Looking for input on whether to pick an Aslaran or Dracnari for a Nihlist.

Same Int, biggest ability score difference is +5 Con for Dracnari and +6 Dex for Aslaran, not sure which score is more important for a nihilist.

Any feedback is welcome. Thanks

Dracnari. Dex is only for if you use weapons if I'm not mistaken.

I'll say the same thing as I said IRL.. well not exactly, since I was RPing then.. but. Choose one for RP reasons, you are an Elf right now, you've been on the Cosmic plane. Reincarnate into Viscanti, keep the same description but darken it a bit, and call yourself a tainted Elf.

Dexterity is all but worthless for Nihilists. You want intelligence and constitution.

Viscanti is a popular choice for Nihilists. I plan on becoming one after I use the human experience bonus to help bashing go faster (I really hate bashing).

Dexterity helps you dodge and stuff. Its not any more usefull for a knight than anyone else. But its only helpfull against physical attacks. So it depends who you plan on fighting.

As a Tae'dae, I like consituttion more than dex. However, Go with RP, the combat is flexible enough that I think each race that you could ropleplay with an archetype works.

I think it is best to choose based on RP, but it doesn't hurt to keep your expected guild in mind. I chose Lucidian... while they don't have the best intelligence (horrible, compared to Imperial Merians) they do have some other nifty skills and stats to make up for it.

Plus, I thought it would be fun to roleplay a Lucidian in a mostly Merian popoulated City.

While I don't have as much mana, I have a lot more hitpoints than a Merian does. So it kind of makes up for it I think.

Yeah, we need some other people than Imperial Merian in New Celest. Seems that the majority is of the specific subrace. What happened to the Merian Paladins?

I chose elf, to be able to RP out a forestal background. If you reincarnate into something and want an RP explanation, you could always use the good ol' half-blood thingy.

heh, the real question is... what happened to Paladins, let alone paladin merians.

True, too true.

Appreciate the advice but IC and OOC I feel the whole ban on Elfen and Merian is totally ridiculous and most of it stems from the prejudice and feelings of superiority that Viscanti have to other races (which I have seen spill over into other points of contention). This whole mechanic seems to be a way to force me into basically becoming a Viscanti. I have the utmost loyalty to my city and my guild but I refused to be bullied around by a cabal of elitists who believe that everyone should conform to their views. If the second class treatment of elves and merians was explicit when I was first joined Lusternia and part of the original city charter, etc. I could somewhat understand the decisions to single out these races. However, given that the only reason certain changes came into being was the election of new officials, it seems that these new racial policies are more accurately described as the few pushing their beliefs onto the many. For that reason, I cannot contenance becoming Viscanti at this time.

Haven't experimented with it yet in Lusternia, but from Achaean experiences, level 2 faster balance sounds hardcore for Tarot (if you choose it). Slower elixir healing is never fun though, even just at level 1, though level 1 is bearable especially with the vastly more common healing skills that pretty much every archetype seems to have in Lusternia (and if you did choose tarot you'd have that to help out).

Dracnari share the slower elixir healing, though they have it even worse at level 2. But again, rituals and tarot, not to mention a mana regen enchantment, among other things, would help. Breathing fire is great fun, and bask could definitely have strategic uses, though on the whole Dracnari racial abilities seem more for RP use than actual strategic combat (unless you plan on luring everyone you kill out into the desert, or your secret evil volcano lair ).

I'd say Aslaran if you plan on learning how to kill people quickly, 'specially with tarot. But if you want to be a tank, albeit one that can't sip to cure as well, go Dracnari - you'll have lots of fun with party tricks like breathing fire. Either way, you'll learn to cope with their disadvantages, and get around things like bad sipping... so it's up to you. Hell, maybe the way you roleplay could even play a part.

I totally want a Cameo though.

Gods forbid we have interesting IC conflict. How dare they force their beliefs on you! I mean, Magnagora is a democracy, right? /sarcasm

I love the Cameo. The idea of being a member of the changeling race really appeals to me.

Choose because of RP. I chose Cronus to be a tae'dae because I really wanted to roleplay a big friendly giant forest-guy. I could have really used Int for being a druid, but I enjoy it.

Chose elfen for RP reasons but the high elfen did contribute, but not just in stat wise but RP as well. My appearance changed slightely when I became a high elfen, I know its just a title but I still did a bit of tweaking, nothing big.

I have to disagree with Hayden here. Don't pick Elfen as a Nihilist, your life is going to suck if you do. You can't get power and you are going to go through a lot. Your best bet as a Nihilist is to go Viscanti but if you MUST go between Aslaran and Dracnari....Aslaran.

Read HELP FAIN, not sure if Raezon is against these races as much as Fain..

The whole reason I chose elfen was for RP reasons. Won't go into deep detail here but my belief was that using an elfen would somewhat lessen the knee-jerk negative reaction many people have to Magnagorans and Viscanti in general and would allow me to subtley gather information that would be useful to the city. For example, what Serenwilden is going to believe that a Viscanti has any interest in the forests from a strictly RP perspective? At least being an elfen you could play on the "Was a good elf, seduced by power of taint, miss trees, would like a chance to look around, etc.". Felt it was away to advance city cause outside of wanton killing in villages (which leads to charges of Magnagorans being overly reliant on force). No idea if this would actually work but thought it might be an interesting role-playing idea apart from the cookie cutter Magnagoran=Viscanti, Taurian, etc.

On your last point, I understand that Magnagora is not a democracy (thank god) but instituting idiotic policies that limit reach and skills of an empire (there may be situations where having an elfen or merian would be useful to the city) based on little or no reasoning is generally a good way to diminish your power. I put complete trust in Lord Fain's rule but am uneasy in accepting blanket statements from others in the city that their interpretation of his, ah, description equals no merians or elfen. Maybe it meant that Fain is highly suspicious of these races and that you have to show exceptional loyalty to have equal status in the city. IC and OOC I felt the need to speak out against a policy that I felt could be harmful to Magnagora in the long run. Issuing blanket declarations against groups tends to harden factions and resistance.

Anyways, this is all moot as rules are what rules are. Just trying to explain my rationale. The only reason I am sort of ignoring RP aspects of my new race is because I feel that I am being forced to change, which is fine. Since I have no choice, I will OOC whore it up to take the best race for reasons other than RP.

Chose, not Choose, Felemar, was talking why I chose Elfen.

Why is Magnagora against Elfen and Merians? 'HELP FAIN', the Patron of the city. Simple.

I chose Viscanti, of pretty much purely Lucidian background.