Absolutely vital core races in D&D

[Psion]

AFAIAC, the set as set forth in the 1e PHB should stand as a minimum.

I failed to vote for either elf as your subtitling of them was 4e-centric. If there is a singular elf entry, it should be the high elf and should not be called the Eladrin, which IMSHO is a cheesy name appropriation.

 

[TwinBahamut]

I'm rather amused by how Dwarves pulled ahead of the elves because of the elven vote split. I'm not sure why, though...

Anyways, I only voted for human. They are the only race that is really needed for any work of fantasy. Anything else I may have voted for is an option that D&D simply has never provided.

 

[drothgery]

I'm rather amused by how Dwarves pulled ahead of the elves because of the elven vote split. I'm not sure why, though...

Anyways, I only voted for human. They are the only race that is really needed for any work of fantasy. Anything else I may have voted for is an option that D&D simply has never provided.

I agree that only humans are necessary in a fantasy RPG. D&D, however, needs high elves, dwarves, and halflings.

 

[Crothian]

I don't feel zany of them are absolutely vital to the game. I like these races fine but won't be sad if they are not included.

 

[A Passing Maniac]

Humans are the closest there is for me, but even then I rarely play them, rarely see them played, and wouldn't consider a setting without them "not D&D."

The usual core races have gotten kind of boring for me. Various settings might change the basic assumptions to make them more interesting -- Eberron's voodoo elves or Dark Sun's cannibal halflings, for instance -- but I find the standard versions a little dull. I tend to prefer more outré races; if dwarves, elves, and halflings were dropped and replaced by myconids, kenku, and thri-kreen, I'd be quite happy. Well, at least until I got bored of them.

 

[Nahat Anoj]

Perhaps before 4e came out I might have said humans, dwarves, halflings, half-elves, elves, gnomes and half-orcs. But with the advent of 4e, I can't imagine D&D without dragonborn, tieflings, or eladrin.

There are a few "new" races that have a great D&D vibe, but they aren't "essential" IMO - genasi, shadar-kai and devas.

 

[Lurks-no-More]

I'd say humans are the only essential race, both because we're all humans, and because although there is plenty of fantasy without non-human races, settings without humans are very rare indeed.

 

[Leatherhead]

So, I've wondered. There has been some banter about the "Mos Eisley Cantina" factor of... most any D&D setting that's not Greyhawk, and there's no secret that some people don't approve of the Tieflings and Dragonborn in 4E. And the response tended to be that gnomes don't really have a niche in earlier editions, "my setting doesn't have elves" and whatnot.

So I figured I'd put up a poll. What races absolutely have to be in the core rulebook for you to consider it a worthy PHB for whatever edition of D&D.

(You'll not that I put all races from the 3E and 4E PHB1:s in the poll. If Thri-Kreen are vital for your D&D experience, check "other". )

Well, the opposite of the "Mos Eisley Cantina" factor tends to be "Rubber Forehead Aliens." And quite frankly I prefer my different races being, different, so bring on that Cantina.

Hmm, I hope no one takes this as a Star Wars vs. Star Trek rift.

There should be no more than one elf, or dwarf for that matter. We could drop halfings, because gnomes are more fun, and halflings end up being short fearless humans, or kender. Halflings aren't a real mythological race anyway. I'm not fond of the half-races, I rarely see them played and think they could be covered better by some kind of hybrid race template. But the other races may be better served by simply omitting the half-breeds. Dragonborn are kind of interesting, but tieflings aren't really needed, and neither of them seem iconic enough for me to see them as a core race.

Oh, and humans. They should stay if only to provide a basis of comparison for everything else.

 

[Leatherhead]

If the PHB had humans, elves, tieflings, dragonborn, and eladrin, I'd be satisfied. I don't view all of those as necessary, but I'd be happy to see them. Humans are humans, and you need those just to cover the generic basis. Elves are the one-with-the-wilderness archetype. Tieflings cover the dark, accursed archetype. Dragonborn cover the proud alien race archetype. And eladrin cover the "more magic than you" archetype.

I could do without dwarves (short, fat, drunk archetype), halflings (... just plain short archetype?), gnomes (...still short archetype?), half elves (weird fantasy genetics archetype?), and half orcs (something initially created to represent the children of bestial rape, but we no longer consider that acceptable, so we're rushing around for a new archetype archetype?). Most of those just aren't different enough from regular humans for me to care about them.

From my own perspective, I could do without elves, as they get shoehorned every which way into the "Übermensch" archetype. Something that a game could, and should, do without.

 

[Vorput]

human, dwarf, elf, halfling.

Everything else is just tasty sides and gravy!

qft