Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 balican_gigolo Apr 25, 2006 6:02:45	I've DMed quite a few games on Athas and I've only had one player who ever played a Thri Kreen. I love the insect people, but I feel like I'm the only one. Now, I'm playing with a group of five PCs whoa re all newbies. No thri kreen in the group, and the only encoutner they've had with a thri kreen was a negative one.(On their part. One of the PCs is an elf and they 'assumed' it was going to try to eat her. They thought attack first, ask questions later might be more prudent.) Anyway, they're in lost scales right now, and heading north. I'm thinking of introducing thri kreen again in a big way. I want to have them become part of a clutch, involving many thri kreens. Any advice, experience with similar games, etc would be apreciated.
#2 mystictheurge Apr 25, 2006 8:20:00	None of my players seem to want to put up with the loss in class levels they'd get from racial hit dice and LA. I made up a fighter/psy warrior to show them kreen can still be wicked, but no one seems to be convinced. Then again I can hardly ever get my players to play anything other than humans. Damn the free feat.
#3 jon_oracle_of_athas Apr 25, 2006 10:54:00	I had fun playing a kreen that didn't speak common. Imagine the sheer joy of the fellow players when he said his first sentence in common in the city. "Klik'chak.... hunt.... elf!"
#4 ruhl-than_sage Apr 25, 2006 17:37:26	Really? One of my players went for a thri-kreen right away, and another person I used to play with would only play kreen.
#5 banndon Apr 25, 2006 17:41:30	I must admit, Thri Kreens are a bit anathema. From the first edition, to the current DS3.5, thri kreens are stuck with a stereotype "You're my buddy for now, but if I get REALLY hungry I might just eat you..." I think most player find them to alien to play and therefore consider them "encounter" monsters.
#6 jackmojo Apr 25, 2006 18:27:12	One of the players in our group jumped all over the "thri-kreen multi-weapon death blender" as well. He also seems to be having a good time with the whole non-standard mind set...and the fact that since he was told that the rather dim half giant was the leader when he wanted to challenge for leadership of the 'pack' most request/orders have to be relayed via the half-giant is a good time too Plus a few game sessions ago when we were fighting with some elf looters in Raam and he chased this poor elf all over the house we were in, we all busted a gut with this image of him runing after the elf with a pepper shaker and meat tenderizer So there is definetly a certain appraoch to take with them ;) Jack
#7 dunsel Apr 26, 2006 17:33:06	It takes a certain type of player to adhere to a TK. Mostly, power gamers who think of the damage and role-players who enjoy a challenge choose a TK. The average player is going to hate the lack of communication options and the LA. I have also attacked my players with a tk psywarrior and he did some serious damage before retreating, still no takers. No one will play a Dwarf b/c of the focus! It makes them nervous. One player likend the focus to a Geas. Of course, I explained to him how off base that comparison is but the analogy stuck with the players. I have replaced the four people who recently left so maybe there will be some brave souls who will try the other races.
#8 ruhl-than_sage Apr 26, 2006 17:57:24	Yah, I haven't had anyone play a dwarf yet either; which is a shame... . I've sure run a lot of dwarf NPCs thought!
#9 methvezem Apr 26, 2006 18:34:09	I'm doing a another kreen PrC, the ta'chat-tho, unrelated to combat, but to their racial memory, I hope it give some ideas to players to play less-combat oriented PC :D
#10 terminus_vortexa Apr 26, 2006 18:59:18	None of my players seem to want to put up with the loss in class levels they'd get from racial hit dice and LA. You could always get them to use an LA +0 version of a Kreen, from Complete Psionic. Level adjustment is no longer the dealbreaker it was before, because it can be removed in a balanced and officially sanctioned way. I'm even in the midst of reworking my namesake character ,the Terminus Vortexa (A Kreen Dragon, to those few on this board who haven't heard me rant and rave about its' sheer destructive power), to use an LA +0 Kreen and thus have two more levels for Dragon or Cerebremancer. I'm the DM in my game, so I don't have to explain how this is accomplished to the players, thank the Elements!
#11 huntercc Apr 26, 2006 19:25:44	No one will play a Dwarf b/c of the focus! My players seem a little unsure of the dwarves as well, but I think if there were clear examples of major & minor ones they would be more interested & less wary. As far as kreen, only one of my players likes them, and he LOVES them
#12 cornphlake Apr 26, 2006 22:17:19	One of my players decided to play a kreen psychic warrior. He loves the fact that he doesn't speak common and has been communicating with hand signs. It's like Dark Sun and charades at the same time. The other players get a kick out of it and it even got the new player to speak up more. In all the years that I have been playing and DMing DS, I can only remember one time that the party didn't have a kreen in it. Now if only I could convince someone to play a kreen bard...Hmmm....
#13 ruhl-than_sage Apr 26, 2006 23:27:20	Now if only I could convince someone to play a kreen bard...Hmmm.... Excuse me? :D
#14 zmaj Apr 27, 2006 3:44:07	I don't get to be the player very often, but when I do the TK is one of my favorite races with Dwarf comming in a close second. Humans, Elves, and Half Giants, get about equal playing time. Back in 2e TKs, Dwarves, and Muls were my favorites. I haven't really played the other races much, usually only once or twice with the notable exception of Pterrans. I just never got interested in them. I've DMed all of them, but Pterrans are almost nonexsistant with Aarakocra almost as rare. Just personal preference though, there has to be a good reason for them to be there or else it's one of less "exotic" races.
#15 pringles Apr 27, 2006 3:51:44	My girlfriend play in my Dark sun game, and she run her Thri-kreen Water cleric character since two year (now level 10). Its her favorite Dark sun character and she have lot of fun with it. In my game, Thri-kreen cannot talk common since they dont have mouth or tongue. They can only talk kreen language. Its add for the role-play and keep the munchkins no-roleplaying away from playing a thri-kreen.
#16 dunsel Apr 27, 2006 11:35:48	One of my players ran an Aarakocra very well. He did have trouble adapting to the built in claustrophobia in cities but out in the open he was the lead player (literally). He did all the scouting and picked up some nice valuables w/o anyone noticing. No one has run a Pterran. One of my players likes to run half-giants in a weird way. His last one was named Joey and he had a security blanket! Sadly, Joey is no longer with us, killed by the party Druid with a misplaced spell.
#17 kalthandrix Apr 27, 2006 11:52:24	One of my players likes to run half-giants in a weird way. His last one was named Joey and he had a security blanket! Sadly, Joey is no longer with us, killed by the party Druid with a misplaced spell. Nice- I like it like that- BOOM! Ooops, my bad! Roll up a new character.
#18 cornphlake Apr 27, 2006 12:05:07	What? Is a kreen bard a bit hard to fathom? He could take Perform (Pantomime) :D
#19 kalthandrix Apr 27, 2006 12:10:05	"And now for your listening pleasure, I will be performing the 'Dirge of the Cricket'." Some how, I just do not see thri-kreen doing this, but I would not be opposed to it. They woud make sweet 'one bug bands' with four arms.
#20 kalthandrix Apr 27, 2006 12:18:48	You know though...a thri-kreen bard would be pretty cool with a special PrC or some substitution levels. You could play off the fact that they DO produce their own poison, and with some cool [new] feats you could have them being able to use their pheromones to influence other 'bugs' and/or people without the need for vocal performances. Interesting...this may bear some additional thought.
#21 cnahumck Apr 27, 2006 13:41:52	What about a thri-kreen bard that had ranks in preform (cooking). i've always wanted to have an NPC like that. a bard chef. it only would make sense to make it a thri-kreen, they'll eat anything. "try the elf stakes, they're great!" course, halfing could work for that too.
#22 jon_oracle_of_athas Apr 27, 2006 16:10:54	I'm even in the midst of reworking my namesake character ,the Terminus Vortexa (A Kreen Dragon, to those few on this board who haven't heard me rant and rave about its' sheer destructive power) Oh, yeah, that character you named after that sci-fi rpg, right? :D
#23 dunsel Apr 27, 2006 17:54:28	The thri-kreen bard could perform using Semaphore flags or Morse code! :D Alright, stop it! This is silly! /british kernel stomps onto the set. Shameless Monty Python reference. :D
#24 jon_oracle_of_athas Apr 28, 2006 5:02:51	"I'm a clutchmate and I'm okay. I creep all night and I work all day. On Wednesdays I go hunting, and have buttered z'tals with tea." ;) Do you catch the reference?
#25 balican_gigolo Apr 28, 2006 5:45:25	since lumberjacks are rare on athas, your version seems more like something you'd here on DS.
#26 jon_oracle_of_athas Apr 29, 2006 3:41:54	That´s the scariest part.
#27 terminus_vortexa Apr 29, 2006 20:24:20	Oh, yeah, that character you named after that sci-fi rpg, right? :D *kicks kank to make sure it's dead*
#28 jon_oracle_of_athas Apr 30, 2006 3:42:45	*kicks kank to make sure it's dead* Gabroach! Noooo! :P (inside joke)
#29 frankthedm Jul 11, 2006 19:32:21	I love the concept of Thri-kreen, though the fact they were made medium in 3e irks me to no end since they were definltly Large, long from thier 2E sizes. 7' tall at at the shoulder and 4 feet longer than tall.