inevitability?

And how would they "do" the Underdark?

[Elkad]

Who or what is Inevitability?

And how would they "do" the Underdark?

Community project run by Inevitability to re-LA all the creatures.

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?518086-The-LA-assignment-archive

and it's sister threads.

[Alabenson]

One of my favorite races are the Hadozee from Stormwrack. Not for any mechanical reason, I just like the idea of playing a happy-go-lucky talking orangutan.

[Sutr]

Original illumian. The one that was released on the website having a level adjustment. It was probably worth a well scaling 2 or 3 LA but most people only know of the one in races of destiny. I wasn't able to find it the last time I looked...

Not posting hoping someone has stronger google-fu.

[unseenmage]

Agree that Dvati are cool.

Recently fiddling with the Amalgam template from Green Ronin's Advanced bestiary to combine them with Warforged. Because two magic robot heads are better then one.

For my pick it's either Incarnate Construct, which might as well be a base race and that evil version of Human from BoVD. Nasty little buggers theh are.