Talk:Kenku

Kenku and Tengu and variations
I feel I ought to work out the whole kenku/tengu situation. Although maybe not a famous creature, they've been in all editions and had a raised profile in 4th, and are spread from Faerun to Kara-Tur. However, every time they're statted, they're very different. Kenku at Wikipedia covers their publication history. They're strongly based on the Tengu of Japanese myth. So, I'm summarising the variations here for later work.

Let's look:
 * Monstrous Compendium Kara-Tur Appendix: Tengu - aggressive, tricky recluses. Have arms and wings, can fly. Come in two varieties: human-headed (Chaotic Neutral) and bird-headed (Chaotic Evil). Abilities in mimicry and spells (some the same, some different as the OA version).
 * Monster Manual III 3rd edition: Kenku – wingless, flightless, rogue-like race. Neutral Evil. Abilities in mimicry, working together, and stealth. Puts these kenkus in southern Faerun: Zazesspur, Veldorn, Estagund, and traces their ancestry back to Kara-Tur.
 * Oriental Adventures (3rd edition): Tengu ("also known as kenkus") – warrior scholars, have arms and wings, can fly. Neutral. Come in two varieties: human-headed and bird-headed. Abilities in mimicry, a wing-baffle attack, katana-finesse, and spells. This could be discounted as specific to the Rokugan setting, but the book implies it is generally applicable to D&D, except some Rokugan-specific lore.
 * Monster Manual 2 4th edition: Kenku - wingless, flightless, rogue-like race again. Unaligned. General abilities in mimicry, working together, stealth, and the usual 4e variations. (Follows MM3 for 3.x)

Kara-Tur: The Eastern Realms has tengu but doesn't go deeply into them. Naturally, it fits the MC: Kara-Tur Appendix version.

Forgotten Realms Campaign Guide has its kenkus in the Beastlands of former Veldorn. This of course most closely fits the MM2 4e version.

So, there are NE wingless rogue-types; NN human- and crow-headed winged warrior scholars; and CN/CE human- and crow-headed winged marauders.

Does anyone know of more variants, more lore in the Realms, or have thoughts on which to include and which to discount? — BadCatMan (talk) 07:32, March 15, 2016 (UTC)