I'm thinking of submitting four races to Dragon magazine under the working title of "Arcane Crossbreeds".
The article would detail the following four races. (All of whose names are not final.)
Displacer Men: Human/Displacer Beast crossbreeds. They get displacement powers as well as claws. They resemble humans with cat eyes, ears, and purple skin.
Tyrannosaur Men: Human/Tyrannosaur crossbreeds. They are large size category and get a bite attack and strength bonuses. They resemble humans, but larger, scaled, and with t-rex heads.
Beholder Men: Human/Beholder crossbreeds. They get a couple of eye rays and the anti-magic aura. They resemble humans with eyestalks and one central eye.
Cockatrice Men: Human/Cockatrice crossbreeds. They have the petrifying bite of a cockatrice and are small size. They resemble small humans with some feathers, a beak, and a waddle.
Yea, I really would like to see that, as I really like spellcasters and I enjoy using them...but obviously the names would need working on...
Try something in greek or latin...but no "Maximus Diosaurus Manus"...but latin is really good for that...
Cool stuff though...
Max, I think you've totally lost the spirit of the game on this and are just coming up with several of the "unwritten" variations that rules can be manipulated into, to create new "mashups" that might be rules-legal, but completely diverge from a liveable fantasy world into the fully imaginary (for those who know the difference).
Did you consider what circumstances that would create a half-human/displacer beast, short of the cliche' Mad Wizard? Cultish mating? Ravage & rape? Wild magic zones? Ditto the other mixed races - how rough a childhood would they of lived through, assuming they weren't eaten, killed off in fear or driven to die in the wild by horrified villagers...
I get the feeling that these races were dreamed up without taking any of the surrounding environment needed for a 'race' into account.
Published materials have been pushing the limits of mixed races/templates/aspects/avatars ever since 3.0 came out - this steps over the blurred line into the absurd.
I don't mean to rain on parades, but seriously...
M
I like the first idea of displacer men; the other two dont really hold interest for me though the idea of many more crossbreeds is very interesting in itself and the combinations could be endless. Be interested the story of how your would get a humonoid cocketrice as they are so small and deadly; any such thing would be unique and not sustainable as a race as I wouldnt think mating due to even powerfull love pots would be effective.
I'd be more interested in a template that would allow an enterprising DM to make up his own creature. You'd probably have to have a list of salient abilities... Something along the lines of "2 abilities from list 'A' and 1 ability from list 'B' gives a +2 CR/+4 LA" or something like that. It would be <i>considerably</i> more difficult on your part, but I would appreciate it more, and I think you'd have a better chance with the submission.
Max, I think you've totally lost the spirit of the game on this and are just coming up with several of the "unwritten" variations that rules can be manipulated into, to create new "mashups" that might be rules-legal, but completely diverge from a liveable fantasy world into the fully imaginary (for those who know the difference).
Did you consider what circumstances that would create a half-human/displacer beast, short of the cliche' Mad Wizard? Cultish mating? Ravage & rape? Wild magic zones? Ditto the other mixed races - how rough a childhood would they of lived through, assuming they weren't eaten, killed off in fear or driven to die in the wild by horrified villagers...
I get the feeling that these races were dreamed up without taking any of the surrounding environment needed for a 'race' into account.
Published materials have been pushing the limits of mixed races/templates/aspects/avatars ever since 3.0 came out - this steps over the blurred line into the absurd.
I don't mean to rain on parades, but seriously...
M
The mad wizard cliche does need work, I'll admit.
I created these races however, not to try to come up with some sort of rules mash-up that hasn't been made yet, but because I thought about races that had the powers of many of the monsters that PCs fear.
Naturally, these races would have had tough childhoods, I was going to have a sidebar on how to use the races in your game. I should have mentioned it in my OP. The sidebar will detail with the fact that these creatures are considered the freakiest of freaks and usually grow up alone, or with only a few others of their kind.
The sidebar further goes on the explain that these races should be used sparingly and that they tend to be outcasts. Barbarians, thieves, druids.
They might seem silly, but they are supposed to allow players to try out a creature with the beholders eye rays, or the cockatrice's petrifying bite, the t-rexes sheer might, or the displacer beasts displacement.
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And for those who suggested a template, the only reason I'm not making a template is because I would wind up making it a "half-anything" template that would negate the need for other "half-templates". I stuck to 4 races because it doesn't seem right to me that all things should have a part-human counterpart.
I'm thinking of submitting four races to Dragon magazine under the working title of "Arcane Crossbreeds".
Beholder Men: Human/Beholder crossbreeds. They get a couple of eye rays and the anti-magic aura. They resemble humans with eyestalks and one central eye.
Although your offer sounds interesting, the Beholder crossbreeds have been classified along with the Tiefling race (compliments of the Planescape setting). I don't know if you intended to classify it as such or if you meant to represent it as it's own free standing entity.
Nonetheless, I'm always open to new creatures as a world can never have too much, right?
Others have already given the reasons - how do they happen, what kind of world would they happen in, LA - but basically these are the kind of races that I definately would NOT want to see. No offence.
Doesn't mean you shouldn't have a character along those lines if you want - the result of magical experimentation, a curse, a mutant, whatever - I just wouldn't do them as a race.
If you like it though send the query in.
If nothing else putting together a query is a good way to organize your thoughts.
My 2 cents.
You can rationalize their existence by not having them be crossbreeds. Don't make them half-human/half-displacer beast, make them humanoids who have naturally evolved with a displacement-like ability. Or a race of intelligent humanoids with the strength and ferocity of t-rexes, rather than half-man/half-dinosaur.
Regardless of how you classify them, some will like them and some won't. But if you want to sell them, you need to come up with good background information and a cool creation myth.