Bird People! Aarakocra and Kenku Races in 5e Dungeons & Dragons

[@WebDM]

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[@patrickstephenson4561]

The link to mage hand press is broken at the moment in the UK.

[@samladas8781]

I like the idea of a Kenku Hexblade that is essentially just the host for a sentient weapon. Every work the Kenku says is just mimicking what the weapon is telling it, when the Kenku fights it's really the weapon doing the work (hence the hex warrior feature). So the character is essentially a sentient weapon, the Kenku is just the vehicle and mouthpiece. And it can all tie back to The Raven Queen.

[@southron_d1349]

For a over a year, I've been wanting to play a Kenku Hexblade but I was running a couple of campaigns. Last Thursday night I got to play skekKring. The character concept is inspired by Clifford Simak's "Time is the Simplest Thing". "Hi ya, pal! I trade you my mind." Essentially, my character has a copy of the patron's mind in his, along with a couple of others, including a Drow. Naturally, the Shadowfell entity has a copy of skekKring's mind as well.

[@paulcoy9060]

My boxer character -- Muhammed Owli Brutal pit fighter -- Condor McGregor Wrestler -- Hawk Hogan

[@cinammonstyx7622]

Imagine the suplexes Hawk Hogan can pull off.

[@RobKinneySouthpaw]

Illusionist wizard - Harry Whoo-dini

[@MrSilvUr]

Consecutive Normal Pun-ches.

[@johnhast1979]

paul coy yeah hawk could just power bomb the wizard off the top of his tower

[@paulcoy9060]

Ironically, Hawk Hogan is, in fact, a Bald Eagle. "Gimme my red and yellow bandana, brother! Cawww!"

[@eyefivefive]

One weakness of flying you guys didn't mention is when you fall unconscious in the air you fall, hit the ground, take damage and fail a death save or possibly worse.

[@-alexanderhosch-4828]

Enemy: I cast Entangle Yeah pretty much

[@Cayotick]

Entangle 90 ft Range. Longbow 150 ft Range. Although flying does have it's downsides, its more powerful than most players want to admit.

[@-alexanderhosch-4828]

Flying wizard!!!!!

[@-alexanderhosch-4828]

Lol!

[@-alexanderhosch-4828]

It is a very strong ability to have

[@cassandragidney7682]

"Aarakocra have a huge aversion to being indoors", "They may even have to make charisma saves to stop from losing their shit: Aarakocra player underground: -looking around agitatedly-We cant stop here, this is bat country!

[@hotel2051]

Now I’m imagining two drow wearing red caps attacking the party yelling “this is high elf country”

[@shinhobbes2533]

A friend of mine played an Aarakocra Monk that was based off a Secretary Bird. Y'know... those birds that kick snakes to death? I will always love that.

[@williethenerfherder2193]

Being faster than a cobra or viper strike is very impressive.

[@hippiehippo9030]

Take a dip into Ranger, get that favored enemy- yuan-ti....

[@LoLotov]

I was just thinking of a chicken-looking kenku monk who fights like a rooster in a cockfight, all the while perfectly mimicking the horrible noises of every creature they've killed thus far... describe your stunning strikes as being less about the hit, and more like utilizing the fear caused by your ungodly noises.

[@DBraeges]

Idea for a kenku I’ve had: at some point, on a long road trip, one of the kenkus companions read out an entire dictionary out loud. So they have all the words the need to have full conversations, but it comes out stilted, monotone, and very clearly enunciated. Basically they sound like Microsoft Sam.

[@AgentGreen13]

Don't forget that Kenku have a school, where older Kenkus pass down the library of voices.

[@GarryGabriel]

mob: We've guarded these lands for 500 generations!!! player: but you're fruit flies, you live like 2 days mob: I know... what a life time...

[@jgr7487]

they kept it for more than 3 years!

[@dnd787]

An Owl aarakocra infected with Ware bear lycanthropy, just think about it.

[@trixynetex9692]

This made me way too happy 😝

[@axer112]

wereowlbear? amazing.

[@Magtranya]

The god of all owlbears

[@jgr7487]

you know you can only be the DM when you got happy by reading it before realising how devastating it really is

[@joshuaowens2418]

Super Saiyan Owlboy

[@openaardvark419]

Kenku bard: He has no instrument. He mimics the instrument sounds.

[@kalamariunicorn6071]

lol nice

[@MrSilvUr]

The Kenku curse is just a ruse the Kenku maintain so they can't be held accountable: Stealing your component pouch wasn't *my* idea; I have no creativity.

[@justinjacobs1501]

This is beautiful and I'm disappointed I never thought of that.

[@MrSilvUr]

@@justinjacobs1501 :D

[@BigMac8000]

This'd be the best backstory ever for a player, and they should RP it for as long as possible.

[@justinjacobs1501]

Gets caught by the town guard stealing, "What are you doing?!" "I don't know!" And then they floof their feathers in mock confusion.

[@lechauvesouris2969]

"Yes, I'm very sweet."

[@MrSilvUr]

Matt Mercer only introduced that character to style on his Voice Actor friends, and no one can convince me otherwise.

[@BigMac8000]

@@MrSilvUr To be fair, there's absolutely no way to introduce a kenku without this inevitably happening, and he's a big supporter of D&D beyond now. Introducing a major race choice from Volo's would be hard to avoid, since he's now doing bugbears, hobgoblins and so on. Sooner or later, they would've met a kenku. I will say this too... introducing a raven character after their last campaign, where the raven queen's servant Vax was killed.... it might be a major lore thing. Raven's in this group have a special significance, especially one in danger... it wouldn't surprise me that he's introducing something that they just haven't found yet. But even if he didn't intend originally to make this character - he eventually had to confront the conclusion that he'd have to mimic them.... and if it didn't start that way, he certainly should be enjoying it now. He really is that good.

[@jamesadams1698]

"Go fuck yourself"

[@GingerGiant247]

I really like the idea of the Aaracokra "Alaskan Airplane Doctor". One level in cleric for Healing domain, put the rest in Ranger to navigate the wilderness.

[@yaldabaoth2]

I'm a penguin kenku rogue, working undercover as a butler. Naked.

[@benjaminstout941]

Bravo, bravo, damn that's good, bravo.

[@yaldabaoth2]

@@HaveaGoHeroes No, he is actually a vampire lord who likes to ride on his chariot but the general populace doesn't know of this true identity.

[@23DEATHNUMBER]

Overlord reffence?

[@yaldabaoth2]

@@23DEATHNUMBER Oh man, I could have done that. Didn't even think of it.

[@lovelandfrog5692]

You’re my hero.

[@brettmiller1905]

My first character was a kenku gunslinger who would chirp old cowboy movie themes. Would’ve been better if I could whistle tho

[@cassandragidney7682]

"Its high noon"

[@daverevisions2843]

Kenku and keen mind!!! Right there with you, Jim Davis!! I have a kenku illusionist wizard named Klik (the sound a lock makes when it opens) who has the Keen Mind feat. He speaks in the voice of his best friend the party bard most of the time, and has her read out his spells for him so he can cast them. He uses his mimicry flavor to make his illusions perfect. I love playing him. Re: lack of creativity - an eidetic memory and a huge capacity for replication are an amazing combination, and very powerful. They make amazing support characters, just not the tip of the spear with problem solving.

[@1MrBurkhart]

Good friend of mine played almost exactly this in one of my games, still a party favorite character. Utility wizards are lit.

[@aidbotwoody939]

I love the idea of a cleric Kenku who can literally carry the perfect imitation of the voice of a god

[@EndyHawk]

Just started playing a kenku, and I approach the "lack of creativity" angle as a matter of character growth; starting with a diminished mindset, blindly accepting orders of those it trusts, but slowly learning to self-actualize and figure out what it wants and how to stand up for itself.

[@cole4783]

Shame humblewood didnt reach out for this one

[@axpoli]

I know, I thought that this was sponsored by them before I even clicked.

[@krazyfan1489]

@@axpoli Same! you know anyone who did make a video on them?

[@axpoli]

@@krazyfan1489 I don't know about any videos going over their content, but they've been sponsoring a few other D&D channels.

[@chandlerpearce6213]

My players got in to a fight with som Kenny, and when they were about to kill them one of them said (in a young child’s voice) “please don’t hurt me”. The kenku ended up getting murdered pretty quick

[@taylorsherry4784]

My view on flying PCs is that if they would trivialize an encounter, let them. That's a big reason why they picked a flying race, especially as Aarakocra have little else for bonuses. If your wizard trivializes a combat encounter with fireball or a well aimed Hypnotic Pattern, you don't ban wizards from your table. Same for Sleep or even Burning Hands at 1st level. That's the reason that player chose those spells or that class. If every encounter is trivialized by the same PC ability, that reflects on the DM not the player.

[@dragonmaster613]

That is way ya have a Session 0.

[@christopherknorr2895]

If they trivialize the encounter, then you didn't balance it right.

[@drmann15]

Wizards can cast 2 first level spells per day at level 1. Aarakocra can fly during every encounter at level 1.. and cast two L1 spells per day with half of the core classes. The comparison to wizards is stupid

[@taylorsherry4784]

@@drmann15 I understand that spell slots and most class features are more limited, but you won't be using spells in every fight just like you won't be using flight in every fight. It's just one more resource the party has and it has fairly obvious and easily exploitable weaknesses to make up for not being finite like spell slots or other features.

[@drmann15]

Taylor Sherry every finite feature/ability also has obvious and exploitable weaknesses. There are 1404 possible race/class/background combinations in the core rulebook, but for some reason the exotic race players always say the DM is the inflexible and unimaginative one. The employees of WotC banned the aarakocra from AL, and haven’t published it in a physical book, for a reason

[@cougar71624]

I like the idea of Kenku chicken flight. As a race, they still have the ability to get off the ground, just not well. Mechanically, you can fly, but you cannot end your turn in the air.

[@joshuawroe1014]

Maybe you could have a city of Kenku be like the Quarians from Mass Effect: every Kenku, when they come of age, must go out into the world on a pilgrimage and bring back something useful. With their perfect mimicry skills, they could learn all sorts of interesting skills and trades to improve their civilisation. And the lack of creativity means that, every so often, Kenku have to go out into the world to update the various skills their people possess.

[@adcon00]

Heh, someone's excited for season 2 of One Punch Man

[@oliviabean8264]

I'd just take inspiration from my own experience with aspergers, sure a lot of stuff may fly over your head when you have a literalistic mindset but eventually as you start to pick up on more things you get better at dealing with context and I even ended up turning my prime social instinct to respond to things literally into part of my sense of humour. The thing is if your a conscious creature who can learn that means you can reprogram yourself over time, sure maybe your first instinct is to always imitate something you've obversved before but that's not a bad starting point for learning new behaviors and eventually putting together your own set of tricks, quirks, and personality traits. I mean seriously, imitation is how we all learned to talk, it's how most any musician learns how to play, it's how we learned what being a human being is about as a baby and plays a huge part in our development up until the point we die... as far as we know. Maybe the kenku just take this to the extreme, this could be an upside as well, maybe there like that one friend you know who can pick up an instrument and start playing it like they've been playing for a month or pick up a language in two weeks but a concept thats basic to most people just eludes them.

[@powerhavengaming2854]

I hope one day to have friends who love dnd as much as you guys.

[@pelicanparagon2800]

I have changed Aarakocra in my games to have a “Spirit Bird” so they can be vastly different from each other being born in the likeness of their spirit bird. For example my favorite shop keep I put in every game I DM is Phinelican the Pelican Aarakocra. He is basically Nigel Thornberry meets Merlin from the Disney sword in the stone and runs his shop Phinelican’s Fineries. He tends to be a party favorite. Love the video and love the love for bird folk. Lol

[@oldschoolfrp2326]

Good stuff. The Skeksis inspired D&D's nagpa back in '83 and they returned for 5e in Mordenkainen's, though not as a playable race. The current lore has them as yet another cursed race from the backstory of the Raven Queen.

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Literally working on my first DMs Guild supplement - a birdfolk race with multiple subraces. Waiting for art but it should be out in a month or two. Wish I started sooner!

[@Rautakello]

Birdpeople immediately makes me think of a campaign centered completely around flying and exploring three dimensional spaces. Imagine a party consisting completely of different birdfolk that belong to this civilization in the sky. An ancient, fragmented, mossy, half-land mass, half-time forgotten megacity of lost splendor suspended in an endless sky. Ancient cities built on the skeletons of even older ruins that form into this not only horizontal, but also VERTICAL web of forgotten civilizations with their unexplored palaces and abandoned temples that hide treasures, lost knowledge and slumbering evil. The use of the vetical axel in dungeons is such an untapped concept that I rarely see. It just gets the mind racing. And I'm not even that into birds.

[@Tmanowns]

Best part of a WebDM video being uploaded while I'm in the shower? I already have my pants off for the intro.

[@LexFrank-Arcaneium]

I just got out too 😂😂

[@Tmanowns]

@@LexFrank-Arcaneium yeah! Naked Notification Squad!

[@buttonmasher7615]

wat

[@justsomejerseydevilwithint4606]

They are the true Pungeon Masters

[@WebDM]

Goodness gracious

[@IndorilNerevar-MoonandStar]

The Dark Crystal is one of my favorite movies, truly a piece of cinematic brilliance. I absolutely love the idea of a vulture necromancer as an omage to the skeksis. .... The owl idea is pretty cool too.

[@inkblotCrisis]

Chicken Aarakocra underground fighting ring Gladiator Monk. That Samurai Jack episode was the one to blame.

[@almostirrelevant9181]

Speaking as a former Aaracokra rouge with low wisdom, Hold Person is a pretty effective way of grounding flying PCs. I took quite a bit of fall damage on several occasions.

[@Klaital1]

Kenku are my favorite race in 5e, don't really care much for Aaracokra though, they are bit too much of a one trick pony to my liking. Kenku Shadow Monk being my top choice, a perfect fit to them thematically in my opinion, as monks generally learn all their stuff copying what their teachers are doing anyways, so Kenku excel at that, and their mimickry lets them add lot more trickery to the minor illusions.

[@lukevorwald7727]

I went to the comments to see if there was a chance of anyone else playing a Kenku shadow monk, and you just made my day. I also dipped 2 into warlock for devil's sight/mask of many faces, as well as 1 in rogue for expertise. I love the combo of the mimicry and disguise self at will

[@baker7280]

How is it a one trick pony?

[@Robinwisconsin]

Basic DND had "Creature Crucibles" which included a number of winged races, including the "Nagpa" which are very much like the Skeksis from the Dark Crystal. Basid DND, doing it right since forever.

[@geoffdewitt6845]

Jesus, these guys did 35 minutes on BIRD-PEOPLE. I am in awe of the nerd-masters.

[@alexanderchippel]

Let is not forget the most famous Aarakocra, Sam the Eagle.

[@SuperMonaLisaBros]

Isn't he a thunderbird.

[@alexanderchippel]

@@SuperMonaLisaBros His name is literally Sam the Eagle.

[@McF1oss]

SHINING FORCE SHOUT OUT??? Jim Davis, I love you

[@bumblingthroughdungeons]

Just finished an all-aarakocra (siblings) playthrough of Strahd. With some minor adjustments from the DM, the balance didn't seem to be an issue. And the party's RP dynamics were amazing, and allowed us to lean into or away from aarakocran lore/tropes in varying amounts for some truly magical moments. I was the Ranger, and yes, Zephyr Strike with flight is really pretty amazing. I never once missed Hunter's Mark. I will never not love them as a playable race!

[@WebDM]

Cool!

[@thefishking7582]

I ran an encounter with my group where their airship was attacked by sky pirates. The pirates were all Aaraockra because a group of pirates that are all parrots makes me laugh.

[@WebDM]

Fun!

[@themastigosqueen3280]

Hummingbird Arakorca druid as one of my first characters.

[@JR-eo8cy]

I started DMing an all Aarakocra campaign recently, so this is great/terrible timing, since my players will likely see this video, too. Great stuff as always, guys.

[@martinmallet]

Well there seems to be an absence of a certain ornithological piece: a headline regarding mass awareness of a certain avian variety.

[@evrostarnews]

Some time ago, I played a KENKU WIZARD called Apprentice. Kenku are very common in that homebrew world and nobles use them all the time to deliver messages. I was an apprentice under MORDENKAINEN :D . I really leaned into the "wanna fly" aspect by casting Levitate on myself every night. (Got eaten by Owlbears before I could learn Fly.) I decided that Apprentice can only speak with sentences he's heard before. So whenever someone (PC or NPC) said something useful, I took a note of it. Apprentice often said somewhat appropriate sentences with the wrong pronouns. With regards to creativity, the group agreed that as a player I can share creative ideas. Whenever that happened, in character it was one of the other PCs that "had" the idea and not Apprentice.

[@invidiousone3662]

Played an aarakocra Eldritch Knight, great weapon fighter. I was the buffest bird boy who ever was, swinging a dead paladin's holy greatsword and getting absolutely blasted, as I could only wear light armor without the crippling anxiety of being trapped on the ground setting in. Had a familiar, a snake wrapped around my neck, a nek snek. His name was Mr. Tightsqueeze, translated from aarakocra: scraw-ki-eech-awk...to common.

[@thehulkster9434]

My issue with the aarakokra is not that it can fly, but the fact that they are significantly faster than any other PC, and the fact that aarakokra monks are common doesn't help.

[@ShurikenSean]

11:12 reminds me of my friend's own custom fantasy game thats post apocalyptic and theres a race of owl people called etherals that were the familiars of ancient wizards that were wiped out during the apocalypse and now the wizard's magic has let the owls evolve into humanoids. the etherals worship those wizards as gods now and owl bears are like the culture's Sasquatch as they were created by the wizards as well

[@marenrobison6202]

Now, hear me out: Aarakocra barbarian 6 rogue 2 Flavor as a seagull person. Steal all the French fries. And also gold. But mostly French fries. You know what seagulls do sometimes? Drop crabs on rocks to break them So what you do is. Grapple someone. With totem of the bear and a 17 strength, you can carry anyone up to 510 pounds. Carrying a grappled creature halves your speed, but barbarian gives you an extra 10 feet, and you can bonus action dash Fly 60 feet up. Let go as a free action.

[@TheDarkDragonStudios]

Fucking genius

[@captainpeaches3063]

Thats a lot of hoops for 6d6

[@nicolaslanzaflores]

Don't forget to poke their knees.

[@VBadBaboon]

You guys should do a series of video based on terrain. Arctic, desert, forest, etc. Been thinking a lot about the different types of environments a campaign can take place in and I'm curious to know what you guys think.

[@williamaitken7533]

This was a great episode as always! I can say from personal experience that flying archers are a huge problem if you're running a module as-written. For example, I ran Storm King's Thunder a few years ago and the ranger in our party got some Winged Boots off a random loot table (it's marked as an uncommon magic item, which is kinda nuts IMO). I had no experience planning against a flying character, so I learned pretty quickly that they are uniquely skilled at dealing with Giants, who have little in the way of ranged offense. And the fact that the enemies were giants, and built their buildings to giant proportions, meant that the weaknesses of flying indoors were completely removed. I ended up solving this by making Winged Boots a "you get three uses a day" magic item, which at least meant there was some kind of choice to be made whether or not they should fly up in combat. But if I were to do it again, I would probably add more archer allies or give giants a wider variety of ranged attacks. Basically, if you're a DM who's in the mindset of "I want to adhere to the rules/stats as written" then ranged characters will ALWAYS give you trouble, since ranged attacks from monsters are always much less powerful than melee attacks.

[@tomchaney6085]

Whenever I've played with or DM'd for a Kenku they've just been played as a regular PC, who just so happens to only be able to speak by choosing from a relatively small selection of words and phrases, which is just about the most inherently comedic character concept going. With Aarakocra on the other hand, I feel that the claustrophobia is just too restrictive, a PC who refuses to enter a city, building or a cave just doesn't gel with the sorts of campaigns I like to run

[@taylorfisdboss5200]

I love this show. Jim and pruit are treasures

[@mishiara5499]

If you do not flavor Aarakocra to be the monkeybirds from pirates of dark water, what are you doing? :P

[@corpralcobra420]

I had an idea of a wizard NPC running a "sweat shop" of sorts, having kenku making scrolls and potions and enchanting. And the wizard "pays" them with his Fly spell, casting group fly and giving the "employee of the month" winged boots or something. Workers with perfect memories would be great for wizards.

[@j2dragon109]

Having a perfect memory would be perfect for a wizard!

[@corpralcobra420]

@@j2dragon109 exactly, and having workers with perfect memories to do menial tasks (and earn money for books and spell components) while they do research is even better.

[@chadkittleson5447]

I like these video formats that really break down races and classes. Excellent content.

[@RedwoodTheElf]

If a DM can't handle level 1 flying characters, that group needs a new DM. Monsters can throw rocks and use bows too, you know.

[@nikolaesawinsky1889]

I love Monty glu's take on kenku in the unexpectables, slight tweeks and variants based on the bird species their inspired by, they even got a kiwi kenku npc, I love that little frying pan wielding potatoe boy.

[@VanisKira]

Pirate Parrot Aaracockra Swashbuckler Rogue here. Melee Aaracockra who flies in, stabs and can fly away.

[@joemcginnis5214]

Glad I rewatched this. Joining a new group at lvl5. Playing a Aarakocra Pirate Captain. He is a McCaw. Ranger/Swashbuckler with duelist fighting style. High Mobility +Mark + Sneak Attack + MOD + 2 (duel) (and enemies dmg can’t get opportunity attack) is a solid flyby attack.

[@edwardClitterhands]

I couldn’t imagine baning a playable race that was published by WOTC

[@portlandaustin]

Adventure leauge does it also official wotc.

[@LordSephleon]

Heh, I think this intro has the most Jim dialogue I've seen yet... :) Also: holy crap! Nice shout out for Shining Force! Yeah, the Birdfolk were pretty awesome for tactical strikes on specific targets without regard for terrain effects on mobility, though they were a little on the squishy side. The old Shining Force games are still my go-to for high fantasy fun when I want to have an ensemble cast of Centaurs, Birdfolk, and other various traditional and nontraditional fantasy characters! :) My usual go-to for winged folk in D&D has always been the Avariel (winged elves), though I made a homebrew version of them almost two decades ago where they actually fill in the role of "drow" of my world (i.e. evil elves that were cursed by the very gods they forsook and challenged) and actual drow have become myths and legends in most cultures' memories. Their curse? They can't receive healing through divine magic, but they found a way to counteract it with fast natural healing (through long-forgotten arcane means, since they specialize in magic and war). I'm currently playing as a Lizardfolk Cleric of Knowledge, but I do like the Kenku (though they will require a LOT of notes for things they hear). EDIT: As a DM, I've never had a problem with players being flying species. They just have to remember that they make great targets for archers, ranged casters, and other flying foes if they take flight, and I don't mind if they bypass certain scenarios and puzzles with their flight. It's all part of the game, after all. :)

[@adamwelch4336]

I wanted to try Aracrocra barbarian eagle totem makes sense in my head ! Maybe have him weld a spear!

[@michaellauer8181]

I always picture kenku taking like bumblebee from the transformer movies.

[@starstuff84]

Two of my favorite PCs were Aarakocra. One was based on a Kestrel, a Ranger with a long bow and Sharpshooter Feat was Literally Death From Above. Another was a shrike that was a Rogue Assassin.

[@creature9683]

I made a family of Kenku, one for every class, if theres a subclass that allowed flight then they'd take it. All of them have "abs" in their names (Scabs, Crabs, ect) except the mystic one who calls himself Eddie. I made it so that by being a mystic he was able to find a work around for the curse. To keep the family together he taught the others how to stalk and prank one another. They were made to be DM NPCs so when one of them disappears or dies another one will take the others place. This way when the wizard leaves to go to the bathroom and is replaced by the barbarian without them knowing, things get more interesting.

[@AmigoRoberto]

I've gone 11 years without thinking of the dark crystal. I wont be sleeping tonight. Thanks guys. :)

[@AmigoRoberto]

The skexis man. Those faces just haunt me.

[@AmigoRoberto]

Other than that it's a REALLY good puppet movie

[@anthonynorman7545]

Mobile + flight = flyby So obvious, but so brilliant!

[@Spllyn]

Watch out for entangle.

[@anthonynorman7545]

@@Spllyn yeah, and readied actions

[@Griffiana]

I really enjoyed this discussion. It's bizarrely specific yet somehow is really inspirational and has useful advice. This channel continually surprises me by uploading the wierdest topics and always making the discussion worthwhile. Appreciated the Bas Lag reference; more people need to read China Mieville.

[@ryderh2477]

Currently playing a whispers/hexblade Kenku fled her mountain flock running into a annis hag. The hag ended up putting part of her own creativity/brain into her skull. Gifting creativity, Mimicry and message for communication and can creatively speak any known languages. Meeting up with others to Adventure with them

[@lovelandfrog5692]

I sometimes play a hen aarakocra monk. Her name is Mugwen the Mighty and she loves making her party members tea.

[@liammorris9372]

One thing i don’t think you guys mentioned was the *Aarakocra’s dive attack* where you deal an *extra 1d6 damage* if you dive at least 30ft straight towards a target and do a melee attack. Its not a lot on its own but, *with the Fighter’s multi-attack,* you could get some ridiculous damage off. If i have a sword that deals 1d6, multi-attack, get two attacks in, im on 2d6 and each of those attacks gets the dive attack bonus, now thats 4d6 damage in a single move. That mean in your *first turn you could do 24 damage, and have 20ft flying left to get away.* If you can get 3 attacks in, your damage could jump to 36 in the first turn just with a non-magical sword and multi-attack.

[@jgr7487]

DM: "Fling characters are OP" Player: "if I fall unconscious, I literally fall! and die! I won't even roll saves!" DM: "doesn't matter, [as I don't want to think battles in 3D,] flying characters are OP"

[@zoulsgaming9455]

Player: I want to play an aarakocra warlock / ranger! DM: I dunno man are you sure? Player: Lol its not unbalanced at all, dont stop my freedom!: *Player stays in air and rains down on melee enemies, and says its not unfair and it has counters* *DM uses hold person in air, or focuses all rangers on the flying player because its the most obvious target that is always in sight* Player: OMG why do you keep focusing me!!! thats so unfair! And you killed my character with a hold person? what a shit DM you are!!! For me its this double edged sword that is the reason i dont like aarakocra, if you look online on any discussion on it the first thing people say is "its not overpowered because they can fall if they are unconcious or has no movement" yet the same people turns around and says "its unfair if you use archers and flying enemies to fight them because its the most obvious and dangerous target" its just a massive hassle. And saying that its okay its overpowered in some situations because it can be instakilled in another isnt a plus, its literally just a double negative. To me its somewhat akin to players kicking enemies off a cliff, its perfectly cool and okay until its the players who gets kicked over it and insta dies with no saves, then its "unfair", or how they might want the targeting of limbs to remove the arm of an enemy but when they lose their sword arm its unfair. Pretty much protecting the players against themselves.

[@jgr7487]

@@zoulsgaming9455 I agree with you. that's something that must be discussed before the game, & I know that even if it's done players will still argue.

[@jgr7487]

@@zoulsgaming9455 it's akin to stupid wild enemies hitting the fallen character. sometimes beasts will make sure that their prey is totally dead, & Ogres & Hill Giants just step on fallen foes

[@TheCinderfang]

@@zoulsgaming9455 easy response, use cover. I get your point but much of these issues are dealt with by caring about the environment.

[@zoulsgaming9455]

@@TheCinderfang Except the only way to use environment to not fall to your death would be if the ground was made of fluffy marshmellows which it isnt. Again, i have no difficulty dealing with flying enemies, its not particularly hard, the issue comes from not just chucking archers into every encounter and make it samey, or feel the player is being punished, without making it so mind numbingly easy that player doesnt have to care. I like the imagery of aarakocra, the character potential, but i would start my players with a broken or only 1 wing, and then have them kinda find a cure or something (mechanical, divine, arcane, necromancy) that will unlock their flight later. if they want an interesting character that should be a great opportunity to flesh it out, if they purely want it for flying in level 1 then that is the kind of reason i wouldnt want them to pick it (same with any other character, i ask them to make interesting characters first, overly strong second)

[@msp654]

I've played a kenku for two years, and one way I managed to get around the fact that my character cant make original sounds is by saying a childhood friend said every word they could think of, so now all my character has to do is re-order the words the friend said. Def makes speech easier, as I dont need to change accent every other word!

[@thefuzzykitten9551]

Oooo Yas I have a Kenku Warlock character named Chirp who can speak semi-freely. This is because he is a Goolock, and so when he first made his pact his patron spoke the basic words he needed into his mind do he can have basic conversation. To play into the "can only mimic speech" aspect, he can't go into complex subjects because he doesn't have the vocabulary. And being a GOOlock, whatever vocab he lacks he can just speak mentally into another party member's mind but he only does this if necessary. An absolute mad lad but I love him

[@Jeromy1986]

I just thought of having a race of canary NPCs who're the Redshirts of a campaign world.

[@ashfreywar9862]

My rogue Kenku joined the party because there was an aarakocra monk who could fly and the Kenku wanted to learn. Eventually we found a magic item that let the Kenku fly and the aarakocra offered to teach him how to. My Kenku was very happy and it was the best session I’ve ever had.

[@benbattersby2837]

I had an aarakocra monk in my party as a DM and it did require me to think ahead but it honestly wasn't that hard. First session was goblins inside and outside in a town they were looting. He dominated the ones outside with flight and inside-continued to dominate as he was a monk in a party of adventurers... Next session was orc attacking a castle, he escaped them easily which was good and easy for him but left his party fucking struggling without him so there was that. Next few sessions was inside a cave with goblins, oozes, rats, ogres, etc. And he was getting fucked up. Aarakocra have at least an 18 foot wing span. so most corridors he couldn't even lift his wings, and in larger parts of the cave he could to fight some ogres but still had a ceiling overhead covered in stalactites to watch out for. later hit em with a Spectator who also flies and some ropers that had no trouble grabbing him. After that I put them in a could castle that was invaded twice. The first time by the cult of the howling hatred which I changed 3 of the NPCs. 1 to an air gensai wind monk that I gave once a day flight spell to do battle with the aarakocra monk in the air house of flying dagger style. Also I had added a storm sorcerer, and a halfling tempest cleric. They all had shatter, gust of wind, thunderwave, etc so they could manipulate the setting and push people around. The next people to invade were all grounded dwarves but outside I had a silver dragon so he couldn't leave the castle and in the castle I had high winds whipping around imposing difficult terrain and saves to stay airborne at the end of his turn. the next fight was against ice giants back on the ground and if he flew too far away he would be a sitting duck away from all the other guards and party members and risk getting targeted with a ranged attack in the form of an icy thrown bolder which does a shit load of damage to someone with a D8 hit die

[@walkseva]

In one of the few instances of aarakocra being allowed, I spared my DM the horror of the sharpshooter archer 300ft in the air and instead made a peacock bard. Played up the esoteric avian sensibilities and just bird-songed and feather-danced through the West Marches. Acting as a bird face for the party as allowed for some more interesting clash of culture moments, but the bird was the word at the end of the day.

[@Maniacal.Menagerie]

I'm curious to see what others might think of this. I put a condition on flying creatures that if they want to remain stationary in the air (not move in a turn and "hover") they have to spend a bonus action to focus on steadying themselves. Otherwise they have to move at least 10 ft every round if they want to remain aloft.

[@ZrinNZ]

The way i would run Kenku in my setting (if/when it comes up), I would have the player choose which thing they DON'T have. You get everything EXCEPT ONE of the things that the standard Kenku are supposed to be missing. You are creative, and can talk normally, BUT you can't fly, and then change up the combination of the three depending on what the player wants

[@joejack2975]

Aarakokra fit perfectly with the horizon walker archetype. So now you have a flying and teleporting so that you're never hit.

[@SkullSnax]

Personally, with flying PCs I generally say if it’s in the open air and they’re attempting to fire arrows it should be at disadvantage, or maybe the DM rolls a d4 or d6 and subtracts it from the attack roll to get that effect of wind blowing randomness that happens that wouldn’t impact as much if they were firing along the ground. I would always pack an enemy archer or caster. If they’re fighting a monster who is grounded, maybe the monster is intelligent enough that it’s going to drag one of the party away to an area with better cover so it protects itself and keeps the fight going. There’s a million things you can do with your game to keep flying in.

[@nickmoore6861]

Love what Tom Hazel did in High Rollers with his Aaracokra, choosing to have one wing, despite him then not being able to fly.

[@levishackelton4437]

My Kenku Warlock, great old one patron, he is so much fun. And the Awakened Mind is a great way to get around talking.

[@salvador22klub]

I think a good backstory for a Kenku is that they have been trained by a bard who took pity on them, so that they get all of the things they do passed down through song and story that they may then mimic. Also being a jack of all trades they have seen many different situations that usually require creativity now only require an instance of seeing someone show them how to do it once. This requires a very comprehensive backstory though.

[@breadbread4226]

one of my players made the pokemon hawalucha as an eagel aracokra, 2 levels of rogue and one in barbarian made it pretty good as a meele combatant that dragged its enemys in the air and dropped them. 5 d6 fall damage at lvl 3 was pretty good, even though it could only be done every two rounds. he still got the normal attack with his rapier on the other turn.

[@lordneraxis8051]

In third edition I once played a Hengyokai, he was a sparrow based on the Redwall series, who happened to be a barbarian it was alot of fun. His favorite tactic was to fly up as a sparrow and then shift into his hybrid form to land on his enemies while screaming "killy killy" .

[@emophobe]

Could've sworn this would be about the humblewood setting. Great video as always!

[@chrishousenick6105]

How can there be no reference to Prince Vultan from Flash Gordon? He'd make a good model for the avian melee barbarian

[@philkovach948]

Or Hawkwoman from JLA

[@seanrea550]

Also note that birds have lightened bones so that they are light enough to fly so con would be reduced.

[@BadwickProductions]

I currently have a Kenku entertainer in my game lol kills me because he used the mimic aspect of the race so well!

[@LongfusedbombasticBarbarian]

Appreciate the timing I've got an Arakocra Kensei monk blade lock I'm gearing up for so it definitely helps.

[@jackservans6906]

I'd definitely rule that a Kenku could take the Training downtime activity in Xanathar's Guide to Everything, using the rules for learning a language, to build up a full vocabulary for any language they want to speak.

[@carriemarie2619]

This was good insight! I'm currently playing my first Kenku, (I play more-so for the roleplay aspects and thought this would be interesting race to try out), and it's been tricky to role play with what I had read about their limits on speech and such.

[@rogermarks1110]

Perdido street station by china mieville folks. Get it.

[@WritofPassage]

Kenku Death Domain Cleric. He was originally the familiar of Sass Tam given sentience in some foul ritual. Has perfected the motions and sounds needed for spells by watching and worshiping him.

[@Talarue]

I made a Kenku Barbarian (Eagle Totem because kenku wanna fly). He has proficiency in cook's tools and he counterfeit's chef's recipes by taste. I thought it was a good use of their whole natural forgery tendency.

[@soulcrossinc3089]

Actually developed a bird race in my game. branched into 4 tribes of birds players could pick from with fluff abilities. two of my players really get a kick out of it.