AverageCitizen
Explorer
I just got a copy of the PH3, and frankly, I'm worried.
Let me preface this post by stating that I am talking about world-building. As a DM and a writer, I like for my settings to have a certain depth and appeal, and often a unique flavor. When something new comes out, I rewrite generic story elements to give each race or power source a special place in the world.
I find that in the case of world-building, less is more. That is to say, that in a mundane world such as the generic DnD world, (meaning its not over-the-top or stylized like What Dreams May Come or His Dark Materials or other settings like that,) subtle, broad concepts tend to be more enduring than over-the-top or specific concepts. Additionally, everybody knows that deep concepts are more enduring than shallow ones. My concern is that several of wizards new additions to DnDs racial lineup are not only over-the-top, but they are shallow and extremely limited.
I'm talking about the Wilden and the Shardmind. More specifically the Shardmind. Remember, I'm not talking about their mechanics, I think they're fine. To justify myself a little bit I'd like to suggest that these concepts are not necessarily bad, just shallow. IMO, the wilden and the shardmind both make excellent concepts for a single character, maybe two. When I say concept I am not talking about the back-story, I am talking about the main idea, what actually gets into player's heads when they're sitting at the table. Aside from mechanics, the art and the descriptions are the primary contributors, I think, unless you have miniatures. So, you've got a red crytal guys walking around collecting magic items and killing monsters. Ok, I lied, I really don't like that idea. Though if one of my players did, I could probably make it fit, maybe as a failed attempt at a psionic golem by the Inspired which the other pcs accidentally give life. But like I said, I don't think its a fit concept to have an entire race of these guys walking around. Imagine if you tried to make a party of them?
Personally I partially blame the miniatures. When they were previewing PH2 they did a design and development about the Devas and the Goliaths, in which they talked about the markings on their faces. (I really don't like those markings. They're pretty trite and superficial, if you ask me.) They said they did it because they wanted the miniatures to be easily identifiable, so you could tell that a miniature was supposed to be a deva cleric just by looking at it. That seems unnecessary to me. There really isn't anything wrong with two people using the same miniature for different races, I can't even think of how it would hurt sales. But the fact that they are designing their new races with miniatures in mind means we get sub-par entires like the shardmind, and even the good ones like the wilden get a homogeneous aesthetic like their wolverine hairdos. Again, good for one character, but a whole race? Why cant they have different hair?
Mass-produced 1-inch plastic miniatures are a very difficult medium. Why would you tie the creative process for your entire game-world to the limitations of one product? It seems like backwards logic to me. I would write the coolest and most enduring thing I could think of, hire artists to depict it in the coolest way they can, and then let the minis guys do their best.
Like everyone who posts things like this, I'm probably just trying get some validation and a feel for what other people think. I anticipate some people (maybe a lot or people) will disagree with me, which is cool. I'll still read it. Its good to get insight and perspective. But I''ll confess that I'm mostly interested in seeing if there's anyone who has had similar concerns, which is more honesty than you'll get from most complainers, so please, be gentle.
Let me preface this post by stating that I am talking about world-building. As a DM and a writer, I like for my settings to have a certain depth and appeal, and often a unique flavor. When something new comes out, I rewrite generic story elements to give each race or power source a special place in the world.
I find that in the case of world-building, less is more. That is to say, that in a mundane world such as the generic DnD world, (meaning its not over-the-top or stylized like What Dreams May Come or His Dark Materials or other settings like that,) subtle, broad concepts tend to be more enduring than over-the-top or specific concepts. Additionally, everybody knows that deep concepts are more enduring than shallow ones. My concern is that several of wizards new additions to DnDs racial lineup are not only over-the-top, but they are shallow and extremely limited.
I'm talking about the Wilden and the Shardmind. More specifically the Shardmind. Remember, I'm not talking about their mechanics, I think they're fine. To justify myself a little bit I'd like to suggest that these concepts are not necessarily bad, just shallow. IMO, the wilden and the shardmind both make excellent concepts for a single character, maybe two. When I say concept I am not talking about the back-story, I am talking about the main idea, what actually gets into player's heads when they're sitting at the table. Aside from mechanics, the art and the descriptions are the primary contributors, I think, unless you have miniatures. So, you've got a red crytal guys walking around collecting magic items and killing monsters. Ok, I lied, I really don't like that idea. Though if one of my players did, I could probably make it fit, maybe as a failed attempt at a psionic golem by the Inspired which the other pcs accidentally give life. But like I said, I don't think its a fit concept to have an entire race of these guys walking around. Imagine if you tried to make a party of them?
Personally I partially blame the miniatures. When they were previewing PH2 they did a design and development about the Devas and the Goliaths, in which they talked about the markings on their faces. (I really don't like those markings. They're pretty trite and superficial, if you ask me.) They said they did it because they wanted the miniatures to be easily identifiable, so you could tell that a miniature was supposed to be a deva cleric just by looking at it. That seems unnecessary to me. There really isn't anything wrong with two people using the same miniature for different races, I can't even think of how it would hurt sales. But the fact that they are designing their new races with miniatures in mind means we get sub-par entires like the shardmind, and even the good ones like the wilden get a homogeneous aesthetic like their wolverine hairdos. Again, good for one character, but a whole race? Why cant they have different hair?
Mass-produced 1-inch plastic miniatures are a very difficult medium. Why would you tie the creative process for your entire game-world to the limitations of one product? It seems like backwards logic to me. I would write the coolest and most enduring thing I could think of, hire artists to depict it in the coolest way they can, and then let the minis guys do their best.
Like everyone who posts things like this, I'm probably just trying get some validation and a feel for what other people think. I anticipate some people (maybe a lot or people) will disagree with me, which is cool. I'll still read it. Its good to get insight and perspective. But I''ll confess that I'm mostly interested in seeing if there's anyone who has had similar concerns, which is more honesty than you'll get from most complainers, so please, be gentle.
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) I don't allow any of the Eberon races because they are very setting specific. Warforged make perfect sense in Eberon. But outside of that setting I would have a hard time justifiying them because that's not how I envision my world.
