Subraces - why so many?

[JDJarvis]

(remember all races were classes back then)

Races and classes were seperate in the original D&D rules. Basic D&D eventually introduced the race/class combos (5+ years later).

The second your people get banished underground they immediately get spell resistance and lots of other goodies.

hehehehe, Too true.

 

[JDJarvis]

Shadow Elves, Rockseer elves,Valley Elves, Black Lore Elves are a few more elven subraces.

 

[Henry]

Shadow Elves, Rockseer elves,Valley Elves, Black Lore Elves....

Like, oh, my gawd! Gag me with a spoon, I had, like, no idea those were in there!

I had one friend years ago who used to say that D&D had more Elf Races than the Earth had people.

 

[Sammael]

Add lythari to the list of elven subraces.

 

[Psikonetic]

The real question is, why does any race have subraces?

Because that's how evolution works? Over generations you'll start to be different then your parent race, not just in terms of culture (i.e. granting access to certain skills/feats) but physcially over time too, allowing you to have certain special abilities, etc. that another subrace doesn't have.

I think the real real question is why don't humans have subraces. Okay, maybe I can see why, Wizards wants to remain PC and you know that if you create even a fantasy human race with different traits than another, someone will trace it to a real type of people and scream that you're being racist. But it does make sense. If you take your "average" Italian, African, and Japanese man and line them up, they're gonna have different traits, not just be skilled in different things but be physcially different. I actually find it funny that the PHB says that even if all the humans come from one area they have widly different hair, eye, and skin colors, yet the same attributes, that's not really how it works. Even the companies and books that make an effort to make the human culutures "different" only offer different skills or feats. Why wouldn't they manifest different abilites that could factor into increased/decreased attributes, or other abilities?

After all, you banish some humans to the Underdark and then they get all kinds of special powers, right

~Me

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

I guess your question seems to be one of 'fantasy evolution' whereas when I saw it (cynic that I am), it seemed like 'why are they available?' I had some snarky comment prepared about 'players got tired of playing plain ole regular dwarves and elves and conned a DM into allowing something different.'

 

[Dark Jezter]

Like, oh, my gawd! Gag me with a spoon, I had, like, no idea those were in there!

I had one friend years ago who used to say that D&D had more Elf Races than the Earth had people.

Sounds like my friend who commented that in Faerun, an elf can't go visit the nearest town without returning as a new elf subrace.

 

[Umbran]

I'm interested in how and why these subraces came about.

I think this can be put simply - players and DMs like to have choices. With more subraces, not every PC is cut fom the same racial cloth. And it clearly opens the door for cultural differences as well.

Some folks forget that not all role-players are good at portraying cultural differences "just because". I think having the racial sub-types gives players a handle to graps when trying to approach the "I'm similar, but different" thing.

 

[Desdichado]

Because that's how evolution works? Over generations you'll start to be different then your parent race, not just in terms of culture (i.e. granting access to certain skills/feats) but physcially over time too, allowing you to have certain special abilities, etc. that another subrace doesn't have.

Well, no, it isn't. Not unless that population is isolated from the parent race for a much longer time than the time scale of any fantasy world I know of, anyway.

 

[MerricB]

Travel with me back to the early days of D&D... back to the AD&D Monster Manual.

There's no doubt that many of the subraces of demihumankind come from Tolkien. In the AD&D Monster Manual you may find the following...

ELF
- High - your generic elf from Tolkien
- Gray - the great elves of Noldor lineage
- Drow - inspired by Norse Mythology
- Half-Elf - like Elrond
- Aquatic - no idea where these come from
- Wood - the lesser races of elves from Tolkien, who never made it to Valinor. Legolas is one, iirc.

HALFLING
- Tallfellow - the Fallohide hobbits
- Stout - the Harfoot hobbits
- Hairfeet - Stoor hobbits (although I may be getting two confused)

HALF-ORC
- some folk in Bree

GNOME
- somewhat original to D&D and based on mythological sources; but so ill-defined that people rarely played them!

DWARF
- hill - your standard dwarf from Tolkien
- mountain - Moria-dwellers.

HUMAN
- if you get the World of Greyhawk, you'll find subraces.

Cheers!