idea for new race :O

[gsman]

harpie:
human size
+2 dex, +1 con, -3 cha, -1 str
perma-fly
+1 sensory complexity
+20% air res, -20% cold res


does this sound like a good idea to anyone else???

[Silvanos]

Imo, the only reason to add a race is if there is a niche to fill. This just seems to be a combination of other races. So, i dont think its a good idea. Whats your motivation for adding this race?

[gsman]

i always thought playing a harpie would be kinda fun, and cele said it osunded relatively easy to add(i wanted other peoples opinions as well as giving cele a reminder)

[Silvanos]

Sounds like asking for a race name change would be even easier. Doesn't seem like a good enough reason to me. The race would have to have something special without being too powerful. The race needs a functionality that would make it interesting to play, not just a name.
Heres some inspiration perhaps:
the Harpies ("snatchers") were mainly winged death-spirits (Harrison 1903, p 176ff), best known for constantly stealing all food from Phineas. The literal meaning of the word seems to be "that which grabs" as it comes from the ancient Greek word αρπάξ which means to grab.
Phineas, a king of Thrace, had the gift of prophecy. Zeus, angry that Phineas revealed too much, punished him by putting him on an island with a buffet of food which he could never eat. The Harpies always arrived and stole the food out of his hands right before he could satisfy his hunger, and befouled the remains.
Harpies remained vivid in the Middle Ages. In his Inferno, XIII, Dante envisages the tortured wood infested with harpies, where the suicides have their punishment in the second ring:

Here the repellent Harpies make their nests,

Who drove the Trojans from the Strophades
With dire announcements of the coming woe.
They have broad wings, a human neck and face,

Clawed feet and swollen, feathered bellies; they caw
Their lamentations in the eerie trees.[2]

[gsman]

obviously, something would be written up if it were going to be added silvanos, i was just giving stats

[Silvanos]

I didnt add it for you to write a background desc, it was for inspiration to find a harpy functionality that would make it unique. From that info you can gather a few things: theyre death-spirits, they steal food and perhaps other things. They seem to me to be some sort of corrupted scavenger types, and that would need to be reflected in their gimmick. So permafly i get, but why sensory complexity? Why +air and -cold? At the very least I'd add something like: can eat raw meat salvaged from corpses without getting sick and other types of food that normal has a poisonous effect, perhaps a resistance to poison (the spell as well) or in following with other animalkin like an ettercap or lizardman, add elemental damage to its attack. Seeing as its a death-spirit, I would recommend scourge if possible...that would make it unique.

In general though, I think itd definitely have to fill a niche, otherwise theres plenty of motivation for lots of other races which complicates things too much in picking a race.

[Binkly]

Well put.

[gsman]

I didnt add it for you to write a background desc, it was for inspiration to find a harpy functionality that would make it unique. From that info you can gather a few things: theyre death-spirits, they steal food and perhaps other things. They seem to me to be some sort of corrupted scavenger types, and that would need to be reflected in their gimmick. So permafly i get, but why sensory complexity? Why +air and -cold? At the very least I'd add something like: can eat raw meat salvaged from corpses without getting sick and other types of food that normal has a poisonous effect, perhaps a resistance to poison (the spell as well) or in following with other animalkin like an ettercap or lizardman, add elemental damage to its attack. Seeing as its a death-spirit, I would recommend scourge if possible...that would make it unique.

In general though, I think itd definitely have to fill a niche, otherwise theres plenty of motivation for lots of other races which complicates things too much in picking a race.

+air and -cold because they're creatures of the air, and if their wings get wet flying becomes harder.

Sensory complexity because, when attacking something on the ground, it must first see its target, right? therefore it stands to reason that it has good sensory skills.

I hadn't thought about the scourge rune usage, that would be nice, and you're right, it would count as animal kin.