Tiefling, Dragonborn : have they gained traction ?
Don't like the appearance or default background of either. Of course, if I run 4e I'm going to be near completely disregarding the default background of *everything*, and changing the appearance of a few races entirely, and throwing some out in the process that don't fit at all with what I want in a prime world.
Dragonboobs will be one of the 'out' things. I don't like Dragons at all, and if they're present at all in worlds I come up with, they're myths someone made up out of seeing some other kind of monster. I also dislike 'monster' races, which, let's face it. Dragonborn are monsters.
(And no it's not just 'ew it's new I don't like it', I'm seriously considering dumping *halflings* in favor of gnomes, because I like having a small number of races and two short things is eh)
Let's see, ranking things, for me:
1: Eladrin. (The parts of Elves I liked without the dull tree-hugging, with some weird fey-ness thrown in for good measure? Sweet! Though my eladrin are a race that's slightly over 500 years old that breeds like rabbits wherein not a single one has yet died of old age.)
2: Half-Elf. (I have a fondness for them from a PC)
3. Gnome. (I like the little buggers for some reason)
4. Dwarf. (See gnome)
5. Half-Orc. (Fondness for them from a PC too)
6. Drow. (See Half-Orc and Half-Elf, though the drow I'd use in 4e would completely toss out the usual flavour on them.)
7. Human. (They're there.)
8. Elf. (4e split the elves and the tree-hugging nature thing was the boring part)
9. Halfling. (Meh.)
10. Genasi. (OK idea, hate look, but it'll get redone if it's in at all)
11. Deva. (Deva manage to be more boring than Aasimar ever supposedly were. I *like* Aasimar.)
12. Goliath. (Does nothing for me, but doesn't really offend me.)
13. Tiefling. (Never liked them that much to begin with, 4e look is eh, redone if it's in.)
14. Shadar-kai. (Hot Topic race)
15. Shifter. (Pointless furries.)
16. Dragonborn. (Monster lizard people with females that have boobs. No thanks. Plus they step fluff-wise on where I want to take Dwarves, so meh.)
I still like the 'old' races and find them fun still, so most of the new ones are 'meh, what does this do conceptually that I can't do with an elf, or a dwarf, or even a human?'. I've never found being a weird race necessary to making a character that's interesting to me. In fact I've never found a reason to *be* a weird race. Drow and half-orcs are about as weird as I get. Anything I wanted to do I can do with an old boring normal race. So there's no appeal for me in the odd ones. (And yeah, halfling is a notable exception to this. I just plain like gnomes better.)
*shrug*
Dragonboobs will be one of the 'out' things. I don't like Dragons at all, and if they're present at all in worlds I come up with, they're myths someone made up out of seeing some other kind of monster. I also dislike 'monster' races, which, let's face it. Dragonborn are monsters.
(And no it's not just 'ew it's new I don't like it', I'm seriously considering dumping *halflings* in favor of gnomes, because I like having a small number of races and two short things is eh)
Let's see, ranking things, for me:
1: Eladrin. (The parts of Elves I liked without the dull tree-hugging, with some weird fey-ness thrown in for good measure? Sweet! Though my eladrin are a race that's slightly over 500 years old that breeds like rabbits wherein not a single one has yet died of old age.)
2: Half-Elf. (I have a fondness for them from a PC)
3. Gnome. (I like the little buggers for some reason)
4. Dwarf. (See gnome)
5. Half-Orc. (Fondness for them from a PC too)
6. Drow. (See Half-Orc and Half-Elf, though the drow I'd use in 4e would completely toss out the usual flavour on them.)
7. Human. (They're there.)
8. Elf. (4e split the elves and the tree-hugging nature thing was the boring part)
9. Halfling. (Meh.)
10. Genasi. (OK idea, hate look, but it'll get redone if it's in at all)
11. Deva. (Deva manage to be more boring than Aasimar ever supposedly were. I *like* Aasimar.)
12. Goliath. (Does nothing for me, but doesn't really offend me.)
13. Tiefling. (Never liked them that much to begin with, 4e look is eh, redone if it's in.)
14. Shadar-kai. (Hot Topic race)
15. Shifter. (Pointless furries.)
16. Dragonborn. (Monster lizard people with females that have boobs. No thanks. Plus they step fluff-wise on where I want to take Dwarves, so meh.)
I still like the 'old' races and find them fun still, so most of the new ones are 'meh, what does this do conceptually that I can't do with an elf, or a dwarf, or even a human?'. I've never found being a weird race necessary to making a character that's interesting to me. In fact I've never found a reason to *be* a weird race. Drow and half-orcs are about as weird as I get. Anything I wanted to do I can do with an old boring normal race. So there's no appeal for me in the odd ones. (And yeah, halfling is a notable exception to this. I just plain like gnomes better.)
*shrug*
From what I've seen, both races are pretty popular. I think Eladrin are the clear winner in terms of popularity, though.
I'm not sure how I'd rank the core 8 races in the PHB, but I'd probably put Eladrin, Elves, and Dragonborn near the top, with halflings and dwarves being less popular, and Humans/Tieflings somewhere in the middle. Just my impressions from my own play time, and skimming dozens of PBP games.
On second thought, grouping Dwarves with Haflings is a little too harsh. They definately more popular than halflings. I'm just not sure they beat out anything else.
The PHB 2 races haven't been out long, so I haven't got a feel for how popular they'll be. I think I've seen more shifters and Deva's than anything else though, and I haven't seen anyone play a half-orc at all yet. The PHB 2 classes favoring wisdom could be skewing the results though.
Oh, and for the FRPG races, I've seen a lot more Drow than Genasi. I haven't seen anyone make a genasi that wasn't a Swordmage or Taclord, either.
I'm not sure how I'd rank the core 8 races in the PHB, but I'd probably put Eladrin, Elves, and Dragonborn near the top, with halflings and dwarves being less popular, and Humans/Tieflings somewhere in the middle. Just my impressions from my own play time, and skimming dozens of PBP games.
On second thought, grouping Dwarves with Haflings is a little too harsh. They definately more popular than halflings. I'm just not sure they beat out anything else.
The PHB 2 races haven't been out long, so I haven't got a feel for how popular they'll be. I think I've seen more shifters and Deva's than anything else though, and I haven't seen anyone play a half-orc at all yet. The PHB 2 classes favoring wisdom could be skewing the results though.
Oh, and for the FRPG races, I've seen a lot more Drow than Genasi. I haven't seen anyone make a genasi that wasn't a Swordmage or Taclord, either.
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Heh, I play in one group (which has experienced several players coming and going, and a TPK which had us all whip up new characters) and DM another, and I've yet to see a single Eladrin PC (excluding a DMPC wizard used in the very first session I played in, who never appeared again).
First PC I played was a Dragonborn, and there's one in the campaign I DM (and the player is terribly fond of the character, more attached to it that any of the other players seem to theirs). The next character on my lengthy list of things I want to play is another Dragonborn. There's a tiefling warlock a little further down the list for which I have an awesome Reaper mini that I'm painting, which is a first for me.
Between the two groups, here's what I've seen so far:
Dragonborn - 3
Drow - 2
Dwarf - 3
Eladrin - 1 (DMPC)
Elf - 2
Genasi - 1
Half-Elf - 2
Halfling - 2
Human - 4
Tiefling - 1
Dire Bare
Legend
Tieflings already had traction, as they have been around since 2nd Edition. It's a large part of the reason why they were "promoted" in 4th Edition. Dragonborn also already have traction, just not under the name "Dragonborn". Half-dragons were ridiculously popular in 3rd Edition, so including Dragonborn in 4th was also a no-brainer.
The upcoming Wilden race, however . . . .
The upcoming Wilden race, however . . . .
But the new tiefling is not the old one (while the difference between eladrin and grey elves are minor) and the dragonborn is not an half dragon. The "new" versions could have lost the traction the old ones had.
From what I read here, it seems that they are a success.
Shemeska
Adventurer
Fallen Seraph
First Post
Generally speaking Tieflings are Tieflings from past to this edition. I like the base stats they got in 4e (especially compared to 3.5), and while I like the variable appearances that is a very easy change.
The one thing I would like to see return would be the various different minor powers they could have at character creation. But without the random dice roll, I never liked that particular element.
Oh and Shemeska, did you notice my post about if you knew any Tiefling heavy 2e books?
The one thing I would like to see return would be the various different minor powers they could have at character creation. But without the random dice roll, I never liked that particular element.
Oh and Shemeska, did you notice my post about if you knew any Tiefling heavy 2e books?
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