Having only just received my complementary Monster Manual (due to mailing mixups), I have only barely had time to look through it (particularly as this weekend I was running two games). I have to say it looks awesome so far.
Strangely (particularly for me, since I almost never do this in my games) my thoughts ran to considering which of the MM creatures I might want to allow as a PC race in some theoretical campaign.
Any thoughts on this? If you could pick one monster, from the 5e MM and based on the description therein (not just some old favorite or whatever, or naming a monster you like if you haven't even read the new MM), which one would you pick to allow as a PC race in your campaign?
Flumphs.
JG
Quote from: James Gillen;803071Flumphs.
JG
LOL, no.
I'm not a fan of parties full of monsters. If I had my own grumpy way then everyone would be human except maybe one party member. But the average D&D party seems to be a cadre of completely miss-matched demi-humans who should have nothing to do with each other.
All that being said, the one monster I would want to play as a PC race would be kenku.
//Panjumanju
Mindflayer because some times I just want to play Cthulhu in reverse. Just saying why not be the monster that scares the sanity out of people?
gnoll or lizard man
Flumphs.
Great for psionics games.
Also Myconids.
Non fucked up demon spawn Gnolls.
Non xenophobe Lizardfolk.
Non totally fucked up demon spawn Minotaurs.
Skeletons.
Spectres.
Kobolds.
Thri-Kreen
Modrons. I'm serious.
Also, while I can (and have) just hack the existing player races, it would still be cool to have official versions of some of the Greek races: Minotaur, Satyr, Harpy, Centaur etc...
Skeletons
I used to run Gnolls using loose "native American" archetypes (lodge dwellers and horse warriors, for example). With that, of course, came player requests to play them. One particularly memorable character was "Rok-Tan of the Four Bloods,' a gnoll born of two half-breeds, each parent carrying the blood of two of the four major Gnoll peoples. His epic destiny was never discovered, because I was transferred from Fort Hood to Japan.
Anyway, it would be difficult to go with Gnolls as they are described in 5E, due to their bloodthirsty nature. There would have to be some sort of "Drizz't" among them. Nevertheless, I wouldn't mind trying it.
Gith - all varieties. I know we'll get those in the Psionics book. But yeah.
Thrikreen - Loved them since before Dark Sun. Loved them more after.
Hobgoblins - As written now they clearly should be a player-capable race. They're goddamn Klingons now.
Gnolls - They get a bum rap. There's a lot of potential in making these guys "better". More specifically I'd allow Flind's to be PC's.
Lots of them....
I'm not sure how many people used to do this but the spell reincarnation led to lots of "monster" characters in our campaigns.
What's that you were just re-incarnated as a bear?
We now have a bear PC in the campaign and usually the player proceeded to roll up a druid or ranger to go with them.
As far as monsters gaining class levels, we likewise have ended up with a few undead monsters used as characters in our campaigns and I liked how 4th edition handled some of those options. Have not gotten there with 5th yet.
I can see the lycanthropes ending up as "PC races" in our games and I can see some aquatic adventures using mer folk as PC races.
That said, I'm not fond of the goblin, orc, kobold player races and generally I'm not thrilled about half-orcs as a PC race either. Usually when we end up with monster pc races it is driven by an ongoing story started with the standard races (the reincarnations) and/ or something totally bizarre as a one shot (the mer folks).
Quote from: FaerieGodfather;804102Thri-Kreen
Oh yes! Thri-Kreen. More PC buggums is good.
All of them. If it has opposable thumbs and is smart enough to cast spells, it is a potential character. Even if it is not used as a PC by default, having the option to include those creatures in a stranger or weirder setting might work.
Totally stoked Kua-Toa.
Centaurs.
Centaur
Minotaur
Pixie
Vampire
Centaur's would be cool, as long as "dungeon exploring" is more a side thing, than the thrust of the game (a horse trying to climb down stone steps... :eek:).
Dragonlance kind of sold me on the idea of Minotaur's as a player race...
...but NO KENDER!!!
Bullywugs.
Because nothing says sword & sorcery, '60s New Wave, or Métal Hurlant like garishly colored, phosphorescent batrachians exuding hallucinogenic secretions from their skin.
I'd enjoy playing pixies, minotaurs, or a goblin/hobgoblin type. I usually don't go for this, but maybe a raksha cat-person-thing, or a medusoid.
Quote from: Necrozius;804105Modrons. I'm serious.
Also, while I can (and have) just hack the existing player races, it would still be cool to have official versions of some of the Greek races: Minotaur, Satyr, Harpy, Centaur etc...
Modrons would be awesome.
I also very much enjoyed played intelligent blobs in Star Frontiers, so one of the slime or ooze monsters would be fun as a PC.
Quote from: AxesnOrcs;804107Skeletons
Already a PC race, just come with bonus flesh armour.
Quote from: Saplatt;804247Centaurs.
I had Centaurs as an optional PC race in my "FtA!GN!" sourcebook for Forward to Adventure. The general consensus was not good.
Horsefeathers!
Mine's coming in today. I've always liked hobgoblins.
Quote from: RPGPundit;804852I had Centaurs as an optional PC race in my "FtA!GN!" sourcebook for Forward to Adventure. The general consensus was not good.
Judging from personal experience and the horrors of the internet, 3/5 of people who want to play a centaur have something fetishistic about the situation lurking in the back of their mind, even if it never directly comes up in play. As a result I try very hard to pretend that race doesn't exist.
As for me, I've always found the eyeless grimlocks kind of fascinating. I feel that playing with modifications to the basic senses is one of the easiest ways to get an "alien" frame of mind going. If they were more slick than grotesque, like the myrddraal from Wheel of Time, I might go for one given the opportunity.
Quote from: RPGPundit;804852I had Centaurs as an optional PC race in my "FtA!GN!" sourcebook for Forward to Adventure. The general consensus was not good.
Especially if you had to march behind one.
JG
Either of the Gith races. They are cool in a way that reminds me of Michael Moorcock's multiverse stories.
More generally, I was reading the 5E MM for a half hour last night, and its monster selection and 'color' text is easily the best I've seen in a D&D MM. Possibly the best I've seen in a fantasy rpg monster book (the only other two contenders I think are similarly excellent are the WFRP2 monster book, and the L5R 3E shadowlands monsters book). Anyway, the team responsible for this did a truly excellent job.
Goblinoids in general, along with minotuars.
I think goblinoids are a great choice, particularly for Sword & Sorcery type games where you can have goblins in positions working for overlords in lawful evil or chaotic evil cities.