#DNDecember 1: Favorite Race

Most of the sprite/fairy playable races I’ve seen are homebrew. The problem with most of them is how unbalanced they are. Some have greater invisibility at will, perfect flight, and a host of powerful magical abilities that offer no drawbacks.

In Monte Cook’s Arcana Evolved, spryte is a playable race, and the balance and flavor of it is close to perfect.

First, they start off size tiny, which I feel is very important. I always picture them being that tiny. Besides, how often do you get the chance to play a size tiny race? Their size is even more awesome when playing a spell caster. You get an AC bonus due to size without any damage penalties.

Second, they can fly and do so with a movement speed of 30 ft. However, they don’t have perfect flight. They have a total of six racial levels, all of which are optional. They get perfect flight at 3rd level, and with the other spell-like abilities and stat bonuses, it’s probably worth it for a lot of players (it was for me). With a feat like Fly by Attack, you can dart out of cover, blast an enemy with a spell, and dart back behind cover in a single turn.

If you play DND 3.X or Pathfinder, consider Monte Cook’s Arcana Evolved a must-have supplement. It has the material to be (and is) a full d20 fantasy game of unique classes, races, spells, and feats. But it can work as a d20 game that you can slide perfectly into other fantasy RPGs as a massive supplement. You can pick it up from Drivethru RPG or other outlets for less than $20.

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