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

[CreamCloud0]

But you can do that anyway, without it being a prerequisite.

I don't understand what you are opposed to in the "cosmetic only" scenario in that case.

because in that scenario i am being forced to use resources from my class budget to fufill the experience a different character choice should've already provided me with.

 

[W'rkncacnter]

The whole point is to show that they were extremely limited mechanics that could be eliminated. I'm not sure where the disconnect is.

on top of what @CreamCloud0 said, "could be eliminated" is a pointless phrase. i "could eliminate" any number of mechanics, from backgrounds, to feats, to even classes. that doesn't mean i should, or that doing so would improve anything.

also - you see these as "extremely limited mechanics that could be eliminated". i see them as "(possibly, in the case of dragonbane) minimal mechanics required to provide definition to each race while matching the crunch level of the rest of their games".

 

[Micah Sweet]

Those abilities could be moved elsewhere from race, but those races would still be what they are.

This whole thing has been about you asserting that races must have robust mechanics to gamify what makes them what they are, and me saying that I don't think that is necessary. Here are examples of games that have the absolute minimum of dwarfiness in mechanical form to refute the notion that races must have a bunch of mechanical elements to be viable.

Ok, granted. I still don't understand the value of removing these mechanics from species.

And yes: I want things that feel different to be gamified in the game I play.

 

[Micah Sweet]

If a Dragonborn's breath weapon was removed as a racial mechanic, where would it be moved to if the RPG still had it? Would it become a skill that only a Dragonborn can learn? Or would it be treated as a ranged weapon that only a Dragonborn can wield?

Either way, to me it would still feel like a racial mechanic.

 

[Reynard]

The more interesting ones are the ones which do a lot of heavy lifting for the definition of the race. We've already discussed changeling disguise, but other features like dragonborn breath weapon, eladrin fey step, and pixie flight would fall into here.

Pixies are race I don't think you can do "cosmetic only." I am not sure about Dragonborn -- I feel like there is a lot there outside their breath weapon that still make Dragonborn what they are.

 

[Reynard]

Dear Reynard,

Take your own advice. IL that person for both your benefits.

Regards,
Reynard
PS And get back to work.

 

[Corinnguard]

Let's look at it a different way: instead of a race coming with mechanical elements, what if you have to have those mechanical elements in order to be that race? IE in order to play a dwarf, you must be proficient in Craft and have the feat Stable (from your background or whatever) and have a minimum of a 13 con (from rolling or point buy). Being a dwarf confers no further mechanical elements, but it does mean you get to play a dwarf and all that entails from a setting and lore perspective. Would you play a non-human then?

This sounds close to what Pathfinder 2nd edition is asking its' players to do if they want to play a particular ancestry. If you wanted to play a Dwarf, you would need to pick up a Dwarven ancestral feat in order to get a trait you got for free in Pathfinder 1st edition and all at 1st level.

 

[Reynard]

This sounds close to what Pathfinder 2nd edition is asking its' players to do if they want to play a particular ancestry. If you wanted to play a Dwarf, you would need to pick up a Dwarven ancestral feat in order to get a trait you got for free in Pathfinder 1st edition and all at 1st level.

That isn't how PF2E works.

 

[W'rkncacnter]

This sounds close to what Pathfinder 2nd edition is asking its' players to do if they want to play a particular ancestry. If you wanted to play a Dwarf, you would need to pick up a Dwarven ancestral feat in order to get a trait you got for free in Pathfinder 1st edition and all at 1st level.

i mean, the difference there is "ancestral feat" is its own entire category of feat, and you get ancestral feats specifically (on top of whatever other feats you'd normally get, like class/skill/general/etc) at 1st level and every 4 levels thereafter (or even more commonly then that with the ancestral paragon variant rule). that, and you get a heritage (which is basically a subrace).

it has much more in common with a5e heritages, really (though it's still quite different from those).

 

[Lanefan]

I could be misreading some folks, but this thread sure makes it seem like most posters do not care about their characters beyond the mechanics. they aren't interested in the lore surrounding their choice of race, or how it impacts play beyond when they get bonuses or penalties. I am legitimately surprised.

I'm interested in - and care about - both lore and mechanics as a complete package. Lore with no mechanics, or mechanics wiht no lore, strikes me as largely pointless.