First of all I like to take the old school view of these Intelligent birds, as they are in pure bird form. They have wings and old lore details that where their wings bend in the middle and they have three fingers to hold things in their grasp. This resolves some issues:
Firstly, they cannot simply fly around out of range and bow, crossbow and cast spells at people to death. This should be of concern to any GM. Now, with the Aarakocra viewed as an "intelligent bird" instead of an "anthropomorphic bird man" I think these issues melt away. Whilst flying from the old lore they actually did most attacks either flying or on the ground with their feet, unless they had a weapon the could wield in their digits. When flying, most Aarakocra attack by throwing spears with their feet. This would be the extent of thier volley style attack and they may not be able to carry many until they are forced to ground to fight with weapons and shields in their digits or with their clawed feet.
If an AaraKocra casts spells using somatic components, they are sure to fall 10 feet or per GM's descretion further, whilst the player gesticulates which prohibits the movement of his wings momentarily.
So, in summary I believe that looking at Aarakocra as "intelligent birds from another plane of existence" and compared to another race or species that "have breasts and take on human characteristics." Can't we keep this race like it was in the old school?
As an extra I wanted to talk about my take on Aarakocra Culture. Some examples of their culture is that when they hatch out their subspecies determine their classes. Owls become wise old clerics of Sarayita. Ravens, Crows and other birds of the like become thieves, rangers or fighters possibly. Eagles are typically Paladins or Cavaliers or that type. Use this in any way as your own.
One more note: As Aarakocra do not eat "dead or bloated animals" as a sign of their civility to other cultures, sometimes a egg is hatched that is "carrion cursed". This is a vulture. It may be a buzzard. It may be any avian that eats rotten carrion.
Carrion cursed Aarakocra typically are reared separately from other babies and taught the ways of Monk arts. An eagle teaches them the basic arts of a Monk and they are banished on their 1st birthday.
Comments? Criticisms? Hey just wanted to put down some words.
Fred Hophead aka ipoop20siders
I checked for spelling but I went to poor school so sorry in advance :)
A while back, I wrote an article collecting all of the lore on the aarakocra as part of my Monster ENCyclopedia series on ENWorld. There might be some snippets in there that you can use to flesh out their culture in your homebrew world.
First of all I like to take the old school view of these Intelligent birds, as they are in pure bird form. They have wings and old lore details that where their wings bend in the middle and they have three fingers to hold things in their grasp. This resolves some issues:
Firstly, they cannot simply fly around out of range and bow, crossbow and cast spells at people to death. This should be of concern to any GM. Now, with the Aarakocra viewed as an "intelligent bird" instead of an "anthropomorphic bird man" I think these issues melt away. Whilst flying from the old lore they actually did most attacks either flying or on the ground with their feet, unless they had a weapon the could wield in their digits. When flying, most Aarakocra attack by throwing spears with their feet. This would be the extent of thier volley style attack and they may not be able to carry many until they are forced to ground to fight with weapons and shields in their digits or with their clawed feet.
If an AaraKocra casts spells using somatic components, they are sure to fall 10 feet or per GM's descretion further, whilst the player gesticulates which prohibits the movement of his wings momentarily.
So, in summary I believe that looking at Aarakocra as "intelligent birds from another plane of existence" and compared to another race or species that "have breasts and take on human characteristics." Can't we keep this race like it was in the old school?
As an extra I wanted to talk about my take on Aarakocra Culture. Some examples of their culture is that when they hatch out their subspecies determine their classes. Owls become wise old clerics of Sarayita. Ravens, Crows and other birds of the like become thieves, rangers or fighters possibly. Eagles are typically Paladins or Cavaliers or that type. Use this in any way as your own.
One more note: As Aarakocra do not eat "dead or bloated animals" as a sign of their civility to other cultures, sometimes a egg is hatched that is "carrion cursed". This is a vulture. It may be a buzzard. It may be any avian that eats rotten carrion.
Carrion cursed Aarakocra typically are reared separately from other babies and taught the ways of Monk arts. An eagle teaches them the basic arts of a Monk and they are banished on their 1st birthday.
Comments? Criticisms? Hey just wanted to put down some words.
Fred Hophead aka ipoop20siders
I checked for spelling but I went to poor school so sorry in advance :)
Hi ipoop20siders,
A while back, I wrote an article collecting all of the lore on the aarakocra as part of my Monster ENCyclopedia series on ENWorld. There might be some snippets in there that you can use to flesh out their culture in your homebrew world.
Hey thanks man for the info, I'll check it out.
Hello Echohawk, Sry to revive such an old thread but your article was a good read. Thanks for sharing it.
This is very cool
Mostly nocturnal
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