Arelith

Goblins, gnolls, kobolds

Allow them to get smaller tribesmen path as basic. Capped at level 10th. Ie said races could summon tribesmen since their beginning and scaling only to early levels, letting them have much more easier start (companions levels would cap at level 10, so those going the path fully would have edge). Afterall PC is quite a hero in eyes of his fellow npcs and could get some buddies following him!

Duergars

Get them permanent bonus to merchants checks all across the UD to reflect thing they are well known UD-merchants. Getting cheaper items and selling loot for higher prices will help them in beginning as well.

Duergar already get some really powerful subrace abilities.

Goblin/kobold/gnoll subrace abilities are, however, pretty garbage.

I think Yukka once suggested giving Kobolds and Goblins the Tribesman path, even before such things were avaliable.

Imo, it makes a whole lot of sense.

As for Gnolls, give them -track?
Or give them abyssal?

OR all of the above >=)!

Gnolls already have Ranger as a favored class, so it's pretty easy for them to get -track with minimal impact. Abyssal sounds cool. I'd like to see them get either Abyssal or Animal, depending on their alignment.

If I were to give gnolls anything, I'd probably give them a free -0.5 or -1 ECL to represent their rapid rate of maturation and the urgency of their short lifespans.

give kobolds bonuses to persuade checks, goblins craft weapon, and the furries intimidate

The Rambling Midget wrote:I'd like to see them get either Abyssal or Animal, depending on their alignment.

Well, they already get Animal. It would be a little strange to meet a Gnoll that couldn't communicate in barks and growls, though.

Abyssal should, and could by all means be a gnoll thing. So could taunt and intimidate boosts.

The last of the latter could, and should, apply to orogs mutually.

Kobolds could, and should, get a bit more boosts to traphandling than their gains at start. Dragonwroughts could, and should, be possible for a bit more ECL given how vigorously winged kobolds are flung around anyway.

Goblins could, and should, gain boosts to pickpocket and (given their hivemind mentality) a potential boosts on will saves to mind-affecting.

... but none of those are on the "[X Monster's name here] as players" sections in the source material... so... good luck on vouching for it.

Gnolls actually have their own language- Gnoll, though it was never added or made. They don't really communicate with barks and growls as much as animals do as they mostly relay on body language.

As for the race buffs, they do indeed feel abit off. Maybe more because in PnP they were made to be a part of a big living community, rather than a PC in a very small community for each respective race.

Imo, they all deserve more of a cultural buff that would be implemented through new items, dedicated areas, or even race specific classes.

If memory serves, Items like 'Duergar warhammer' or 'Goblin smasher' were indeed added, but I never found myself too interested in purchasing an expensive early-stage item that would become entirely useless once I hit level 4, or 5.

It just seems allot can be added in the form of race specific paths or subraces.

DestroyerOTN wrote:Kobolds could, and should, get a bit more boosts to traphandling than their gains at start. Dragonwroughts could, and should, be possible for a bit more ECL given how vigorously winged kobolds are flung around anyway.

Goblins could, and should, gain boosts to pickpocket and (given their hivemind mentality) a potential boosts on will saves to mind-affecting.

Problem is, the skill stuff really isn't in any way mechanically powerful. There is no reason to take the subrace still, if you don't invest in those skills. What is a +6 to set traps for an epic barb? Nothing useful.

The -track idea for gnolls is good. For goblins/kobolds I'd rather hand out small adjustments to ECL (-0.1, -0.25), because the species are meant to be weak.

I'd like to see all UD races - gnoll, goblin, duergar, drow, kobold and the like, get undercommon as a standard language. As it is now, I do not think kobolds and gnolls get undercommon.

Every single UD race has Undercommon upon selection, save Gnolls, actually.