D&D 5E Monster Races and a quick sword thrust at the gate

[Sacrosanct]

Strangely, I don't have this issue at all. Must be a personal thing.

I can sort of see how people might assume that in the early days, when the game was centered around the middle ages in Europe, and most gamers were white, so that's what was reflective. However, I don't see how that assumption has been true since the mid 80s or so, when supplements like Oriental Adventures, Al Qadim, etc have been out. Humans in D&D are very much all real ethnic races today. And in the last 20 years, there has definitely been a push to make the artwork more racially diverse. So anyone in today's game who assumes human with white, I think that's more with them and their personal assumptions, than anything the game has done.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Another issue I have with this take is Human races are sort of coded as "white" while monster races have been coded as "non-white" and I hate that unintentional racism. I mean if you have magic what is so hard about a goblin wanting to be a courageous Paladin?

One look at the illustrations in the PHB makes me wonder how you came to this conclusion. Heck, it's not only the humans, but also the elves and dwarves exhibiting a wide variety of racial variance...

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[doctorbadwolf]

Kobold and Goblin (and the goblinoid and orc and yuan-ti)* -- yes. A player choosing that race should reasonably expect trouble in social situations, and the obligation is on the player to come up with ways to avoid it. That's part of the fun of choosing to play a monstrous race (said as someone who likes to do so himself).

Lizardfolk, I'd say no. Yes, they might be unusual or rare, and maybe suspicion will be warranted, but they're not evil by nature and should't receive the same automatic prejudice.


* i.e. the races on 118-20 of Volo's Guide

That probably isn’t part of the fun of playing those races for the players in question.

Also, in many worlds none of those races are evil “by nature”.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Also, in many worlds none of those races are evil “by nature”.

Such as? They are in Greyhawk, FR, Ravenloft, and just about every D&D world I can think of.

 

[Hussar]

One look at the illustrations in the PHB makes me wonder how you came to this conclusion. Heck, it's not only the humans, but also the elves and dwarves exhibiting a wide variety of racial variance...

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I think it's more to do with the idea that human is nearly always treated as the baseline. You rarely hear about a DM who bans humans because the other races have decided that humans are the epitome of evil, cannot ever be trusted and must be attacked and killed at every opportunity.

It's not a really hard stretch.

 

[epithet]

... You rarely hear about a DM who bans humans because the other races have decided that humans are the epitome of evil, cannot ever be trusted and must be attacked and killed at every opportunity. ...

I've met enough humans to appreciate the verisimilitude of a "we don't need no stinkin' humans" setting.

 

[Ovinomancer]

I think it's more to do with the idea that human is nearly always treated as the baseline. You rarely hear about a DM who bans humans because the other races have decided that humans are the epitome of evil, cannot ever be trusted and must be attacked and killed at every opportunity.

It's not a really hard stretch.

Nope, still a pretty long stretch.

 

[Wiseblood]

I DM a few 5E games. Some of my players love to play monster races like goblin,kobold and Lizard man, but regardless of what I tell them expect to be able to just walk on in to any town and city.

This has lead to a few pc deaths. Also it seems to be the general thought that I'm home brewing this reaction and that the default in 5E is everyone just gets along together. That drow and goblins and orcs and whatever monster the pc's expect to play next week SHOULD be welcome to just walk on in anyplace nice and safe because people of D&D worlds NEVER judge anyone by race(even though the pc's do 100% of the time ...never once stopped to ask a goblin they encountered in the woods, nope it's just look xp!).

Is this a issue for other DM's? It frankly about to the point of me saying player handbook races only.

Do they have the folk hero bacground? Have they done something for the community that would cause them to be the exception to the kill on site mantra? Or have they been murder hobos? They might have had it coming.

If you DM multiple groups you may want to see if the group the monsterous players would like to game together. Then a campaign could emerge that might be a better fit.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Such as? They are in Greyhawk, FR, Ravenloft, and just about every D&D world I can think of.

Eberron for one, but I was largely referring to home games.

Also Kobolds and goblins and orcs at least are not born evil in forgotten realms. Yuan-ti are arguable, depending on what kind we’re talking about, and edition.

And then of course there’s Dragonlance. Even the initially evil Draconians are eventually shown to be capable of being good, and races like Minotaur are just culturally antagonistic, rather than “naturally” evil.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Eberron for one, but I was largely referring to home games.

Also keyboards and goblins and orcs at least are not born evil in forgotten realms. Yuan-ti are arguable, depending on what kind we’re talking about, and edition.

And then of course there’s Dragonlance. Even the initially evil Draconians are eventually shown to be capable of being good, and races like Minotaur are just culturally antagonistic, rather than “naturally” evil.

Well, in general as the default assumed mode of play, monstrous humanoids are evil. Says so right in the MM under alignment. So players should assume that they are evil and will be reacted to as such by the "good" races unless the DM specifically says they act differently in that game world. And as I said earlier, whatever the DM is running differently from the assumed mode of play should be communicated to the players. But a player shouldn't assume that playing a kobold or orc won't be met with hostility, but should assume they will be based on how the game worlds of D&D are set up.