D&D General Race Has No Mechanics. What do you play?

[Twiggly the Gnome]

I'd still be a gnome, but be 6" tall and carry a great sword.

 

[Lanefan]

Hypothetical sitation: you are joining a new campaign in which all other factors are positive (you know the GM and group, it's in a setting you like, whatever) but there is one hitch: race/heritage/species is cosmetic only.

So, assuming it is a very open setting in which pretty much any reasonable humanoid species is available, but none of them have any mechanical effects (including size, vision and movement types; everyone, including humans, are basically human mechanically). What species do you pick for your character?

Human, all day long.

Would race being cosmetic only be a turn off for you?

Mildly, yes; as in what would be the point of even having different PC-playable species?

 

[BookTenTiger]

I've theorized that for most players, the lore / narrative of a species is actually more important than the mechanics. I recently had a group of new players and we had 3 elves and one aasimar entirely because of how "cool" they were. The players were also happy to get faster movement, cantrips, celestial powers, etc, but the feeling of the species definitely came first.

For me, the choice of species almost always depends on what kind of character I'm imagining. My last few characters were a goblin paladin trained by dwarves (I liked the idea of him combining sneaky goblin tactics and dwarven virtue), a halflings cleric with a can-do, hands-on attitude (modeled after Ron Swanson), and a dwarven wizard archeologist. None of those were mechanically advantageous, but I liked the story that developed from each choice of species.

 

[Reynard]

Human, all day long.

Mildly, yes; as in what would be the point of even having different PC-playable species?

Roleplaying, I presume.

 

[Reynard]

I've theorized that for most players, the lore / narrative of a species is actually more important than the mechanics.

Most of the answers thus far seem to indicate otherwise.

 

[Corinnguard]

Racial mechanics sort of set the standard for how a player role-plays a member of a particular race. You know what your race is capable of doing and their limits.

 

[Lanefan]

Roleplaying, I presume.

How?

If the different playable species are all mechanically identical they also have to be very close to lore-identical, as lore feeds directly into mechanics.

Which means for example Dwarves can't be masters of stone, Elves can't be forest folk, etc. as those species-based backgrounds would - or should - give mechanical benefits if-when dealing with such things.

The lore (and the setting) would have to be almost completely cosmopolitan; thus greatly limiting (if not eliminating entirely) any species-based roleplaying differences between running a Dwarf or an Elf or a Human or a robot. At which point, I'll just play a Human 'cause that's what I'm familiar with.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

I wouldn't play in a D&D-like game where races don't have any mechanical impact, the races just aren't very interesting on their own.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

How?

If the different playable species are all mechanically identical they also have to be very close to lore-identical, as lore feeds directly into mechanics.

Which means for example Dwarves can't be masters of stone, Elves can't be forest folk, etc. as those species-based backgrounds would - or should - give mechanical benefits if-when dealing with such things.

The lore (and the setting) would have to be almost completely cosmopolitan; thus greatly limiting (if not eliminating entirely) any species-based roleplaying differences between running a Dwarf or an Elf or a Human or a robot. At which point, I'll just play a Human 'cause that's what I'm familiar with.

The lore doesn't have to match the character generation mechanics. You can have a setting where the typical dwarf is a master of stone and the typical elf a woodland expert, all reflected in NPC stats and abilities. But player characters are all exceptional individuals with the blank-slate potential to be whoever the player wants.

 

[Mind of tempest]

EDIT FOR CLARITY: The supposition here is that the raves still have lore and in-fiction impacts related to the setting, which you can either define as your preferred setting, or default to whatever bits are to be found in the core books. Dwarves are dour, elves are aloof, etc...

Hypothetical sitation: you are joining a new campaign in which all other factors are positive (you know the GM and group, it's in a setting you like, whatever) but there is one hitch: race/heritage/species is cosmetic only.

So, assuming it is a very open setting in which pretty much any reasonable humanoid species is available, but none of them have any mechanical effects (including size, vision and movement types; everyone, including humans, are basically human mechanically). What species do you pick for your character?

Would race being cosmetic only be a turn off for you?

how does one play a rave I thought they all died off sometime in the late 00's also how can one play a dance party?