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We just started last night and here is the motley crew;
Catfolk - Cat Burglar rogue, focused on claws as weapons
Changeling - Beast Bonded Sea Witch, focusing on charms/social manipulation
Gnome - Prankster Bard, focusing on combat control
Human - Fighter Cad, maneuver focused using a whip and short sword
Goblin - Shark Shaman, focused on his AC and water mastery
So far so good, no keel hauls, murders or thievery...OK a little bit of stealing and we did start cutting the crew that confronted us on day 3. Can't wait to start bucaneering...
This AP almost demands groups to be nuts in order for it to feel right. Pirates are certainly a ragtag type of people. My own group is pretty motley as well. No deaths yet despite us being on Book 2.. I need to step
up my game as a DM >:)
This AP almost demands groups to be nuts in order for it to feel right. Pirates are certainly a ragtag type of people. My own group is pretty motley as well. No deaths yet despite us being on Book 2.. I need to step
up my game as a DM >:)
Personally I'm not a big fan of these bizarre groups made up of Tengu, Ratfolk, Aasimars, Half-dragons and Weresharks... I feel like people are usually sacrificing any attempt at believability in order to gain mechanical advantage or they have missed the forest for the trees, failing to recognize that diversity doesn't come from being as bizarre as possible but rather from having a strong sense of individual self. Four humans played properly could easily be as diverse or more than any so-called motley crew. Our four-man party for SnS was actually three humans and a half-elf - if you include key NPC's it would add Rosie Cuswell (halfling), Sandara Quinn (human), Fishguts Kroop (human), Aron Ivey (human), Margus Siggs (human), Tessa Fairwind (half-elf), the Master of Gales (human) and Jabberwock (Tengu). That's 8 humans, 2 half-elves, a halfling and a Tengu and we never once felt that we lacked for diversity.
Having said that, if there was ANY AP where I could understand such a motley crew coming together it would be this one... SnS was arguably the best campaign I've ever played through and however people choose to enjoy it I support 100%.
My group consists of a Hobgoblin, Undine, Human, Ifrit, Dwarf, and Half-Elf. So they're all far more humanoid than not (Compared to ratfolk, tengu, etc), but they're still quite motley.
When I run the Reign of Winter Campaign after this one, I'm seriously considering only allowing core races. That, or just simply disallow any race with a natural cold resistance, unless theres an alternative trait that removes it.
Either way, I would not allow races like Half-Dragon, Weresharks, or anything over the top like that. At most I only allow whats in the Advanced Race guide, and not anything from the latter half, like modified Ogres, Centaur, etc. Or anything that can naturally fly, so no Strix.
I much prefer my group to stick with Core and Featured races, and they usually stick to that. Some of them don't even touch anything out of Core.
My group consists of a Hobgoblin, Undine, Human, Ifrit, Dwarf, and Half-Elf. So they're all far more humanoid than not (Compared to ratfolk, tengu, etc), but they're still quite motley.
When I run the Reign of Winter Campaign after this one, I'm seriously considering only allowing core races. That, or just simply disallow any race with a natural cold resistance, unless theres an alternative trait that removes it.
Either way, I would not allow races like Half-Dragon, Weresharks, or anything over the top like that. At most I only allow whats in the Advanced Race guide, and not anything from the latter half, like modified Ogres, Centaur, etc. Or anything that can naturally fly, so no Strix.
I much prefer my group to stick with Core and Featured races, and they usually stick to that. Some of them don't even touch anything out of Core.
Definitely would avoid potentially game-breaking races - like those that can breathe water for free in a sea-faring campaign.
Having said that, our group included a Human Sea Singer Bard who took a couple of levels of Lore Warden (our captain, in fact) and a Half-Elven Master Summoner who's ability to summon air and water elementals was a huge boon and who's flying, swimming, breathe underwater, see in the dark eidolon was invaluable as a scout. I guess I just prefer to see players build potential advantages into thier classes rather than using their race as a get-out-of-jail-free card.
At the end of the day, I want my PC's to have a valid reason to come together and - more importantly - a valid reason to STAY together.
My group consists of a Hobgoblin, Undine, Human, Ifrit, Dwarf, and Half-Elf. So they're all far more humanoid than not (Compared to ratfolk, tengu, etc), but they're still quite motley.
When I run the Reign of Winter Campaign after this one, I'm seriously considering only allowing core races. That, or just simply disallow any race with a natural cold resistance, unless theres an alternative trait that removes it.
Either way, I would not allow races like Half-Dragon, Weresharks, or anything over the top like that. At most I only allow whats in the Advanced Race guide, and not anything from the latter half, like modified Ogres, Centaur, etc. Or anything that can naturally fly, so no Strix.
I much prefer my group to stick with Core and Featured races, and they usually stick to that. Some of them don't even touch anything out of Core.
Definitely would avoid potentially game-breaking races - like those that can breathe water for free in a sea-faring campaign.
Having said that, our group included a Human Sea Singer Bard who took a couple of levels of Lore Warden (our captain, in fact) and a Half-Elven Master Summoner who's ability to summon air and water elementals was a huge boon and who's flying, swimming, breathe underwater, see in the dark eidolon was invaluable as a scout. I guess I just prefer to see players build potential advantages into thier classes rather than using their race as a get-out-of-jail-free card.
At the end of the day, I want my PC's to have a valid reason to come together and - more importantly - a valid reason to STAY together.
I agree, thats one reason why I'm definitely not allowing any race with a natural Cold Resist next campaign. This campaign is too late, as I already allowed it, but meh. I WILL of coures allow them to pick classes that give it, but thats a whole different story. This is only my second campaign as a DM, so I'm still learning, but learning through an Adventure Path is so much more preferable than making my own. (which I did in the first attempt.) This is, actually, our group's first real use of an adventure path, as for the past few years we've always winged it and did custom campaigns. So far I think they're really liking this AP, though I can't wait to do the Reign of Winter one, as we've always talked about doing a winter campaign.
But yeah.. I don't mind alternate races like orcs, hobgoblins, etc, but from now on, I'm going to disallow certain ones depending on the AP.