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

[Maxperson]

@Maxperson… No, it doesn't fail. The DM is like Baskin Robbins. Or if you prefer, WotC is Baskin Robbins and the DM is a franchisee with express permission to alter flavors as he sees fit…. LOVE. MARRY ME. (Looks at wedding ring.) Never mind. Good show, well-reasoned old fellow.

Lol. I'm wearing one of those, too. My wife would probably have something to say about that. And a Chihauaha. The Chihuahua would cut you if you tried taking me away.

 

[Neonchameleon]

Words cannot express how sick and tired I am of the contention that "D&D is its own genre"—to say nothing of the pity I feel for those who seriously believe it.

Dungeons and Dragons has the following core attributes built into the rules of every edition:

• Damage that would be inflicted by weapons or most spells having no other effect on characters until they fall unconscious at 0hp. There is nothing remotely resembling a death spiral.
• Any wound or injury without major weirdness can be healed in a month or less of rest.
• It is expected that powerful characters are tough enough that the maximum damage an orc can do to them with an axe irrespective of armour is something that will not slow them, never mind take them out if they are decently rested.
• Magic is reliable, normally risk free, normally effectively with trivial or no financial cost and expected to be accessed by the players from level 1. The main restriction on magic is resource management and even there it recovers on a daily cycle.
• Approximately 40% of the player's handbook is spells (with this being the main thing 4e broke).
• Character power progression is extreme and measured in levels.
• Combat is a significant activity and major source of XP/power gain unless milestones are being used. Underlining how significant combat is there is a class called fighting man or fighter but everyone is expected to help out in combat.
• Despite character power progression being extreme and high level mages being overwhelmingly powerful a high level fighter does not normally run significantly faster than a low level fighter, nor do they get Celtic Myth, anime, or other mythological level feats. (Again 4e went some way to breaking this).

I fail to see how those common tropes and motivations between D&Ds do not outline something pretty close to a genre.

 

[Jack Daniel]

Heck, I know that DnD can't be anything I want without a ton of work, because I've beaten my head against economics and crafting systems repeatedly. And, on this very forum, the very idea of wanting a crafting system was met with skepticism by some, who didn't understand why you wanted to do something so out of line with what DnD was made to do. I believe the common refrain was "Your characters are adventurers, not laborers"

The game was designed with a goal, and the farther you get from that goal, the harder it is to run the game.

The game was designed with a goal: to simulate picaresque pulp-fantasy adventures wherein each player controls one miniature figure, representing an adventurous treasure-hunter exploring the dungeons underneath the proverbial "huge ruined pile, a vast castle built by generations of mad wizards and insane geniuses," until said character either dies ignobly or can amass enough wealth to carve a dominion out of the wilderness, finance and field a private army, and go to war with the other high-level player characters' private armies. Certain later editions do rather a poor job of it, but it's what D&D was invented for.

The idea that D&D can't have a good crafting system does give me a bit of a chuckle, though. Can't help it. My preferred milieu when I play is Victorian steampunk, and you can't properly do steampunk D&D without a technologist class designed around building gadgets and inventions. So… yeah, as with your "gods & galaxies" example, been there, done that. Keep throwing ideas at the wall, though, and maybe you'll hit upon something that D&D really can't do. (You might have a rough go of it, though, given the fact that both the 3rd edition d20 System and the OSR have already gone hog-wild adapting one or another of D&D's rules engines to every genre under the sun.)

Jay Aye Cee Kay Dee Aye En Eye Ee El.

Uff da. Keep the day job, because that comedy career is not going to work out.

 

[Zardnaar]

Nope. What I said is if you like vanilla and I like chocolate, your preference shouldn't forbid me from eating chocolate ice cream in your presence. Your taste shouldn't have any say in what eat. Unless you are the one who bought and paid for it or you have a life- threatening allergy and cannot be in the room with it (neither are applicable to the D&D analogy).

And yes, some DMs take their role as referee to mean they are King and the opinions of their players don't matter. It manifests in a variety of ways: my plot is brilliant and cannot be disrupted, my NPCs are perfect and cannot lose, or my setting is perfect and cannot be changed to accommodate any requests from my players to add to it.

I've played with those DMs. I've BEEN that DM. I'd like to thing I'm far more open to compromise now.

You can eat chocolate as much as you want I'm not serving it though.

Right now I only have boysenberry in the freezer so that's your only option.

If you want chocolate buy it yourself or find someone serving it up.

 

[Remathilis]

You can eat chocolate as much as you want I'm not serving it though.

Right now I only have boysenberry in the freezer so that's your only option.

If you want chocolate buy it yourself or find someone serving it up.

Ok, but what if I bring it with me to your house. I'd even share. Then can I...

No! There is only boysenberry. There is no other form of refreshment. Eat boysenberry or die screaming.

 

[prabe]

Ok, but what if I bring it with me to your house. I'd even share. Then can I...

No! There is only boysenberry. There is no other form of refreshment. Eat boysenberry or die screaming.

Call the roller of big cigars,
The muscular one, and bid him whip
In kitchen cups concupiscent curds.
Let the wenches dawdle in such dress
As they are used to wear, and let the boys
Bring flowers in last month's newspapers.
Let be be finale of seem.
The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.

Take from the dresser of deal,
Lacking the three glass knobs, that sheet
On which she embroidered fantails once
And spread it so as to cover her face.
If her horny feet protrude, they come
To show how cold she is, and dumb.
Let the lamp affix its beam.
The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream.

 

[Oofta]

You can eat chocolate as much as you want I'm not serving it though.

Right now I only have boysenberry in the freezer so that's your only option.

If you want chocolate buy it yourself or find someone serving it up.

Can I take back all of the upvotes I've given you? I mean, what kind of monster has boysenberry ice cream but not chocolate!

 

[Zardnaar]

But it brings us right back to the thing many of us simply don't understand.

How can you dislike something so much, that even having it as an option someone might take, is unacceptable? In a game where you can fight Demons weilding flaming swords or fungus men wielding laser guns or any number of other strange options, why are there things being banned just because they aren't liked? How can you dislike an idea that much?

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I guess as a gamer I should bring golf clubs to the Football game so I can make a three point shot? Recognizing that a game has limits, and that if you want to play something past those limits you should play something else is not unbecoming of a gamer. Just like recognizing that a jack hammer might not be the best tool for cleaning the sink. You can do it, but there are far easier ways to accomplish what you want.

Heck, I know that DnD can't be anything I want without a ton of work, because I've beaten my head against economics and crafting systems repeatedly. And, on this very forum, the very idea of wanting a crafting system was met with skepticism by some, who didn't understand why you wanted to do something so out of line with what DnD was made to do. I believe the common refrain was "Your characters are adventurers, not laborers"

The game was designed with a goal, and the farther you get from that goal, the harder it is to run the game.

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Ah yes, the classic Geo-Lock. Because we all know people never travel outside of their designated area. I know five miles from a border, I'd never expect to see people from that border, right? I mean they only traveled a day at most, which is six times that in DnD, and people sometimes traveled vast distances to relocate in new lands for new opportunities, and this is in the context of a series of trade routes that eventually stretched two continents, but a five mile journey? It simply can't be done.


Also, really love how it was subtly snuck in that the best way to go forward is to just pick something the DM already said yes to. After all, once there are more things banned than allowed, there really is no other way to start playing.

As I said something might exist you don't get to play it.
Theros for example the only has 6 races iirc, it does say anyone else is a world traveller. That doesn't mean you get to play such a traveller.

The theme is Greek based so something like an elf doesn't fit.

Geo locking something just means the focus is on this area and races.

Race might be banned because it doesn't fit, DM doesn't like it, mechanics, DM doesn't like it's appearance, DM doesn't like the font used, doesn't like the smell of it etc.

 

[Zardnaar]

Can I take back all of the upvotes I've given you? I mean, what kind of monster has boysenberry ice cream but not chocolate!

Wife likes it and I'm not a fan of chocolate ice cream that much. Local hipster place has a nice chocolate and peanut one though. They also make their own cones with a hint of cinnamon.

I also like chocolate plus mint.

I like plain chocolate but prefer other flavours. For example hokey pokie, gold rush, maple walnut, rum and raise etc.

 

[prabe]

Race might be banned because it doesn't fit, DM doesn't like it, mechanics, DM doesn't like it's appearance, DM doesn't like the font used, doesn't like the smell of it etc.

I think what's less important than why the DM isn't allowing the race is how the DM handles it if/when someone wants to play it--and to an extent how the player handles the DM's banning it. There are ways that lead to productive conversations, and there are ways that don't.