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<blockquote data-quote="Henry" data-source="post: 3042179" data-attributes="member: 158">Sure -- it's a presupposition that ALL adventuring members of the race are going to possess certain traits in common; it's the ultimate in stereotyping. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile&nbsp; &nbsp; :)"&nbsp; data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />It's not geared toward realism or verisimilitude, but more toward fantasy stereotypes as were common up through the 1970's. Know of any hobbits who COULDN'T be stealthy, or who could cast spells? Know of any elves in the literature of the time who COULDN'T fight or cast spells? There really weren't any, or if they were, they were less known.Humans were represented as the &quot;adaptable&quot; breed - the ones who could be ANYTHING they wished, and this is one way to represent that. The other races were generally &quot;staid in their ways&quot;, and so all Dwarves knew how to fight and dig tunnels, all Elves knew some magic, etc. Other races were not the focus, humans were.Also keep in mind that this was mainly the case for the Basic/Expert/Companion/Master rules. The original OD&amp;D rules expressed it as &quot;Human/Dwarf/Elf Fighter,&quot; but races were still limited to what they could be.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Henry, post: 3042179, member: 158"] Sure -- it's a presupposition that ALL adventuring members of the race are going to possess certain traits in common; it's the ultimate in stereotyping. :) It's not geared toward realism or verisimilitude, but more toward fantasy stereotypes as were common up through the 1970's. Know of any hobbits who COULDN'T be stealthy, or who could cast spells? Know of any elves in the literature of the time who COULDN'T fight or cast spells? There really weren't any, or if they were, they were less known. Humans were represented as the "adaptable" breed - the ones who could be ANYTHING they wished, and this is one way to represent that. The other races were generally "staid in their ways", and so all Dwarves knew how to fight and dig tunnels, all Elves knew some magic, etc. Other races were not the focus, humans were. Also keep in mind that this was mainly the case for the Basic/Expert/Companion/Master rules. The original OD&D rules expressed it as "Human/Dwarf/Elf Fighter," but races were still limited to what they could be. [/QUOTE]

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