D&D General The Tyranny of Rarity

Cadence said:

So, you're good with people playing Toons in D&D and Jedi in Star Trek and Vulcans in Star Wars, and Samurai in an American Civil war Game, and etc...?

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Well, the Toons in D&D sounds a bit far-fetched, but I could actually see pretty much all those other examples being ok.

Oofta said:

Maybe it's just me, but when you have people equating limiting races to tyranny and call it "outdated" it sure does sound like they're saying the approach is, if not invalid, an inferior choice.

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Sure, but I think @Stormonu clarified that already.

I think the choice of words for the title of the thread was more about their stance based on how their view has evolved....that in the past, such decisions were more about GM preference than anything else, and they've come to realize that.

Personally, I think when a GM bars certain choices based solely on personal preference (such as "I don't like Dragonborn" or "No good Drow round here") I do think it's a case of GM tyranny. Of course, tyranny is far too strong a word for it, but it's simply a case of the GM placing their preferences above those of the other participants.

Oofta said:

I agree that people should be open about expectations and open to discussion. I have a caveat to my "these are the allowed races" that we can discuss other options to see if we can get something to fit. For example if someone wanted to play a goliath, I would have no problem with them coming from some human mountain barbarian tribe and let them use the goliath stats. They just won't have gray skin. Admittedly something like a drow is just not going to work because of world mythology and the reaction people would have, but I have allowed things like a deva which I mentioned somewhere up thread.

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I don't know. It's hard to say that there's always one right approach. But honestly, in the above examples.....why is gray skin such a problem? What is it about the setting that requires there be no goliaths? Is it simply because in your head there have never been goliaths in the world? I can't imagine that the lore of your setting rests so heavily on the absence of goliaths.

Oofta said:

Funny thing is, I can think of only 2 times someone has taken me up on it. One was the deva, the other was a guy that wanted to play a drow. I explained that drow (who are not native to the prime material plane in my campaign) are effectively the bogeyman and I didn't want to deal with it. They played an elf instead and had a lot of fun.

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Sure, that's fine. Seems like a reasonable decision to make.

It'd be an equally reasonable decision to say "you know what? You want to play a drow? Go right ahead. The world will not come crashing down."

Is one more reasonable than the other? It's difficult to say. Although, if we view it more as a group activity, then I think the one where the player gets to play what they want is probably more reasonable, generally speaking.

The “player who demands to play a weird race and will not compromise” is such a specific case that always comes up in these threads but to me seems a bit of a straw man. Has anyone actually encountered one in the wild? Most of the posts here seem hypothetical.

DND_Reborn said:

Well, the Toons in D&D sounds a bit far-fetched, but I could actually see pretty much all those other examples being ok.

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Not really far-fetched...

QuentinGeorge said:

The “player who demands to play a weird race and will not compromise” is such a specific case that always comes up in these threads but to me seems a bit of a straw man. Has anyone actually encountered one in the wild? Most of the posts here seem hypothetical.

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Yes, personally, it has happened-- and he was asked to leave, sadly.

DND_Reborn said:

Or do a version of King Solomon if their discussion is an impasse:

DM: You both roll a d4. Whoever rolls higher gets to play the elf, but if you both roll the same number, neither of you do.

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Would Solomon's answer be "you can both be a half-elf"?

Stormonu said:

Not really...

View attachment 149130

Hank

Hank, or the Ranger, was a ranger and an adventurer from Earth and the Realm (no relation). He was a companion of the monk Diana, the barbarian Bobby, the fighter Eric, the wizard Presto, and the rogue Sheila.[3][2] Hank was reliable and had good self-discipline. Being the oldest member of the...

forgottenrealms.fandom.com

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I could be wrong, but I think the Toons reference was to characters like this:

But hey, now that I think of it I stand corrected:


Looks pretty DNDish to me.

In fact, this is rather inspirational considering the topic...

jmartkdr2 said:

Would Solomon's answer be "you can both be a half-elf"?

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Maybe, just maybe, if they both rolled 1's?

QuentinGeorge said:

The “player who demands to play a weird race and will not compromise” is such a specific case that always comes up in these threads but to me seems a bit of a straw man. Has anyone actually encountered one in the wild? Most of the posts here seem hypothetical.

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I've been in games where a player has made a character, or had a strong idea for a character ahead of the game. And then they show up, and the GM has a different idea about the way the game should go. Situations like that, I've seen.

The petulant "I am going to play a half-kender aasimar no matter what!" folks seem to be mostly hypothetical.

QuentinGeorge said:

The “player who demands to play a weird race and will not compromise” is such a specific case that always comes up in these threads but to me seems a bit of a straw man. Has anyone actually encountered one in the wild? Most of the posts here seem hypothetical.

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It's not always "play a weird race" but I have run into players who will not take no for an answer no matter how many times you say it. They will wheedle and complain and constantly connive to get what they want hoping to wear you down like Bart and Lisa shouting "Will you take us to Mount Splashmore" at Homer until he caves.
They are best booted once identified.