Races of Urban Planescape

Actually, the Exemplar types I was thinking of were the low starting ECLs and the half-exemplar templates.

Most humanoids are already in Urban Arcana. If you want to play a warrior-type, Orcs rock. Those bonus Armor Proficiency feats along with Archaic Weapons Proficiency really help out. Even if you aren't planning on using much in the way of Archaic Weapons.

Also, aasimar and teiflings are in there as well. Half-feinds are in the Menace Manual (and the SRD).

Bariaurs and Rogue Modrons aren't that different; just give them Archaic Weapons Proficiency as a bonus feat and they'll fit right in with the others.

For Kobolds, I'd use the kobold enhancement on the WotC website about Races of the Dragons. The one here (removing the Martial Weapon Proficiency with picks and replacing it with Archaic Weapon Proficiency), and removing the Weapon Familiarity entirely (like dwarves).

why not take that away from rouges and have it only in the still obediant?

Modrons running expieremental weapons testing :shock: .Oh dear god ,hide me!

That's assuming we include them at all. If there is no PL 6, it'd be hard to find the stuff from it.

Plenty of people would play half-celestials...
*muses* I actually don't know if the races have been made yet in d20 modern. Anyone else have the book to check or is it compatible with what's already written in regular DnD?

Fiendish Codex I: Hordes of the Abyss is now being released from Wizards of the Coast. It should have pleanty of info on Tanar'ri sub-races and demon lords.

They never were in planescape.

Also, as far as I know about the warforged, they can age and die and nobody knows how to make new ones, so I don't know how they'd survive until modern times

Warforged stop aging once they hit middle aged.

Watashi: They were never intended to be used as PCs, so they don't have a LA listed. I assume it is the same as 3.0 Half Fiends (as they had the random wings too), so +4.

Bah. The WOTC were the ones who cut the Eberron setting from PS, remember, so I don't really feel compelled to do anything they want us to do. What are they trying to do by suggesting that all races from Eberron should be included in every other setting? Make the Forgotten Realms, Ravenloft, Planescape, and Dragonlance to be Eberron clones? That's barmy, and I won't stand for it.

That'd be like every fantasy world containing elves and dwarves! We couldn't have that.

Bump.

I think what that person originally was trying to say was that WoTC (and I could EASILY be wrong here) felt that they had done a very good job on the Eberron core races (and WISHED they could have done such a fine job with the core races of the other settings; not so much that they ACTUALLY suggest Eberron races should be core for ALL settings)- and theyd be right. Compared to the True Core DnD races, Eberron is 100% better- I say this because, as a long time gamer, I cant even stand to play ANY of the core DnD races anymore; not a one.

Having something like shifters, changelings and warforged really mixes up the playing field- suddenly everyone is more than just a fluffed up human (which is basically what all the core DnD classes REALLY are-elves: pointy eared immortal humans, halflings- midgety fast humans, dwarves- midgets tough humans, half orcs- skulking hulk humans, etc.).

While the Eberron races I mentioned above are humanoid in general terms (bipedal, 2-arms, 2-legs, many humanoid features) there have something REAL that sets them apart phsyically as a character- you cant compare the sheer pleasure of playing a warforged busting things to hell with that of playing a half-orc: its terminator vs conan, apples and oranges; each has their own draw, but the warforged is (in my eyes at least) definitely more individualized as a race compared to their core counterparts (which are, without a doubt, half-orcs). Id go as far as to say that changelings dont really even have a core DnD equivalent; and possibly even the same for shifters. I was never that into the Kalahstra (sp) race, but Im sure some people out there love em to bits.

Now, maybe Im what you would consider a 'Clueless' as Im not the most experienced with Planescape by a long shot. But I see alot of you listing off the races that existed in core DnD present- tieflings, half celestials, blah blah blah.... Guess what? They are already there! You can go ahead and just fill in the blanks, we know enough about their history to do that without much trouble.

I mean, with the increase in technology, communication (likely even interplanar communication) would become advanced- the result, I think at least, would be that very few would still be considered 'Clueless'- those that arrive in Sigil these days are here for fame, wealth and/or power. Residents of the Material Prime watch television shows being broadcast live from Sigil, or Celestia, or Ysgard- they know of these places, knowledge has spread like wildfire.

Gone are the days of the stumbling Prime, lost in the big bad world- Sigil and the Great Wheel in general are changing, with those who were once in the dark being brought to the light, and resulting in a sort of epiphany in many of the 'lower' races as they realize how things REALLY work in their world. Those races that werent apart of the PS setting before, likely are now; and I doubt in such a short time (its only been like 200 years, correct?) many of the major races would have gone anywhere- this has likely been a time of vast improvement; both in technological terms as well as in the cultural bloom that takes place within the Great Wheel as previously clueless Primes are beginning to learn the true dark.

But what about those races who, in the past, may not have had the spotlight?

Im going to do some writeups on the where the lizardfolk, troglodyte and kobold people have gone in this drastic time- theres a very real chances these sorts of races (very cool but heavily overlooked) could find a very important role in UPS; even to the point of some of them becoming UPS core races. A perfect example (and I guess im somewhat alone on this one) is the kobold- even if you consider them as nothing more than pests, humans should have learn from experience- the pests usually end up winning (otherwise, thered be a very intelligence velociraptor sitting here typing this, instead of a hairy semi-ape).

Their numbers are greater in mass than that of higher organisms- hell, i could EASILY see kobolds (given a 100+ years of peace) becoming one of the more dominant species on many Prime Worlds- even moreso if, for some unknown reason (wild magic surge?) kobolds suddenly began having egg clutches like those of their more reptilian ancestors, and im talking 10-20 eggs in a clutch. The anatomical issues regarding this could be easily circumvented- perhaps kobold eggs evolve to a point where they are quite small at time of laying; but swell and grow as the embryo within developes.

Or perhaps the wild magics of Ragnarok changed kobolds to the point where they now give live birth, but with the extreme numbers of their reptillian ancestors- the result would be a 'baby boom' within the kobold race. This could, in turn, create such a majority in their favor that the other races (who at one time had a real chip on their shoulders) had no choice but to work with (and sometimes FOR) the creatures they once slaughtered as nothing more than 'big, scaly rats'.

Many an aged adventurer has eatten his words; brought down by a party of battle harden, well trained, exceedingly intelligent kobold warriors.

And as the kobolds gained power, they brought their old allies along for the ride- goblins, gnolls, lizardfolk and troglodytes all took a step up, suddenly having the oppurtunity for a quality education and a good career; without having to worry about being killed and skinned by some random adventurer.

Racism (thats exactly what the previous mindset was among 'core' races towards 'monster' races) is slowly beginning to become diluted; though barriers still remain. (the look on the face of the celestial father whose deva daughter brings home her new kobold boy-toy would be just groovy by me, hehe)

The trogs moved up into the light, learning to control their scent (learning to make it an even greater asset). Young lizardfolk and gnoll set out into the Great Scheme, dreaming of returning to their home swamp to show their aging parents just how much the world is changing and what a large part in it their people can have. Kobolds and their Goblin allies (the two races having made an iron-clad peace accord shortly after their mutual cultural awakening) establish Multiverse spanning trading routes, technology unimaginable by the mammalian mind and, in time, may even become rivals of the Illithid Empire before the Flayers flee the final act -wouldnt it just be ironic if kobolds began killing off humans, seeing them as nothing but pesky stepping stones for the Illithid to gain more ground; and that is was infact the 'vermin' race of the past, their Lizaodyte (liz-ao-dites; the combination of lizardfolk and troglodyte way down the road) allies and the combined Gith Nations that brought the brain-eatter's mighty empire to its knees, pushing them back into their last crumbling bastions.

Alot has changed, need to think outside the box alil- this is Planescape afterall, and chances are the old 'the more human you are, the better off you are' mind set is likely beginning to fade (if it isnt gone already).

EDIT:

Something Id also like to note: I really am not fond of tieflings/aasimars, the reason for this being that its basically a mini version of the half fiend/celestial templates; but only applies for humans.

What if I want to play a planetouched creature that didnt have a human parent? With the offspring of the above mentioned kobold/angel union, or the products of a demon/troglodyte love affair, Im basically forced to use the half-fiend/celestial template, with its +4 LA and alignment requirement? yeah, thats real fair...

Id just as soon see the tiefling and aasimar races abolished altogether in favor of an LA +1 fiendish/celestial template that can be applied to any creature; instead of just humans- and if people still want to play those 2 races (and, Apep knows, they will) they can simply apply said template to a human character for the same basic character (both in form and mechanics).

If we were to simply use the Fiendish and Celestial creature templates (+2 LA and still bearing an alignment requirement); then there should be no reason for tieflings/aasimars to exist, as they are simply fiendish/celestial humans and therefore are not a race that should even be detailed as much as it is. As is, a tiefling can be nuetral aligned; while a fiendish/half-fiend kobold is required to be evil... again, its just crappy rules that make no sense logically and that should be fixed if an update to the setting is to be made.

Its not fair, and its really not logical in the least to maintain a customized human race of that sort- DnD in all its forms has thus far been extremely racist towards those races that arent inherently human, and I think the time for that to end would be with UPS.

Not to mention, cripes, tieflings and aasimars are SO PLAYED OUT! We can do better than just revamping something that made little sense to begin with.

Could is one thing.... Id almost say that it SHOULD.

Slaad are a relatively powerful race (i believe they are at least partially in control of Limbo) and it would make sense that there would be a race of evolved Slaad that would be functional as a PC race.

Not only that, but I think it would be nice for variations of the multitude of races throughout the planes to be playable as PCs; and not only in games of lvl 10+.

For all that to happen, I think at least one of their gods must die, or at least change alignment. Their gods have always preached to hide from, to trap and hate others. Perhaps the Gnome Gods at last killed their ancient rivals, took their place and found kobolds to be a better tool for good than the gnomes themselves.
Gnomes in turn could be forgotten by their gods and become a more cunning and trickery based race.

Perhaps during their 'enlightening', the kobolds saw through their ancient symbols of worship and decided they simply didnt need them anymore- the time for hiding was past, and if their dietys could not move with the times, then the kobolds would move without them- it wouldnt be the first time they angered something more powerful than them.... though, if a diety's power is based on belief and worship, and its worshipers cease to send it praise, then what power would it have?

Or perhaps their head deity (starts with a K), during its time as a mortal following Ragnarok, spent its time traveling- the exact opposite of what it had preached to its charges. But in this act, it saw that there was more to life than just survival- if one does not enjoy the trip, then the destination can easily be ruined. And so, in this new light, this diety told his children to spread out across the land like a tide of good will- "Show no hatred or anger at the past; for it is gone. Know only that there is a long journey ahead, and that it is you who must serve as its headwaters. Perseverence is bred into the kobold, body and soul. Show them that not only are you not be feared, you are to welcomed with open arms.... in time, things will change.... everything changes in time..."

Keep in mind- the mind flayer invasion dosnt take place for A LONG TIME. Its described even in the present time books as 'in the far distant future'; which likely means it has yet to come to fruition... while they Flayers DID manage to kill the sun, this obviously is not yet their coming- their power would be evident across the Planes; the attainment of which would have taken more time than I think has passed... plus, from what I understand, they are still around.... and if this were that final time in which the Illithid and their ilk had taken over, then their fated journey into the past would once again have taken place.

At the very least though, I think by this time the gnomes and kobolds would have made their peace- they are so much alike that it seems foolish for them to continue their squabble, and if one side turned the other cheek, im sure the other wouldnt be soon to follow (especially if it was the kobolds attempting a truce).

The resulting offspring would be the greatest tinkerers to have ever lived- the sort that brought the technological age to its fruition through sheer innovation.