D&D 5E (2014) What races do you expect to see in the core books?

[Yaarel]

Re Dobby: It is semantics, but Dobby is called a ‘house elf’, in the sense of a ‘house sprite’, which is what a ‘gnome’ is.

 

[variant]

Re Dobby: It is semantics, but Dobby is called a ‘house elf’, in the sense of a ‘house sprite’, which is what a ‘gnome’ is.

Wouldn't he be a brownie, not a gnome?

 

[Yaarel]

Wouldn't he be a brownie, not a gnome?

‘Gnome’ is the term that folklorists use. So, a ‘brownie’ is a Scottish gnome, a ‘kobold’ is a German gnome, a ‘tomte’ is a Norwegian gnome, and so on. If I recall correctly, a ‘hob’ is an English gnome, whence the invention of the name ‘hobbit’.

They are all ‘house sprites’.

So, yeah, Dobby could be called a brownie.

 

[variant]

‘Gnome’ is the term that folklorists use. So, a ‘brownie’ is a Scottish gnome, a ‘kobold’ is a German gnome, a ‘tomte’ is a Norwegian gnome, and so on. If I recall correctly, a ‘hob’ is an English gnome, whence the invention of the name ‘hobbit’.

They are all ‘house sprites’.

So, yeah, Dobby could be called a brownie.

I thought gnomes typically live underground. Brownies, hobgoblins, and a couple others are house spirits. Folklorists use gnome as a categorical term?

 

[Yaarel]

I thought gnomes typically live underground. Brownies, hobgoblins, and a couple others are house spirits.

The Latin term ‘Gnomus’ was invented during Renaissance for an ‘earth elemental’. However, it became the common Latin word to translate any kind of ‘spirit of the place’, in the sense of land or property, in the beliefs in various parts of Europe and elsewhere. The Norwegian tomte, for example, is a gnome - house sprite - who lives immediately below the surface of the land that the house is built on.

A ‘hob’ is a different creature from a ‘hobgoblin’. A hob is a house sprite, a spirit that is helpful to humans. However, a goblin is a malevolent sprite that is harmful to humans. A ‘hobgoblin’ is a humorous paradoxical term. It refers to a good-natured sprite that has a sense of humor, and is responsible for harmless but painful practical jokes. Shakespeare and Chaucer identify the hobgoblin and the puck as the same creature. Shakespeare makes the hobgoblin an official jester of the fairy royal court.

 

[Elf Witch]

While I am not overly fond of the 4E races of dragonborn, tiefling and eldran I don't care if they end up as a core race.

I rarely allow half orcs as PC race in my games because I find the entire how they come about problematic and when you add in the fact that most societies would not be very accepting of them it can become a headache for me as DM and some players are not mature enough to handle playing a PC that is openly discriminate against. But I don't think that they should not be a core race.

Personally what I would like to see is a little paragraph at the start of the chapter on races saying that DMs have the final say on what races they allow in game.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Whereas the Tolkien races make me cranky*, so what are you gonna do?

I mentioned that in the second or third sentence. You know, the one almost no one reads

By the way, I wasn't even born in 1974. I thought Tolkien's books were older than that though.

[SIZE=-2]*Seriously, they do. Come on, guys, it's not 1974 any more. Fantasy fiction moved past slavish imitation of J.R.R. Tolkien a long time ago. Why do we have to have these tired old retreads pushed on us in every PHB and jammed into every published setting? I know it's futile to complain, the elf/dwarf/halfling trio is the sacredest of cows and will never be touched, but a man can dream.[/SIZE]

Probably because they have crowded out most other races. Take a look at the gnome. It took 3 and a half editions to have an actual identity, as before it was just a cross between dwarf, halfling, and elf, the exact mix depending on the setting. (Eberron, Golarion and 4e all made good use of the gnome, but gnomes prior to that were seen as jokes, literally in the case of Dragonlance.)

And then there's the "planet of hats", where the race might have a personality, but it's exactly the same. Kender fit this trope pretty well. Except for the afflicted kender, they all have identical personalities. GIthzerai are all psychic monks. Githyanki are all war-obsessed pirates. To an extent, dwarves suffer from this, but less than most of the less popular races.

There's races that cause RP problems. Drow and kender fall into this camp (for very different reasons). Even thri-kreen; I like them, but they're far better as NPCs than PCs.

And then there's races that can't be taken seriously. Kender again, but also gully dwarves, some gnomes, catfolk... admittedly this is a matter of taste (there's no official catfolk that I'm aware of, so they don't have to be goofy).

There's cheesy races. Drow in 2e, goliaths in 3rd Edition, pixies in 4e... Pixies also fall into the whole "hard to take seriously" area.

Even looking too different (tieflings, dragonborn) can run into this problem. Unless you have a setting where weird-looking fiend-bloods are tolerated, tieflings don't really fit in. Planescape is a great example of a setting where they do fit in. Isn't that the setting that introduced them?

 

[Yaarel]

The Razorclaw Shifter is a Catfolk?

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

The Razorclaw Shifter is a Catfolk?

Shifters were given a place in the setting. Plus they don't have a reputation for being sexy.

 

[howandwhy99]

Setting Specific List (Human, Elf, Dwarf, Hobbit, Gnome, other demi-humans, or anything specific to the setting)
Custom (Whatever the Players want to make up, but is understood as not in the starting campaign setting)