D&D 5E PC races that a DM has specifically excluded from their campaign and why

[Norton]

I had to respond to this. D&D Beyond is just as essential and core to the D&D experience as the Adventurer's League is; that is, not really. It's a tool that some people use: that's it. It does not represent D&D. Several of my players use it, and every one of them has run into some technical problem or confusing bit with the UI at one time or another. Overstating its importance to the game is a mistake IMO.

It's a tool that every single one of my 20 players uses, so for all intents and purposes it is essential and does represent the D&D experience for us. I'm not sure I could overstate its importance since without it, I probably don't get to run games.

I will say it's less important at the real table, but we haven't been at a real table in yonks and only one of my groups will ever meet in person. So we need something, and since it hooks into Roll20 and there isn't really another available interface, we have little choice.

And all online systems fail. With the disparity of Wifi signals and computer resources it's unlikely things will every be perfect. I have my criticisms of it as well, but it makes managing numerous campaigns, creating characters, and tracking encounters far more easy to do than plugging in a hodgepodge of my own methods. New players have access to a lot of learning tools, as well. Half of them would never purchase the PHB if it weren't available and integrated into their DND Beyond account. It's a lot of things, but unimportant to new players definitely isn't one of them.

If anyone has any suggestions on how to better run several campaigns online, I am wide open to them.

 

[tetrasodium]

It's a tool that every single one of my 20 players uses, so for all intents and purposes it is essential and does represent the D&D experience for us. I'm not sure I could overstate its importance since without it, I probably don't get to run games.

I will say it's less important at the real table, but we haven't been at a real table in yonks and only one of my groups will ever meet in person. So we need something, and since it hooks into Roll20 and there isn't really another available interface, we have little choice.

And all online systems fail. With the disparity of Wifi signals and computer resources it's unlikely things will every be perfect. I have my criticisms of it as well, but it makes managing numerous campaigns, creating characters, and tracking encounters far more easy to do than plugging in a hodgepodge of my own methods. New players have access to a lot of learning tools, as well. Half of them would never purchase the PHB if it weren't available and integrated into their DND Beyond account. It's a lot of things, but unimportant to new players definitely isn't one of them.

If anyone has any suggestions on how to better run several campaigns online, I am wide open to them.

It's a tool that I flatly ban at my table. It's also a tool that the d&d night gms collectively decided to ban in favor of requiring paper sheets that could be handed to the gm to review as needed at the nearby flgs shortly before covid hit.

Spoiler: in short

Anecdotes are not data

 

[iserith]

Re: aarakocra, it was revealed in this other conversation that it's not so much the race that's the problem or D&D Beyond as it is how certain players choose to play relative to the DM and/or group's preferences. It's a player spotlight issue chiefly so far as I can tell, which can be a problem regardless of the race of the character. The solution isn't to ban the race in my view but rather to explain to the player the importance of equitable spotlight sharing and seeking their buy-in on changing their approach at the table.

Having said that, I'm not against curating available character races for a given adventure or campaign and find it to be an important way to reinforce setting themes and flavor. Sometimes aarakocra doesn't make sense given setting lore or whatever. I just don't think banning aarakocra in this case is going to solve what is ultimately the underlying problem of how a player is eating up other players' spotlight time or circumventing the DM's prep (to the extent that is a problem).

 

[Faolyn]

Am I the only DM that has lists of available PC races and don't have players demanding to play things that aren't on that list?

Weird.

 

[Faolyn]

I'll admit, I haven't really paid much attention to Tabaxi, no one's tried to play one, but, isn't that just what rogues do? 30 foot move, bonus action dash, and then either dash or attack? How is this different or am I missing something? I know the scout rogue/monk in my last campaign did something pretty similar to this and it wasn't that big of a deal.

Again, am I missing something here? The stuff you guys find really OP I just don't.

My group has a person who usually plays Tabaxi, and another player who often does. I've never noticed any problems with their movement either. Maybe it's because we usually do Theater of the Mind or use limited battlemats instead of a full VTT or similar?

 

[Faolyn]

Yeah, I just assumed most people chickened out.

Why is there no "facepalm" reaction?

 

[delericho]

Depends on the setting.

My homebrew worlds will no longer feature drow (as PCs or NPCs) - too problematic. Other than that, I'll usually allow any PHB race and maybe a few others. Though I'm increasingly leaning towards humans-only settings.

For most published settings I'll allow any PHB race, plus any race that appears in that setting's 'main' book ("Rising from the Last War", "Van Richtens..."). For a few (notably Spelljammer and Planescape), anything goes, but those are very much the exception.

 

[Thunder Brother]

Am I the only DM that has lists of available PC races and don't have players demanding to play things that aren't on that list?

Weird.

For my current campaign I posted a white list of the playable races a week before session zero. No one seemed to openly mind the restrictions.

Dwarves, Elves, Humans, and Orcs only. Everything else either doesn't exist or is unplayable for any number of reasons (this is a homebrewed setting). By sheer serendipity, my four players each picked a different race, so the party is fully representative of the setting and specific region the campaign is taking place in. Lots of potential for storylines.

 

[Musing Mage]

I would basically keep to core PHB options, and while I wasn't originally enthralled by either Dragonborn or Tieflings, they have grown on me so I keep them. Though anything from expansions (class or race) is an automatic no-go.

 

[Musing Mage]

Why is there no "facepalm" reaction?