Favorite PC race
I have 2 favorites really Halflings & Half-Ogres. And they happen to be at opposite ends of several spectrums. Let's start with size. 1st Edition AD&D had 3 breeds of Halfling. Hairfoot, Stout and Tallfellow. I don't think I ever played anything but a Hairfoot. I had read The Hobbit, seen the animated movie, and was still a fairly short kid. I related to halflings on quite a few levels.
Back in the Basic D&D days, you didn't pick a race and a class, you got race, that's it. Of course, there were only 3 alignments too. It was called "Basic" after all. Back then Halflings were just short fighters. It wasn't until 1st edition that the Halfling came into their own, they could be Thieves.
One of my first Halfling Thieves was named Eubeen Hadd. ... ... ... WHADDA YA EXPECT FROM A 12 YEAR OLD!?!? I hadn't developed much imagination yet. Idontwannatalkaboutit. Anyway, Over the course of his adventures, he found a pair of gauntlets. You old farts are going to know what kind of gauntlets they were. I played that character for another 2 months before I finally found out what kind they were. They were Gauntlets of Ogre Power.
Cliché, oh so cliché. Again... What did you expect from Power Gaming 12 year olds. This is by no means a defense (I won't defend that which we all have offended from time to time) this is the way things were. We were all of the same mind back then.
Basically they were the only things left over after the treasure was divvied up. Well, long story shortened to preserve sanity (yours and mine) shortly afterward the self same gauntlet wearing Halfling also acquired a certain magic accoutrement... A Girdle of Storm Giant strength. That particular Halfling Thief soon gave up a life of stealth and started Tanking for the group.
In more recent history, there was Olarin Pugtoe. Halfling Rogue. When he had reached about 5th level, I lost interest and was set to hand over the Roguely duties to another player. I had decided to have Olarin develop a death wish. I did have a few rules for his demise however. It couldn't be a wasted death. It couldn't be done by members of the party. And he had to go out in a blaze of glory. Several attempts were made, none successful, to encourage a deceased condition. None succeeded. What did happen, is that a certain member of the party (Dave, forever will his name be spat as a curse by Olarin) went to the other party members and gathered them all to the idea that because the Halfling had escaped death so many times, he should be declared the party's mascot, and gave him the nick name "Lucky". :-|
Very displeased was I. Thus changed the rules for "Lucky's" demise. Now he would endeavor to take someone with him into the glorious throws of death.
Again, we shorten because we don't want to offend our readers by telling gaming stories no one want to hear. Lucky as he came to be known, never did die. He managed to take out the offending characters, then he quietly retired to a small town to pursue other dreams. Hence I could play the Necromancer, and Reuse, Recycle, Re-Animate. Muhahahaha!!! Or so I thought.....
I believe the player's name was Brock??? Maybe. He had been chosen as Lucky's replacement. Brock dutifully rolled up a Halfling Rogue, and we had passed the mantle of "Token Halfling". Or so I thought. Brock decided to take his Halfling for spin, and ended up getting arrested and jailed. The DM rolled on his justice tables, and Brock's Halfling was scheduled to be drawn and quartered. Lucky soon got a visit from a messenger, requesting that Lucky rejoin the party. Personally I think they just didn't want to wander around with a Wizard/Cleric True Necromancer.... :-\
Thus endeth the saga of my Halflings. Now we turn our eyes to my other favorite PC race... Half-Ogres.
There comes a certain time in every gamers life, when all they really want to do is sit down at the table, roll some dice, kill monsters and take their stuff. If you, dear reader, are at this point in your life, I urge you to play a 1st edition game, and play a Half-Ogre.
I discovered the big bruisers when I picked up The Best of Dragon: Volume IV. It contained the article, The Whole Half-Ogre: Expanded character creation rules for the best darn door opener ever.
My first Half-Ogre was Zog. He was 9ft tall, wielded twin bastard swords, and could cut down kobolds life a hot knife through butter. He also hated bunnies. I don't remember why he hated bunnies, but hate them he did. I think it was so he would have something to do at the camp at night while everyone else talked over the day's adventuring events. Zog would wander the woods searching for the evil bunnies.
Sometimes it's nice to be a 9ft tall wall-o-hit points. Those of you reading this hoping to gain a deeper understanding of a Half-Ogre's state of mind... That ship has sailed! Half-Ogres are all about the killing.
I could tell you the story of Zog and Lord Maeramore the Paladin, but I'd be straying into that realm of "boring gaming stories". So briefly, some of the other notable Half-Ogres that that I can recall are...
Grunch, Half-Ogre Barbarian. In 3rd or 3.5, can't remember. He had an Ogre's Fullblade. Those were the days *sigh*. He was a member of a 8 character party??/ Might be wrong, not sure. I do remember there were 4 half-ogres, and elf, I think a gnome, a halfling, and possibly a human. I remember he was raging when followed a pack of gnolls and ended him against 8 gnolls, in a confined hallway. Poor Grunch.
Krang, Grunch's uncle that went looking for him after his untimely demise at the hands of filthy gnolls. He was a Lawful Neutral Paladin hopeful. I was hoping to talk the DM into letting it go that way.
While not one of my characters, Yonder a friends' half-ogre Bard. Yes you read that right. Half-Ogre BARD. He wielded an ogre sized whip dagger and carried a drum. A member of that same party was half-ogre Paladin. Those were fun games.
So there you have it. My two favorite PC races.
Happy Gaming!
