I am having a bit of an issue with Pirates of the Bronze Sky. I know I need to have another race in the setting fly (We have Pixie Terrorist with wings) already, but I would like to do an animal humanoid with wings. I just cannot decide if they will be flying ape men or flying cat men (a la Thundercat-ish inspired). Tell me what you think would work best and why. Thanks for the support.
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When thinking of flying ape men I always get stuck in my head the idea of flying monkeys from the wizard of oz. I just do no see them as pirates. Flying cat people. Hmm I guess I do see thundarcats with that. But once again I just get a silly idea when thinking of it. Nothing that screams pirates. I think Kenku would be an interesting addition. I could see them shanghing people to use as slaves or as labor on flying ships.
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I am having a bit of an issue with Pirates of the Bronze Sky. I know I need to have another race in the setting fly (We have Pixie Terrorist with wings) already, but I would like to do an animal humanoid with wings. I just cannot decide if they will be flying ape men or flying cat men (a la Thundercat-ish inspired). Tell me what you think would work best and why. Thanks for the support.
The felines. Already seen enough apes (e.g., flying monkeys from the Wizard of Oz and those clakars from the Elric of Melnibone series).
i think flying apes are cooler BECAUSE of the wizard of oz
When thinking of flying ape men I always get stuck in my head the idea of flying monkeys from the wizard of oz. I just do no see them as pirates. Flying cat people. Hmm I guess I do see thundarcats with that. But once again I just get a silly idea when thinking of it. Nothing that screams pirates. I think Kenku would be an interesting addition. I could see them shanghing people to use as slaves or as labor on flying ships.
Well these would be the "native" races of the setting. Ok here is the set up for the setting in a sentence: Three empires locate this world (Think discovery of North America) with floating lands and the (ape or cat) men are the native people (Think Native Americans) of the setting. Oh by the way, there is no "land" just floating lands.
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Well these would be the "native" races of the setting. Ok here is the set up for the setting in a sentence: Three empires locate this world (Think discovery of North America) with floating lands and the (ape or cat) men are the native people (Think Native Americans) of the setting. Oh by the way, there is no "land" just floating lands.
If you're looking for them to have societies like Native Americans, I'd suggest going with the flying cat men. I can see cats having a society like that much more than apes. Apes make me think brutal and violent. Cats can be violent, but I could see them having honor, spirituality and reverence for the land more than apes. IMO...
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Several tribes of "native" Cat-peoples on floating islands. some jungles and others like mountain plateaus with long grasses and large game available for hunting. The groups have different looks to them based on the “geography” of their individual floating islands. They follow the wind and thunder spirits and come together in times of trouble in a grand council with representatives of the various peoples coming.
The Pantra
The Leonines
The Tigrons
Ect…
Something like this?
What was that race from the old Star Frontiers game that was ported into d20 Future? I think they're also a race elsewhere but I can't remember. Gliding ape pirates.
I guess I grow tired of cat races. But that's just me.
I want turtles!
And Scros. :P There better be at least some sort of orc or goblinoid race involved, IMHO.
What was that race from the old Star Frontiers game that was ported into d20 Future? I think they're also a race elsewhere but I can't remember. Gliding ape pirates.
I guess I grow tired of cat races. But that's just me.
I want turtles!
And Scros. :P There better be at least some sort of orc or goblinoid race involved, IMHO.
Hadozee, wasn't it? They were added to the Spelljammer setting at one point.
RPG Superstar 2009 Top 32, 2010 Top 8
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Hadozee, wasn't it? They were added to the Spelljammer setting at one point.What was that race from the old Star Frontiers game that was ported into d20 Future? I think they're also a race elsewhere but I can't remember. Gliding ape pirates.
I guess I grow tired of cat races. But that's just me.
I want turtles!
And Scros. :P There better be at least some sort of orc or goblinoid race involved, IMHO.
Yazerians, actually.
I'd have to vote for neither. While Apes are family oriented and social, they do project the "Smash now, talk later" kind of appearance. Cat folk on the other hand, give the image of small prides rules by an iron hand Alpha male and not that sociable.
Now, if you ask me, Flying Wolf Men fit the bill. They are spiritual, nomatic/family oriented with a strong social life.
Just me mixing up the pot again ;)
Oh! I forgot to say. OMG I WANT THIS BOOK!
My smaller gaming group recently started a "Sky Realms" campaign setting (Home brew adaptation from a third party book called Aerial Adventures) and this book sounds EXACTLY like the setting I started.
Director of Brand Strategy
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I'm a fan of anthropomorphic cats, as one might be able to tell from my icon (which is a rakasta, not a rakshasa) so my vote goes for them. Winged cats are also less played out than winged monkeys, which have Wizard of Oz working against them. The Derhii in Crucible of Chaos were pretty cool, but I'd like to see something new. Only problem I can see with cat-people on floating sky islands is the similarities it might evoke to Avatar, which has catlike people in a similar setting (if not winged, specifically).
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What was that race from the old Star Frontiers game that was ported into d20 Future? I think they're also a race elsewhere but I can't remember. Gliding ape pirates.
I guess I grow tired of cat races. But that's just me.
I want turtles!
And Scros. :P There better be at least some sort of orc or goblinoid race involved, IMHO.
Yazirians. And on that note, My vote is for apes. More pulpy, less furry.
Hadozee are in Stormwrack. Basically a yazirian redux, yeah. And it should be noted that they glide, not fly, using membranes between wrist and ankle like a flying squirrel. This more than anything else is why I really like them, as opposed to the mild disgust I feel whenever I see anything with wings growing out of its scapulae.
Cats with gliding membranes wouldn't make a lot of sense. Apes work pretty well. Squirrels are obviously another contender. Bats could work too. But if it's going to be "foo, but with wings!" I don't really care one way or another. It's just yet another wingy-foo. :)
But if that is the only thing you think of? Does this still make it cool or just typecasted?
can't it be both? maybe its typecaste because it is, in fact, cool
Monkeys make everything better. Just like bacon.
The Hadozee are a Gliding ape race from Stormwrack splatbook.
Monkeys make everything better. Just like bacon.
Bacon is the great equalizer!!!!
So, we're getting flying bacon creatures? Can bacon be anthropomorphic? Wait. Flying Pigs! FTW! :P
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Being old fashioned, I'd expect a flying bird or bat or bug person, sooner than a dog, cat or gorilla. On the other hand, variations on bird-men have been around since Flash Gordon, and present in every edition of D&D, from Aarakocra to Avariel to Raptorans. A non-bird would be fresher.
Either a monkey or a cat with glider wings, similar to those of a 'flying' squirrel, could be neat, but actual wings? Probably a monkey. A flying cat-dude (or, worse, winged cat-girl going all Nekocommando) sounds a little too anime to me.
Is the mammal intended to have feathery wings, or skin-wings like those of a bat? (Or something completely different, like butterfly wings?)
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As yoda8myhead already pointed out, Golarion has the Derhii (winged Gorillas) already, a race I liked so much that I incorporated them into my Homebrew as a major race and created 2 companion races to accompany them.
Hadozee are from Stormwrack, but they were originally from Spelljammer.
I vote for winged anthropomorphic Cats, for the simple reason that it's something that is (very) rarely touched on and will make the setting stand out and be unique(r).
Just my 2cp :)
Is the mammal intended to have feathery wings, or skin-wings like those of a bat? (Or something completely different, like butterfly wings?)
I am thinking the flying squirrel route. But if some one comes up with a better wing idea, I am open to it.
If you're looking for them to have societies like Native Americans, I'd suggest going with the flying cat men. I can see cats having a society like that much more than apes.
That's funny. So many on this thread have made the connection between flying apes and The Wizard of Oz... and some say that L. Frank Baum based Oz's winged monkeys partly on the Native Americans.
"Once," began the (EDIT: winged monkey) leader, "we were a free people, living happily in the great forest, flying from tree to tree, eating nuts and fruit, and doing just as we pleased without calling anybody master. Perhaps some of us were rather too full of mischief at times, flying down to pull the tails of the animals that had no wings, chasing birds, and throwing nuts at the people who walked in the forest. But we were careless and happy and full of fun, and enjoyed every minute of the day. This was many years ago, long before Oz came out of the clouds to rule over this land.
(Granted, apes are not the same as monkeys.)
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Well, I like the flying ape idea better. With perhaps 2 or 3 subraces (red furred vs silver furred vs "normal" maybe?) and a monkey group as well (these would be like a goblin vs the larger stronger hobgoblin) that would be servants/messangers for the apes. Thers a LOT that can be done with the apes that is intersting coupled with the flying bit.
Why did they develop the ability to fly? Taking "to the trees" to escape predators? The evolution of wings would make sense.
And include the cats as the predators, but land bound. Great speed, big fangs, makes great pirates (you mentioned pirates in the theme for the campaign) They then take to the seas, great sailors and very agressive as pirates, explorers and merchants. Oh, they just hate getting wet.....(wonderful RP opp there).
And develop the enmity between the two races and specific locations where they have to "coexist" - nuetral zones, trade communities where the other races won't tolerate the conflict disrupting trade/"civilized" relationships.
Maybe it's me, but I just can't picture an anthropomorphic squirrel race. That's where it starts getting too 'Toonies' for my tastes.
Aside from the four armed scottish rhino (which is still awesome btw), I guess some of us would love to know what you have thus far and we could chime in our opinions and run with that. I like alternative races (like what Alluria did) to a degree, but even then I have limits to how far I enjoy them before the cheese factor builds up. I just want this project to be cool as I can imagine an Eberron Spelljammer mashup could be, IMHO.
How about this for a starting point?
You know who I'm voting for ...
Maybe it's me, but I just can't picture an anthropomorphic squirrel race. That's where it starts getting too 'Toonies' for my tastes.
wasn't a squirrel-like race presented in Dragon Magazine back in the 2nd edition days?
Kerpka, or something like that, I think
LPJ didn't mean a squirrel race, he meant that he wants to use wrist-to-ankle membranes like a flying squirrel has. On the ape or cat.
I approve. Especially if ape. :)
LPJ didn't mean a squirrel race, he meant that he wants to use wrist-to-ankle membranes like a flying squirrel has. On the ape or cat.
I approve. Especially if ape. :)
OIC. <wipes brow> That was a close one. In that case, here's the +<whatever_number_we're_up_to_now> obligatory post. We demand a Pathfinder upgrade for this racial variant.
<picard> Make it so, Louis. </picard>
:P
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LPJ didn't mean a squirrel race, he meant that he wants to use wrist-to-ankle membranes like a flying squirrel has. On the ape or cat.
I approve. Especially if ape. :)
Rifts South Africa had art along those lines.
<Sir Alistair>Cat with wings, five rounds rapid.</Sir Alistair>
Ape. No contest.
Choosing between the two presented choices, I'd vote ape.
That said, I much prefer the wolf suggestion made above, and strongly agree that it feels more along the lines of the Native American feel it seems you are going for then either of the two options.
No monkeys. They fling their poo.
So I kept thinking, "Ape or Cat" and then I though how about someting else totally different. Maybe some thing like the Gargoyles from Disney's cartoon in the 90s? Tough, more animal like than furry like. Just a tought...
wasn't a squirrel-like race presented in Dragon Magazine back in the 2nd edition days?
Kerpka, or something like that, I think
Kercpa
I updated them to 3.5 with a +1 LA, had a flying version for a +2 LA.
Haven't adjusted to Pathfinder yet.
For an intriguing thought down a similar line maybe winged thrikreen or maybe formian. both seem to be a natural evolution for the wings and less cartoony. IMHO
For an intriguing thought down a similar line maybe winged thrikreen or maybe formian. both seem to be a natural evolution for the wings and less cartoony. IMHO
There certainly are precedents for flying insects.
A thri-keen beetle!
Hey Louis, you should cross promote your Race Creation Cookbook release for Pathfinder and create a new race for your upcoming campaign settings using that as your guide -- which could inspire others to do the same.
Just sayin'. :P