D&D General Greyhawk Humanocentricism?

[CreamCloud0]

Nothing, but I personally would have a hard time finding such a civilization as relatable as a human one, because the altered physiology (and likely psychology as well) would make such a civilization very different from a human equivalent, or at least it should.

The same would be true with dwarves and elves, by the way. The only difference would be the prevalence of cultural guide posts for them in the literature; the cultures in question would as you say be quite different, and harder to relate to.

In short, I don't see the "superficial" differences you're referencing as all that superficial, not if you're trying to take it seriously.

okay, superficial might've been the wrong term to use but i think having a breathweapon and scales or horns and minor feindish magic with 90~year lifespans rates far lower on the relatability displacement scale than the 350 and 750 year lifespans of dwarves and elves.

 

[CreamCloud0]

Not who you were asking but I find the monstrously alien appearance a sufficient factor on its own.

For tiefling it is the 4e+ standard big horns and tail tiefling versus 2e and 3e tieflings who could be completely human looking, human looking with a small trait (flaring eyes, hair color, etc.) a big devil trait like hooves or tail or horns, or full 4e devil non human.

Whether you want relatable or not is going to vary.

and here i thought it was common teachings not to judge a book by it's cover

edit: i would consider the mind and thought processes of a tiefling to likely be far more similar to that of a human's than the elf's would ever come close to being, and for that to be the important part of the equation of relatability.

 

[Micah Sweet]

okay, superficial might've been the wrong term to use but i think having a breathweapon and scales or horns and minor feindish magic with 90~year lifespans rates far lower on the relatability displacement scale than the 350 and 750 year lifespans of dwarves and elves.

I will again refer you to the overwhelming majority of fantasy and science fiction visual media, where human (and nearly human, or visually human) main characters predominate. You can't blame special effects for all of it.

 

[Zardnaar]

I will again refer you to the overwhelming majority of fantasy and science fiction visual media, where human (and nearly human, or visually human) main characters predominate. You can't blame special effects for all of it.

It's because we are human. We related the best to near human and human species. In fantasy/Sci fi.

 

[Hussar]

Naw. They’re relatable because they were added to the game from the early days and Tieflings and Dragonborn are symptoms of how DnD has “lost its way” and isn’t really DnD anymore.

IOW it’s typical edition warring with a funny nose and a fake moustache.

 

[CreamCloud0]

I will again refer you to the overwhelming majority of fantasy and science fiction visual media, where human (and nearly human, or visually human) main characters predominate. You can't blame special effects for all of it.

i don't consider this an actual point answering the posed question, you're not giving any real reasons WHY they are more relatable other than 'well there's alot of them in media and they look similar so of course they're relatable'. of course humans relate to humans and humanlike species, but are the near identical vulcans really less relatable than the hairy non-linguistic beastman wookie?

a wookie might look less human but they're far more psychologically similar.

 

[Mecheon]

No one likes Gnomes.

Don't think I've ever seen one thats not an illusionist. Maybe 1 iirc?

There's a few of us gnome fans out there. We will fight viciously against folks trying to merge halflings in, we don't need no hobbitses in our gnomes

i really wish they'd play up more the idea of gnomes being fey nature spirits, it could help differentiate them from halflings too, i think the tinker aspect could be worth more if removed from them and given to another species(personally i'd give it to goblins instead to try help shift them out the feral cave dwelling monster iconography), lean into gnome's magical nature, make it so they all can talk to animals, forest gnomes can grow and animate plants, rock gnomes are little earthbenders, ocean gnomes summon winds and rain...

Gnome tinkers has stuck hard on them, though. If anything's going to survive, its the tinker aspect, what with elves already hogging part of the nature spirit aspect. As Warcraft's proven, you can strip the nature spirit side from gnomes pretty dang easily

As dumb as Dragonlance made 'em, gnomes having tinkering stuff gave them one heck of a niche, and back-porting that into other settings with less Dragonlance wackiness and more "Actually competant engineering" fills stuff that no other option was doing

 

[Micah Sweet]

It's because we are human. We related the best to near human and human species. In fantasy/Sci fi.

Imagine that.

 

[Micah Sweet]

i don't consider this an actual point answering the posed question, you're not giving any real reasons WHY they are more relatable other than 'well there's alot of them in media and they look similar so of course they're relatable'. of course humans relate to humans and humanlike species, but are the near identical vulcans really less relatable than the hairy non-linguistic beastman wookie?

a wookie might look less human but they're far more psychologically similar.

I would say both have issues with relatability, for different reasons.

 

[Voadam]

and here i thought it was common teachings not to judge a book by it's cover

edit: i would consider the mind and thought processes of a tiefling to likely be far more similar to that of a human's than the elf's would ever come close to being, and for that to be the important part of the equation of relatability.

I find the tieflings I have played to be mentally relatable humans with magical family history and visual cues of supernatural evil leading to expected prejudice.

I could see people and societies reacting to 4e style tieflings with their non human appearance and the devil associations and the history of the evil superpower Bael Turath empire as baseline negative and not just as any other person as a baseline.

Bael Turath being a historical thing in a points of light world I could see it also be something in the past that does not impact the perspective of tieflings any more and them being just considered monstrous looking people who are still people who fit in at the cantina.