But I've noticed that the only people who consider those tropes 'basic' are the people who have been fantasy fans for decades, ie, not newbies. People come to fantasy different ways now, and probably have different notions of what constitutes the baseline.
'Standard' to who? Someone who read LotR in the 70's and 80's, or someone who grew up on fantasy themed entertainment that ranged from the LotR films to Naruto and Wow?
You're quite right here, but I think the problem with these two races is illustrated by the next post.
Dragonborn would be more pallatable to my group if they actually looked cooler. Theyare usually depicted with those beady eyes on smooth, stumpy heads. They wind up looking like molemen from the front (q.v. page of the PHB). Then again, the dragonborn on the cover looks nothing like the rest depicted anywhere else, and still looks like crap.
I think this is the biggest failing with 4E's races, frankly. They, surprisingly, manage to make Dwarves look cool (which can be hard to do), keep Elves looking decent, and do an ok job with Humans (I guess they don't need much help), but the other races don't really have particularly awesome appearances, I mean:
Eladrin - Baubles for eyes, and they dress like rejects from Labyrinth or something. I don't think there's much instant appeal in the art with them. The MM does a better job than of the PHB art involving them. Though the DMG has the most hilariously atrocious Eladrin picture, on pg. 193, apparently proving that bauble-eyes destroy fashion sense but humans dudes who want to get with Eladrin chicks are totally willing to go along with it.
Dragonborn - D'argo-born more like, amirite? Anyway, Felon hits on the head pretty squarely. They're portrayed as squat chunky lumps, without the elegance or power of their namesake (er, Dragons, not D'argo, but even he's more elegant and cool-looking that these sub-Predator fatdragons).
Tieflings - I'm not sure who thought "Omgawd, Tieflings would be like, so much cooler if they were all identical, had giant ugly horns with zero aesthetic appeal and a huge useless tail to drag along the floor! And let's make them hold really ugly weapons even though their empire is dead for thousands of years and they're a minority group who live in other cultures!", but I'm pretty sure they were on their twentieth cup of coffee of the day. "Oh and let's add baubles for eyes again!", yeah, to really complete the facepalm-inducing picture. Whilst pissing all over how Tieflings used to be. The mechanics are fine, the background's fine, much of the art makes the best of a bad lot, but oy vey.
Halflings - Uh, um, still confused about what to do with these guys. "Oh let's give them all braided hair or curly hair!". "Let's immediately undermine tiny bit of identity that in the PHB itself by making one of the two we see be "mini-Fabio"!". Really, what, guys, WotC, dudes, just y'know either take a dump or get off the top. Mini-me only-not-so mini isn't a good concept to start with and making them look like short humans ISN'T HELPING. Introduce some proper faerie people with WINGS for god's sake, even if they're quite large and don't actually fly. At least then you'd have half the the girlfriends and wives in the gaming world delighted (and some of the guys, too!).
Some other race. I dunno. Whatever they were they were dull.
