Katie Boundary
2019-10-03, 06:53 PM
As I was skimming through my 100% legally purchased PDF files for information on thri-kreen, I came across the revelation that certain tings were never quite correctly explained to me, possibly because a large number of other players are also still confused about them. For convenience, I've decided to write my findings down.
Let's pretend that you and your friends have decided that humans are overpowered and need to be beated with the Nerf bat. Your dungeon master, Bob, decides that an appropriate way to nerf them is to take away their bonus feat and give them +2 charisma instead. This house rule becomes known as Bob's Nerfed Human Rule. There are several several important things that you all understand about Bob's Nerfed Human Rule, even though they're not explained to you:
- You have not created a new sub-race of human. You have merely changed the abilities that normal humans get. You cannot mix both "original humans" and "Bob's Nerfed Humans" in a single campaign.
- When this rule is in effect, humans are still just called humans. They are not called Bob's Nerfed Humans. No NPC will ever tell you that there's a village of Bob's Nerfed Humans who need your help.
- You cannot say, during character creation, that you're going to play as a "Bob's Nerfed Human" instead of a "normal human" because you're a sorcerer and you think that the +2 charisma is more useful to you than a bonus feat. Bob decides whether humans have a bonus feat or +2 charisma, and then you decide whether you want to play as a human or not.
When I say it like that, it seems pretty obvious, right? Well, the same is true of psionic and non-psionic thri-kreen.
- You cannot mix psionic and non-psionic thri-kreen in a single campaign.
- You cannot say, during character creation, that you want to play as a non-psionic thri-kreen. Bob decides whether his campaign includes psionics or not. If he decides that it does, then all thri-kreen are psionic and you can either eat the +2 level adjustment or play something else (note: this is why the Expanded Psionics Handbook includes Thri-kreen without mentioning what their stats would be in a campaign without psionics).
- Thri-kreen are still just called thri-kreen. They are not called Psionic or Non-Psionic Thri-kreen. No NPC will ever tell you that there's a village of Psionic Thri-kreen who need your help.
And yes, the same is true of the Lesser Planetouched rule:
- You cannot mix both "normal Tieflings" and "lesser Tieflings" in a single campaign.
- When the Lesser Planetouched rule is in effect, Tieflings are still just called Tieflings. They are not called Lesser Tieflings. No NPC will ever tell you that there's a village of Lesser Tieflings who need your help.
- You cannot say, during character creation, that you're going to play as a Lesser Tiefling. Bob decides whether or not the lesser Planetouched rule is in effect. If he doesn't, then you can eat the +1 level adjustment or pick a different race.
So, I hope this info proves useful to someone, somewhere.
As usual, these points are more what you'd call guidelines than actual rules, and the GM can homebrew or houserule whatever he or she wants.
Let's pretend that you and your friends have decided that humans are overpowered and need to be beated with the Nerf bat. Your dungeon master, Bob, decides that an appropriate way to nerf them is to take away their bonus feat and give them +2 charisma instead. This house rule becomes known as Bob's Nerfed Human Rule. There are several several important things that you all understand about Bob's Nerfed Human Rule, even though they're not explained to you:
- You have not created a new sub-race of human. You have merely changed the abilities that normal humans get. You cannot mix both "original humans" and "Bob's Nerfed Humans" in a single campaign.
- When this rule is in effect, humans are still just called humans. They are not called Bob's Nerfed Humans. No NPC will ever tell you that there's a village of Bob's Nerfed Humans who need your help.
- You cannot say, during character creation, that you're going to play as a "Bob's Nerfed Human" instead of a "normal human" because you're a sorcerer and you think that the +2 charisma is more useful to you than a bonus feat. Bob decides whether humans have a bonus feat or +2 charisma, and then you decide whether you want to play as a human or not.
When I say it like that, it seems pretty obvious, right? Well, the same is true of psionic and non-psionic thri-kreen.
- You cannot mix psionic and non-psionic thri-kreen in a single campaign.
- You cannot say, during character creation, that you want to play as a non-psionic thri-kreen. Bob decides whether his campaign includes psionics or not. If he decides that it does, then all thri-kreen are psionic and you can either eat the +2 level adjustment or play something else (note: this is why the Expanded Psionics Handbook includes Thri-kreen without mentioning what their stats would be in a campaign without psionics).
- Thri-kreen are still just called thri-kreen. They are not called Psionic or Non-Psionic Thri-kreen. No NPC will ever tell you that there's a village of Psionic Thri-kreen who need your help.
And yes, the same is true of the Lesser Planetouched rule:
- You cannot mix both "normal Tieflings" and "lesser Tieflings" in a single campaign.
- When the Lesser Planetouched rule is in effect, Tieflings are still just called Tieflings. They are not called Lesser Tieflings. No NPC will ever tell you that there's a village of Lesser Tieflings who need your help.
- You cannot say, during character creation, that you're going to play as a Lesser Tiefling. Bob decides whether or not the lesser Planetouched rule is in effect. If he doesn't, then you can eat the +1 level adjustment or pick a different race.
So, I hope this info proves useful to someone, somewhere.
As usual, these points are more what you'd call guidelines than actual rules, and the GM can homebrew or houserule whatever he or she wants.