D&D General Wildly Diverse "Circus Troupe" Adventuring Parties

[Mind of tempest]

To a degree. But my belief is that that specifically in a video game RPG, where you're spending the entire game staring at the PC you've created on the screen, the visual presentation far outweighs ability selection for most people. That's very different than a TTRPG where you're sitting around a table with a bunch of real life people and only see your character in your own imagination.

true but it might be why half elf beat out its parents

 

[RainOnTheSun]

It really depends on the DM.

I think a high level adventurer could be mean just about anything - pop culture is full of heroes who choose to live anonymous, quiet lives. Just because someone is Level 20 on their character class sheet doesn't mean they are a big deal in that world.

Season 3 Buffy is the Slayer who has saved the world multiple times, but to most people she's just a nobody from a small town who still gets detention and in trouble with her mom. In season 6 one story arc involves her job at a fast food restaurant.

It's not about notoriety, it's about how exceptional their abilities are. Nobody's heard of Buffy in-world, but she's superhumanly strong and skilled, so when something dangerous is going on, she's the one who has to handle it. Her role in the show would be different if there were a few dozen other people in Sunnydale who could all pick up a car and nobody thought it was unusual, and it would be really different if the entire Sunnydale P.D. were on her level or above.

 

[Kurotowa]

true but it might be why half elf beat out its parents

Yeah, maybe as a tie breaker. I'd allow that. I'm not up on the BG3 build meta.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Back in highschool, one of my friends would only play dwarves or halflings (or kender, if we were doing DL).

I quite often play dwarves because I identify with them: I’m short, bearded and grumpy. But they don’t seem particularly popular these days. Halflings are though.

 

[CleverNickName]

The last time someone in my gaming group rolled up a dwarf, it was for the B/X rules. I've never seen anyone choose to play one in 3.X, Pathfinder, or 5E.

Correction: I just remembered that a couple of years ago, someone in the group rolled up a durergar for a one-shot. Technically a dwarf, but not a PHB one.

 

[Mind of tempest]

I quite often play dwarves because I identify with them: I’m short, bearded and grumpy. But they don’t seem particularly popular these days. Halflings are though.

halflings live of cozy vibes and the lucky feat.
I have never found anything I identify with as I barely identify with anything

 

[Incenjucar]

Dwarves usually don't have a lot of actively useful features, and often come with drawbacks, so there's not much of a mechanical draw.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Dwarves usually don't have a lot of actively useful features, and often come with drawbacks, so there's not much of a mechanical draw.

What do you mean? They are immune from bludgeoning damage taken when passing though low doorways.

 

[Belen]

The last time someone in my gaming group rolled up a dwarf, it was for the B/X rules. I've never seen anyone choose to play one in 3.X, Pathfinder, or 5E.

Correction: I just remembered that a couple of years ago, someone in the group rolled up a durergar for a one-shot. Technically a dwarf, but not a PHB one.

Someone is playing a dwarf sorcerer in one of my games and a dwarf barbarian monk in another.

I suspect that small species will be played more without the speed penalty.

 

[Incenjucar]

Dwarves basically need some trick that can come up in most combats without the DM's choices or character class being a factor, OR they need a big suite of passives that are DM-dependent.