I wrote an Aarakocra monk, and built into their backstory that their wings were irreparably damaged as they hatched and there egg fell from the nest. The practical result was to make them more gameplay friendly, AND we made it so they instead could glide. It was played like they, unless unconscious or incapacitated, could glide down like they had Feather Fall cast on them at all times, work a horizontal vector the same as what they put into it (e.g. If they dashed going into it, they would glide forward at double speed until landing or changing direction) Also, their monastery was all anthropomorphs, taught to reject their baser instincts, and appreciate the lives of their few creatures, also abandoning their animistic gods in the process. This birdman monk's best friend was a ratfolk.
@@Rookzer0 the group feel apart a bit ago, sadly. Though I'm currently playing a non-binary lizardfolk monk in Curse of Strahd, and they're a BLAST to play
I’m playing an aarocokra in my next game,. It’s kinda homebrew, but have in my backstory that a group of them separate and devolved into kenku with the help of some dark magic/curse. It’ll Make a good side quest even if it doesn’t make sense haha
I find dnd and the amount of information and roleplaying very overwhelming. I'm having my very first official session tomorrow. On heroforge one day, I made a green bird boy and named him Mendez. Now I'm doing more research so that I may use him tomorrow. This video helped, thank you :) Wish me luck
Learned a bit from this actually! I've been playing an Aarakocra Warlock for the past 8 months. Her name is Rhiakka and she's got the form of a blue jay. Awesome art, by the way! :D
Flying is only a problem for DMs that don't know how to use spells or arrows. Then there's the fact a lot of fights will be inside, the game is called *Dungeons* and Dragons after all.
I agree flying really just needs to be something the dm takes into account if done correctly you can even have some open concept dungeons for your flight enabled players :D
@@namethefifth7315 Yeah, but like I said, it's more a DM issue than a player exploit. Not saying it's always easy to solve either, but you can always ask the players for advice too. My friend is the one who reccomended utilizing weather, archery, tentacle grabs, etc.
Aarakocra Vulture that is very snooty but resourceful. Makes the party wait an hour until it has made use of every single part of a dead goblin. I might try this
Ik it's not a vid yet, but I was looking to make a Harpy Thief for our groups next campaign! Seemed the closest video for a reference. Any ideas folks?
Running my first Aarakocra. DM and I came to compromise on flight restrictions about 30/70 air/ground, I wanted to play the race, so I agreed. He's running the Miska backstory on me because he thought it was cool and he could add it in his homebrew. We agreed on daily wisdom checks when adventuring underground to see if I freak out. Haims Candorbeak, born somewhere on the elemental plane of air, in a misty valley fed by the little known Dawnson's Creek... (yup, I went there).
In a campaign im currently playing in, my character is an Aarakocra paladin(oath of vengance for backstory reasons) and he since hes a paladin (and has an 18 to strength) i worked it out with my wonderful dm to be able to fly while wearing medium armor, but with a reduced flight speed and occasional strength checks. The setting for the campaign is out at the sea, (were privateers) its fairly useful for me to be able to fly up and scope without having to take the time do doff my armor as well as in battles to not have to spend the time to take it off if i want to do an arial attack. Its pretty fun ngl.
I really like that idea, Great work talking with your DM and coming up with a cool compromise. I might also think of heavier armor that has some break away option to just dump it in a round. but it would take like 20mins to put back on.
@@Rookzer0 and also because of thousands of years worth of backstory he doesnt have the normal abilities of your average aarakocra, cannonically he has heightened strength and constitution, and can live a much longer life than your average birb man.
So I'm doing my first campaign by joining my brothers friends campaign at lv6. They just drifted ashore to my small cove on the brink of death, I've been living living there for two weeks in a treehouse on a medium cliff overlooking the inlet and the swamp behind me. Trying to go for a plague doctor feel with it, I'm going druid of the forest I think and one level into bard. Cant wait for seshs 0! I have a magical item with beast mouth as well named Jack in a box that me and my dm are going to run as a npc lmao
@@Rookzer0 thanks! I was thinking it could be really thematic for my character to get a level when my rare black griffen hatches and my underlying traits as an secret aarakocra clan kick in a start to get attune to being a bird of prey by each year after that taking a point in hunter for each three year of my griffs development and then revisting druid and bard, I've legit got like 20 pages to write about this and I only got like 5 lol. I'm going to make whatever I heal a type of contract with whatever I'm healing for the first time lmao
I'm lucky to have a dm that doesn't limit or ban Aarocokra from their tables, my two Aarocokra characters are a death cleric based on a bearded vulture, and a bird of paradise bard "ze bard of paradise"
I made an Aarakocra Light Cleric who flew around the battle field dropping fire like it was a Vietnam movie. He was fun i based him round the Egyptian god Ra.
@@Rookzer0 he didn't need the headdress as he already had the head lol but they did wear light armour and robes you might of seen in an ancient Egyptian setting
At some point in any future games, I want to be an Aarokocra wizard that resembles a Merlin! I'm not even joking! There's a falcon breed called Merlin! Look it up! It's pretty!
I humbly make a Request for an Aarakocra fan vid, You should draw an AaraKocra ranger, Duel Wielding Reapeating Cross Bows! looking like a D&D John Woo movie!
I don't understand a DM nixing Arakocra just because they can fly. I mean DRUIDS!!! how is Harvey Birdman harder to plan for than a woman who can turn into an air elemental? In pathfinder I love playing as a druid with the Flyby attack feat. allowing me to attack mid flight (50 - 60 ft. movement depending on the birb) without provoking attacks of opportunity. Then I also take Nature Spell, letting me cast while Wild Shaped, and suddenly I'm a tiny falcon with +4 dodge bonus to AC for my reduced size, flying around the battlefield making touch attacks with the Flameblade spell or healing my fallen companions before anyone can do anything about me. And 5e Druids are just as ridiculous even without the feats. So why not Arakocra with a bow?
I think the issue comes for new dm's not expecting a player to be able to do so much damage from outside of combat. It can really sap the fun out of a group if one person is basically playing by themselves. It definitely doesn't have to be that way. It can be really fun, but it has to be something the dm is prepared for and able to balance.
@@Rookzer0 That's absolutely fair. It's just that, well, it's a scenario that you have to face from a lot of different classes. Wizards/sorcerers with Fly spamming Fireball do essentially the same thing but with AOE, and add Greater Invisibility into the mix and their's even less the DM can do to control the situation. I'm not actually outraged, just trying to point out a logical inconsistency. I don't like those as they break story/game immersion more than anything else for me personally. It just seems to me that it's unfair to say a race isn't allowed because it comes with a fly speed when so many classes come with the option for a fly speed I really appreciate your videos btw. Not just because your art is wonderful and inspiring, but because I like that you're always encouraging DM's and players to push their comfort zone in the pursuit of better games. So thanks.
@@DaveTpletsch Thank you, I'm glad you're enjoying them. I really do think anything that breaks the game really boils down to a lack of communication between players and DM's. I hope everyone can play creative unique characters and have an awesome time doing it.
A humming bird could be interesting. Bonus movespeed or extra attack but be a small or tiby creature. Ive got a lot of asks for a spider race i may have to move it up the list
I'm late to this video but I am running a setting where Aarakocra, Kenku, and Penguins(a forked version of Aarakocra) are the ruling species. Literally left them open to my players as a fully playable race and no one took them. I'm letting a friend run a small one-off session where I get to play my penguins.
I have an Aarakocran Glammer bard that I want to play as. Geist Gudenfeder, raised by some college professors he never learned how to fly, and he feels secretly ashamed by this. He will try to cover the fact to the best of his ability. He became a professor of preforming arts at the college his guardians work for, and is known as a professor that was harsh in his judgements and would even insult students and cause them to get knock out. He feels that true bards should never use their talents to entertain the common masses, as true bards are above such an audiance.
@@Rookzer0 I might not get to play him for a good while but I will tell you some of the stuff he does whenever I get to play him! I always imagined him thinking that those of high society should be the only ones graced with a true bard's performance.
@@Rookzer0 they have a swim speed of 30 ft and a bunch of non-combat (?) traits, plus one trait that let's them grapple slightly better iirc Here’s a link www.d20pfsrd.com/races/3rd-party-races/purple-duck-games/shibaten/
@@Rookzer0 I enter the video then it takes a few secpnds to load stuff, then it allows me to look at the comments but the video still has the loading cricle twirling away. I've even waited a few minutes and tried going tp a different part in the video but it doesn't load
Man, no negativity, but those childish squeaks and zoomies are hard to bear. That's not particulary funny, rather annoying and distracting. By the way, nice art.
I wrote an Aarakocra monk, and built into their backstory that their wings were irreparably damaged as they hatched and there egg fell from the nest. The practical result was to make them more gameplay friendly, AND we made it so they instead could glide. It was played like they, unless unconscious or incapacitated, could glide down like they had Feather Fall cast on them at all times, work a horizontal vector the same as what they put into it (e.g. If they dashed going into it, they would glide forward at double speed until landing or changing direction)
Also, their monastery was all anthropomorphs, taught to reject their baser instincts, and appreciate the lives of their few creatures, also abandoning their animistic gods in the process.
This birdman monk's best friend was a ratfolk.
Cool way to balance the game. Is the campaign still ongoing
@@Rookzer0 the group feel apart a bit ago, sadly. Though I'm currently playing a non-binary lizardfolk monk in Curse of Strahd, and they're a BLAST to play
@@thembill8246 I've only just read this now, I'm sorry for the fall out. Sounded like an incredible campaign. Peace. 😅
mine can fly every other turn, because of a curse
Having Tengu and Aarakocra be different races makes sense to me. I mean, we already accept halflings and dwarves as different species.
Fair point!
@@Rookzer0 they are clearly subspecies of goblins
I’m playing an aarocokra in my next game,. It’s kinda homebrew, but have in my backstory that a group of them separate and devolved into kenku with the help of some dark magic/curse. It’ll
Make a good side quest even if it doesn’t make sense haha
Or take the Warcraft approach in your campaign and make them the same species but the Kenku being cursed to be flightless.
I find dnd and the amount of information and roleplaying very overwhelming.
I'm having my very first official session tomorrow.
On heroforge one day, I made a green bird boy and named him Mendez. Now I'm doing more research so that I may use him tomorrow.
This video helped, thank you :)
Wish me luck
Should be a lot of fun. Remeber dnd is a group storytelling environment. Have fun and good luck with your t
Story!
imagine playing an aaracokra who is afraid of flying/heights
That could be a fun build. Possibly something to work around or overcome as the character grows.
Learned a bit from this actually! I've been playing an Aarakocra Warlock for the past 8 months. Her name is Rhiakka and she's got the form of a blue jay. Awesome art, by the way! :D
Love the Bluejays idea. Might have to draw that some time
Flying is only a problem for DMs that don't know how to use spells or arrows. Then there's the fact a lot of fights will be inside, the game is called *Dungeons* and Dragons after all.
I agree flying really just needs to be something the dm takes into account if done correctly you can even have some open concept dungeons for your flight enabled players :D
Well dispite it being called dungeons and dragons a lot of campains tend to have veary little dungeons especially in servival campaign
@@namethefifth7315 Yeah, but like I said, it's more a DM issue than a player exploit. Not saying it's always easy to solve either, but you can always ask the players for advice too.
My friend is the one who reccomended utilizing weather, archery, tentacle grabs, etc.
Don't forget flying enemies also,send in the Urds!
the bird is the word.
indeed
Aarakocra Vulture that is very snooty but resourceful. Makes the party wait an hour until it has made use of every single part of a dead goblin. I might try this
Ha ha I love this idea, I might have to use this as and NPC.
"Now Hold on I'll sell you a potion when I'm done here" [Insert horrible Goblin noises]
I have a bearded vulture Aaracoackra for my first ever character and I love her so so so much.
Me too!! Mines a death cleric , I love bearded vultures
Feel free to check out the discord: discord.gg/tAyrGnC
I loved that snooty bird cleric because I literally play that and I refuse caves and if I must I just sit on the paliden sholders
"hard pass on the cave"
Ik it's not a vid yet, but I was looking to make a Harpy Thief for our groups next campaign! Seemed the closest video for a reference. Any ideas folks?
Yeah you made a good choice. You can use the aarakocra as a base template and take a look at the Stryx from pathfinder
Running my first Aarakocra. DM and I came to compromise on flight restrictions about 30/70 air/ground, I wanted to play the race, so I agreed. He's running the Miska backstory on me because he thought it was cool and he could add it in his homebrew. We agreed on daily wisdom checks when adventuring underground to see if I freak out.
Haims Candorbeak, born somewhere on the elemental plane of air, in a misty valley fed by the little known Dawnson's Creek... (yup, I went there).
Oh boi, great work. Sounds like a fun character to play
Ha, Stuka, a shrikefolk of a good friend of mine.
The small sadist, just left a lot of bodies covered with crossbow booths.
i made an aarakocra barbarian. i gave her a shiiiiiit ton of intimidation points. scary birb lady.
In a campaign im currently playing in, my character is an Aarakocra paladin(oath of vengance for backstory reasons) and he since hes a paladin (and has an 18 to strength) i worked it out with my wonderful dm to be able to fly while wearing medium armor, but with a reduced flight speed and occasional strength checks. The setting for the campaign is out at the sea, (were privateers) its fairly useful for me to be able to fly up and scope without having to take the time do doff my armor as well as in battles to not have to spend the time to take it off if i want to do an arial attack. Its pretty fun ngl.
I really like that idea, Great work talking with your DM and coming up with a cool compromise. I might also think of heavier armor that has some break away option to just dump it in a round. but it would take like 20mins to put back on.
@@Rookzer0 and also because of thousands of years worth of backstory he doesnt have the normal abilities of your average aarakocra, cannonically he has heightened strength and constitution, and can live a much longer life than your average birb man.
So I'm doing my first campaign by joining my brothers friends campaign at lv6. They just drifted ashore to my small cove on the brink of death, I've been living living there for two weeks in a treehouse on a medium cliff overlooking the inlet and the swamp behind me. Trying to go for a plague doctor feel with it, I'm going druid of the forest I think and one level into bard. Cant wait for seshs 0!
I have a magical item with beast mouth as well named Jack in a box that me and my dm are going to run as a npc lmao
Sounds like it should be a lot of fun! I hope you party likes the nice introduction those are always a big surpize.
@@Rookzer0 thanks! I was thinking it could be really thematic for my character to get a level when my rare black griffen hatches and my underlying traits as an secret aarakocra clan kick in a start to get attune to being a bird of prey by each year after that taking a point in hunter for each three year of my griffs development and then revisting druid and bard, I've legit got like 20 pages to write about this and I only got like 5 lol. I'm going to make whatever I heal a type of contract with whatever I'm healing for the first time lmao
Potoo aarakocra, imagine a bard with that beakmouth.
I'm lucky to have a dm that doesn't limit or ban Aarocokra from their tables, my two Aarocokra characters are a death cleric based on a bearded vulture, and a bird of paradise bard "ze bard of paradise"
I made an Aarakocra Light Cleric who flew around the battle field dropping fire like it was a Vietnam movie. He was fun i based him round the Egyptian god Ra.
Did they follow the ra motief with headress and all?
@@Rookzer0 he didn't need the headdress as he already had the head lol but they did wear light armour and robes you might of seen in an ancient Egyptian setting
At some point in any future games, I want to be an Aarokocra wizard that resembles a Merlin! I'm not even joking! There's a falcon breed called Merlin! Look it up! It's pretty!
I'm playing a Tempest Domain Cleric Aarakocra that's based on a red-tailed hawk, Salleek Atoldhia.
That sounds pretty amazing. Do red tailed hawks have any specific weather prefrence to influence your storm powers?
I humbly make a Request for an Aarakocra fan vid, You should draw an AaraKocra ranger, Duel Wielding Reapeating Cross Bows! looking like a D&D John Woo movie!
Make a vid on Juan Ti (snake folk) love your content!
It's on the list. It should be comming up soonish
really wanna make an arakocra arcane archer now, and I don't even feel bad.
Do it!
I don't understand a DM nixing Arakocra just because they can fly. I mean DRUIDS!!! how is Harvey Birdman harder to plan for than a woman who can turn into an air elemental? In pathfinder I love playing as a druid with the Flyby attack feat. allowing me to attack mid flight (50 - 60 ft. movement depending on the birb) without provoking attacks of opportunity. Then I also take Nature Spell, letting me cast while Wild Shaped, and suddenly I'm a tiny falcon with +4 dodge bonus to AC for my reduced size, flying around the battlefield making touch attacks with the Flameblade spell or healing my fallen companions before anyone can do anything about me. And 5e Druids are just as ridiculous even without the feats. So why not Arakocra with a bow?
I think the issue comes for new dm's not expecting a player to be able to do so much damage from outside of combat. It can really sap the fun out of a group if one person is basically playing by themselves. It definitely doesn't have to be that way. It can be really fun, but it has to be something the dm is prepared for and able to balance.
@@Rookzer0 That's absolutely fair. It's just that, well, it's a scenario that you have to face from a lot of different classes. Wizards/sorcerers with Fly spamming Fireball do essentially the same thing but with AOE, and add Greater Invisibility into the mix and their's even less the DM can do to control the situation. I'm not actually outraged, just trying to point out a logical inconsistency. I don't like those as they break story/game immersion more than anything else for me personally. It just seems to me that it's unfair to say a race isn't allowed because it comes with a fly speed when so many classes come with the option for a fly speed
I really appreciate your videos btw. Not just because your art is wonderful and inspiring, but because I like that you're always encouraging DM's and players to push their comfort zone in the pursuit of better games. So thanks.
@@DaveTpletsch Thank you, I'm glad you're enjoying them. I really do think anything that breaks the game really boils down to a lack of communication between players and DM's. I hope everyone can play creative unique characters and have an awesome time doing it.
Chicken Aarakocra????? free food for life!
For the life of the aarakocra?!?!?!?!?
How about humming bird or penguin Aarakocra?
Also do know about the aranea?
A humming bird could be interesting. Bonus movespeed or extra attack but be a small or tiby creature.
Ive got a lot of asks for a spider race i may have to move it up the list
@@Rookzer0 plus the needle beak.
@LOLSkulls but think of the swim speed and when you sledding you count it as a dash.
@LOLSkulls immunity to difficult terrain when on snow and going down hill.
I'm late to this video but I am running a setting where Aarakocra, Kenku, and Penguins(a forked version of Aarakocra) are the ruling species. Literally left them open to my players as a fully playable race and no one took them. I'm letting a friend run a small one-off session where I get to play my penguins.
hmmm why you should play penguins.... I'd allow it. It sounds super fun!
TL;DR - they're rad as fuck
I mean peseants historically learned to hunt by hunting birds
Wizards with magic missiles... sooo a self-propelled anti air battery of the Surface-to-air veriaty xD
In a world full of dragons and Harpy I dont see why not
Nailed it
aarakocra
+ all in strenght
+ 2 lvl of rogue
expert in athletic
grapple fly dash
Make sure you have a maximum weight capacity while flying figured out with your dm.
I have an Aarakocran Glammer bard that I want to play as. Geist Gudenfeder, raised by some college professors he never learned how to fly, and he feels secretly ashamed by this. He will try to cover the fact to the best of his ability. He became a professor of preforming arts at the college his guardians work for, and is known as a professor that was harsh in his judgements and would even insult students and cause them to get knock out. He feels that true bards should never use their talents to entertain the common masses, as true bards are above such an audiance.
that's a cool idea, Let me know how it goes I'd love to hear when what he deems worthy of his abilities.
@@Rookzer0 I might not get to play him for a good while but I will tell you some of the stuff he does whenever I get to play him!
I always imagined him thinking that those of high society should be the only ones graced with a true bard's performance.
Do you plan to cover more obscure races or more popular ones?
yes, and yes. I have a large list on the discord if you'd like to look it over or suggest additions.
i decided to play an Aarakocra that is a chicken so it can only glyde
I like the flavor. Great work!
@@Rookzer0 the camping got cancelled :,(
Thx m8.. 700 likes are way to few for your dedication
birb :>
Muito interessante. Eu não conhecia essa raça.
Originalmente, eles eram apenas grandes pássaros. Agora eles são pessoas pássaros.
I read the hobit and when said I had flashback
Great read!
@@Rookzer0 sorry I can't write
Shibaten or duckfolk by purple duck games is also a fun (pathfinder) bird race
Nice, i will take a look. Do they have any sweet traits?
@@Rookzer0 they have a swim speed of 30 ft and a bunch of non-combat (?) traits, plus one trait that let's them grapple slightly better iirc
Here’s a link
www.d20pfsrd.com/races/3rd-party-races/purple-duck-games/shibaten/
Me playing a Aarakocra Gloomstalker, dont ask...
What's the chance you can do a shifter video? I recently played as a longtooth shifter that I voiced as Vinnie Jones from Snatch. Thundercat, yeah.
Changlings are on my list, might be a while.
@@Rookzer0 Both are cool for 2 different yet similar reasons
good ol burb's
I couldn't find anything on "Goblin drop bottom"
Floaty Bois
Bard and arracokra? Would it work by chance
It does and I've seen it done!
I made a crow aarakocra wwho actually had some kenu boold in him to explain why hes a crow
If you choose an owl then your just an owlin
Onwlin are just fluffy aaracokra
They think their people lmao
Anyone else having issues playing this video specifically or is RUclips just torturing me?
Oh no!!!! What seems to be happening?
@@Rookzer0 I enter the video then it takes a few secpnds to load stuff, then it allows me to look at the comments but the video still has the loading cricle twirling away. I've even waited a few minutes and tried going tp a different part in the video but it doesn't load
Yeah, same here :/
Yup, same for me
Same here, only gotten up to the intro
I plan to be a Aarakocra druid with 1 level of monk
Nice what is your plan with the monk dip?
@@Rookzer0 my main reason to have monk is so i can have better armor class
I chose a duck
I’m the 74th person to like
Man, no negativity, but those childish squeaks and zoomies are hard to bear. That's not particulary funny, rather annoying and distracting.
By the way, nice art.