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

[Incenjucar]

Gnomes are the ones traditionally left unplayed.

 

[Mind of tempest]

Dwarves are pretty durable, getting resistance to poison damage (the best resistance of any race) plus an extra 1hp per level.

I would say they compete well with the Orc and Goliath as the most durable races in 2024.

I ment if they should have an active combat option, it should be about making them harder to kill.

Someone has played a dwarf in nearly every game I have run in every edition since B/X.

I also tend to play either humans or dwarves. I sometimes get the urge to play a tortle or something but then nearly no one else in the group chooses a human and I end being one instead because unless the theme or setting is specifically about there being no humans I kinda need there to be at least one.

why do you care if there are no humans or dwarves?

Gnomes are the ones traditionally left unplayed.

the red-headed stepchild of the classic demihumans, they lack a place in the world a core definition or even a visual factor to get people to play them, when the classes opened up in 3e they suffered a massive set back

 

[Hussar]

Dwarves are far more popular than Halflings IME. In the past 10 years I have only seen 1 Halfling that was played by someone other than me.

Even before 2024 boosted Dwarves, they were still among the most popular choices for Wizards due to the Armor proficiency.

I mean, yeah. Look, I know that I have apparently earned a reputation for hating halflings, despite actually playing them, but, I gotta say, there's some serious revisionist history going on here. It's the first time I've ever seen anyone try to claim that halfling PC's are popular.

As far as gnomes go, I think the most telling experience for me was in the early days of 3e I was playing Scarred Lands. We'd been playing Scarred Lands for about a year or so when someone actually asked me where the SL writeup for gnomes was and we, as a group, actually realized that there were no gnomes in Ghaelspad. We'd made many characters, played for quite a while, and no one even noticed that gnomes weren't an option.

 

[Mind of tempest]

I mean, yeah. Look, I know that I have apparently earned a reputation for hating halflings, despite actually playing them, but, I gotta say, there's some serious revisionist history going on here. It's the first time I've ever seen anyone try to claim that halfling PC's are popular.

As far as gnomes go, I think the most telling experience for me was in the early days of 3e I was playing Scarred Lands. We'd been playing Scarred Lands for about a year or so when someone actually asked me where the SL writeup for gnomes was and we, as a group, actually realized that there were no gnomes in Ghaelspad. We'd made many characters, played for quite a while, and no one even noticed that gnomes weren't an option.

I am the halfling-hating guy, not you.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

I ment if they should have an active combat option, it should be about making them harder to kill.

why do you care if there are no humans or dwarves?

the red-headed stepchild of the classic demihumans, they lack a place in the world a core definition or even a visual factor to get people to play them, when the classes opened up in 3e they suffered a massive set back

Which is why I still advocate merging halfling and gnome into a single species which represents a type of land-bonded fey--gnome, halfling, Bergmännlein, "Kobel" (similar to but not the same as koblin/goblin/kobold), etc.--with the different subspecies linked to different terrain types. Literally a species arising out of and attempting to preserve and protect the land.

Starting four options would be Stoutheart (=plains-dwelling herders), Lightfoot (=tree-dwelling wardens), Cragstep (=cave-dwelling inventors), and Ghostwise/Svirfneblin (=Underdark-dwelling mystics). You can then expand the subspecies into new areas not previously touched by either gnome or halfling alone: desert-dwellers, tundra-stalkers, jungle-runners, island-hoppers for that aquatic flair. All sorts of possibilities, and a core thematic point, one that is liable to resonate with plenty of people (caring for the land).

 

[Azzy]

Gnomes are the ones traditionally left unplayed.

Which is funny because I had a 5e player that played gnomes in at least two campaigns. I was surprised about it, too.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

It's the first time I've ever seen anyone try to claim that halfling PC's are popular.

No it isn’t. I’ve told you before that halflings were the most popular PC race in my group, outnumbering humans. That was a few years ago though, and since then the halflings have themselves been outnumbered by warforged.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Gnomes are the ones traditionally left unplayed.

I've seen a few gnomes, more than I have dwarves or elves in fact. Don't care for them myself though.