Wandering Monsters: Birdmen

I guess the voting majority do not ever want to see either the hollyphant or opinicus in Dungeons & Dragons ever again. Not only am I fine with that, but I could also stand to see some of the game’s equally unexciting bird-men candidates likewise go the way of the dodo.

My only mental image of the aarakocra is the one from 2nd Edition’s Monstrous Manual, and is actually the only edition that I recall seeing them in, though a quick Google search reveals that they were in 3rd Edition’s Monsters of Faerun—which could explain why I do not remember them—and Dark Sun Creature Catalog.

I do not get what is appealing about them, despite the description of their feet “unlocking and folding back to reveal hands” making me think of a potential Beast Wars candidate.

Though they usually come with guns and/or swords.

I would lose the hands-in-feet. Do they even need a set of hands? Why not just give them wings and talons; they could drop rocks, I guess, or even swoop down on creatures, picking them up before dropping them from a great height. That would certainly add something to a battle. I would also give them a variety of beak-types depending on geographic location, so in the mountains they might have a hawk-like beak, parrot for jungles, and vulture for desert.

As for flavor I would, by default, make them the creations of some kind of bird-like deity as opposed to a pact with djinn. The pact could still work in some cases, providing a reason for aarakocra on other planes, or even in a more fantastic, isolated city within the desert.

They can still have a connection to air elementals, but I would make them capable with wind-themed magic, which could include nature magic, divine magic, or sorcerer-esque arcane magic. I could even see a case for warlocks. They would live on cliffs and have a fairly technologically-primitive culture. Alignment-wise I would go with Neutral, but due to their xenophobic nature might attack travelers in order to frighten them off. 

Both the tag- and punchline for dire corbies is “underground birds whose wings turned into arms”.

Yeeep.

In its defense, I was at least aware that the aarakocra existed before the tail-end of 4th Edition. I heard mention of dire corbies shortly after the release of Neverwinter Campaign Setting, which some people were apparently excited about, and as with the aarakocra I have to wonder why. After all there are already plenty of humanoid races dwelling in the Underdark as it is, were we really missing one with a bird’s head?

Nope, still not doing it.

If I had to include them I would change them so that they were aarakocra that, long ago, were enslaved and gradually changed by mind flayers. To me this sounds better than linking them to drow, and gives you a way to link them with the aforementioned wind-themed magic (which could be particularly devastating in cavernous tunnels). Even better, you could give them mutations and psionics.

If you wanted to associate them with Pazuzu, I would keep their wings, take them out of the Underdark, and just make them evil mirrors of aarakocra. Throw on some demonic traits to better distinguish them and you are good to go.

Now I know some people are upset at James for pretty much only grudgingly acknowledging that gyerians are a thing, but I am inclined to agree given that, near as I can tell, they are mostly halfling-sized birdettes that possibly served as the inspiration for Lil’ Sneezer from Tiny Toons. I mean, even the dire corby made it into another edition. 

Though they both look equally silly.

It is…different I guess, but unlike its devastating allergies it is severely underwhelming, even if you are only mining it for comedic value. I cannot even recommend associating them with wind-things, since that seems to be the aarakocra’s shtick.

I have actually used kenkus before in both 3rd and 4th Edition, and even rolled up a few 4th Edition characters. Given their bird-like appearance (though raven would be more appropriate), voice mimicry, and rogue-oriented mechanics I would associate them with some kind of trickster deity. If you wanted to make them Fey, then a raven spirit would be more fitting, though I do not think it is necessary.

As a quick aside I find it odd that they are pegged as Neutral, despite favoring kidnapping as a source of revenue. That sounds distinctly Chaotic to me, maybe even a bit Evil depending on how far they are willing to go. I think it is fine for some groups of kenku, particularly those in an urban setting, but then I tend to dislike global alignment association.

I have not yet used tengu, but I fully plan to in an oriental campaign I am working on. I would divide tengu into two camps, with the humanoid ones as the chaotic variety and the crow-headed ones as the bad guys.

Humanoid tengu could be sought after as skilled warriors, serving as prerequisites for certain fighter maneuvers or prestige classes. What about “Tengu Training” as a background perk? They could also forge magical swords (and be a source of magic fans), or at least guard them/know their location. Warriors who fail them or earn their disrespect might be cursed with long noses or ears until they redeem themselves.

Crow tengu wander the land, killing with impunity, though sometimes stop for a bit to conquer a village and torment the inhabitants. They might be the malicious ghosts of warriors that were finally slain, or even some kind of spirit (perhaps the spiritual manifestation of a cruel samurai’s sword). Okami describes them as the spirit of a dead samurai that possessed a crow, though they retain a sense of honor.

Nagpas are kind of like driders in that the curse that transforms them has many beneficial side-effects, including a strict allotment of several spell-like abilities, and a staff that for some reason works better for them that also functions as a ring of spell storing. I wonder why more curses do not come with benefits packages?

“For my selfish nature I was rewarded with more power.”

Okay, okay, it is not all good. According to the Ecology section they cannot “eat, sleep, laugh, reproduce, or take part in any other activity enjoyed by living humans”. This is preceded by a bit in Habitat/Society where they can for some reason detect anyone within 100 miles that is talking about them; they track them down, are “immediately kill by the nagpa” in an unspecified manner, who then feels a combination of “guilt, remorse, relief, and joy”.

I am all for a curse, but I think that it should only have a downside and not be contradictory. Why does it give them spells? Why does it give them a bitchin’ staff? How can they feel joy or relief, which is something that humans tend to enjoy? Why is this only applicable to mages? Would not a better curse be to prevent them from using magic, or worse, learning more? Like, they are stuck with just a taste, but are unable to master more advanced arts.

A good idea might also be to associate them with Pazuzu. He might curse wizards that messed up while in service, or just dared to even attempt communication. A fitting mark.

Near as I can tell raptorans were designed specifically to make a race that could fly, and that is not enough to warrant their continued existence in my book, especially when they tread on the ground of other, similar creatures. The whole Walk of the Four Winds is pretty silly, serving to justify raptoran adventurers, as is their pact for flight that they cannot even utilize reliably until 10th level.

Character Concepts: Kara, Kenku Rogue/Bard

A friend asked about making a good multiclassed rogue/bard, or bard/rogue, whichever works. I think that they can both work extremely well since both classes use Charisma in some capacity. Rogues can get a lot of mileage out of it with the Artful Dodger class feature, and bards are entirely dependent on it, so there’s a lot of room for synergy.

I was considering what race to use, and wanted to default to the half-elf since they are great iconic rogues and bards, not to mention their multiclassing affinity. That seemed waaaaaaaaaay too easy and I dont really care for half-elves, so I quickly discarded it in favor of a more…unique race: the kenku.

Kenku made their debut in Monster Manual 2, and was something I was going to kick around as a Charisma-based paladin of the Raven Queen in an “oriental setting” part of my Points of Light campaign, where I called the Raven Queen something else entirely. However, thats neither here nor there, so for now I’ll just stick to the plan.

I decided to start out with the rogue as a good foundation, since my friend wanted to have the built excel at melee stuff. This works out well since the bard has plenty of brutal melee spells at its disposal, but being as we only get one feat at level 1 to play with, we wont be seeing any of that at the start.

It was a simple matter of immediately slapping 16’s in both Dex and Cha. I need Cha anyway for Artful Dodger, and once I actually get around to learning bard spells it’ll be doubly useful. I put some pips into Strength, since I wanted to reflect a rough upbringing on the mean ol’ streets as viewed through the eyes of China Mieville. I almost never seem to put Con at 8, so I did just for that reason, chalking it up to chronic malnourishment while growing up.

At any rate, here is the finished level 1 product.

====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&DI Character Builder ======
Kara, level 1
Kenku, Rogue
Rogue Tactics: Artful Dodger

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 13, Con 8, Dex 18, Int 10, Wis 11, Cha 18.

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 13, Con 8, Dex 16, Int 10, Wis 11, Cha 16.

AC: 16 Fort: 11 Reflex: 16 Will: 14
HP: 20 Surges: 5 Surge Value: 5

TRAINED SKILLS
Stealth +11, Thievery +9, Acrobatics +9, Intimidate +9, Bluff +11, Streetwise +11, Diplomacy +9

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Arcana, Dungeoneering, Endurance -1, Heal, History, Insight, Nature, Perception, Religion, Athletics +1

FEATS
Level 1: Bardic Dilettante

POWERS
Rogue at-will 1: Sly Flourish
Rogue at-will 1: Piercing Strike
Rogue daily 1: Handspring Assault
Rogue encounter 1: Fox’s Gambit

ITEMS
Leather Armor, Adventurer’s Kit, Dagger, Short sword, Shuriken
====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&DI Character Builder ======

I prefer to advance a character in a more organic fashion (ie, actual play), but I advanced Kara up to level 10 to see how well she plays with groups. Basically it ended up with me taking a bard attack and utility, which was easy since bards are leaders and thats their thing: work with the group.

Speaking of bards, lets see how she looks as a bard-multiclassed-rogue.

====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&DI Character Builder ======
Karasu, level 1
Kenku, Bard
Bardic Virtue: Virtue of Cunning

FINAL ABILITY SCORES
Str 10, Con 8, Dex 18, Int 13, Wis 11, Cha 18.

STARTING ABILITY SCORES
Str 10, Con 8, Dex 16, Int 13, Wis 11, Cha 16.

AC: 17 Fort: 10 Reflex: 15 Will: 15
HP: 20 Surges: 6 Surge Value: 5

TRAINED SKILLS
Arcana +6, Diplomacy +9, Acrobatics +8, Bluff +11, Streetwise +11, Thievery +8

UNTRAINED SKILLS
Dungeoneering +1, Endurance -1, Heal +1, History +2, Insight +1, Intimidate +5, Nature +1, Perception +1, Religion +2, Stealth +6, Athletics

FEATS
Bard: Ritual Caster
Level 1: Sneak of Shadows

POWERS
Bard at-will 1: War Song Strike
Bard at-will 1: Guiding Strike
Bard daily 1: Slayer’s Song
Bard encounter 1: Inspiring Refrain

ITEMS
Ritual Book, Hide Armor, Short sword, Spiked gauntlet, Adventurer’s Kit
RITUALS
Glib Limerick, Silence
====== Created Using Wizards of the Coast D&DI Character Builder ======

I think that this build better compliments the flock mentality that kenku emphasize. The problem I ran into is that none of the bard virtues rely on Dexterity, where the rogue/bard combination readily uses both high ability scores. In this case, the Int of 13 ensures that Virtue of Cunning gets something, but not much. On the chance that most melee powers synch up to Virtue of Valor, its a simple manner of swapping Int with Con. In the end, its a minor benefit at best, at least until paragon tier.
Now, you could drop Dex a bit and take the bard multiclass feat that causes all multiclass powers to rely on Charisma. This basically sidesteps most of the mess and lets you get away with having a Dex of 16 and an Int of 14-15. Your damage is slightly lower (by one whole point, yawn), but I think its a worthy tradeoff.

Both builds work out very well and are thematic in their own way, and this actually makes me want to run an all kenku urban campaign…