I was reading through the Forgotten Realms Player's Guide tonight and saw mention on Shades as a minor race on Toril, along with Devas, Gnomes, Goliaths, and Half-Orcs.
All of these races have become playable PC races except for the Shades. It says that "Shades are the result of humanoids touched and overcome by the magic of the Shadowfell."
Is this a peek at things to come?
I really wouldn't count on Shades being a player race anytime soon. In the FRCG they aren't even a "proper race". Instead they are just a template applied to any humanoid creature who has a specific ritual performed on it. It hardly seems well suited for a player character race. Now we might see a PP or ED that turn the character into something similair, but I think that is as close as we will get.
I know more then one person requested them on the PHB4: Shadow Races thread...so who knows if enough folks ask for them maybe WotC will respond.
"I was reading through the Forgotten Realms Player's Guide tonight and saw mention on Shades as a minor race on Toril, along with Devas, Gnomes, Goliaths, and Half-Orcs.All of these races have become playable PC races except for the Shades. It says that "Shades are the result of humanoids touched and overcome by the magic of the Shadowfell."
Is this a peek at things to come?"
That kinda bugs me - the shadar-kai fit that niche quite nicely. Why go through the effort of distinguishing between the two shadow races? Why not make shades a shadar-kai racial paragon path or epic destiny?
Yeah, I just assumed shade was another name for shadar-kai, since they're both "shady" and both from Netheril. All of the fluff in that section could easily fit shadar-kai.
Yeah, I just assumed shade was another name for shadar-kai, since they're both "shady" and both from Netheril. All of the fluff in that section could easily fit shadar-kai.
Well minus the parts of the fluff saying that some of the shadar-kai want to become shades. :p
It might be possible to make the shade into a series of feats like the did with the dhampyr.
It's kind of hard to think of other shadow races, though it's likely that the Dark Ones might pop up as one.
Shades could be like the FR ones, or maybe they could be more like the mythological shades in that they are spirits of the departed.
Which basically means Revenant, so they're kinda covered on all fronts: Shadar-kai, Revenant, Shade Template. No need for another Shade race.
In fact, all this Raven Queen love is a bit too much. They really need to focus on other aspects of Points of Light and 4e.
If you take that hint in FRPG, then you'd have to say that Goblinoids are an upcoming player race, which there is no inclination that they are.
In fact, all this Raven Queen love is a bit too much.
As someone with a Human Revenant that was a Raven Queen Avenger before he died and became a Revenant Assassin, I disagree
(Yes, my character does hate himself. In fact, he prays every night and morning asking why the Raven Queen created him in the form of such an abomination. No he doesn't wear black. He wears brown leather and could pass for a very pale farmer).
I love the Raven Queen, don't get me wrong. I dislike how there's such an excessive amount of articles focused on her, and how they're making her more and more evil - they're turning her into an Unaligned by default because she doesn't have the power to be truly evil (she's restricted by the other Gods from having too much power, but certainly wants to dominate all the souls of the dead like Nerull did). I dislike this.
I feel there are a lot of areas they could flesh out without spending two years on her. I like how Tiamat got some love. And Vecna seems to be getting some from the sidelines of the Orcus/Raven Queen war (PoL Published Adventures) and the sidelines of the Tiamat/Bahamut war (Scales of War). But it would be nice if there was support for other divinities and greater powers.
I dislike how there's such an excessive amount of articles focused on her
You mean one? Because ... there's only been one article on her. Two races that have a tendency to follow her don't count, unless you want to count the Dragonborn as another Bahamut article.
So therefore ... One.
articles, sections, etc.
Divine Power gave more love to her than to any of the other deities - she got her entire backstory of evil in there. She also got such in the Epic Tier ready-made adventures.
Her Channel Divinity is only the newest article on her. The Shadar-kai and Revenant articles were full of Raven Queen, and how she's both the awesomest goddess ever and is totally evil without being evil and thus can be gothic / emo, take your pick.
I have nothing against her; don't take me wrong - however, I do have a great dislike to the amount of love she's been getting. I like it how the Shadar-kai are not depressed, melancholic beings, nor hedonistic monsters, but just experience junkies for a good reason. I like Shadar-kai. But the Raven Queen seems to have jumped the shark from the Unaligned, apathetic Goddess of the Death that promoted killing (what the heroes do) as an okay thing that she was in the PH1.
The campaign my group is running has Nerull still be the god of both death and the dead. The Raven Queen exists but she is just a trophy and exarch to Nerull (she failed to defeat him, was killed and then enslaved). I won't lie, we probably wrote the story like this because of how lame we think she is.