Indecisions and Rumblings for the Future of Eden Races

This post is two things. First a little poll/concern thingie and then some hints on a future something-something…

And no, I will never let that joke die.

Originally I had planned to have to have a second races of Eden article…and I will have it. However, I’ve come to sort of a stumbling block on my planning for it. Here’s the thing – there are so many things in Eden right now that I just wish I could turn into player races. I already have things like faerie-people, grass-elf dwarf things, stitched-together undead abominations, “bug people from space” (as a recent comment on my IRC chat succinctly put it). This is really only the stuff that I felt was truly 100% necessary. If I could there would probably 20 or 30 damn races here.

But I can’t. As said before, I only have room for a few more. There are 16 races total in my current plan:

Str/Cha: Iomadi

Str/Con: Damakran

Str/Dex: Nwako

Str/Wis: Setah

Str/Int: Biaur

Con/Dex: Simulant

Con/Wis: Ainyu

Con/Int: Rhonnu

Con/Cha: Ruayni

Dex/Int: Naekara

Dex/Cha: Athirua

Dex/Wis: Anpe

Int/Cha: Dromidae

Int/Wis: Bahari

Wis/Cha: Cuporo

Weird: Inaw

I have some more interesting race ideas, starting with changing what the Bahari are, because I’m not sure having another merfolk in the setting (we already have Damakran) is a sound idea. So we’ll treat that spot as “vacant”, and then we will add another two “weird” stat race for 18 total in the “hopefully Final” plan. Of course, the elf, half-elf, eladrin, dwarf, halfling and human (and sadly the tiefling and dragonborn) are also still around for all the squares to play with.

Here’s some of the races that could go into a slot – you can help me decide which you’d like to see. ALL these races are relics of D&D 3.5 that did not make the final cut for Eden in 4e…until now. So if you enjoy some Eden design history, read on.

1. Urkual: Honestly I never liked these guys, but I can rework them. Urkuals are one of the things that died with D&D 3.5’s version of the Eden setting. They were a big, dumb bruiser race of large creatures with metallic plate that grew over certain patches of their skin. Their lore is that they are actually forged out of the fires of the Hells Beneath All Creation. They are spirits, but of a demonic nature. Their power in D&D 3.5 was the ability to use certain fire-based spell-like abilities, as well as having tough natural armor. They were an LA +1 race before and meant to cater to those who wanted less exotic humanoid racees and more ugly muscley ogre things to play with if you disliked elegant, pretty races.

2. Jaifi: A non-spirit fey humanoid with characteristics of insects, but much more pronounced than the Dromidae (who are basically just people with antennae), they are quick creatures with an innate talent for jumping. They have insectoid “back-legs” like a cricket’s which they can rub together to produce an irritating noise, but are also strangely enough rather good singers with their voices. These were more dropped things from D&D 3.5 Eden, except in 3.5 Eden, Jaifi were evil (I could never justify exactly WHY to myself) and their noises made you puke. LA +2 before due to unnecessarily high stat bonuses.

3. Nyoka: A spirit-humanoid with characteristics of dragons, but much less pronounced than those of Dragonborn. In 3.5 Eden, Nyoka was just a word in the setting for “Half Dragon”. The half-dragon features in 3.5 Eden were more low-key than the Dragonborn’s physical appearance is now. They were strictly “people with some dragon features” rather than “Dragon-people.” Nyoka could do what any other half-dragon could – if they were big enough they could fly, they could breathe energy, they had tougher saves, etc. In Eden, the Dragonborn are nearly extinct, but the Nyoka, being spirit-humanoids, would be more numerous and thriving. Again, just another race (like the Rhonnu) that can add an Eden touch to an old critter.

4. Obviously I need to rework the Bahari. Or do I? In 3.5 Eden, Bahari were Eden merfolk, living alongside the Damakran. While Damakran were tough humanoids with shark characteristics, Bahari were more brainy creatures with characteristics of…well, jellyfish. I know, weird isn’t it? I’m not sure whether to bring them back in 4e. They were different enough from Damakran to justify their existence. Like Damakran, they can remain underwater (but not indefinitely). Damakran spat slime at enemies, but Bahari’s powers were more varied – they could “swim through air” and basically, teleported places OR they could shock their enemies with long-range electric stings. Both would be represented at once, much like with 4e drow.

5. The final D&D 3.5 relic was the Ubiani, which is currently existing as the “Yaurei” in the Spirit Oaths system, but could easily return in its original form again. These were basically “half-a-ghost.” Undead creatures that resulted from dying but not joining the essence stream. They were ghosts given flesh, with cold blueish skin, pale hair. Their abilities were all related to the cold. They were also significantly better for players to play as than Ghosts, because D&D 3.5 ghosts were practically unplayable, what with the LA and the exceedingly weird interaction with the world around you. In Eden, the newcomer Inaw race replaced them for the time being, but they could return.

So 3 of these 5 races will make the final cut. Which do you like best? Your choices won’t be the whole decision, but they would certainly help me out.

For the second part of this post – I’m going to start a campaign soon, hopefully, and I want to do that thing other bloggers do where they talk about their campaigns. Not only that, I want the players to (hopefully) be fairly involved in “that thing other bloggers do where they talk about their campaigns” with me. I’ll be posting pieces of fiction (“cutscenes”), the intro to the game, and talking about the logs and such. If you’ve noticed the two hopefullys up there, that means that I’m not completely certain any of this will happen. But I’ve been wanting to run another joke game and this seems like the perfect time and opportunity, with people curious about how I write, prepare and such my joke games. Stay tuned – and pray.

But don’t get all excited about that and forget the races bit. Do talk about that, I need the help!