D&D General What are humans?

[steeldragons]

But why should humans be the baseline rather than Dwarfs or Orcs?

<squints to make sure he read this right> Uhhhhhmmmm....because we're humans. In the real world. It is what we know. It is the obvious place to begin.

Other than author bias what is it that makes Humans so basic to reality that every species in the multiverse must be based on them?

<eyebrow raise> It's not "author bias." Humans are, quite literally, basic to reality.

I don't think "every species in the multiverse" should be based upon them. But we're talking about Player Character options here. Clearly, the bipedal "humanoid/demi-human" forms are what we know and have to work with.

For that...there is literally no place to begin than with what we are...a.k.a., and unfortunately, human.

 

[GnomeWorks]

"That's just a Pangolin." Diogenes.

Pangolins aren't bipedal.

But why should humans be the baseline rather than Dwarfs or Orcs?
Other than author bias what is it that makes Humans so basic to reality that every species in the multiverse must be based on them?

What is it like to be a bat? We have no knowledge of what the mental life of an alien, sapient species would be like. That also applies to fantasy races.

We use humans as a baseline because we are humans, and humans are the only thinking thing whose mental life we can properly imagine.

 

[James Gasik]

But why should humans be the baseline rather than Dwarfs or Orcs?
Other than author bias what is it that makes Humans so basic to reality that every species in the multiverse must be based on them?

So after creating their respective races, the Gods got together to throw a party, and after getting very drunk, someone asked "Hey, what would happen if we mixed all our creations together?".

After waking up with a hangover, they had the first humans running around, a species that's half-everything, and can thus breed with everything, and who, having all the strengths and weaknesses of all races combined, are completely average.

No God wanted to claim them, but since all Gods are technically their patrons, the accumulated divine blessings eventually made them the dominant force in the multiverse.

There are also no human Gods, any human God is another God worshiped under a different name so their chosen people don't find out.

 

[Mind of tempest]

So after creating their respective races, the Gods got together to throw a party, and after getting very drunk, someone asked "Hey, what would happen if we mixed all our creations together?".

After waking up with a hangover, they had the first humans running around, a species that's half-everything, and can thus breed with everything, and who, having all the strengths and weaknesses of all races combined, are completely average.

No God wanted to claim them, but since all Gods are technically their patrons, the accumulated divine blessings eventually made them the dominant force in the multiverse.

There are also no human Gods, any human God is another God worshiped under a different name so their chosen people don't find out.

or we are the escaped prototype that all the other built their options off.

 

[Quickleaf]

I agree a lot more can be done with making humans interesting "mechanically" (air quotes because it's about understanding what narrative mechanics are exemplifying).
Excerpts from personal project (with credit to Pathfinder & old AD&D books for some ideas I've adapted, oh, also Baldur's Gate 3)...

 

[Micah Sweet]

But why should humans be the baseline rather than Dwarfs or Orcs?
Other than author bias what is it that makes Humans so basic to reality that every species in the multiverse must be based on them?

Technically speaking, because everyone else is made up.

 

[Krachek]

In any setting philosopher and sage may wonder what’s make human so special, how they manage to be everywhere despite being less skilled, less wise, less intelligent than other races?
The missing key that all those sage don’t have is : You, the Sage, live in a simulation handle by humans!

 

[Maxperson]

Game systems often get away with making humans generic. D&D has traditionally made their feature "adaptable" and just given them more of what everyone else already gets. A5E gave humans some unique features, which really helps them stand out. I'm curious about discussing humans from a worldbuilding perspective.

What about humans is unique to our species and what's just a function of our intelligence? What would other intelligent humanoids not share with us? Compared to other animals on Earth, physically we have high endurance, we sweat, and we can throw things. But what functions of our intelligence could be unique and not shared by other intelligent lineages?

Would all intelligent humanoid species end up with the same technologies, or are some things uniquely human? What if the propensity to personify animals was uniquely human, and thus animal domestication was uniquely human? Or are D&D humanoid species just too similar to end up drastically different?

Humans have a drive to explore that other races don't seem to have. Elves love their forests. Dwarves their mountains and hills. Halflings their out of the way villages. Humans go everywhere and either adapt to that environment, or adapt the environment to them.

That drive for exploration and ability to adapt, combined with the explosive population levels is what humans have over the others.

 

[James Gasik]

Given how many different varieties of Elves exist in D&D, seemingly one for each biome, I find the idea that Elves don't like to explore dubious. Though I suppose it's fair to say that they don't expand aggressively so much currently in most settings.

But I that goes back to "the reason humans are the way that they are is because the story says so". One could easily imagine another world where Dwarves, always on the lookout for more trade routes, are the prime movers and shakers of the world- like in Earthdawn.

 

[W'rkncacnter]

Humans are prime material plane elementals

UH - YOINK???? HELLO????????