[3.5] Favorite Savage Species race?

[PrGo]

Hi! I was wondering what monstrous races from SS were useful from level 1, not like the most that found some use when they got class levels.

Also I'd like to hear everyone's favorite monstrous races from there

[Starbuck_II]

Hi! I was wondering what monstrous races from SS were useful from level 1, not like the most that found some use when they got class levels.

Also I'd like to hear everyone's favorite monstrous races from there

Annis Hags at low levels are pretty great with Steely Skin, but they kind of lag after a while. They are melee brutes about mid-levels, but no way to beat DR/magic unless have Amulet of Mighty fists (wqhich is overpriced) or Permancy Magic Fang (which is dispellable).

Astra Devas are decent, but you'll never get any class levels til Epic.

Earth Elementals start pretty good because starting out most things are on the ground.

Flesh Golems are better than the monster manual version: Monster manual version is unaffected by Magical spells with SR. The one in Savage species is immune to all energy attacks. Pretty decent although one drawback.
Drawback: you'll go berserk and kill your party...

Ghaeles are pretty good but you'll never multiclass till Epic.
They get 4th level spells each 1/day at level 6 (G. Invis, Chain Lighting, etc). This is including fact that they get the spellcasting of a Cleric naturally.

Pixies are 5 levels long, but they supposed to be higher in MM. Bad, you get no hps after 1st so kinda squishy.

I like Earth Elementals personally.

[arguskos]

Ghaele Eladrins are awesome for lots of reasons, esp in gestalt.

Rakshasa are also awesome, ALSO in gestalt. Gestalt Ghaele Eladrin//Anything Else is pretty sweet.

Most of the others are sorta just meh. I really like those two though. Oh, and the Astral Deva is pretty solid too.

[NEO|Phyte]

I'm a fan of the barghest, even made a greater barghest prc for a game, though the game didn't last long enough for it to matter.

[Olo Demonsbane]

Ghalee Eladrins are my favorite monsters so, guess which one is my favorite ?

[Jack_Simth]

Hi! I was wondering what monstrous races from SS were useful from level 1, not like the most that found some use when they got class levels.

Depends. If I want to play a Druid?
Anthropomorphic Bat (small, -4 Str, +6 Wis, -2 Cha, Fly 20 (average)) or Anthropomorphic Raven (small, -6 Str, +2 Dex, +4 Wis, -4 Cha, Fly 30 (poor)). Good Wis bonus, flight, and most of the non-social liabilities all go away as soon as you get Wildshape. Play a Druid and pick up a Riding Dog as an animal companion, and your liabilities are pretty much meaningless from level 1. Alternately, play a character that uses ranged attacks. Until you get multiple attacks, you don't need more than a standard action each round of combat anyway, so even with Poor maneuverability, you can STILL stay away from combat very effectively. Small, 1 hit die, so they're ECL 1 with 1 class level. They're quite effective casters from level 1 (putting a roll of 14 into Wisdom with an Anthropormorphic Bat gives you a starting Wis of 20 - good for 2 bonus 1st level spells ... and a Druid starts play with a handful of reasonable ranged attack spells (Magic Stone, Produce Flame, Entangle), you can be very effective from level 1.

[Temp.]

From level 2-8, the Trumpet Archon out-Clerics the party Cleric. That wins bonus points in my book, considering that's the level most games I've played tend to cover.




Beyond that, I like the Shadow. Not because it's any good, because it's not. I just like to tip my hat at the old radio show.

[mikej]

Ghaele or Trumpet Archon

I never really warmed up to the SS monster classes like my buddy ( who played the Trumpet Archon ) but those two seems solid.

[Asbestos]

Anthropomorphic Giant Squid... duuuuh.

[Starscream]

Yeah, for druids the anthropomorphic template pretty much rocks. Everyone gets a nice wisdom bonus, a who-cares charisma penalty, and sometimes something nice extra like a fly speed or swim speed.

I've personally always wanted to try an Air Elemental. Earth Elemental is nice, but I like agile characters more than strong ones.

Something I've been wondering about, though. One of the rules for these classes is that you have to take the whole progression before you can multiclass. This makes sense because it prevents you from taking a level as an undead and getting a ton of immunities, or a level of air elemental for the 100 foot fly speed, and then simply advancing as something else.

But what if it's a class that has multiple forms? That is, could you advance as a Ghoul and than stop once you meet the standard "Ghoul" level, without continuing on to Ghast? What about playing as a small or medium elemental instead of going all the way to large?

[Asbestos]

But what if it's a class that has multiple forms? That is, could you advance as a Ghoul and than stop once you meet the standard "Ghoul" level, without continuing on to Ghast? What about playing as a small or medium elemental instead of going all the way to large?

Aren't ghasts ghouls made from higher level characters rather than advanced ghouls? I see what you mean though, adding class levels to things that advance by size or any means other than class makes things strange.

[Seffbasilisk]

I always liked the Feral template...