Official Boards Wanted Playable Kerrans

[Ennewi]

After the release of Warrens, OG players lobbied for and debated over the potential inclusion of kerrans as a playable race, all on the official forums. Apparently, there was an earlier poll that concluded with faeries and orcs being the top picks for playable race wishlist. That said, the majority in this thread seemed to dislike both, instead expressing a preference for either kerrans or frogloks.

Below are some of the better posts, though so far most of the pages are inaccessible.

It would be interesting to read others' thoughts, now that everyone has had a decade plus to consider the old world as a whole. There have been other threads like this, but mostly just, "what race would you play" rather than "what race was closest to being playable" and what could have been done with that, if only.

https://web.archive.org/web/20010308.../063260-2.html

Ok Warrens are out soon, playable Kerrans next? (Page 2)

Skye2
Station Member posted 03-01-2001 11:55 AM
I'll add my support to this thread.
I've always wanted to play a kerran shaman, and I've felt its a shame that the kerran race has never been implemented as a playable race.

Here's to hoping.

Cant_under_stand
Station Member posted 03-05-2001 07:04 AM
Not only is this a great idea, but if u leveled an erudite on odus and hunted in kerra, you wold know this was meant to be.
The whole kerran dungeon looks like a starting city for playable race. i am posistive in some stage of developement of EQ this was meant to be a playable race.

Pebblecrusher
Station Member posted 03-05-2001 07:13 AM
<------- Is so looking forward to playing a Kerran Monk.
Come on Verant. Let's nerf the Erudites by adding Kerrans.

Aasimon
Station Member posted 03-05-2001 09:05 AM
Kerrans would make an awesome new race to balance the character-numbers that are SO heavily weighted towards Oasis/Kunark. Warrens, as we all are realizing, will see very little real xp action, as it is too far for many at appropriate levels to travel to. An additional race on that side (along with the Stonebrunt Mntn. zone, soon to come) would bring enough players to Odus area to find groups, as well as breathe new life into EQ.
The Tome of Concordance(pretty sure thats the reference source) starts with a passage by a Kerran Bard. So, I would see Kerrans be the following classes:
1.Bard. There are but 3 races currently that can play this class, with little real variation in style of play, quest, or fashion. Further, there is a Kerran Bard, and references to such, already in EQ.
2.Rogue. What race could be sneakier or faster, really, than Cat-folk?!
3.Ranger. Again, an under-represented class in terms of racial options. Want to learn how to stalk your prey? Just watch any cat in action...
4.Warriors. Many have posted that this would be unnecessary. Tell that to a walking, talking Tigerman. Ever read L. Niven? Kzinti are a ferocious race of Cat warriors, fictional precursor to "The Predator".
"Nature is red in tooth and claw"...
5.Shaman. The Kerrans are a primitive culture(thanks to the Erudites), and as such better suited to less, ok, erudite worship, heh.
6.Mage. Less erudite worship, perhaps, but no reason they could not have stolen some spellbooks! Give them one Int. caster, and make it Mage. These would be the soloers of the race. Mages are the most connected to the earth and elements of the Int casters, so would make a natural addition.

Monks are too advanced, culturally, and unneeded if Bard, Rogue, Ranger, AND warrior available.
Wizard, Enchanter, and Paladin are way too erudite, while Necros and Sk are just too evil for what should be a Nuetral race, generally.
And we all know what we don't need are more Druids, anywhere...

Racially, I would give them;
1.Sneak. This will let them sneak through Erudin, if one takes care.
2.Ultravision. Really, now, I figured this to be a no-brainer, though many who post see otherwise.
I find it hard to believe a few centuries in a cave gave DE Ultravision, as it is. Cats evolved (magically?) into Humanoids should certainly be a least equal to a DE in vision.
3.Safefall.This is more of a kitty-thing, as there is little use of this skill, in general.
4.Hand-to-hand. This would only have usefulness at the low level end. Cool, but probably not worth a (characters') lifetime of xp penalty.

I would see the Kerrans be Nuetral to all races that they do not currently KoS. Basically, I think they should start dubious to just about everyone but Trolls and Iksar. This would be adjusted by each Kerrans choice of Diety. Dieties should be all Nature-related, except the obligatory Rallos Zek option for the Warriors, and Veeshan option for Bards.

Starting stats might be as follows;
Str 75 ; Sta 70 ; Dex 95 ; Agi 100 ;
Wis 80 ; Int 65 ; Cha 65.

And last, though I favor Sneak as a way to get to Antonica, I would love to see a boat or raft/catamaran go between Odus and West Karanas, on the river. This would aid anyone Kos to Erudites to get between the 2 places, a factor that will keep this side of the world empty if not addressed. The boat could go to Erud's Crossing, yes, but that would not serve to populate Odus well, as anyone Kos in Qeynos is then left out.

ChibiDragon
Station Member posted 03-05-2001 10:19 AM
I too suport the idea of PC Kerrans.
Classes:
Monk (a natural, unarmed attacks and no heavy armor)
Ranger (this could be the ClawKnights, no heavy armor, and some nature connections)
Shaman (obvious one for them)
Rogue (sneaky kitty)

Bonuses:
Safefall 50
Forage 50
Monk quest: Emerald necklaces (mentioned by a NPC already)

Dyral
Station Member posted 03-05-2001 10:20 AM
Base safe fall, 115
Base swimming, if possible, -115

Drakewyn
Station Member posted 03-05-2001 10:23 AM
1) No Kerran Mages... The LAST thing I want to see is a Kerran is a Robe. That would just look silly, I think.
2) The main reason I don't like the idea of Kerran Bards is... it's a Plate armour class. Same reason I don't think Kerrans need Warriors. Kerrans should not wear Plate, and it's easier to just not give them Plate classes.

3) Ultravision AND Sneak? Why not just give them all the advantages that DE's have?

4) KoS to Trolls? But not Ogres and Dark Elves? I could see them being regarded as Dubious by all races except KoS by Iksar and Erudites and Indifferent by Wood Elves & Halflings (That "close to nature" thing.)

Ro-kenn
Station Member posted 03-05-2001 10:27 AM
Can't really do a negitive skill for swimming. Instead their swimming could be capped at 100.

InnoruukSK
Station Member posted 03-05-2001 10:28 AM
Anyone who equips one of these with a lightining-proccing sword dies by my hand.

Thunder...

Anyhow,I think Kerrans would make a superior addition to the racial mix. Odus could use another playable race,and one that covers classes the Erudites do not would be perfect.

Add the furred folk!

Revjac
Station Member posted 03-05-2001 10:28 AM
You have my full support! I would love to see Kerrans as a playable race. If they can add Iskar, then why not? Also I remember reading somewhere that gnolls and aviaks were originally meant to be playable races. Why was this idea scrapped? I personally think both of these races would have been interesting to play... particularly the gnolls (just personal preference I guess). Would be nice to see some more exotic races since basically every playable race in EQ is some sort of human-like variant (save for Trolls and Iskar).

Tamarac
Station Member posted 03-05-2001 10:51 AM
I disagree with the idea that there might be PC Kerran Bards. Plenty of NPCs exist that break the class / race rules. The Erudite Miragul was a Magician / Wizard / Enchanter / Necromancer, an Ogre in Freeport is a Paladin, Frogloks in Upper Guk display the abilities of the Necromancer, Magician and Enchanter, even though the race overall doesn't seem advanced enough to consider this 'normal,' etc.
Bards might be under-represented racially, but the Kerrans seem unlikely to be the proper venue for adding them. Adding Erudite or High Elven song-mages, Barbarian skalds and Dwarven runesingers seems to make more sense over all, if it is felt necessary to add more racial options to the Bard class. Other possible races lack either the magical nature (Halflings) or the desire to make music and inspire others (Dark Elves) and other races (such as Ogre) are completely out on both counts.

The ideas for racial abilities of Sneak / Hide and / or Safe Fall are quite good suggestions though. Although one must take care to ensure that between Ultravision and a racial starting level of 50 or so in Hand to Hand, Safe Fall, Sneak *and* Hide we don't end up with *too* much added on...

The cold resistance from fur makes sense only at first blush, remember that these are *tropical* cats and not likely to be any more cold resistant than, say, a Lion or Cheetah is.

As for the idea of Magicians being 'close to nature' and Wizards being 'too advanced,' remember that Goblins, Frogloks, even Ice Giants have Wizards *in abundance* while they generally cannot muster the skill necessary to learn to be Magicians. If anything, the Wizard seems to be the *least* 'advanced' of the Int casters.

Which is not to say that Kerrans should be either. Kerrans don't strike me as appropriate for any Int-caster class (or Int-caster hybrid, such as Shadow Knight, for that matter).

I prefer the idea of them having access to Warrior, Monk and Rogue, all three 'pure melee' classes, as well Shaman and perhaps Ranger.

Other classes are not needed to muddy the waters. Removing the straight Warrior from the list *might* make some sense, especially if Monk, Rogue and Ranger are included, but really, if Halflings and Gnomes can be Warriors, it would kind of silly to prohibit it to the Kerrans...

While Druid might make some sort of sense, Druids already overpopulate the servers and more are needed like a hole in the head...

[Tamarac is a Druid, the irony is particularly rich. ]

Grimstaff
Station Member posted 03-05-2001 10:58 AM
Bards work fine, but I'd say nothing that isn't represented in the game or in documents. That means no Wizards, no Druids.
Shaman, Monk, Rogue, Ranger, Bard, Cleric. That's your class spread for Kitties. Give em UV vision and sneak, and extra long leap ability (it can be done, just would be extra work). Safe fall to a lowish level (bard level perhaps).

Big xp penalty for all those goodies, 1.2 or so, and lowish stats on all but agility.

Pebblecrusher
Station Member posted 03-05-2001 11:20 AM
As long as they give the Kerrans monks I will be happy. Human monks lack too much, and iksar monks have to great a hinerance.

EQmascot
Station Member posted 03-05-2001 11:34 AM
What i posted before.
Sneak(start at 50) and ultravision.
Base dex and agility should be the highest out of any race (115+).

Look at ogres, they start with around 142 str and 132 stam. BASE.

DaSneakygit
Station Member posted 03-05-2001 02:49 PM
Kerrans as players would be wicked neat...
But i think you guys may be a little off on the classes.

I think ranger would be out of the mix, simply cause have you ever gone wolf form in the kerran city! Ouchy to the max. It does not make sense to have a class that will one day turn into something that race despises (also would it make sense for a Cat person to not get molested by shadow wolves while medding). Unfortunatly that vein kind of falls true for the Shaman as well. But since they are not becomeing dogs then it is not so bad i would say, i would hold that line of spells as a forbidden lore in their culture(possilbe quest hook here). Also, as far and monks, rouges and even bards i forsee them as possibles due to ingame mechainics, although Bards would suffer as kerrans would not be a plate/chain wearing class.

As an addtionaly note Orges, trolls and Inkeys don't like anybody that they do not think they can exploit in some way, kinda the nature of being evil i guess. But there is nothing saying at an agnostic Kerran couldn ot use the OT port for Kunark access.

I also think that they should be limited to leather. This it mainly because I do not see cats as being armoured up to heavy. Although there could be trade skill equivalants for them. Which would be awesome.

Stats I forsee some along the lines of a high dex, not such a high agility but still up there with a low int and str score

Skills i see safe fall as making sense, as well as nitevision, i am not to sure about ultra. Maybe the sneak and hide since they can not wear chain.

All in all i think it would be a great addtion to the game and i would certainly play one.

I can forsee the race being very popular too as it is another departure from the cookie cutter humanoid. I also can see they being more of a quest based race in that they have such strict limits on equipment.

Thinking of this makes me want to get some koaik claws to a kerran and see what it looks like :O)

Grimstaff
Station Member posted 03-05-2001 02:53 PM
Wolf form isn't a defining characteristic of a Ranger, being a hunter and tracker is. This is hardly off base for the culture and the nature of the Kerrans and cats in general. Wolf form, although high level, is a problem... so Kerrans could turn into a puma instead. They would have to add Kerrans to most of the zones anyway, one more form wouldn't matter in the grand scheme of things and would really fit the race well.
Would give them a nifty edge

Hunter_D
Station Member posted 03-05-2001 03:58 PM
I've been dieing to play a froggy ever since one ambushed me in FV and I saw him flipping as he attacked me. The should be the next race.