The Savage Tidings column in Dragon #351 suggests some non-PHB races that might be used for replacement characters on the Isle of Dread. Just out of curiousity, does anyone else have any suggestions for unusual creatures to make available as PCs for STAP?
Morrow
The Savage Tidings column in Dragon #351 suggests some non-PHB races that might be used for replacement characters on the Isle of Dread. Just out of curiousity, does anyone else have any suggestions for unusual creatures to make available as PCs for STAP?
Morrow
I don't have Issue #351 yet, so please forgive anything that repeats what is there. These are ideas for STAP in general, not just the Isle of Dread (and happen to all be in my party, which is the definition of 'unusual'):
- If you are into creating or allowing savage progressions (ala Savage Species), a wereshark or werecrododile could be interesting. I have a 1/2 orc wereshark in my party;
- I personally love the amphibious template from Stormwrack. An instant, zero-level ECL way to make an aquatic strain of any creature. I have an amphibious aquatic elf in my party (mixed elven heritage being the backstory explanation);
- Tibbits (most recently from the Dragon Compendium Vol.1) are an interesting race, especially considering that cats have a place in sailing superstition (it's actually good luck to see a black cat before setting sail). I have a tibbit in my party who used that superstition to help gain passage to Kraken's Cove in Bullywug Gambit;
- Strangely enough, I've become rather partial to the goliath race in Races of Stone. The newest addition to my party is a goliath fighter/cleric of Kord, exiled from the Hellfurnaces. She's an absolute meat-grinder on the battlefield, but played as very shy around everyone other than her husband (absolutely hilarious roleplaying so far). A tribe of goliaths could be a good addition to the Isle of Dread (they're definitely robust enough to survive there, methinks), though explaining their presence could be a bit of work.
Hope those examples help a bit!
Your Friendly Neighborhood Dalesman
"Bringing Big D**n Justice to the Bad Guys Since 1369 DR"
The Savage Tidings column in Dragon #351 suggests some non-PHB races that might be used for replacement characters on the Isle of Dread. Just out of curiousity, does anyone else have any suggestions for unusual creatures to make available as PCs for STAP?
Morrow
I too don't have Dragon #351 yet, but I would say that many of the races from Stormwrack would be good. Oddly enough not a single PC in mgroup is from PHB. I have a minotaur, a kobold, a shoal halfling and an aquatic elf.
For me, I put any "basic" alteration of a PHB race as a PHB race, so shoal halflings and aquatic elves are OK. Consider that in Sasserine, nobody is really going to stare at one of them on the street any more than we'd stare at Bruce Cambell if we saw him knocking a few pins over in the bowling alley. (That happens a lot where I live. Love you Bruce!)
My group has an aventi(modified human), a seacliff dwarf (modified dwarf), a human(non modified), and an ice troll (hey, he thinks hes human). So I've got the whole run of quirkiness myself.
Oh yeah, goliaths on the isle. I was thinking that too. Just have them be Olmans who fled a thousand years ago to the remote highlands to escape the savage tide and the resulting chaos. They had to adopt a nomadic lifestyle to survive, and their prayers for aid were answered by their gods, granting them forms suitable for their new enviorment.
How about cliff-dwelling barbaric raptoran with harpoons who compete with pterradactyl for dire haddock on the coast?
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The Dalesman has summed it up pretty well. I love the Stormwrack races as well as the aquatic template.
Our campaign doesn't start for a few weeks yet, and not all of my players have created their characters yet. So far, though, we have one Aventi, one Hadozee, two humans, and a halfling. Of the two that haven't yet declared what race they're going to be, one almost always plays a human, and with the other, there's no guessing what he'll do. :)
I mentioned to the halfling guy that the shoal halfling would be a good option for him, but he's playing the FR halfling sub-race that gives him an extra feat at first level that he needs for his character concept, and didn't want to give that up to be a shoal halfling.
We have a darfellan barbarian with a harpoon who is eating (literally--bite attack and all) everything in his path, alive or dead. It will be ugly for the party if he succumbs to his savage nature when exposed to those infected by the tide.
In my party there is a githyanki, a drow and a fey'ri among two humans.
Our party hasn't been rolled up completely yet, but my favorite so far is the pygmy halfling Tattoo. His buddy, another halfling, has to tell who and who isn't food. Their a neat race modification from the Quitenssetial Halfling by Mongoose.
You want oddball races? Okay...
Table-top: Two humans and an elf make up the "normal" contingent. Aside from them, we have a pixie warmage, a half-dragon halfling barbarian, and a half-celestial (lillend) rilkan bard.
Play-by-post: Human, halfling, aqautic half-elf, rilkan, spellscale, and warforged (in Greyhawk!).
Let's see, we have four humans and an elf. Yeah, my group's average age is over 30. :-)
Easy, Drawdy, them there's fighting words. But lets not start that again.
I am running in Eberron, so along with all the additional Eberron races, I am allowing Goblins, Hobgoblins, Kobolds, Lizardmen, Poison Dusk Lizardmen, Bugbears, Orcs, Gnolls, and Half-Giants.
Let's see, we have four humans and an elf. Yeah, my group's average age is over 30. :-)
Hmm interesting, so imagination decreases as you get older? Interesting theory. I haven't seen it in my group. ;p
(All statments are tongue-in-check.)
Hey, how do you backstory a warforged in Greyhawk?
Not being snotty, just curious is all.
Basically, he's a mysterious construct that the aquatic half-elf found in a shipwreck. Nobody knows what he is or where he came from, so he's searching to find his place in this world he finds himself in. Here's his autobiographical background:
I am Kane.
Or at least that is what my friend Bera-Har calls me. He found me, unconscious in the wreckage of an unknown vessel. I don't know where I am from, or what I am. All I know is what Bera-Har told me. After he revived me, we found that I speak this language, what your folk call the Common tongue. How, I don't know. I recognize and can name things that I don't remember seeing. Yes, it is strange to me too.
Too strange for many. When I stirred and spoke, many sailors on the ship called me a monster and wanted me cast back into the sea. The sea. I don't know why, but it soothes me. I feel at home near it. But I digress. The sailors wanted me gone, but Bera-Har refused them.
He gave me room to stay and spoke to me till he tired. But I did not tire. When he slept I watched. But I did not sleep. When day came and he rose, I was still watching. I never sleep. Bera-Har spoke to me about many things. He spoke about people and places and thoughts and battle and gods and ... many things. Again, I don't know why, but when he spoke of battle I felt what I think you would call a thrill.
When he spoke of the gods, I recognized their names. And one more than the others. Fharlanghn. The Dweller on the Horizon. God of the road and travel. Though I'd never seen a road or traveled, that I knew of, I felt that I knew Fharlanghn.
That night, when Bera-Har slept and I sat alone, I thought of Fharlanghn. Bera-Har had said many of the peoples of the world get answers and reassurance from the gods. I was alone and I didn't know where I came from. So I spoke to Fharlanghn. I asked him if he knew who or what I was. I spoke for a long time, in the darkness, with only waves and wind to hear me. I didn't hear Fharlanghn reply, but I saw a symbol in my mind and I knew I should carve it on my arm.
When I carved it, I felt a warmth there. And in my mind. It stayed with me. I didn't know what it was. But when I showed it to Bera-Har the next morning, he said it was Fharlanghn's symbol. While we spoke, a sailor fell from a rope near us. He was unconscious and bleeding, and I knew I should do something. I felt I should touch him, and when I did, somehow I knew I should say some words and make a gesture. So I did. Some of the warmth went from my mind into him and the sailor was healed.
Then a few more sailors ran up. I think they thought I had hurt the other sailor. I began to explain, but one went to hit me and when Bera-Har stopped him, hit Bera-Har instead. Another hit Bera-Har from the back. That was when I first felt anger. And a desire to hurt someone. I hit the one who attacked Bera-Har. Hard. The others jumped on me and I hit them too. There was a strange pleasure in it. It made me warm, like Fharlanghn's symbol had. I felt stronger, I felt right, like I was meant for this.
By the time Bera-Har stopped me, I had hurt some of the sailors. A lot. I was sorry then, but it was too late, and they would not let me try to heal them. I think the captain would have thrown me into the sea if not for Bera-Har. He was too scared of Bera-Har to do it, but he said I'd have to leave at the next port. Bera-Har said he'd come with me. It gave me a feeling, what I think you call relief. I don't have many feelings. I know the names but I can't always understand or identify them.
When we reached port, we left. Bera-Har tried to find us rooms but it was difficult, because of me. I told him I don't need a room like others do and we found a place where they gave me an empty room and some tools to work with at night. While we stay here, Bera-Har has tried to show me how to fight. I cannot fight like he does, but he says I have a method of my own. He says what I need is to learn control. I try, but it is difficult. There is that strange pleasure for me in a fight which I don't fully understand. A couple of times sailors fought us, making fun of "the elf and his monster", but now they don't try it, since we beat them. Or maybe because Bera-Har bought me a big sword.
When Bera-Har sleeps, I work. Some people like my carvings, so I have sold a few. Or rather, Bera-Har has. I also speak to Fharlanghn every night. He does not answer with words, but when I speak to him, I feel that warmth and know he gives me some of his power, what your folk call spells. There are many different ones. I am learning them slowly.
I also learn more about myself and this world around me. I don't know yet exactly what I am or my place in it, but I know many things. I know that I am not a person, from the different species that are here, but I am not a monster. I know that I am alone, but Bera-Har is my friend. I know that there are many things I am not, but there are things I can become.
I am Kane.
Note: The aquatic half-elf's original name was Bera-Har, but he changed it to Kith-Kiran before play began.
Let's see, we have four humans and an elf. Yeah, my group's average age is over 30. :-)Hmm interesting, so imagination decreases as you get older? Interesting theory. I haven't seen it in my group. ;p
(All statments are tongue-in-check.)
No, I just think sometimes older players have "grown up" playing standard races and feel more comfortable and a sense of nostalgia playing them. Also, older players may not game as often because of jobs and family time so they may not buy as many source books or play often enough to try new stuff. This is just my opinion from personal observations and I have no hard proof to back it up. I could be (and usually am) totally incorrect. :-)
I, however, am 36 and my three characters are a human, a whisper gnome, and a stonechild so I do mix it up some.
I agree, but Ive also seen it go the other way; older players have already done a hundred variations of human, elf, dwarf, halfling, and half-orc, so they like delving into more unusual psychologies and mindsets.
Course, half of my group is theater and psychology majors, so my preceptions are skewed too.
Seriously, I've got my English degree, my wife has Criminology, our roommate has Theater, and our two other play members are Psychology and History. We get odd mixes of characters.
Let's see, we have four humans and an elf. Yeah, my group's average age is over 30. :-)Hmm interesting, so imagination decreases as you get older? Interesting theory. I haven't seen it in my group. ;p
(All statments are tongue-in-check.)
No, I just think sometimes older players have "grown up" playing standard races and feel more comfortable and a sense of nostalgia playing them. Also, older players may not game as often because of jobs and family time so they may not buy as many source books or play often enough to try new stuff. This is just my opinion from personal observations and I have no hard proof to back it up. I could be (and usually am) totally incorrect. :-)
I, however, am 36 and my three characters are a human, a whisper gnome, and a stonechild so I do mix it up some.
I don't think anyone is wrong per se. My group ranges from 30 to 36 years old. I agree that most of them don't have the time or the money to go through all of the source material out there. In our case I have alot of the material and often offer suggestions based on how well I know the player and what the campaign will be about. I also have a lot of overly creative folks (artists and writers) no they see a lot of the stuff in the our source books (mostly the art work) and immediately have a background story about a charter like that. So in the end this leads to a lot of variation from game to game. In other words, different strokes for different folks. ;)
My fiancee is the only player who's definitely committed to the game so far. We're playing in Eberron; her character is a changeling artificer disguised as a non-dragonmarked member of House Cannith.
To my mind, changelings are one of the easiest of the Eberron races to import into another campaign setting. Doppelgangers already hide themselves in the midst of humanoid societies, so the idea of a race of creatures that are to doppelgangers as tieflings are to fiends isn't hard to come to grips with.
Oh yeah, goliaths on the isle. I was thinking that too. Just have them be Olmans who fled a thousand years ago to the remote highlands to escape the savage tide and the resulting chaos. They had to adopt a nomadic lifestyle to survive, and their prayers for aid were answered by their gods, granting them forms suitable for their new enviorment.
I know it's not strictly accurate to normal goliath environs, but this just put an idea in my head for a tribe of goliath dinosaur hunters/tamers. With the goliath love of competition and challenge, that could be right up their alley...
Picture the PCs exploring the Isle of Dread's interior during Tides of Dread. They stumble across a goliath patrol in one of the mountain valleys, mounted on T-Rexes....(insert party pants-soiling here) ;)
(And yes - I am still a dinosaur fanboy geek, and proud of it) :P
Your Friendly Neighborhood Dalesman
"Bringing Big D**n Justice to the Bad Guys Since 1369 DR"
We have a darfellan barbarian with a harpoon who is eating (literally--bite attack and all) everything in his path, alive or dead. It will be ugly for the party if he succumbs to his savage nature when exposed to those infected by the tide.
Our Darfellan barbarian has a falchion, but yes... that bite attack is nasty, especially with his Power Attack. The others are constantly afraid that he'll be dominated or whatever: "None of us could stand against him, except maybe the wizard. When he smells blood, he is more like an orca than a man!"
Wow, let me know how that goes, thats a really cool variant-goliath idea!
*Ferrets away for later use*
or... grazy idea.. capturing the t-rex
having a druid/spelldancer.. who then casts a multiempowered awaken on the t-rex...
which will now have INT in excess of 50
Now take up wizard as a class for the t-rex
..which will in time go lich, and demilich...
Whats cooler than a flying T-rex skull that can eat souls too? :D
I do like that alternate goliath idea...gonna have to swipe that one!
ikki, for the t-rex, where are you getting an Int in the 50+ range? Even a "double empowered" (9th level spell if allowed) awaken would just be 6d6 Int (average Int of 21). Maybe spelldancer has something to do with it (haven't looked at that class in a long time)?
yeah.. allows you to use your constitution as extra levels... and a lot of time, but allows extremely powerful spells, given some time. And yes, its for the whole day, very exhausting.
was thinking of con20, and 10 empowerments.. endurance iirc allows even more.
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Just to update my previous entry here....
Our campaign is finally ready to start next Tuesday evening, and all involved seem extremely excited. I've even (reluctantly) added yet another PC to the group, putting me up to 8, and even have an alternate lined up in case anyone has to quit.
So, here are my eight PC's. We are starting at Lvl2.
Aventi Barbarian 2
Human Dragon Shaman 1/ Barbarian 1 (going to mostly stick to DS)
Human Ninja 1/ (Water) Shugenja 1 (mostly Shugenja)
Aventi Monk 2
Human Rogue 1/ Swashbuckler 1 (going for Legendary Captain PrC)
Water Genasi Ranger 1
Kobold Rogue 1 / Wizard 1
Elven Thug 1/Sorceror 1 (Thug is the alternate Rogue that switches out sneak attack damage for feats)
The alternate is looking at a Goliath, in case it may matter.
All in all, a pretty tough group. The only glaring hole is cleric, but the Shugenja and Dragon Shaman both have healing. I did warn them that nobody could turn undead, so they can't blame me when the Zombies under Parrot Island really hurt.
And yes, I am increasing the challenges a fair amount due to the large party size and the free level.
We're all really excited to get started, so I'll be sure and post about how it goes as we progress. Only 2 humans and one elf, nobody else is a PhB PC race. And we're all over 30, too, except one (the Kobold Player) in relevance to the previous discussion in a different but similar post, about whether age plays into race selection or not. These are guys who know their stuff pretty well, and they (rightly) saw Savage Tide as a great opportunity to use characters they wouldn't ordinarily play (like the Aventi and Water Genasi particularly)
Maybe its just me, but nuttin' sez pirate to me like a motley crew of exotic non-humans. From the looks of it I am getting a fine crew of missfits in my game, and I am mighty excited!
Nuttin' I tells ya.
My game starts on the 20th January 2007.
Inspired by 'Downer', I wanted Sasserine to be full of races that you would not normally see as PCs: Sasserine has passed a law that has opened the gates to all races, embracing diversity of cultures and beliefs. Orc Tribes camp outside the walls in their own tent cities. A small contingent of Drow have been seen in the city, perhaps investigating the claims of House Arabani. Lizardfolk have their own embassy in Sasserine. Bugbears provide hired muscle to those that can afford them and the NPCs listed in 'Strictly Legit' Campaign Workbook (Dungeon 138; the one that contans the Savage Tide Overview) also make an appearance.
My player's characters are still trickling in. So far I know that the players are taking:
-Female Drow Cleric of Lolth (yes, even Erelhei Cinlu is at risk from the Savage Tide)
-Male Lizardfolk Druid
-Male Human Swashbuckler
-Male Human Hexblade
-Male Dwarf Monk
I am waiting on one more player.
-Female Elf Swashbuckler or Female Elf Rogue
In an attempt to be true to Downer, I am also adding Firearms from Freeport.
Let's see, we have four humans and an elf. Yeah, my group's average age is over 30. :-)
I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one to think like that. ^^
Just started Savage Tide last night. Here is the current roster of freaks :).
Borog Blubberpot - Male Bullywug Barbarian
Breeeet - Male Thri-Kreen (following the progression in complete Psionic, will be taking his first level of Swashbuckler at 3rd level)
Meazle - Male Grippli Rogue
Konrad Vogel - Male Half-Elf Cleric (worships the gods of the Azure cathedral)
Akilu the Firebug - Male fire caste Dromite Psion
Eli Coldwater - Male Water Genasi Wizard
They managed to re-take the Blue Nixie with only 2 PC near deaths :).
We started a week and a half ago, playing in the Forgotten Realms. We have:
Aasimar Healer 1
Aasimar Paladin 1 (Torm)
Tiefling Scout 1
Amphibious Tibbit Wizard 1
The party is all female, so no romance with Lavinia.
The healer and scout are played by my fiancee, twins born to a half-nymph star elf mother(her character from SCAP) and a half-fiend/half-celestial father.