D&D General Are the Races of D&D races of Human or seperate Species according to lore?

[the Jester]

5E is officially FR. All the major products are set in the FR.

Ghosts of Saltmarsh and Curse of Strahd would both like a word. Not to mention the Ravnica book and forthcoming Eberron setting.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Personally I feel it's good for them to be radically different. I personally feel it strains verisimilitude for a phylogenetically unrelated creature with different senses, a different habitat, and a different lifecycle to thing the same way and have the same innenwelt as a human

That’s fair, but OTOH, it’s not like any of these races evolved.

The gods slapped their hands on the dirt and said, “This baby can hold so many damn sapient species!” And behold, just...frackin gaggles of the bastards showed up.

 

[Son of the Serpent]

Huh...aparently my first comment on this post never populated to the board and i jusr never noticed until now. My answer to the question of this thread is this:

With a few noteworthy exceptions (half elves and half orcs which are both obvious hybrids) they are actually seperate associated races WHICH ARE FROM SEPERATE SPECIES. Ie they are both in different ways. Specifically both.

 

[Bohandas]

That’s fair, but OTOH, it’s not like any of these races evolved.

The gods slapped their hands on the dirt and said, “This baby can hold so many damn sapient species!” And behold, just...frackin gaggles of the bastards showed up.

So unless the creator gods are stealing code from each other (possible source of Gruumsh/Corellon feud?) or all drawing on some force even more primal than themselves the races are going to be very different

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

So unless the creator gods are stealing code from each other (possible source of Gruumsh/Corellon feud?) or all drawing on some force even more primal than themselves the races are going to be very different

Or maybe there is some narrative force within the multiverse that pushes development in a certain direction.
For example you could look at the Drow from both Eberron and FR/Greyhawk and decide that they are (physically) the same race. Yet the paths they took to develop from the base race of elves is completely different: Geyhawk/FR drow split directly from the elves created by Corellon, under Llolth's influence. Eberron Drow were created by the giants of Xen'drick from elves, which were in turn created from eladrin, which in turn may or may not have developed from the elves created by Corellon.

OOC of course we know why different worlds develop the same recognisable races. But the in-game reasons may not be known.

 

[Son of the Serpent]

Or maybe there is some narrative force within the multiverse that pushes development in a certain direction.
For example you could look at the Drow from both Eberron and FR/Greyhawk and decide that they are (physically) the same race. Yet the paths they took to develop from the base race of elves is completely different: Geyhawk/FR drow split directly from the elves created by Corellon, under Llolth's influence. Eberron Drow were created by the giants of Xen'drick from elves, which were in turn created from eladrin, which in turn may or may not have developed from the elves created by Corellon.

OOC of course we know why different worlds develop the same recognisable races. But the in-game reasons may not be known.

I think that actually if there is a correct answer this is a big part of it. Cosmic convergence of races in some way seems to be a thing.

 

[Son of the Serpent]

Also. Just gonna reinsert this here:

Ao may be an over deity AND YET he spoke of a superior and implied he had potential equals simply with their own clusters of cosmos.

 

[Bohandas]

Or maybe there is some narrative force within the multiverse that pushes development in a certain direction.
For example you could look at the Drow from both Eberron and FR/Greyhawk and decide that they are (physically) the same race. Yet the paths they took to develop from the base race of elves is completely different: Geyhawk/FR drow split directly from the elves created by Corellon, under Llolth's influence. Eberron Drow were created by the giants of Xen'drick from elves, which were in turn created from eladrin, which in turn may or may not have developed from the elves created by Corellon.

OOC of course we know why different worlds develop the same recognisable races. But the in-game reasons may not be known.

That doesn't count. Eberron is an entirely different and non-overlapping continuity that was never a part of Spelljammer

 

[Parmandur]

That doesn't count. Eberron is an entirely different and non-overlapping continuity that was never a part of Spelljammer

Not so much anymore.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

So unless the creator gods are stealing code from each other (possible source of Gruumsh/Corellon feud?) or all drawing on some force even more primal than themselves the races are going to be very different

Why?

The gods themselves aren’t that different from each other.

It’s just a preference. Nothing wrong with preference, but neither of us has a more valid preference on this.

It doesn’t make “more” sense either way.