Human Fighters Most Common Race/Class Combo In D&D

Guest 6801328 · Oct 16, 2017

I can see the appeal of a world in which there are lots of playable non-standard races, including monsters, and the heroes can be anti-heroes if they want. And I can also see the appeal of a world (yes, like Middle Earth) in which players are expected to be the good guys, orcs and other monsters are essentially always the bad guys, and only a handful of races would ever be the heroes, with other races maybe playing supporting roles.

Just because the latter version was the default back in 1977 doesn't make it bad or uncreative. (You can still make bread with just flour, water, salt, and yeast and it may not be innovative or clever but it can still be delicious, even after all these years. Regardless of what Nathan Myhrvold says.)

Some people just like playing D&D the traditional way. You don't have to play with them if you don't like it.

Alexemplar · Oct 16, 2017

Elfcrusher said:
I can see the appeal of a world in which there are lots of playable non-standard races, including monsters, and the heroes can be anti-heroes if they want. And I can also see the appeal of a world (yes, like Middle Earth) in which players are expected to be the good guys, orcs and other monsters are essentially always the bad guys, and only a handful of races would ever be the heroes, with other races maybe playing supporting roles.

Just because the latter version was the default back in 1977 doesn't make it bad or uncreative. (You can still make bread with just flour, water, salt, and yeast and it may not be innovative or clever but it can still be delicious, even after all these years. Regardless of what Nathan Myhrvold says.)

Some people just like playing D&D the traditional way. You don't have to play with them if you don't like it.

There's also "Game of Thrones-style" where it's just Humans and all other races, including Elves (children of the Wood) are NPCs/monsters.

Guest 6801328 · Oct 16, 2017

Alexemplar said:
There's also "Game of Thrones-style" where it's just Humans and all other races, including Elves (children of the Wood) are NPCs/monsters.

Yeah, great example. Also totally valid and fun. ANd it could be that everybody plays an (insert non-human race here) and all other races are monsters, NPCs, slaves, whatever.

R_Chance · Oct 17, 2017

MechaTarrasque said:
"Hey guys, this is fun, but I really like race X, and they don't fit here, so if anyone has some time, I was thinking of DMing a game every other week in a setting where race X fits."

I guess I put too much time into my setting... unless people can wait a few years for their new game setting

I'd say it's more likely someone else volunteer for the new time sink, er... setting. Humor aside, I've always tried to accommodate my players, just not at the expense of the setting which has seen over 40 years of play.

Saeviomagy · Oct 17, 2017

Lost mines of phandelver pregen characters: 2 human fighters, 1 elf wizard, 1 dwarf cleric, 1 halfling rogue.

http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/features/character_sheets

Also seems to consist of over-represented race/class combos, with a few exceptions (human druid, elf fighter, human barbarian).

I know that my home campaign started out with the phandelver pregens, but filed the numbers off, simply to make startup easier.

Oh, and if 10% of characters are multiclassed, but a multiclass counts for each class that it takes, then they're heavily overrepresented in these numbers.

TheCosmicKid · Oct 17, 2017

Alexemplar said:
There's also "Game of Thrones-style" where it's just Humans and all other races, including Elves (children of the Wood) are NPCs/monsters.

That seems to be the norm in fantasy fiction, actually.

Mythology and folklore too, for that matter.

Strange coincidence, that...

Mephista · Oct 17, 2017

There is also a trend of human religious types being the evil, prejudiced ones, while all those labelled monsters are just folk trying to live their lives

Satyrn · Oct 17, 2017

TheCosmicKid said:
That seems to be the norm in fantasy fiction, actually.

Mythology and folklore too, for that matter.

Strange coincidence, that...

Aye. The settings with numerous/countless races tends to be space fantasy, I think

prosfilaes · Oct 19, 2017

Elfcrusher said:
I can see the appeal of a world in which there are lots of playable non-standard races, including monsters, and the heroes can be anti-heroes if they want.

Which is conflating a lot of different stuff. You can play in a world where there's clear good and evil and have good people who are orcs. You can also have worlds where dragonborn and orcs are just another group of people, not monsters.

Labeling people who don't look like Cate Blanchett, Sean Bean, or Orlando Bloom as evil has some deeply problematic history. The standard mix can feel less diverse than just humans from diverse societies.

Ratskinner · Oct 19, 2017

Mephista said:
There is also a trend of human religious types being the evil, prejudiced ones, while all those labelled monsters are just folk trying to live their lives

I feel like site rules and politess prevent me from delving too far into this idea, but...I certainly will agree that that is a prevalent trope.

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