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

[Micah Sweet]

I see people advocating for stats on a Minotaur’s horn damage but no one seems to care about a tiefling’s horns.

Or a Dragonborn’s tail-slap?

I’m curious

What makes these cosmetic features cosmetic-only with no mechanics attached?

Size I would guess. Do tiefling players care about their horns in any way beyond appearance? I've never played one.

 

[Scribe]

Size I would guess. Do tiefling players care about their horns in any way beyond appearance? I've never played one.

Who's to say a Tiefling even has horns?

#RealTieflingisPre4e.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I hate to drag stuff up from a while ago, but...

In what world are centaur and bird people 'wacko' species? They're stock fantasy and absolutely generic enough that you'll see games changing them up to give their own spin on both, same they do with elves and dwarves. D&D has weirdo races like absolute mainstays the Gith, but centaurs and birdfolks aren't them.

Regardless though, to the original question, yeah, I'd play other stuff. I told my friend about D&D and her first questions were "can i be khajiit", not caring about mechanics and showing that the aesthetic of being a sneaky cat person was what mattered. Aesthetic is absolutely something folks will care about and I'm surprised it hasn't gotten much saying in this thread. Mechanics matter, lore matters, but aesthetic absolutely also matters. That drawing of 'what is this thing' absolutely is going to affect people's perceptions of what to play and, even divorced from mechanics, if you present a neat enough picture of a different option? Folks will go and play it

How "wacko" a species is to a given individual is going to be subjective. You don't have to agree with @Lanefan ,but that's their position.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Who's to say a Tiefling even has horns?

#RealTieflingisPre4e.

Represent!

 

[Corinnguard]

Who's to say a Tiefling even has horns?

#RealTieflingisPre4e.

Back in the 2e days when their appearance ran the gamut. Before Asmodeus decided to streamline their looks by making them in his image.

 

[Scribe]

Back in the 2e days when their appearance ran the gamut. Before Asmodeus decided to streamline their looks by making them in his image.

Which will forever be blasphemy I completely reject.

 

[Tonguez]

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.

I find this idea of ‘class budget’ distinct from ‘race budget’ intriguing, coming from a background in Gurps and Fate I tend to think of creating a unified ‘character’ rather than modular class + race + extras.

explaining a particular feat or class feature as being derived from my characters race rather than being pigeonholed seems natural to me - even if my Dragonborn needs to starts as a draconic scorcerer to get certain traiits (which having said that reminds me of 3.5 Savage Species ECL)

 

[Mecheon]

How "wacko" a species is to a given individual is going to be subjective. You don't have to agree with @Lanefan ,but that's their position.

I think its an odd position and worth digging at. If something's appearing in like, Fantasia and Narnia, to say nothing of other well known works, there's a point where we can say its a part of the general fantasy zeitgeist and could reasonably be encountered in any sort of generic fantasy setting, the likes of which most D&D settings are. I also think its important to the overall question, if you're going outside of human? You're going to roll things that have inspired from other media. LotR is obvious the big shot here, but likewise media with centaurs easily could come up as an option.

Wacko species to me sounds like "So atypical from your standard fantasy convention that you would not reasonably expect to encounter them", but centaurs are as in-built to this genre as elves and dwarves. Once again I'd bring up Gith as something that goes into wacko territory, because wrinkly humans who lay eggs is more a sci-fi type of thing

 

[Reynard]

According to WotC, "looking like a dragon" is a big part of what they are an a major selling point. I'm sure it is to some folks.

Looking like a dragon, being the heirs to a collapsed empire before humans and elves rose, connection to God's and planar beings not commonly found in humanoid pantheons. There are lots of things that make dragonborn cool.

 

[Scribe]

Once again I'd bring up Gith as something that goes into wacko territory, because wrinkly humans who lay eggs is more a sci-fi type of thing

2 arms, 2 legs, 2 eyes, a mouth, and (thanks to BG3)...well never mind all that.

Gith are certainly more 'human' than a half-horse.