D&D General Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes and Halflings of Color

[Azzy]

I cannot possibly express just how utterly sick to death I am of people demanding elves of every single color under the rainbow super optimized to be the best at every single class in the game. Like-- seriously-- I wonder sometimes why other races even exist in the game as everyone always wants a new kind of super elite, the ultimate best elf for every single possible niche.

Just... why? Why does there need to be dozens upon dozens upon dozens of breeds of elves? Why do they have to be the absolute best at everything? Why do we need some flawless super master race that makes everyone look like naughty word in comparison? How does that remotely make any fictional world better?

So in addition the white elves and pink elves and brown elves and blue elves and gold elves and green elves and purple elves-- we are to have black elves as well?

Meanwhile a dwarf is a dwarf is a dwarf regardless of setting and a halfling is just a small human with a limited personality set. Goblins, Orcs and such are just empty, soulless bags of hitpoints that drop treasure if you hit them enough.

And you just can't pull anything interesting out of all world mythology or create anything new? Its always got to be another god damn elf?

I so very much wish there were an official D&D setting where the rainbow of ubermensch elves were entirely extinct and room was made for a myriad of flawed and interesting races to actually breath and make an actual impact upon the setting.

I am all for more racial inclusion-- but you just had to start with elves, didn't you? I cannot be alone in this-- I am so god damn sick of elves.

I'm not seeing how this is relevent to this thread in any way.

 

[ccs]

I cannot possibly express just how utterly sick to death I am of people demanding elves of every single color under the rainbow super optimized to be the best at every single class in the game. Like-- seriously-- I wonder sometimes why other races even exist in the game as everyone always wants a new kind of super elite, the ultimate best elf for every single possible niche.

Just... why? Why does there need to be dozens upon dozens upon dozens of breeds of elves? Why do they have to be the absolute best at everything? Why do we need some flawless super master race that makes everyone look like naughty word in comparison? How does that remotely make any fictional world better?

So in addition the white elves and pink elves and brown elves and blue elves and gold elves and green elves and purple elves-- we are to have black elves as well?

Meanwhile a dwarf is a dwarf is a dwarf regardless of setting and a halfling is just a small human with a limited personality set. Goblins, Orcs and such are just empty, soulless bags of hitpoints that drop treasure if you hit them enough.

And you just can't pull anything interesting out of all world mythology or create anything new? Its always got to be another god damn elf?

I so very much wish there were an official D&D setting where the rainbow of ubermensch elves were entirely extinct and room was made for a myriad of flawed and interesting races to actually breath and make an actual impact upon the setting.

I am all for more racial inclusion-- but you just had to start with elves, didn't you? I cannot be alone in this-- I am so god damn sick of elves.

So am I reading this right & you dislike elves?

Anyways, we've had black elves since the 1e MM mentioned the Drow, so your a bit (40 years) late in objecting to their existence.
And you're incorrect about how dwarfs & halflings are the same setting to setting. There's multiple types of each. Some in the current PHB, some in various settings.

 

[J-H]

I do wish there were fewer races/species/etc. sometimes. It's hard to shoehorn them all in as a DM.

My Meso-American-ish campaign has, as options for replacement characters:
Aaracokra
Yuan-ti
Satyrs
Goliaths (MAYBE)
Warforged (only one, and only if they find the crashed Illithid ship)
Possibly Githzerai or Githyanki, depending on how they handle things with the Illithid ship.
Drow (maybe, but they only live in one specific hex out of over 350).

Anyone else has to come in from overseas...

The original party will be regular D&D species, but there just aren't any of their species living in the play area.

 

[jgsugden]

Going back as far as AD&D, I remember playing in games with non-human / demi-human humanoid types that were of a variety of skin tones. If you read the AD&D PHB, it generally says that each humanoid type is like humans unless they specify otherwise - and there is nothing in the PHB to specify your PC can't have the skin tone of any naturally occurring skin tone you'd like. I remember a specific conversation with a Korean friend about what (humanoid type) he could play that would look like him. I made a short joke that did not go over well (I was young), and then said, "Whatever".

 

[Blue Orange]

Since most campaign worlds that don't come out of a box (FR, etc.) are designed from the ground up, I'd say just let your player do whatever they want. You can always turn it into a source of backstory later...

 

[ChaosOS]

Yeah, there's a separate and entirely valid discussion to be had about "how many races is too many" and the value of each additional fantasy race you add to a world, but that's better for a different thread.

 

[Casimir Liber]

So in my campaigns I've developed a quasi-scientific explanation for elves:

Elves have copper instead of iron in their haemoglobin equivalent. Their skin lightens with ultraviolet light instead of darkens - so subterranean drow are black - wood and wild elves that live in huge primeval forests and rarely see direct sunlight are brown/bronze/green-hued, and high elves that live in castles and silvan settings are pale skinned. In my campaigns I have always added pharisees or cold ones - chaotic neutral/evil lightskinned elves - drawing on valley elves and the pharisees from an alternate world in Q1.

 

[Casimir Liber]

Surprised in this thread that no-one mentioned Earthsea, where Ursula le Guin saw Ged as Indian and was unimpressed when he was depicted as more white. I would love to see a Bollywood version of the Earthsea trilogy....

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Mexican Dwarves?
~ With a strong luchador tradition?
~ A penchant for using mushrooms and peppers in their cuisine, with many dishes served on sizzling hot cast iron plates?
~ who celebrate their ancestors with a whole day of ceremonies, special foods, and raucous music?

Yeah, I can see that.

 

[pming]

Hiya!

So back the original point is that overall I feel that Humans should not be the only race with diversity as its thing. Despite whatever the origins of Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes and Halflings, in core D&D they are now far removed from their mythological Earth origins, so they don't need to be locked in as exclusively European.

Personally, I do feel that Humans should be the only race with 'diversity as a thing'. The reason is that I've always treated Humans as the "Wild Cards of the Multiverse". Look at 1e AD&D, Humans were the ONLY race that could be "any Class". Humans were the ONLY race that could advance to "any Level" in any of the classes. Humans where the ONLY race that could Dual-Class, and the ONLY race that could NOT Multi-Class. That was the "Human thing"...diversity and adaptability. Remove that, and you are at the "why play a Human then?...", with the only reason being "because I feel like it". Which is fine and all that, but if you're running a campaign and see 20 characters over two years...and 19 of them are non-human, yet, somehow, miraculously, the VAST majority of the campaign world is made up of humans...well...kinda kills that suspension of disbelief, doesn't it? It does to me.

Now, talking non-D&D games and there are likely various other reasons for Humans being the "only" race with wide-open diversity/choice. For example, my second favourite fantasy RPG, Powers & Perils, has Alignments. Alignments in P&P are important in that your Alignment can actually determine day-to-day game mechanics and effects (spell casting and magic use being the most obvious). Humans are the ONLY race that is born as a "blank slate"; they can become the most noble of saints, or the most decadent of hedonists, or the most cruel of psycho-murder-hobos. Humans are all born with No Alignment (also called Orientation in P&P). An Elf? Nope. They are born with an Alignment. Dwarves, Faerry, and any other race/monster...same thing, they are born with a permanent, built-in Alignment. You will 'never' have a Chaos Oriented Elf, or a Law Oriented Dwarf, or a Balance Oriented Faerry. Elves, Dwarves and Faerry are ALWAYS of the "Elder" alignment. That said, the Elder alignment is 'fragmented' into 4 more or less conflicting groups...and these groups ideals are at odds with one another; The Sidh, The Kotothi, The Elder and Shamanic Elder...but ALL are still based on "Elder Orientation", which precludes the purity of Law, Balance and Chaos.

Of course, I AM coming at this from a 1e/HM point of view!

When I'm playing 5e though? Or Pathfinder/3.x, etc style fantasy games? Sure. Go for it! Asian Elves, African Dwarves, Arab Halflings, Polynesian Gnomes, Mongolian Half-Orcs...knock yourself out! Why? The 'style' of 3.x games or later are so watered down and "bland" (for lack of a better word), that nobody will notice a thing and nothing you choose is special or unique...or at least won't be perceived that way. Just "Oh, so you're like a Japanese Samurai Elf? What happened to the African Hill Dwarf wizard? Or, wait, that was Dave's character...oh... right, you were thinking of the Native American Gnome Cleric of Zeus. Ok. Whatever...what's your HP's?"

Anytime I hear about "anyone should be able to be anything and chose whatever" all I can think of is Syndrome's quote:
"When everybody's a Super.... no one will be!"
That sums up 3.x+ games over the last 2 decades for me. I'm NOT saying these games aren't fun or that people who prefer them are playing badwrongfun, but they just don't have the same OOMPH! for me. I enjoy 5e, but when I'm playing it, I'm thinking "D&D The Movie", not "Lord of the Rings".

^_^

Paul L. Ming