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Rating: 
Summary: Like a 55-gallon barrel of Surge... asking to be abused.
Review: "The Complete Book of Humanoids" has to be one of the worst misnomers TSR has ever written. "Twink's Bible" is more like it.This is deceptive. In the beginning, it looks innocent enough; new races, tons of new proficiencies, and new kits galore (the priests are more powerful than the ones in the Complete Priest's Handbook!). But the section on monstrous traits and superstitions is truly insidious in its potential for Twinkdom; potentially, it's possible for a first-level thief to have a Dexterity score of 22 or 23, or a Level 1 Fighter with a Strength that's just as high. This, combined with everything else, makes for what could pose to be the most obscenely powerful PCs in history. What more can I say? The only drawback is that your DM (or, if you're a DM, you) will, after experiencing what the Complete Book of Humanoids can unleash, forever ban it from use. Until the DM makes that decree, buy The Complete Book of Humanoids and get a taste of what Twinkdom really is.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Idea!
Review: A good way to spice up your D&D gaming sessions. The selected races available as potential PC's are diverse and believeable, from Pixies to Orcs. The book contains good role-playing notes on racial backgrounds/tendencies and how to bring humanoid races into a campaign. It certainly is interesting and well-written. However, the sections on superstitions and monstrous traits seem grossly inappropriate for some character types.
Still, at heart I think the complete book of humanoids was a great idea. I just started running an ogre mage in a Forgotten Realms campaign and he is definitely one of the most interesting characters I have ever played. It's a fun, unique challenge to play a character with such a radically different perspective from the typical human/demihuman. I do think you need a skilled, experienced dungeon master for humanoid characters to work successfully.
Novice DM's should not include this book in their campaign-- handling the racial details isn't easy, and some of the more powerful humanoid races could get out of control without a good DM to keep 'em in line
Teri Tada
P.S. Does anyone know where I could find more background detail on ogre mages? (TSR novels, etc.)
Rating:
Summary: INCREDIBLY USEFUL
Review: I cannot stress how useful I found this book. Not just for creating "monster" PCs, but also as a way to cook up some really, really tough Kobolds for the PCs to fight.
Rating:
Summary: OPENING a new scenario for those who prefer "differences"
Review: The basis of this guide is to open up and define the possibilities for playing different, often VERY different races as player characters. In that sense, it has achieved its goal, for The Complete Book of Humanoids by far excels the details in Skills And Powers. In fact, there are a number of contradictory themes within these books, and for realism and playability, the CHH comes out on top. Covering not only races, but also kit specifications, superstitions as well as height, weight and age stats, this book is essential for this purpose. So, if you want to play a Wemic Tribal protector, Alaghi Druid or a Wood Giant Ranger, this is the ONLY book that will give you everything you need.
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