D&D 5E What is the appeal of the weird fantasy races?

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Seeing as this thread has increased by 31 pages in length since I was last in the actual conversation, it looks about time for me to bow out. I'll see you guys around.

 

[Umbran]

I thought Dark Sun did give the color, and I'm pretty sure if I look up the Spelljammer lore, I will find out what color star Greyhawk, Dragonlance and FR have.

You think that's gonna stop me? Ha!

Note that I was talking about spectral class not "color". Color is a term of perception, and so is subjective to how one's eyes are constructed.

Everybody will think of their native sun as "yellow" - as their visual apparatus (if any) will be keyed to the output of their star - "yellow" is merely a word for "roughly middle of the spectrum your eyes can see, where much of my visual apparatus is designed to pick up". If Elminster is telling you a planet has a yellow sun, it really means, "a sun much like my own".

Since Elminster hasn't been to Krypton, we don't know what color he thinks their sun is.

And, if that fails you, again, Kryptonians are also vulnerable to magic, and every D&D world is soaking in it.

In any case, the point is that an overpowered PC will be denied, whether Kryptonian in a yellow sun or whatever.

Yes, the point is that the real issue isn't about the race - you can make that work if you want. It is the power that race is implied to have - the issue isn't about Kryptonians, but about how the player wants a character of effective level of 40+.

 

[Zardnaar]

@Dausuul & @Zardnaar , thanks for the response. So, there is a range between y'all's "thresholds". I'm curious what happens when you begin to approach those. Is it something where you don't have a place in your world where any additional race would fit? or is it more of a tone thing? Or is it something else?

Basically what's the nature of the break you feel in your setting(s)?

@Jack Daniel , I believe this is the first I've interacted with you. "Tongue-in-cheek" is a bit different from open and rather aggressive condescension. And, as I mentioned to @Snarf Zagyg earlier, my curiosity is focused on what, in particular, it is that that breaks the setting, and how you know it's broken. I'm quite sure that number will vary for those in the thread that use such limitations.

As I've mentioned previously, while my personal preference is a game with more options, I do recognize the work that goes into dm-ing, so I'm disinclined to push outside of any set boundaries. I am interested in how they get set though.

As it relates to your question of what's the difference between no elves in one game vs. no elves in D&D, thematically, not a whole hell of a lot insofar as both games could easily run smoothly. That said, D&D is designed to incorporate racial diversity as part of it's core mechanics. Literally step 1 is choose a race. A subtraction from the pool is a subtraction. For games without that component to them, there is no subtraction, at least as it relates to 'official' races.

Depends I do offer anything goes as well and for some settings would encourage it eg Spelljammer.

I generally don't allow flyers full stop or things like aquatic in happy pirates.

Sometimes might just be mechanics. I might ban Dragonborn next game if they redid them like Tieflings or Aasimar I would let them back in.

I kinda ripped off Sid Meier's pirates just replace the French, Dutch, English, Spanish with Humans, Dragonkin, Elves, and Empire of Steel.

So there's 4 major races and the rest of the PHB plus Warforged and Yuan ti have a place.

Instead of Aztecs I have infernal tiefling kingdom, Maya's are Yuan Ti, 13 Colonies are Arkhosia, Hispaniola is Gnomes plus Warforged, Drow are like Eberron ones in the Amazon etc.

If I allowed anything in it's basically like no one's bothered paying attention to my efforts.

The players did get a say in the theme as I would have been happy to run.

Eberron
Vikings (Midgard)
Midgard (Zobeck)
FR (generic)

They picked happy pirates and couple of weeks later I had thought something up.

 

[Gammadoodler]

I'm neither @Dausuul nor @Zardnaar but I'll tell you what the break is for my settings: it's where I start to lose (or think I'm starting to lose) track of what the races are, both mechanically and lore-wise (on my world).

Thanks! I'm curious, since your process, if I've understood it, has been more of a "here's a list, but we can chat if you want something particular" approach...How much of the racial complexity that pushed the setting toward your breakpoint is typically introduced by players? And it's it something present at session zero, or something you feel evolve over time?

 

[SkidAce]

Seeing as this thread has increased by 31 pages in length since I was last in the actual conversation, it looks about time for me to bow out. I'll see you guys around.

Me too.

 

[prabe]

Thanks! I'm curious, since your process, if I've understood it, has been more of a "here's a list, but we can chat if you want something particular" approach...How much of the racial complexity that pushed the setting toward your breakpoint is typically introduced by players? And it's it something present at session zero, or something you feel evolve over time?

That's a fair assessment of my process, yes. The racial complexity is ... pretty much entirely my fault. Mainly because I ended up writing the world so it has porous planar boundaries, and tieflings without aasimar felt unbalanced, and I liked genasi in a previous edition; then a player in the first campaign wanted to play a goliath and another wanted to play a tortle (I have since written lore for goliaths on my world, and decided that the tortle was a lone traveler) and the planar elves (eladrin and shadar-kai) also make sense ... so it evolves over time, but it's really not player-driven so much as by my own useless brain.

 

[Gammadoodler]

Depends I do offer anything goes as well and for some settings would encourage it eg Spelljammer.

I generally don't allow flyers full stop or things like aquatic in happy pirates.

Sometimes might just be mechanics. I might ban Dragonborn next game if they redid them like Tieflings or Aasimar I would let them back in.

I kinda ripped off Sid Meier's pirates just replace the French, Dutch, English, Spanish with Humans, Dragonkin, Elves, and Empire of Steel.

So there's 4 major races and the rest of the PHB plus Warforged and Yuan ti have a place.

Instead of Aztecs I have infernal tiefling kingdom, Maya's are Yuan Ti, 13 Colonies are Arkhosia, Hispaniola is Gnomes plus Warforged, Drow are like Eberron ones in the Amazon etc.

If I allowed anything in it's basically like no one's bothered paying attention to my efforts.

The players did get a say in the theme as I would have been happy to run.

Eberron
Vikings (Midgard)
Midgard (Zobeck)
FR (generic)

They picked happy pirates and couple of weeks later I had thought something up.

Cool idea for a theme. I like the thought process a lot. It does sound, though, like the kind of game where there are a lot of maybe literal 'blank spots' on the map from a thematic perspective (e.g. Asia, Oceania, Atlantis.. Haven't actually played Pirates, so none of those might make any sense).

So I guess I'm wondering if the issue is the setting breaking and becoming unbelievable as a result of addition, or that you've put a lot of time and energy into the cultures/races that you've mapped out already and picking outside those is the spaghetti and meatballs at a Chinese restaurant thing. Note: I have no issue with that if it's even the case,

 

[Zardnaar]

Cool idea for a theme. I like the thought process a lot. It does sound, though, like the kind of game where there are a lot of maybe literal 'blank spots' on the map from a thematic perspective (e.g. Asia, Oceania, Atlantis.. Haven't actually played Pirates, so none of those might make any sense).

So I guess I'm wondering if the issue is the setting breaking and becoming unbelievable as a result of addition, or that you've put a lot of time and energy into the cultures/races that you've mapped out already and picking outside those is the spaghetti and meatballs at a Chinese restaurant thing. Note: I have no issue with that if it's even the case,

Pretty much. I ran an Egyptian themed game they picked.

"Could I be a Viking"
"Can I be a Samurai"

FML.

 

[Gammadoodler]

Pretty much. I ran an Egyptian themed game they picked.

"Could I be a Viking"
"Can I be a Samurai"

FML.

What, you didn't study all the great Egyptian vikings and samurai?

 

[Zardnaar]

What, you didn't study all the great Egyptian vikings and samurai?

Well I did offer them the viking game.

Not a fan of Samurai type games.