Aarakocra

Aarakocras, also known as "how the fuck do you say that?" and "those fucking birdmen with the stupid name", are a race of monstrous humanoids from the days of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2e. They look like 5ft tall bipedal birds with clawed hands coming out of their wings, allowing them to use tools like human beings. Known for pissing people off with their habit of flapping in the air beyond reach and throwing javelins with pinpoint accuracy. They have an Athasian variant who look like giant humanoid vultures (7-8ft tall) with psionic powers (Clairsentience and Telepathy, if you gotta know).

Though they have had playable stats in AD&D (common aarakocras in the Complete Book of Humanoids, Athasian ones in the Dark Sun corebook), and appeared in several Third Edition books. Surprisingly, for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, the "Elemental Evil Player's Companion" web-enhancement included Aarakocra as the obligatory "air elemental player's race". 5e Aarakocra gain +2 Dex and +1 Wisdom, are Medium sized, have a base land speed of 25 feet, can fly at 50 feet a round if they're not wearing medium or heavy armor, and their talons mean they are proficient with their unarmed attacks, which inherently do 1d4 slashing damage.

As some books openly state that they speak with birdlike noises in their speech, if you play one without squawking profusely you are not playing properly.

Not to be confused with the arakkoa of World of Warcraft, who are basically the same thing, or the Raptorans, who are the same basic idea except more human and a LOT uglier.

2e stats

This information comes from some random asshole on the internet and is not guaranteed to be correct.

https://web.archive.org/web/20170416121438/http://www.lomion.de/cmm/aarakocr.php - Basic Aarakocra MM stats

https://web.archive.org/web/20170506145702/http://www.lomion.de/cmm/aarakath.php - Athasian Aarakocra MM stats

3.0e stats

This information is copied and pasted straight from Races of Faerun and is therefore accurate.

• –2 Strength, +4 Dexterity • Medium-size • Aarakocra land speed is 20 feet. Their fly speed is 90 feet, with average maneuverability. • +1 natural armor. • Natural Attacks: A flying aarakocra can attack with 2 talons, dealing 1d4 points of damage each, or he can use a weapon in his talons. An aarakocra on the ground can wield weapons in his wing-claws at his base attack bonus and attack with his bite as a secondary attack (–5 penalty on the attack roll, and half Strength bonus on the damage roll), dealing 1d3 points of damage. • Proficient with javelin. • +2 racial bonus on Craft (any one), Knowledge (nature), Listen, and Spot checks. • Claustrophobic: Aarakocras suffer a –4 circumstance penalty on all attack rolls and skill checks when in an enclosed area. • Automatic Languages: Common, Auran, and home region. Bonus Languages: Draconic, Elven, Orc, Sylvan. When aarakocras speak, they punctuate their words with birdlike sounds, much in the way of a parrot imitating human speech. • Level Adjustment: +2.

5e stats

http://media.wizards.com/2015/downloads/dnd/EE_PlayersCompanion.pdf - Elemental Evil Player's Companion download

See Also

• Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition races