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

[Yaarel]

I am fine with species lacking mechanics. Any "Humanoid" is by definition a playable character.

Even so, players might choose a feat and explain it with some narrative relating to the species, such as an Elf might become ethereal Fey, teleport, fly, turn invisible, or whatever. I especially associate superhero games with this approach. Pick a concept, then assemble whatever powers might actualize the concept.

I would probably still play the same species I do now: a species analogous to Human or Elf, or sometimes some kind of Giant or Dragon.

 

[overgeeked]

What species do you pick for your character?

Whatever suits my fancy at the time. Demon, devil, dragon, mimic, orc, illithid, minotaur, goblin, kobold, modron, elemental, golem, djinn, efreet…literally anything and everything.

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

Only fractionally. Some races have racial abilities that are definitional to that race. Dragons aren’t dragons without flight and breath weapons. Having to take a class or feats or collect magic items to fly or have a breath weapon while playing a dragon would feel utterly wrong. But, if it opened up anything and everything as an option, sure why not?

 

[UngainlyTitan]

Species lacking mechanics would not bother me. What I would play would depend of the creatures available.

 

[cbwjm]

I'd still probably play the same PCs I already do. I've a strong and intelligent half-orc barbarian/wizard and I chose the race for something different to the stereotypical wizard.

A PC before that was a fire genasi fighter because I found an image I thought was cool.

 

[Corinnguard]

What about the mechanics of a character class?

If the races are cosmetic and the classes still retain their mechanics, then the PC is defined by their class only.

If both the races and the classes are cosmetic, then how do we go about knowing what they are capable of and the limits?

D&D would become a LARP if this were to happen.

 

[Yaarel]

what would be the point of even having different PC-playable species?

The point of having different species without mechanics, would be similar to having different Human cultures without mechanics.

 

[BookTenTiger]

Most of the answers thus far seem to indicate otherwise.

Personally I wouldn't argue that the population of this forum is indicative in any way of the general trends of D&D players.

 

[Stormonu]

I'd still be willing to play Dwarf, Dragonborn or Wemic if it had no mechanics on character generation behind it. But if it made no difference at all in how others interacted with me or didn't affect the world in some ways (the 6" gnome with a Giant's greatsword, for example), it'd bother me.

 

[Maxperson]

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?

I would play only humans. It would frustrate the hell out of me to play races that should have mechanical differences, but don't have them.

 

[jdrakeh]

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

Nope! Also, I would be a goblin.