But... does it strike anyone else as odd that... that's all we hear about?
Consider the infinite vastness of the planes. There is much more to, say, Chaotic Goodness than the sylvan-like eladrin...
There is much more to chaos than slaadi...
And we already know well that the tanari'ri and the baatezu are not the limit of chaotic and lawful evil: they simply keep their rivals from maturing.
Now, the fiends are probably the largest in variety... they tend to have a wider bredth of concept to them; proof that the yugoloths do good work, I suppose.
But the celestial races and the order and chaos races seem fairly.. limited in scope.
Reptiles, fish, amphibians (aside from slaad), birds, and other sorts of mammalians.. insects, spiders... all have SOME representation as races somewhere in the multiverse... but the upper planes, at present, seem rather humanocentric, while limbo and mechanus seem to be vastly underdeveloped.
I'm going to be dabbling with some alternatives, but I was curious as to whether anyone else has considered some ... new breeds? Perhaps the celestials of the lizard folk? Some spidery weavers of mechanus? Perhaps a breed of humanoid, aside from the githzerai invasion, that is natural to limbo?
In a multiverse with infinite possibilities... it seems there's too few that have been brought in to the open.
Nothing wrong with some fresh dark, eh?
When it comes to limbo, though, I disagree. The thing about limbo is that it supports precious little life at all. I don't think it would have a native humanoid race, or at least not one that could survive off of limbo (they would probably need chaos matter to live). I think there could be a better exemplar race than Slaad for chaos though. They are really poor when it comes to typifying chaos. "You see a slaad. You get eaten/injected with eggs/killed." If they were really chaotic the following encounter wouldn't be too surprising "You see a slaad, he begins to recite poetry at you and then runs away screaming about the bees." There are humans that are more chaotic than the slaad! Don't believe me? Then I'll buy you a fish sandwich, you nasty boy!
I have a new chaos race in mind, but it is still hammering around in my head. I think their general appearance may be something like an avian gorilla, but I'm not sure. I don't want to get sued by the creators of the Wizard of Oz, after all. I'll post the general info when I get it cemented in my mind and written on paper.
Hrmn.. in fact.. what if there was a race that was akin to sentient chaos matter.. in that OTHERS could shape them, but they could not do so for themselves. In Limbo, more than any other place, the possibilities are endless.
Perhaps a race that seek to define everything in the multi-verse.. ultimate sages... with different versions having different things they investigate... while LN is hardly my favorite alignment, there's a LOT of possibilities.
Back to celestials though... I can easily see a 'meddler' race of very minor celestials that have limited combat abilities, but plenty of abilities to mend minor issues on the prime worlds. Stuff like "Locate Object" and "Zone of Truth", etc.
There's a bit too much combat orientation in the buggers as is.
Interestingly, they would probably have members who spend long hours in the Sensoriums, since that would be a great place to gather information of many sorts.
Two of my favorite sigilians don't even exist in the typical DND setting. I've a pair of pick pockets trying to make their living in Sigil off of others' wealth, while simultaneously avoiding local thieves guilds. One is a Nezumi who accidentally activated a portal deep in the Shadowlands of Rokugan. The other, a Fhargan (sp? Cat-like humanoid), who hails from the Beastlands. Cat and rat make an interesting team.
Of course, another favorite is good ole Archibold, my 7th level awakened sorcerer giant cockroach with a clockwork cat familiar (because he had an unpleasant knack of eating his regular familiar). Archibold's fun to play, because he is trying to build a church to worship the Lady of Pain. He's constantly mazed and as soon as he finds a way out and starts to work on his church again, he gets mazed again. (Think Morte from PS:T, but a little more eccentric and feverish with his ideals.) There was no template in the MM for a giant cockroach, only giant beetles, so I took that and modified it some to work.
I.e., Planescape is a loose and twisted realm where you can easily insert races from other areas and tweak them to fit.
Another two examples: I have a corsair from Spelljammer that regularly visits Sigil to pick up supplies. So, you can apply things from there as well.
Last, not related, I've carried the Githyanki and Githzerai races into both Rokugan and Star Wars. In the first, they are taint resistant and inhabit the Shadowlands. In the latter, they're located in the Unknown Regions and Wild Space. (I'm looking forward to an encounter between the Yuuzhan Vong and the Githyanki!)
Originally posted by Incenjucar
Well, the modrons rock, but they're fairly limited in number and such. I could see a race that was, in a few ways, like the Phalanx of X-Men.. beings composed of thousands of tiny gears that flow and shift... various levels of power... that try to slowly spread their lawful taint to everyone and everything around them.
You'd have to be careful in designing that one so that they don't slip more towards lawful evil. You could change their motives a little and make it work...they want to show everyone the wonder that comes from being part of their well-ordered hive. Think borg that assimilate by cultural takeover rather than physical force. I do like the physical imagery of the phalanx though, I always thought they were badass looking.
Nice and simple, each full moon you change.
1. The creature you change into is determined every time you change by the DM (froma any creature he likes - it may even be the same as last time!)
2. The DM decides when and which full moon triggers your change (this time). ie which plane, or prime.
could see a race that was, in a few ways, like the Phalanx of X-Men.. beings composed of thousands of tiny gears that flow and shift... various levels of power... that try to slowly spread their lawful taint to everyone and everything around them.
There are already some 'borgs' in the Planescape Campaign Setting. Well ... they actually live in mechanus and are called the Parai (Planes of Law Monstruous Supplement). They are a race of intelligent beings seeing perfection to be themselves and others sensient species have to reach this perfection ... by assimilation. They are foes to the modrons.
About the general discussion, i am actually thinking of making the Far Realm (Manual of the Planes) a second layer of Limbo. Their inhabitants looks chaotics enough, don't you think ?
And what about some town, burg or demi-plane of shape changers ?
And aye, to avoid being evil, I figure they just slowly convince people to join them by showing them the joys of 'lanxdom in various ways. Perhaps a subtle series of suggestions starts wearing down on their resistance...
Or, perhaps, it's like lycanthropy...
As for appearance, they're basically shapeshifting humanoids composed of black and yellow metal wires, diodes, etc. Some images of them (Warlock looks like a dork 99% of the time, as cool as he is) are bad, but some are bloody cool.
Originally posted by Nevrose
About the general discussion, i am actually thinking of making the Far Realm (Manual of the Planes) a second layer of Limbo. Their inhabitants looks chaotics enough, don't you think ?
In my campaign, the Far Realms are beyond the reachs of all "normal" or "typical" realms. There really is no known way to access them as they are even beyond the laws of the gods. However, portals do exist - but are extremely difficult to hunt down. In my campaign - you go there - you are more than likely NEVER coming back. In my campaign - the Far Realms existed before the emergence of the gods - a premordial plane of mis-developed irregularities that goes beyond comprehension, simply because the gods cannot even comprehend the Far Realms. Unfortunately, in my campaign, once the PCs reach epic levels, they will eventually have to make a decision as to whether they will go there or not - the fate of the multiverse could be in their hands.