Thanks
James
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/we/20040717a
They aren't even from Toril let alone Athas. They are from a totally different world dominated by a saurial race instead of humans, just read the FR trilogy they are in.
Making them subspecies of lizard men and the ssurran on Athas doesn't fit IMO either, they are just way too different to fit them in.
Their chances of living on Athas get slimmer and slimmer...
Originally posted by Tha Nomad
But the way I see it, we have a map of Athas that is the size of mississippi. WHat covers the rest of there world. Ima make that a thread.
Well, it's a bit bigger than that, but yeah, the habitable part of Athas is small for a reason, and that reason is that most of the rest of Athas is inhabitable.
That is conjecture, but conjecture that makes sense taken from some of the accessories and such that saw print or didn't get printed.
Making them subspecies of lizard men and the ssurran on Athas doesn't fit IMO either, they are just way too different to fit them in.
Heh, I actually could see them fitting in, but not in a cut and paste fashion. Imagine the triceritops fellows with huge nightmare beast style horns, or the 'cute little winged fellows' to be akin to a razorwing's on angel dust. Give em a draconic (pun intended) culture, caste system based on strict racial heirarchy and bad-a-bing! Instant DS races, just add nastiness.
Originally posted by Mach2.5
Heh, I actually could see them fitting in, but not in a cut and paste fashion. Imagine the triceritops fellows with huge nightmare beast style horns, or the 'cute little winged fellows' to be akin to a razorwing's on angel dust. Give em a draconic (pun intended) culture, caste system based on strict racial heirarchy and bad-a-bing! Instant DS races, just add nastiness.
Way too paleo for DS for my tastes. Maybe if they were not intelligent, since they can't speak anyways, or at least can only speak to their own kind since their voices are on a higher frequency than others.
Don't get me wrong, I like the race, one of my favorite races in FR, they just don't fit in DS, and you would have to do too much of an overhaul to make them fit causing them to be something else other than saurials.
Anyhow, a cut and paste of almost anything from other settings rarely comes across very well, especially if your players are even remotely familiar with the setting being borrowed from. But then there's the issue of by altering something so much to fit into DS and shed off the skins from another setting, your really not bringing in the race into DS. More like creating a new race inspired by the other setting.
So is the way of DS, at least for me.
Originally posted by xlorepdarkhelm
I personally don't see a problem with including them in some remote distant location of Athas. I'm always interested in increasing the number of insectoid and reptillian races on Athas. Of course, I'll admit I don't know much about the Saurials, but if I recall, they were basically dinosaur-men, that whistled instead of spoke or something like that.
While I agree with needing more reptile and insectoid races, Saurial is simply not a good one to pick. Dromites from the XPH on the other hand are.
They don't whistle, they can't be heard by other humanoids, and only animals like dogs and such can hear them speak, that's how high their voices are. They do leave off scents that convey emotions though.
I just think they are a little silly for Athas is all, and that's coming from a guy who has certainly allowed silly things on Athas before. Irda and Draconians anyone? Heh.
Flyers: Live in mountains, give them an offensive/defence, claws, or wing blades, somethin deadly. Mostly.... Hmmm, Uh, rangers, warriors, and a few air clerics. But generally a neutral, or NE race.
Finheads: Plaines, and desert plaines, generally a reserved, and medidative people, (psionics, and earth clerics with warriors in the mix.) And they would be N, or NG. I would give them a hellofa tail bash as a "natural" Att/Def (1d6). and AC 8. Problem is now they kinda look like Pterrans. (AC 8 = +2 def 3rd ed)
Originally posted by NytCrawlr
While I agree with needing more reptile and insectoid races, Saurial is simply not a good one to pick. Dromites from the XPH on the other hand are.
They don't whistle, they can't be heard by other humanoids, and only animals like dogs and such can hear them speak, that's how high their voices are. They do leave off scents that convey emotions though.
I just think they are a little silly for Athas is all, and that's coming from a guy who has certainly allowed silly things on Athas before. Irda and Draconians anyone? Heh.
Well, the high-pitched talking is probably the thing "holding them down". While its very interesting and makes for a very unique race, it also makes them a pain-in-the-rear to roleplay properly. Otherwise, they're lizardmen with a fancy name 
Originally posted by Nightdruid
?
While its very interesting and makes for a very unique race, it also makes them a pain-in-the-rear to roleplay properly. Otherwise, they're lizardmen with a fancy name
Actually, I liked them because it made them a pain in the rear to roleplay.
They are a bit more than just liardmen with a fancy name, one of the many reasons why they shouldn't be allowed in DS. I recommend you, or anyone else, read the trilogy that was done on them. Finder's Stone trilogy if I remember the title correctly.
Their very culture does not fit that of Athas's, and if you change that to make them fit, then they aren't saurials anymore but something else, probably just lizardmen with a fancy name ;). Might as well make up a whole new lizardman race for that or browse some of the various books out there with other lizard-like humanoid species and add them. Probably shouldn't need many more than what we have though, which is quite a bit (Ssurran, Lizard-folk, Yuan-ti, and Nikkaal). I probably missed one or two somewhere...
Originally posted by NytCrawlr
Actually, I liked them because it made them a pain in the rear to roleplay.
They are a bit more than just liardmen with a fancy name, one of the many reasons why they shouldn't be allowed in DS. I recommend you, or anyone else, read the trilogy that was done on them. Finder's Stone trilogy if I remember the title correctly.
Their very culture does not fit that of Athas's, and if you change that to make them fit, then they aren't saurials anymore but something else, probably just lizardmen with a fancy name ;).
Well, what of their culture do we know? Moandar stole what amounted to one small, insignificant village of saurials and dumped them on another planet with only the clothes on their back. All we really know is that they have a tribal society and share some of the FR gods. Oh, and they could be paladins at a time when only humans could be paladins. Other than that, they're a bit of a blank slate.
Don't get me wrong, I love the guys
Their language is one of the cooler parts of them. :DOriginally posted by Nightdruid
Well, what of their culture do we know? Moandar stole what amounted to one small, insignificant village of saurials and dumped them on another planet with only the clothes on their back.
Er, incorrect. Moander took them from another world, where Saurials were the dominant race instead of humans. They lived in a very tribal society that has to do with marking themselves, song, scent, etc. They had their own gods until a small group of them were thrown onto Toril by Moander.
Most of what I remember reading, didn't paint a very athasian picture, and if you just want to add more reptile-like races then you have plenty of other better choices to pick from. Not to mention the fact that you would have to change them up so much that they would no longer to be saurials, and at that point why bother and just find another reptile-like race that fits better and add it, heh.
Don't get me wrong, I love the guys
I love them too, doesn't mean they should be in DS. Keep em off my world dammit! LOL
Originally posted by NytCrawlr
Most of what I remember reading, didn't paint a very athasian picture, and if you just want to add more reptile-like races then you have plenty of other better choices to pick from.
From what I remember of the Finder Trilogy (and the Tymora's Luck book, too), there wasn't a whole lot of culture in those books. Other than hints at a jungle and lots of monsters, I don't remember much more than that.
I love them too, doesn't mean they should be in DS. Keep em off my world dammit! LOL
Is that a challenge? Because the last time someone said that to me, it was about adding Spelljammer to Dark Sun...
Originally posted by Nightdruid
Is that a challenge? Because the last time someone said that to me, it was about adding Spelljammer to Dark Sun...
Nooo...arghhhhh....................
/dissolves into pool of water/
Originally posted by Nightdruid
Is that a challenge? Because the last time someone said that to me, it was about adding Spelljammer to Dark Sun...
Yeah, but I like what you did that for writeup, can't see myself liking the saurials being added, no matter how you paint them.
Didn't read the tymora luck book, but read the trilogy.
Originally posted by NytCrawlr
Yeah, but I like what you did that for writeup, can't see myself liking the saurials being added, no matter how you paint them.
Didn't read the tymora luck book, but read the trilogy.
Fair enough. Honestly, I went into that article with a fairly clear idea of how to approach it, while I really wouldn't know how to approach a DS saurial article without, as you said, changing saurials so much that they'd be unreconnizable. ;)
I was just being silly
basically, i'm going to integrate them as a relatively common species, with tribes of bladebacks crossing the deserts to trade their goods, and the hornheads, more primative, ending up in the arena often, and as slaves in armies and as guards, basically not having (m)any wild one left.
Originally posted by Nightdruid
I was just being silly
Nothing wrong with that.