D&D 5E Companion thread to 5E Survivor: Species

[Mind of tempest]

how are hobgoblins still in the running?

 

[EzekielRaiden]

how are hobgoblins still in the running?

Honestly, I think it's because there's so little lore about them, no one can muster hate for them. They aren't small, so they don't catch any hate (nor love) for that reason. They aren't dragonborn, and have been around for a long time, so they don't get the unfair "it's new so it doesn't deserve to exist" response. They didn't have the "it got 7 entries, shoot it down!" hate, nor the "it's a FURRY, DESTROY IT" response.

I genuinely think they, like the Half-Orc, have skated along thus far purely on the basis that no one hates them enough to shoot at them.

Which, well, that's sort of a good encapsulation of the darker side of the "extremes are avoided" aspect of this...game? Contest? Procedure? Previously I had tied it to mediocrity alone, but that's not strictly true. For short lists, mediocrity is a strong indicator of success. For long lists like this one, however, obscurity is an indicator of success. If it's obscure, no one will feel enough feelings about it to want to throw down, at least not until the list has been massively reduced.

Hobgoblins are obscure, mediocre, and traditional. They're neither small, nor over-represented, nor prominent. They just....are. They exist and have done so for a long time, though I doubt most players could say much if anything about what they're supposed to be like.

 

[Argyle King]

Sadly, the things I hoped would make it this far mostly didn't (Satyr primarily, that was the one I refused to name before.) If we continue counting half-elves as Tolkien-like, then only 4 of the top 10 are Tolkienesque options. Those four do account for 51 points, out of a total of 107, so they're over-represented pointswise. Halflings have proved more durable than I expected, they may survive through the end of the weekend if they keep getting the support they've been getting, but their days are almost certainly numbered once Gnomes are gone. Kobolds have proven surprisingly tenacious, as have aasimar and wood elves. Half-orcs being tied for first is also a surprise.

Honestly though, I do not get the sustained affection for dwarves. They're a distinctly unpopular race now, based on DDB player statistics. Based on those numbers, it seems they've been pretty much totally supplanted in the "stocky fighter" department by dragonborn, half-orc, or goliath. Guess dwarves being a front-runner is just part of the board's notable userbase bias toward old-school stuff.

That's interesting data to me.

I don't use DDB at all. Anecdotally, dwarves are among the most popular choices I've seen in face-to-face games for both 4E and 5E.

Personally, I rarely play them, but I've seen a lot of people who do.

 

[Tonguez]

And there's our Top Ten! Aasimar (8) Dragonborn, Gem (8) Dwarf, Hill (17) Elf, Wood (9) Gnome, Forest (7) Half-Elf (15) Half-Orc (17) Halfling, Lightfoot (10) Hobgoblin (7) Kobold (9) Looks like my earlier prediction was only half-right. (I chose the wrong dwarf and the wrong genasi, and I didn't expect we would eliminate all the animal-hybrids but not the elves.)

I’m actually really happy with this list, the classics Dwarf, Elf, Halfling, Half-Orc are there, a couple of new lineages, a couple of fey-types (gnome and hobgoblin) and three half-humans. I’d be happy if they were the only choices in the PHB

I’m most suprised that kobold remained so long, notable that it was gem drgonborn that got in as opposed to a more traditional type and that not a single furry made it

 

[Mind of tempest]

I’m actually really happy with this list, the classics Dwarf, Elf, Halfling, Half-Orc are there, a couple of new lineages, a couple of fey-types (gnome and hobgoblin) and three half-humans. I’d be happy if they were the only choices in the PHB

I’m most suprised that kobold remained so long, notable that it was gem drgonborn that got in as opposed to a more traditional type and that not a single furry made it

if those where the only phb options I would start looking into other games, I hate generic fantasy.

 

[CleverNickName]

I'm really surprised that the animal-hybrids were eliminated at all. The list was heavily stacked in their favor... there were dozens of them. I expected one of them to win just by sheer numbers alone.

Ah well. It's not the first time I've been wrong.

Sorry @el-remmen ... I know you were cheering for the Lizardfolk. For the record: I'm not a fan, but I wasn't going to downvote them as long as the gnome was on the list.

 

[CleverNickName]

The list is shrinking fast! Only 8 remain, from a list of over a hundred. Surprisingly (or perhaps not), all but 2 are PHB options, too.

 

[Riley]

The list is shrinking fast! Only 8 remain, from a list of over a hundred. Surprisingly (or perhaps not), all but 2 are PHB options, too.

Those all-but-2 are AD&D 1e options, at that.

 

[DND_Reborn]

Those two will be gone soon enough.

 

[Riley]

Those two will be gone soon enough.

I've been focusing fire on the aasimar for a while now.