Foreword
My travels throughout Vastos have lead me to my own fair share of encounters. I have created this guide as an attempt to explain some of the strange behaviors I have encountered in individuals throughout my travels. I have met men lead only by their emotions, "devils" in friendly conversation, elemental persons that harness the power in their blood, and a great variety of faithful from zealotry to piety.
Races
Humans are the most common people in the worlds of D&D, but they live and work alongside dwarves, elves, halflings, and countless other fantastic species. Your character belongs to one of these peoples. Not every intelligent race of the multiverse is appropriate for a player-controlled adventurer. Dwarves, elves, halflings, and humans are the most common races to produce the sort of adventurers who make up typical parties. Dragonborn, gnomes, half-elves, half-orcs, and tieflings are less common as adventurers. Drow, a subrace of elves, are also uncommon. Your choice of race affects many different aspects of your character. It establishes fundamental qualities that exist throughout your character’s adventuring career. When making this decision, keep in mind the kind of character you want to play. For example, a halfling could be a good choice for a sneaky rogue, a dwarf makes a tough warrior, and an elf can be a master of arcane magic. Your character race not only affects your ability scores and traits but also provides the cues for building your character’s story. Each race’s description in this chapter includes information to help you roleplay a character of that race, including personality, physical appearance, features of society, and racial alignment tendencies. These details are suggestions to help you think about your character; adventurers can deviate widely from the norm for their race. It’s worthwhile to consider why your character is different, as a helpful way to think about your character’s background and personality.
Aarakocra
These strange "bird-folk" are a rare sight to see. The way they fly around makes all the other races rather jealous. They are rather hard to understand, but most seem to have good intention for their tribe. There is a city that holds many varieties of Aarakocra known as Cracked Egg just northeast of Almaso, but they remain rather autonomous just like the smaller tribes that speckle around Vastos as well as the other countries.
Beak and Feather
From below, aarakocra look much like large birds. Only when they descend to roost on a branch or walk across the ground does their humanoid appearance reveal itself. Standing upright, aarakocra might reach 5 feet tall, and they have long, narrow legs that taper to sharp talons.
Feathers cover their bodies. Their plumage typically denotes membership in a tribe. Males are brightly colored, with feathers of red, orange, or yellow. Females have more subdued colors, usually brown or gray. Their heads complete the avian appearance, being something like a parrot or eagle with distinct tribal variations.
Sky Wardens
Nowhere are the aarakocra more comfortable than in the sky. They can spend hours in the air, and some go as long as days, locking their wings in place and letting the thermals hold them aloft. In battle, they prove dynamic and acrobatic fliers, moving with remarkable speed and grace, diving to lash opponents with weapons or talons before turning and flying away.
Once airborne, an aarakocra leaves the sky with reluctance. On their native plane, they can fly for days or months, landing only to lay their eggs and feed their young before launching themselves back into the air. Those that make it to a world in the Material Plane find it a strange place. They sometimes forget or ignore vertical distances, and they have nothing but pity for those earthbound people forced to live and toil on the ground.
Aasimar
Bugbear
Centaur
Changeling
Dragonborn
Dwarf
Eladrin
Elf
Firbolg
Genasi
Giff
Gith
Gnome
Goblin
Goliath
Grung
Half-Elf
Halfling
Half-Orc
Hobgoblin
Human
Kenku
Kobold
Lizardfolk
Loxodon
Minotaur
Orc
Shardmind
Shifter
Tabaxi
Tiefling
Thri-Kreen
Tortle
Triton
Troglodyte
Vedalken
Warforged
Wilden
Yuan-Ti
Classes
Artificer
I have only heard rumors of so-called "artificers." I intend to meet one some day. (Talk to DM to play)