What are your core races?

[Dungeoneer]

The Kender in 5e thread got me thinking... what races do people think should count as core?

Say you were lead designer for 6e, what would your core races be?

Me, I'm a big tent kinda guy. I think things like Tieflings and Warforged are pretty cool and don't mind finding ways to incorporate them into my campaign. Here's my core races list:

Dragonborn
Drow (Dark Elf)
Dwarf
Half Elf
Half Orc
Halfling
High Elf (Eladrin)
Human
Tiefling
Wood Elf
Warforged

Of course, I draw the line at gnomes.

 

[SolitonMan]

I was just kind of wondering the same thing when I saw the Kender thread. My core list would be:

Human
Elf
Dwarf
Half-elf
Half-orc
Halfling

That list is only if I were going to bother defining a core list of races. I'm more a fan of the Savage Species outlook - if a player wants to play a character of any race, why shouldn't they? I think if the game were designed with that view from the ground up, you'd find consistency across creatures and a mechanism for designing appropriately powered versions of very powerful creatures that would still be more or less balanced with the rest of the group. While obviously the DM would limit options based on the campaign, I'd be psyched to see a SS-type take on race incorporated into the core rules.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I'd go with a short list. It's easier to add than to subtract.

Human
Dwarf
Elf (keep subraces to a bare minimum)
Halfling

From the LotR and early D&D days, dwarves have undergone the least change and halflings the most. Fortunately halfling changes can be either embraced or ignored as they're generally not rules-relevant. (4e halflings don't get a bonus to Stealth though. I am disappointed.)

In practice, half-elves have a "hook" (flavor), but not a "niche" (mechanic). There are RP reasons to play a half-elf, but not really mechanical reasons. Even 4e base half-elves didn't have a good niche, but the Essentials redesign is pretty cool. (I don't think Constitution makes a good stat boost for half-elves though.)

Half-orcs didn't make the list because I don't think they have a good hook. (They were probably removed from some earlier core rulesets because their origins implied a negative hook. Implied, not required, and specifically addressed positively in Eberron.) Mechanically they're basically humans with greater Strength. Their 4e version isn't more interesting, having abilities with a more "first round" usage than orcs, but that's about it.

Another race that didn't make the cut were gnomes. Of all gnome variants that I'm familiar with, only 4e gnomes have a good mechanical niche. When it comes to a hook, there is no universal gnome hook. Eberron, Golarion and to a lesser extent Points of Light/Nentir Vale gnomes have a good hook, but settings such as Dragonlance give them a negative hook.

 

[Li Shenron]

If I had to define a core set, I'd go with the 'classic 4': Humans, Elves, Dwarves and Halflings.

But for myself, I don't even want to have a fixed set, I just want to be free to redefine what are the playable races in each campaign. It's one of the ways you can better distinguish the flavors of different campaigns.

 

[radja]

human
dwarf
halfling
gnome
elf

in that order, although gnome/halfling is pretty much equal, and close to dwarf. I don't like elves much. and hate all the elf subraces. please also note: no half-<stuff>, they're worse than dark-elves.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

I used to be a big-tent guy myself, but these days I'll settle for Human, Elf and Dwarf. (But I do have a soft spot for Half-Elves.) Of course, I'm willing to let any player play any reasonable race that they want. Adventurers being outside the norm makes that an easy call, IMO.

 

[DMZ2112]

Dragonborn
Dwarf
Eladrin/Grey Elf
Elf/Wood Elf
Gnome
Halfling
Human

I'm a traditionalist, but something about Dungeons & Dragons having a dragonkin core race resonated with me in D&D4, as did the formal separation between grey and wood elves.

Half-breeds need not apply. </racist>

 

[Dungeoneer]

I used to be a big-tent guy myself, but these days I'll settle for Human, Elf and Dwarf. (But I do have a soft spot for Half-Elves.) Of course, I'm willing to let any player play any reasonable race that they want. Adventurers being outside the norm makes that an easy call, IMO.

I'm with you there. My players know that if they come up with a cool enough idea I'll be willing to consider it. For instance in our Dark Sun (4e) campaign one of my players wanted to play a Deva. "But there are no gods on Athas," I said. "I'm a forgotten avatar abandoned by the gods," he said. SOLD!

 

[exile]

Human
Halfling
Elf
Dwarf
Gnome
Half-elf
Half-orc

To my thinking, Pathfinder and Golarion have the very best halflings ever. Physically they are close to hobbits (which I like a lot) and they have some cultural identity by way of their struggle against slavery. I really dislike kender (except in the Dragonlance where they belong) and I kind of dislike roving, gypsy halflings.

I used to like the idea of half-races (half-elves, half-orcs, muls) being constructable according to some formula, but now I think I am more fond of them having rules that make them unique and distinct from their parent races.

 

[radja]

Of course, I'm willing to let any player play any reasonable race that they want. Adventurers being outside the norm makes that an easy call, IMO.

This cannot be stressed enough. As a DM I have invented entire civilizations to fit in a player character, if it's not an unbalanced race. Fun for all is what the game is all about, and allowing odd or weird choices is part of that.