Sword of Spirit
Legend
Not judging anyone else's game mind you, to each their own, but I was just curious if I was alone in feeling this way.
You are most definitely not alone. D&D lore/setting is honestly the most important reason I play D&D (there are other systems I can use if I just want a fantasy game).
As far as what races or classes I allow for a PC, that's completely dependent on campaign. What races exist in my world is the more important issue for me.
Dragonborn don't exist in any of the main worlds in my (mostly 2e) multiverse, because they weren't part of the history and were something that was added in 4e or proto-4e (late 3e bloat-books).
PHB Tieflings don't exist at all, because again, they are a new thing that was added in the 4e era rather than a traditional D&D race. Variant Tieflings from the SCAG are present (including just using the PHB stats and giving a different appearance and origin), because those have existed since 2e.
That being said, I have no philosophical objection against putting Dragonborn or fiend incarnate tieflings on some other world I make up, but I haven't felt a desire to do such yet.
All of the classes are present in my world. While classes do have actual in-setting reality in my worlds (they aren't just an out of character game construct) warlocks and sorcerers are something that feels to me like they should have always been there, and don't really mess anything up in the lore.
I do generally enforce cultural connections between classes. The "monk" class is from Far East inspired setting locations. There are no @#$% wood elf monks. That's a major pet peeve of mine. If you want to be a ki-infused martial artist, you come from an east Asian themed background--or at least your training does. If someone in a traditional European inspired fantasy setting talks about a monk, they mean a monastic cleric, not a martial artist using an exotic form of energy. And it drives me batty that they've attempted to merge things together nonsensically by fusing those together, so you have monks (as in monastic clerics) who are using the "monk" D&D class, because "duh, it's called monk, right?" and you end up with stupid.
I'm just as hard-nosed with the western classes in my eastern themed games. The "monk" class is totally approved, but some of the other PHB classes and subclasses just aren't setting appropriate. Same thing goes with races. No elves, dwarves, etc. D&D already has established races for that theme, which just don't have 5e conversions for them yet.
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