D&D General Which non-D&D races would you like to see in D&D?

[Corinnguard]

I'd love to see campaign settings that have alternative race options.

I agree. It's nice when a campaign setting comes out with a different standard race line-up.

Arcana Evolved
Heroes of the Jade Oath
Endless Realms
Dark Sun

 

[Dragonhelm]

I'd like to see the An Phar from GURPS. Mostly because my old 2e character had one as a follower.

I'd like to see some of the races from Arcana Evolved as well.

 

[Dragonhelm]

I can imagine that a number of you have come across a race in a Non-D&D setting such as one found in an anime, a computer game, or in a live-action series/movie, and wished it was in a D&D setting as a player character race. So what are your choices?

Do races from prior editions who aren't in 5e count? Or do you want examples completely outside of D&D as a whole?

 

[Corinnguard]

Do races from prior editions who aren't in 5e count? Or do you want examples completely outside of D&D as a whole?

I am open to anyone who wants to bring back races from a previous edition of D&D. Which races from a previous edition would you like to see in 5e again? curious

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Hmm. It's hard to say. Perhaps something like ronso/hrothgar from the Final Fantasy series or charr from GW2. The usual way D&D implements cat-people is kind of weirdly spindly, not lion-person, unless you count the lion-centaur wemics (which last showed up in 3e anyway.) I could see going for something that emphasizes strength and grace in equal measure. Charr in particular are very distinctive because of their two pairs of ears and horns.

Did they carry forward 4e wilden into 5e? GW2's sylvari come to mind, particularly with their uniquely "youthful" take on the tropes usually associated with elves.

 

[humble minion]

I’d like to see the insect kinden from Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Shadows of the Apt.

They look fairly human for the most part, but each has an affinity to a particular insect. And some seek to master their connection to that ancestral aptitude in lieu of (or in addition to) honing their skills in combat or magic or whatever - basically multiclassing. It’s absolutely built for D&D, and honestly I suspect it started out that way, as the author’s home campaign or something.

 

[jmartkdr2]

Since OP asked, I was thinking about anime races some more -and I realized that most are already represented. A lot of fantasy anime either just use DnD races already (like Slayers or That Time I got Reincarnated as a Slime), or are directly based on DnD in the first place (Record of the Lodoss War). Sometimes you get DnD races with a twist (Granblue Fantasy) but usually not something that could be represented by refluffing existing mechanics. Even dragonnewts (which are semi-popular) can just use the dragonborn rules and all-new art.

Sometimes you get "races" that are clearly more like the real-world idea of races: they're ethnicities at most, and the only difference is how they're treated by society. The Genius Prince's Guide to Raising a Nation Out of Debt's only alternate "race" is basically a fantasy version of Jews or Roma - they're entirely human, just discriminated against by the church.

When they do add new races, they're usually more human than what WotC adds - Giant Beast of Ars only adds "people with fuzzy ears," "people with horns," "humans with pointy ears," and "basically orcs but friendlier." And by "people with horns" I don't mean tieflings - the Hornarians don't seem to have any difference in inherent ability from humans. No extra magic, no particular abilities - just humans, but with horns. The animal-people and "I can't believe they're not elves" are also well within the range of Custom Lineage.

(although It might be interesting to see if you can make the setting-unique classes work)

I suppose if you want good support for anime tropes you want Kemonomimi rules, but they don't need much mechanical support - they don't even universally have good hearing. Custom lineage is more than adequate.

Sci-fi anime tend to follow the same trends near as I can tell: Micronized Zentredi are basically half-orcs; saiyans seem to be humans with a shapechange power and higher level cap, and a lot don't even have non-humans (Gundam, Nadesico) or only have non-humans as antagonists (Darling in the Franxx). Overall, anime seems to stick to more human-ish races than DnD does, so most new options seem really easy to incorporate.

The only anime with really different but should-be-playable races I can think of is Rising of the Shield Hero, but the new races there have very gamey, meta-based mechanics. Their demihumans (tanuki-people) have an apparent age that's a direct function of character level - that's how it's described in-universe by natives of the setting. That would feel out of place to me in a Dungeons and Dragons game.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I can imagine that a number of you have come across a race in a Non-D&D setting such as one found in an anime, a computer game, or in a live-action series/movie, and wished it was in a D&D setting as a player character race. So what are your choices?

Here are a couple of mine.

1. the Mass Effect computer game- the Turians and the Krogan.
2. the animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars series- the Karkarodons http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net...est/scale-to-width-down/499?cb=20160913054327
3. the animated Star Wars: Rebels series- the Lasat https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.ne...ll_Body.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20150217044111
4. Star Wars- the Mon Calamari

Are you talking about the physicality, the culture, or both?

 

[Micah Sweet]

Hmm. It's hard to say. Perhaps something like ronso/hrothgar from the Final Fantasy series or charr from GW2. The usual way D&D implements cat-people is kind of weirdly spindly, not lion-person, unless you count the lion-centaur wemics (which last showed up in 3e anyway.) I could see going for something that emphasizes strength and grace in equal measure. Charr in particular are very distinctive because of their two pairs of ears and horns.

Did they carry forward 4e wilden into 5e? GW2's sylvari come to mind, particularly with their uniquely "youthful" take on the tropes usually associated with elves.

Wilden and those crystal psionic people from 4e were very cool.

 

[Tonguez]

Moggle (Final Fantasy)
Moglin (Adventure Quest)
Rock People (MotU)
Twiglets ( or actual fairy)
Trollans (MotU)
Octopede (Teddy Ruxpin)