Post/Author/DateTime	Post
The_Rouge 04-20-07, 02:15 PM	Im doing the prework for my own campain. But im not sure wich chars to have... my list so far: 1.Humans 2.Elves (most of the subraces, but not wild, water or wood -desert world) 3.Halflings( lightfoot and Ghotwise) 4.Gnomes 5.Half-orcs 6.half elves 7.dwarfs (all + a homwbrew sub- desert dwarf) I am trying to get more but i need help! please come with sugestions!
blowfish 04-20-07, 02:29 PM	A snake race and/or a scorpion race would work for a desert setting. As would some kind of vulture race.
The_Rouge 04-20-07, 02:31 PM	ive been working on a scorpion race, but i cant seem to manage!!!!!! Can someone help with this task?
YabaTheWhat 04-20-07, 02:40 PM	Be wary of using a race with an innate poison attack. A serpentine race could be based on a constrictor, rather than a viper, but scorpions are known for poison (http://web.singnet.com.sg/~chuaeecc/venom/signs.htm) stingers (both an extra natural weapon and a poisonous attack). As an insectile race, they'd also have natural armor. This means balancing a scorpion race without a level adjustment or racial hit dice is improbable at best.
RobbyPants 04-20-07, 02:47 PM	Are you using things like orcs, goblins and kobolds (all LA +0)? As YabaTheWhat said, a LA +0 scorpion-folk will be tough to pull off. Try looking at the thri-kreen in XPH for a starting point. They're LA +1 or +2 with 2 racial hit dice. You might have an easier time making a scorpion race if you give them some racial hit dice and a small LA.
j3st3r 04-20-07, 03:24 PM	If you're looking for desert races, unearthed arcana has race variants for almost any environments, including desert. Also Sandstorm is almost a must have if you're planning to run a desert campaign. There's plenty of rules, equipment and races for desert dwellers.
Enderlaand 04-20-07, 03:31 PM	What is the theme of your campaign? What is the setting (beside 'desert')? There are a lot of questions you need to ask yourself when designing your own world. As previously mentioned, you probably want Sandstorm. There are a lot of questions of racial interactions that you need to consider before anyone here can tell you what races to include in your campaign.
JarionSilverblades 04-20-07, 04:50 PM	Feel free to use any of my home-brewed races. My players really like the Wildmane Panynx, Njalsbrandur, and the Amazons. :duel:
ragoftag 04-21-07, 07:29 PM	If you're going with a race that has a 'special', such as Raptors' wings, you might try scaling the special in a similar manner. Another option is to start them with a weak poison and generate feats to lets them develop it as they level. As I say this, be very careful with balance. I've tried several armored races with lackluster results, but I'm looking forward to your take. GL
bobothechimp 04-21-07, 08:10 PM	The Diabolus from Dragon Compendium have a natural tail attack that would work nicely for the idea of scorpionfolk. It is a natural attack with low damage, fortitude save based off hit dice and constitution modifier against sickness for a few rounds, 3 + con modifier times per day.
The_Shaman 04-21-07, 09:17 PM	Perhaps it would be unwise to have them as PC races. Instead, introduce them as NPCs and villains... for example, you could say that the scorpion heritors from Sandstorm (a good book if you're running desert adventures - is someone who has some of their heritage, like the Dragon disciple for half-dragons.
taradusis 04-21-07, 09:37 PM	Savage species had anthropomorhic snakemen of several types.Serpent kingdom has yuan-ti,pterramen,ophidians,were-serpents and others?RANDOM THOUGHTS
The_Rouge 04-22-07, 03:52 PM	Thanks for all the answers, they have got me thinking. I think some races will fit in like villians.......like the scorpion man......and his minions....... be prepared for monsters :fight!: :fight!: :fight!: :88E: :ghosted: :ghosted: :ghosted: :88E:
j3st3r 04-22-07, 08:01 PM	The very last monster in MMII is scorpionfolk, seems as an excellent choice for a villain race to the wastelands.
HK-47 II 04-22-07, 08:27 PM	I have a few homebrews you can use... let's see... The Non-magical Lycanthropes? they are basically wolf-men... need to change the name... The Non-magical Vampires? I made them Waaaaay underpowered... on purpose.... besides they don't fit in a desert campaign... The Amazons? If you wanted Amazons you would have chosen JarionSilverBlades' Amazon... The Hed'aes? Now if you choose any of mine THESE will be it they are abberations that reproduce by reviving and altering the dead (based on an episode of Star Trek: Voyager) The Sims?... ... ... ...no Zeroes? A plague-ridden race... that's still awaiting feedback...
RobbyPants 04-23-07, 10:57 AM	If you don't have MMII (or even if you do), I found a link for a 3.5 version of the scorpion folk (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Scorpionfolk_(DnD_Creature)). When published, they were made OGL. They're pretty high ECL, so they would pretty much only be suitable for NPCs (unless you were running a high level campaign). Hit dice and LA, I think they're ECL 16 (before class levels).
j3st3r 04-23-07, 11:04 AM	Hadn't noticed the 3.5 update.. good news. BTW, also d2SRD has the scorpionfolk (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/scorpionfolk.htm). It even has the rules to make it as a player character there.
Vahenir 04-23-07, 11:19 AM	Scorpionfolk wouldn't be all that hard to make into a PC race without a level adjustment. A lot of the arguments for why they need super-abilities right off the bat could be argued for any race (why don't Dwarves get uber hit points right off, or fire resistance, why don't Elves get way more starting experience due to being over 100 years old at the start of the game, etc, ad nauseum). Not all scorpions are actually poisonous in a way that any human would ever really have to worry about. Some simply have a sting that might hurt a bit, but has no real lingering effects or inherent danger. Of course, when you increase the size exponentially, you have a stinger that will hurt -a lot-, even if it isn't poisonous. So, give them a dagger-damage natural attack. Make it only useable in a grapple. This seems accurate since scorpions tend to grab their prey before stinging it. Likewise, squishing a human upper body on a scorpion lower body would render it near impossible for the tail to strike very far (body is in the way). Chitinous body is easily represented by a +2 Con. Balance it with a -2 Intelligence. Give them an extra -2 Wis to balance Tremorsense and there you go. A book I've found invaluable when trying to make some nifty homebrew races for specific campaign settings is Green Ronin's Bastards & Bloodlines: Half-Breeds. Sort of Savage Species-like, but better. Check it out, if you can find it.
taradusis 04-23-07, 05:17 PM	Some other racial ideas.a race similar to thrikeen only evolved from grasshoppers.Herbivores who have an ovipositor that they use to lay hundreds of eggs underground.A psionically gifted race that evolved from desert locusts?RLDDs are a race of goatmen.Acrobatic and good runners and leapers.The males have ram like horns and solve arguments by head-butting contests.anthropomorhic batmen from savage species.Live in conical houses that hold clans of up to 500.Act as the night shift in factories and as night guards.Work for fruit and nuts?
Mazaron 04-29-07, 06:47 PM	Im doing the prework for my own campain. But im not sure wich chars to have... my list so far: 1.Humans 2.Elves (most of the subraces, but not wild, water or wood -desert world) 3.Halflings( lightfoot and Ghotwise) 4.Gnomes 5.Half-orcs 6.half elves 7.dwarfs (all + a homwbrew sub- desert dwarf) I am trying to get more but i need help! please come with sugestions! One of my campaigns is a desert world. I have in addition to humans, sand hurgeons (based on the hurgeons from Dragon magazine waaaaay back), sandlings (intelligent beings made of sand, they can turn into hard, rock like sand to manipulate items and wear clothing or soft sand to move about and hide), a vulture race (not unlike the aarakocra but with some demon blood, specifically vrock), aarakocra, harpies (I call them sirens), and a goblinoid race unique to the setting. Thri-kreen would a great choice too. Al-Qadim had desert centaurs. The new Sandstorm book has another Aboriginal type goblin race, a race that lives beneath the sand whose name escapes me, and a few others. Looks like it would be up your alley.
Mazaron 04-29-07, 06:49 PM	The Non-magical Lycanthropes? they are basically wolf-men... need to change the name... **How about Lupins? The Hed'aes? Now if you choose any of mine THESE will be it they are abberations that reproduce by reviving and altering the dead (based on an episode of Star Trek: Voyager) ***I have a race like that too, basically a race of undead monks, they can only add to their numbers by raising and altering those already dead (or those who they helped along). Cultlike and nihilistic, they aim to destroy all life in the world, leaving them the last ones standing.
HK-47 II 04-29-07, 06:53 PM	The Non-magical Lycanthropes? they are basically wolf-men... need to change the name... **How about Lupins? The Hed'aes? Now if you choose any of mine THESE will be it they are abberations that reproduce by reviving and altering the dead (based on an episode of Star Trek: Voyager) ***I have a race like that too, basically a race of undead monks, they can only add to their numbers by raising and altering those already dead (or those who they helped along). Cultlike and nihilistic, they aim to destroy all life in the world, leaving them the last ones standing. Lupins are what I usually think of when I try to think of names, but I feel as if that's been used... And the only thing similar between the Hed'aes and your race are the mode of reproduction it seems... Hed'aes view life as precious...
divinebadger 04-29-07, 10:41 PM	I believe he means Lupins in Dragon Compendium.
Mazaron 04-30-07, 12:12 AM	Lupins are what I usually think of when I try to think of names, but I feel as if that's been used... And the only thing similar between the Hed'aes and your race are the mode of reproduction it seems... Hed'aes view life as precious... Yeah, I have to admit Lupin or some variant is probably not original. Maybe lobo? Or perhaps you could Google "wolf" in some other language? Are your Hed'aes good-aligned then? Mine are called the JoBai, and to make a very long story short benefitted from a magical plague in the future that destryoed 95% of all life on Toril. The PCs were trying to stop the plague (spread by another enemy race) and failed, and are split. One group is in the distant past, trying to find the original creators of the plague and its cure (the plague is from the very, very distant past) and the other group in a post apocalyptic world, Toril 500 years after the plague, and are trying to go back in time to help. Very complicated, long running campaign. Anyway, the JoBai have traveled back in the past to make sure the plague is created and the PCs fail. Apparently Wizards has done the same thing with the illthids I gather from other threads (or something like it at any rate). The JoBai are a warrior monastic race, with little tolerance for any other sentient life form. In the future they do work on occasion with members of other races but only as a means to an end; both sides know in the end that the JoBai plot their downfall as well. They take the patient view but then are also as they say very pro-active.
Rerecros 04-30-07, 12:34 AM	For that scorpion race, maybe just use a race of humanoid scorpion worshippers. They wear armor of scorpion chitin, and are immune to scorpion venom, so they treat their weapons with the stuff quite liberaly. Give them veminous traits like dark vision and save bonuses against mind influencing effects. And maybe wild empathy that only works on scorpions. You may also want to add astrological symbolism of the scorpion as flavor. Scorpio is an astrological sign, which is associated with the constellation Scorpius. Under the tropical zodiac, Scorpio is occupied by the Sun from October 23 to November 22, and under the sidereal zodiac, it is currently from November 16 to December 15. The opposite sign to Scorpio is Taurus, and both signs are commonly known as the most sexually responsive of all zodiacal members. Scorpio is the eighth sign of the Zodiac and associated with intensity, passion, and power. Individuals born under this sign are thought to have a complex, analytical, patient, keenly perceptive, inquisitive, focused, determined, hypnotic, and self-contained character, but one which is also prone to extremity, jealousy, envy, secretiveness, possessiveness, cruelty and cunning. In terms of anatomy, Scorpio is said to rule the pelvis, reproductive system and urinary system. In terms of geography Scorpio is linked with Picardie, Navarre, El Salvador and Buryatia. Medieval astrologers believed that "By virtue of its tail armed with its powerful sting, the Scorpion creates natures ardent for war and active service, which rejoices in plenteous bloodshed and in carnage more than in plunder. When warfare is in abeyance, they find themselves foes to attack, there are those who enjoy mockfights and joust in arms and devote their leisure to the study of war and every pursuit which arises." Scorpio is traditionally thought to be ruled by the planet Mars, but in recent years many astrologers have labeled Pluto as the ruler or co-ruler, attributing the intensity associated with the sign to the planet's influence. In mythology Scorpio is often associated with Orpheus, from the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Scorpio is also associated with the Greco-Roman gods Ares/Mars and also the god Hades/Pluto. If you use this artical I suggest, favored class cleric with death and war domains.
HK-47 II 04-30-07, 09:51 AM	Yeah, I have to admit Lupin or some variant is probably not original. Maybe lobo? Or perhaps you could Google "wolf" in some other language? Are your Hed'aes good-aligned then? Mine are called the JoBai, and to make a very long story short benefitted from a magical plague in the future that destryoed 95% of all life on Toril. The PCs were trying to stop the plague (spread by another enemy race) and failed, and are split. One group is in the distant past, trying to find the original creators of the plague and its cure (the plague is from the very, very distant past) and the other group in a post apocalyptic world, Toril 500 years after the plague, and are trying to go back in time to help. Very complicated, long running campaign. Anyway, the JoBai have traveled back in the past to make sure the plague is created and the PCs fail. Apparently Wizards has done the same thing with the illthids I gather from other threads (or something like it at any rate). The JoBai are a warrior monastic race, with little tolerance for any other sentient life form. In the future they do work on occasion with members of other races but only as a means to an end; both sides know in the end that the JoBai plot their downfall as well. They take the patient view but then are also as they say very pro-active. Before we take over this thread, we should probably move this discussion to the thread on them... it's in my sig, if you have sigs turned off then pm me
Mazaron 04-30-07, 11:55 AM	Before we take over this thread, we should probably move this discussion to the thread on them... it's in my sig, if you have sigs turned off then pm me I guess I have sigs turned off. I have been on this forum for a very short time. Can you copy and paste the thread link outside of a sig?
Lord_Of_The_Abyss 05-01-07, 06:07 PM	Im doing the prework for my own campain. But im not sure wich chars to have... my list so far: 1.Humans 2.Elves (most of the subraces, but not wild, water or wood -desert world) 3.Halflings( lightfoot and Ghotwise) 4.Gnomes 5.Half-orcs 6.half elves 7.dwarfs (all + a homwbrew sub- desert dwarf) I am trying to get more but i need help! please come with sugestions! Man, you're lacking flavor....might i suggest something a little more exotic, such as: varags, half-sand dragons (possibly with the fiendish or celestial template), lizardfolk, half-desert devil, maybe even a were basilisk or bulette (my homebrew ideas :D), man I could go on for hours......but those are my favorites
Mazaron 05-02-07, 12:09 AM	Man, you're lacking flavor....might i suggest something a little more exotic, such as: varags, half-sand dragons (possibly with the fiendish or celestial template), lizardfolk, half-desert devil, maybe even a were basilisk or bulette (my homebrew ideas :D), man I could go on for hours......but those are my favorites I agree. I would choose one and declare them extinct, change around a few others on the list, and add entirely new ones. My desert campaign PC race list: 1. Humans 2. Ghosts (like in the Ghostwalk campaign supplement) 3. Sandlings (from the Inner Planes, most commonly seen as a bipedal hairless humanoid that seems to be made out of sandstone, can a certain number of times a day turn back into moving, amorphous sand; lots of backstory behind them) 4. Andites (vulture race, look a bit like Vrock, though only just a little fiend blood in them) 5. Gris (desert goblins) 6. Sand Hurgeon (little people basically, walking talking fey-touched hedghehog folk of the desert) 7. Aarakocra 8. Harpies/Sirens (yes you could have an all-flying PC group) Dwarves I haven't decied on yet, gnomes and halfings are extinct. Elves rumored to be extinct, but the players, well, they are unsure. The garuda from a very recent Dragon magazine that dealt with trhe setting revealed in Perdido Street Station and its two sequels is another good avian desert race. Sandstorm, the recent 3E desert sourcebook, has three playable desert races (a non-evil aboirignal goblin race, a "merfolk of the dunes" sand swimming race, and a I guess armadillo-esque race). Beetles might be good too, I remember a Dragon from a few years back had sentient PC race beetles for an Underdark setting (anyone remember which one, it had PC race playable fungus too); maybe those could be modified. Don't stick with the standard dwarf-elf-human thing!