The Complete Book of Humanoids

The Complete Book of Humanoids
Author(s)	Bill Slavicsek
Genre(s)	Role-playing game
Publisher	TSR
Publication date	1993

The Complete Book of Humanoids is a sourcebook for the second edition of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons fantasy role-playing game. It was written by Bill Slavicsek for TSR, in 1993.

The book's primary goal was to provide guidelines for several races to be used as player characters which were normally considered only "monsters".

The races dealt with in this book include: aarakocra, alaghi, beastman, bugbear, bullywug, centaur, fremlin, giant-kin (firbolg), giant-kin (voadkyn), gnoll, gnoll (flind), goblin, hobgoblin, kobold, lizard man, minotaur, mongrelman, ogre, half-ogre, orc, half-orc, pixie, satyr, saurial, swanmay, and wemic.

Reception

The Complete Book of Humanoids was reviewed by Rick Swan in Dragon magazine #205 (May 1994).^[1] Swan considered the book a "major shake-up in the AD&D rules," as the Players Handbook only allowed players to choose from six player character races, while this book expands the number of race options by 20. He notes that the book imposes restrictions to maintain game balance: "PCs can’t be undead, nor can they be monsters taller than 12 feet. Centaur wizards can’t go beyond 12th level; goblins can’t be wizards at all."^[1] Swan also notes the difficulties involved in playing non-standard races, citing having a member of a typically evil race functioning in a lawful good society, or how very tall characters might navigate areas with low ceilings. However, he felt that adventurous players would appreciate the book, and closed the review by saying, "Who could pass up the chance to play a pixie?"^[1]

An article by James Wyatt in Dragon #250 (August 1998) presented rules for playing various aquatic races, including crabmen, koalinth, locathah, malenti, merfolk, pahari, selkies, and vodyanoi in the same format used in The Complete Book of Humanoids.^[2] Wyatt acknowledged that "The Complete Book of Humanoids broke a long-standing barrier in the AD&D game by allowing players to make characters of nearly any humanoid race," and noted that the book carefully balanced such advantages such as great physical strength against substantial disadvantages, mostly in the form of prejudice and superstition from the more common races. Player characters based on the creatures presented in this article would face the same sort of prejudices, as well as special physical limitations when trying to interact with surface dwellers.^[2]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Swan, Rick. "Role-Playing Reviews", Dragon #205, page 102 (TSR, 1994)
2. ^ ^{a b} Wyatt, James. "Heroes of the Sea", Dragon #250, page 26-35 (TSR, 1998).

Additional reading

• Reviews: White Wolf #38 (1993)