Hi guys! I'm going to be starting up a new campaign with some friends soon, and our DM said we can play whatever race we want. I've been excited about Aarakocra, but I'm having a hard time finding a lot of information about them online. I found the basic page here (https://www.dndbeyond.com/characters/races/aarakocra) but that's it. All other sites I've found so far just copy/paste that same info over and over.
Is there a novel or a story with Aarakocra characters? Something that may give me some more information about them beyond these couple of paragraphs with the bare basics? There's a list of the four places they're from in the material plane and it goes into a little detail on one of those places but not the other three. Is there a supplement somewhere that describes those as well?
What kind of information are you looking for? There's a lot of varied information, and different editions and settings have their own take. What setting are you playing in? If it's a homebrew setting, the good news is that you can do whatever you want. Even if not, talk to your DM and whatever you want can probably work.
You mention the four colonies. One of them is described, another I'm not very familiar with, but the other two are based in Cormyr and Chult. Cormyr is a very anglo-franc medieval country of shining knights and chivalrous nobility. Chult is a distant land plagued by curses, the undead and dinosaurs. If your DM is running Tomb of Annihilation, it might be a good choice.
Other details I'm familiar with is that the species overall is native to the Plane of Air. This is an elemental plane separate from the material plane, the main "reality." The elemental planes are not just realities of their element in its purest form, but more like primordial aspects of the material plane where that particular element is the greatest ingredient. The four colonies are major Aarokocra concentrations on Faerun, the main continent of the material plane's Forgotten Realms world, the main setting for D&D.
Previous editions and settings modify them. Back in 3rd edition, they were native to a different continent than Faerun, called Maztica. I'm a little annoyed about that, because I didn't realize that I was apparently copying D&D verbatim when I gave Aarakocra in my setting an Incan theme. They're also commonly seen as a player race in the Dark Sun setting, specifically mountainside/cliff-clinging tribes.
I guess I'm just most interested in information on them in general? In an act of desperation I searched Aarakocra on Twitter and found all sorts of drawings folks had done of their characters and I found a few "standard" eagles and parrots as described in the supplement, but there were all sorts of other types too including Shoebills, Magpies, and even songbirds and Seagulls. o.O
We're going to be starting up a regular ol 5th edition game, since it will be our DM's first time DMing, and 3 of the players' first time (or first time in a loooong time) playing. I want to make a character that I'll have fun with, but I don't want to fall into either playing something so absurd and un-aarakocra-like that it's a mockery of the race, or alternatively something so in line with the few pages about them in the official supplement's race description that I'm not actually playing MY character but the character described in the book. I mean, from the little I read it seems like aarakocra have little to no reason to leave their plane/colonies and/or interact with other races that it seems hard to justify a reason to join an adventuring party at all. I can think of a few concepts that fit within what I read, but that would leave me as a solitary druid with no reason to join the group, or a "stereotypical" as it were ranger on a quest to slay dragons or gargoyles.
We still haven't had our initial game planning session yet where we all get together and decide what type of campaign we want to run or what characters we're all going to play. We're still in the initial phase of "hey we all want to play D&D so let's get together and do that" and individually brainstorming character ideas in the meantime. Our DM said he sees no reason we can't play any race we want out of what's available, so it's all up in the air right now. (No pun intended.)
I guess in the end my question is, am I "allowed" to basically pick a class and any type of bird to be based off of and just have fun with whatever type of character that turns into without being obligated to come up with some reason why I'm a Goshawk-aarakocra or a Bluejay-aarakocra and not an eagle-aarakocra, or some convoluted "special" reason why I left the colony when most don't and it's seen as strange. I just want to be a bird and not be forced into some vengeance-driven reason for being an adventurer if I don't want to.
At the end of the day, your campaign with your friends is your campaign. There is absolutely nothing forcing you to hold to a standard, "canon" description or definition of a race or class. If you can find a reason that works for you and your DM, then go for it. Remember, the game designers and writers for D&D 5e intended for the bit written on Aarokocra, that you have already found and read, to be all that's needed. There's more you can find, in past editions or third party supplements, in adventure modules or licensed fiction, but it's all extra.
And when I say "if you can find a reason," I don't even mean that a reason is necessary. You can "just" be a bluejay aarakocra away from a colony, and never explain it at all. An explanation isn't necessary to play the character, unless you intend to play that character in a way that makes such an explanation desirable.
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Hi guys! I'm going to be starting up a new campaign with some friends soon, and our DM said we can play whatever race we want. I've been excited about Aarakocra, but I'm having a hard time finding a lot of information about them online. I found the basic page here (https://www.dndbeyond.com/characters/races/aarakocra) but that's it. All other sites I've found so far just copy/paste that same info over and over.
Is there a novel or a story with Aarakocra characters? Something that may give me some more information about them beyond these couple of paragraphs with the bare basics? There's a list of the four places they're from in the material plane and it goes into a little detail on one of those places but not the other three. Is there a supplement somewhere that describes those as well?
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ModeratorWhat kind of information are you looking for? There's a lot of varied information, and different editions and settings have their own take. What setting are you playing in? If it's a homebrew setting, the good news is that you can do whatever you want. Even if not, talk to your DM and whatever you want can probably work.
You mention the four colonies. One of them is described, another I'm not very familiar with, but the other two are based in Cormyr and Chult. Cormyr is a very anglo-franc medieval country of shining knights and chivalrous nobility. Chult is a distant land plagued by curses, the undead and dinosaurs. If your DM is running Tomb of Annihilation, it might be a good choice.
Other details I'm familiar with is that the species overall is native to the Plane of Air. This is an elemental plane separate from the material plane, the main "reality." The elemental planes are not just realities of their element in its purest form, but more like primordial aspects of the material plane where that particular element is the greatest ingredient. The four colonies are major Aarokocra concentrations on Faerun, the main continent of the material plane's Forgotten Realms world, the main setting for D&D.
Previous editions and settings modify them. Back in 3rd edition, they were native to a different continent than Faerun, called Maztica. I'm a little annoyed about that, because I didn't realize that I was apparently copying D&D verbatim when I gave Aarakocra in my setting an Incan theme. They're also commonly seen as a player race in the Dark Sun setting, specifically mountainside/cliff-clinging tribes.
I guess I'm just most interested in information on them in general? In an act of desperation I searched Aarakocra on Twitter and found all sorts of drawings folks had done of their characters and I found a few "standard" eagles and parrots as described in the supplement, but there were all sorts of other types too including Shoebills, Magpies, and even songbirds and Seagulls. o.O
We're going to be starting up a regular ol 5th edition game, since it will be our DM's first time DMing, and 3 of the players' first time (or first time in a loooong time) playing. I want to make a character that I'll have fun with, but I don't want to fall into either playing something so absurd and un-aarakocra-like that it's a mockery of the race, or alternatively something so in line with the few pages about them in the official supplement's race description that I'm not actually playing MY character but the character described in the book. I mean, from the little I read it seems like aarakocra have little to no reason to leave their plane/colonies and/or interact with other races that it seems hard to justify a reason to join an adventuring party at all. I can think of a few concepts that fit within what I read, but that would leave me as a solitary druid with no reason to join the group, or a "stereotypical" as it were ranger on a quest to slay dragons or gargoyles.
We still haven't had our initial game planning session yet where we all get together and decide what type of campaign we want to run or what characters we're all going to play. We're still in the initial phase of "hey we all want to play D&D so let's get together and do that" and individually brainstorming character ideas in the meantime. Our DM said he sees no reason we can't play any race we want out of what's available, so it's all up in the air right now. (No pun intended.)
I guess in the end my question is, am I "allowed" to basically pick a class and any type of bird to be based off of and just have fun with whatever type of character that turns into without being obligated to come up with some reason why I'm a Goshawk-aarakocra or a Bluejay-aarakocra and not an eagle-aarakocra, or some convoluted "special" reason why I left the colony when most don't and it's seen as strange. I just want to be a bird and not be forced into some vengeance-driven reason for being an adventurer if I don't want to.
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ModeratorAt the end of the day, your campaign with your friends is your campaign. There is absolutely nothing forcing you to hold to a standard, "canon" description or definition of a race or class. If you can find a reason that works for you and your DM, then go for it. Remember, the game designers and writers for D&D 5e intended for the bit written on Aarokocra, that you have already found and read, to be all that's needed. There's more you can find, in past editions or third party supplements, in adventure modules or licensed fiction, but it's all extra.
And when I say "if you can find a reason," I don't even mean that a reason is necessary. You can "just" be a bluejay aarakocra away from a colony, and never explain it at all. An explanation isn't necessary to play the character, unless you intend to play that character in a way that makes such an explanation desirable.