Monstrous PCs and Races of the Dragon

One of the interesting things about D&D is that in the very early days, players were encouraged to play anything! To quote Gygax in the original D&D game, "There is no reason that players cannot be allowed to play as virtually anything, provided they begin relatively weak and work up to the top, i.e. a player wishing to be a Dragon would have to begin as, let us say, a "young" one and progress upwards in the usual manner, steps being predetermined by the campaign referee."

By the publication of the AD&D DMG, Gygax was actively discouraging anything outside the norm. With 3E, the idea of playing monsters (or non Tolkienesque humanoid races) really started to get opened up again, and thoughts were given to keeping things balanced. 3E wasn't really designed to allow that, however; that's one reason why 3.5E mucked around so much with monster creation rules: so that players could use them as PCs more easily.

As explained on the ECL/LA thread, even 3.5E doesn't quite work for existing monsters as PCs. Although the concept of the balance required is much better understood, the tools are too gross for them to quite work.

However, it is possible to design new monster-type races as PC races, and we're seeing that in the Races books, and in some of the environ books. The Raptorans exist because they're much better balanced as a flying race than what came before.

The move away from non-Tolkienesque fantasy isn't limited to D&D, of course. My fantasy novel collection continues to grow, and the strange races and creatures described there are a long way from our mythological traditions. As a race, we like telling stories and creating new things; D&D would be remiss if it didn't keep up with the rest of the world.

New Draconic-themed races are both new and old, tapping in to our mythological roots while giving it a new spin. I'm sure there are people out there who think it's really fun to play draconic-themed races, regardless of the power levels involved. Of course, there are also those who look to how powerful they are.

With this edition, the designers and (especially) the developers are paying attention to how new races integrate with the existing ones. So, with any luck, choosing a dragonkin race won't be "I've got the most powerful PC", but instead just "I have a really cool PC who is fun to play!"

Incidentally, in my ongoing Living Greyhawk game, one of the players now has a low-level Centaur PC alongside other 1st and 2nd level characters. She's been working well with the group - being effective, but not overwhelming the other PCs. That's something that Races of the Wild opened up to her, and she's enjoying the experience.

Character Sheets

In the beginning, there was the Moldvay set of D&D, and I used bits of pen and paper to create my own character sheet. I never really used the official D&D sheets.

Then came the Computer. From that day forth, all my character sheets would be MS Word (or Wordperfect) documents, arranged to my liking. Each would be individualised to my PC; although, I must admit I don't have many PCs, being a DM far more often than a player.

I bought the 2nd Edition character sheets, scribbled in the stats of my main PC, and promptly went back to using my computer-generated sheets instead.

I ignored the 3rd Edition character sheets, and wondered when I would get to play again.

When the 3.5e Deluxe character sheets came out, I decided I'd buy them. Eventually I got to play D&D again, and guess what I did?

I used my computer. :)

However, this is in stark contrast to what my players do. They use the official sheets - either copies of the Deluxe sheets, or the specialised sheets you can get from the Wizards website. (Normally imploring me to print copies of them). There's one player who just uses pen and paper (as I did in the Moldvay days), but otherwise they all really like and prefer the official sheets.

Of course, they haven't had much exposure to the other sheets available, but they're happy.
This isn't just one group of 6 players, either. I have three groups, with some players in common. There's about 14-15 players in my games; and they like using the official sheets!
Now, it seems that Wizards are releasing the Eberron Deluxe Sheets. I guess, being Eberron, the main difference is that they'll have a box for Action Points. :) Oh look, they're bringing back the Adventure Log sheet. (That might be handy for my players, they'll be able to remember what happened in previous sessions. When some of my groups only play once a fortnight, this could be essential).

I guess I'll get them, just to have a look.

Guess how I'll keep track of my characters in the future, though?

:D