Creating Humanoid Characters (CBOH)

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This chapter includes the basic information needed to generate a humanoid character. It explains how to roll ability scores, how to choose classes and kits, and gives guidelines on selecting the humanoid's racial type.
Humanoid characters aren't quite the same as the human or demihuman characters you're used to playing. They often have different motivations, different world views, different limitations. Before you decide whether your humanoid character is going to be noble and misunderstood, suspicious and quick to anger, or some other type, you need to generate and record the character's basic statistics.
==Getting Started==
A collection of humanoid races has been gathered in this chapter. These races have been selected for their playability and plausibility as player characters. You won't find any undead or spirits among them. There are no monsters that have "instant kill" powers. With few exceptions, all of the humanoids range in size from small to large. We've included a tiny humanoid for variety, but none above the large (7' to 12') size.
Each entry includes background information, role-playing suggestions, monstrous traits and superstitions inherent to the race, minimum and maximum ability scores, racial ability adjustments, class restrictions, and level limits. These will be important when you begin generating ability scores and filling out a character sheet.
Take a few moments to look over the selection of humanoid races. Try to find a race that you want to role-play, not just a race that will generate a powerful character. The goal of this book is to show you how to create characters that can be role-played powerfully, not how to create all-powerful monster PCs. In fact, the more powerful a humanoid PC is, the harder it will be for that character to operate in a campaign setting (see Chapter Five: Role-Playing Humanoids for more information).
After you've selected a race and a couple of alternates, discuss your choices with your Dungeon Master. The one you decide to go with should be the one that you are both comfortable with and fits easily into your DM's campaign. You may have to provide your DM with suggestions on integrating your choice into the campaign setting. By working together to come up with clear campaign hooks and explanations for the humanoid PC's presence, you'll be building something you can both live with. In the long run, cooperating on developing the campaign story will be a rewarding experience for both the Dungeon Master and the players.
When choosing a humanoid race to play, keep in mind the following things. You want to choose a humanoid race that you like, because it's no fun playing a character you can't stand. Your selection should spark plenty of ideas for role-playing the character you want to create. If you have no idea how to run or role-play the ape-like alaghi, or you just hate the thought of playing a lizard man, then you should not choose those races. Finally, you want to select a race that will add positive elements to the story you, the other players and the DM are telling through the role-playing game campaign. A disruptive character, like a disruptive player, will spoil the fun for everyone involved.
==Generating Ability Scores==
After you've selected the humanoid race you want to play, it's time to create a humanoid player character. You can use any of the six dice rolling methods described in the Player's Handbook, provided the method is approved by your DM. If you want to generate a specific character class, and your DM approves, use either method V or VI.
Each humanoid race entry in this chapter includes ability score modifiers. These are applied to the numbers you generate when creating a humanoid character of a particular racial type. Each humanoid race has its own set of ability minimums and maximums. No ability score can fall below the minimum or rise above the maximum without magical or divine aid. If you have your heart set on playing a particular humanoid race and you roll ability scores that are too high or too low, your DM has the option to allow you to use the racial minimum or maximum for that ability score.
==Humanoid Races==
Every humanoid race has a maximum experience level it can reach in a given class group (see Table 1: Humanoid Group Limits, on page 10). You may want to look this over before deciding which race you want to play. Each humanoid race has advantages and disadvantages. If the humanoid race you select has a lot of advantages, it will take more experience points to progress in level. Also, many advantages are often balanced by monstrous traits and superstitions, as described in Chapters Five and Six.
Special Note: Except for swanmays, no humanoid can benefit from a raise dead spell. As with elves, other methods of reviving a slain humanoid must be used.