D&D General Do you like LOTS of races/ancestries/whatever? If so, why?

[Micah Sweet]

Yep, when this happens to me, it could be the "you came through a rift from another world/dimension/whatever" and we make it work.

It often becomes that PC's reason for adventuring--if they want to find a way home.

Which is fine, for one PC, or all of them if that's what the campaign is about. If everyone is like that it's a bit much for me.

 

[pogre]

I learned at least this much from the thread - Pirates of Darkwater is an animated series from 91-92 and a lot of people liked it.

I think there are legitimate reasons for limiting races in campaign worlds, but I am more of a kitchen sink kind of guy.

 

[DND_Reborn]

Which is fine, for one PC, or all of them if that's what the campaign is about. If everyone is like that it's a bit much for me.

In a group of 4 or 5 PCs, one is fine. Two would be an incredible stretch (unless the two players decided to be the same race), and more than that would be pretty much out of bounds for me.

For example, if all 5 players wanted to play Loxodons (a race I don't have normally), I would be fine saying ALL of them were moved into the world and are trying to find a way back. Or maybe they escaped from their world and are searching for a new place to bring the others? Or whatever...

 

[RoughCoronet0]

My group and I love having many racial options, especially monstrous races, and my current homebrew world has 40 different PC races to choose from (a total of 74 PC race options when you include sub-races).

Some of the official options from published books have been banned, so no half-humans, Drow, Kalastar, Custom Lineage, most races from Spelljammer, Dragonmarked Races, Variant Human, etc. However, I have added several races as well such as Gnolls, Driders, Asleid, Bariaur, Drakkoth, Wilden, Shardmind, etc.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Heh heh. This right here tells me all I need to know about why you are disdainful of basic characterization....

Not it doesn't because not I'm not.

I'm against demanding people play different species as alien and then being aggressively nasty to people for not doing so.

 

[TwoSix]

68 races. Each has to be large enough to be well known so people don't confuse them a high elf with a wood elf with astral elf. Each has to be distinct enough to stand out not just in the visual department but in the cultural department. And saying Drake Dragonborn is one off from the nineth dimension does not cut it, unless you are living near the New Waterdeep Space Interdimensional Citadel.

And can you give me why 68 races could work on an Earth Size planet?

I'm not sure why it's a necessity to have all of them with distinct cultures and long histories. Why can't the setting just have a ton of small enclaves, with most of the races just numbering a few hundred to few thousand individuals? The lost village of Harengon or the single treetop village of the fairy folk seems much more in keeping with standard fantasy tropes.

 

[Vaalingrade]

I'm not sure why it's a necessity to have all of them with distinct cultures and long histories. Why can't the setting just have a ton of small enclaves, with most of the races just numbering a few hundred to few thousand individuals? The lost village of Harengon or the single treetop village of the fairy folk seems much more in keeping with standard fantasy tropes.

That's another thing: people don't appreciate how ridiculously huge a habitable planet is.

Sure, we live on and have documented a lot of ours, but that's because we've been working at 50,000 years of building and improving tools to do so and not only have we not documented to whole thing yet, but there were groups of humans who remain completely separate from the 'modern world'.

Now imagine a world where everyone was made whole cloth like 5,000 years ago and have been artificially trapped at a Renaissance tech level the overgods insist is Medieval ever sense. There's gonna be gaps. Gaps big enough for whole tribes of Goliaths to hide in.

 

[DND_Reborn]

The lost village of Harengon or the single treetop village of the fairy folk seems much more in keeping with standard fantasy tropes.

Which it is for PCs not from those places... If they discover them, the are fanciful.

However, if one PC is a Harengon, they would be like, "What's the big deal? It's just home."

That is what I mean when I say having too many races makes it less fanciful for me, just like having a spellcaster in every hamlet or every housekeeper in a town knowing the mending cantrip makes magic less "magical". Such things are no longer special in any way, and become mundane with over use.

 

[Aldarc]

I learned at least this much from the thread - Pirates of Darkwater is an animated series from 91-92 and a lot of people liked it.

In some ways, it was ahead of its time. It had a non-white cast and featured a world with Filipino and Southeast Asian influences and a semi non-episodic storyline. It died early due to its expenses and production issues.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

That's another thing: people don't appreciate how ridiculously huge a habitable planet is.

Sure, we live on and have documented a lot of ours, but that's because we've been working at 50,000 years of building and improving tools to do so and not only have we not documented to whole thing yet, but there were groups of humans who remain completely separate from the 'modern world'.

Now imagine a world where everyone was made whole cloth like 5,000 years ago and have been artificially trapped at a Renaissance tech level the overgods insist is Medieval ever sense. There's gonna be gaps. Gaps big enough for whole tribes of Goliaths to hide in.

Hell, there are still gaps today that whole, stable-population tribes can hide in, and we have satellite maps of our planet's surface.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Apropos of nothing, "Drawmij's Instant Census" comes to mind.

 

[TwoSix]

Which it is for PCs not from those places... If they discover them, the are fanciful.

However, if one PC is a Harengon, they would be like, "What's the big deal? It's just home."

That is what I mean when I say having too many races makes it less fanciful for me, just like having a spellcaster in every hamlet or every housekeeper in a town knowing the mending cantrip makes magic less "magical". Such things are no longer special in any way, and become mundane with over use.

I think that just speaks as to how one uses races as a tool in the creation of the setting. To me, I see race first and foremost as a player-facing tool. It's giving them options to express their vision for a character by choosing from various aesthetics. To a lot of players, those aesthetics are VITALLY important. I've had players get tremendously excited over having an owlin or a fairy or a harengon as a new character concept.

Once my players have chosen their races, that's when I start to worldbuild around them. Races that characters don't pick can be used to worldbuild elements I think are interesting, and the rest are simply backburnered and not mentioned unless a new PC gets created that wants to utilize them. That's when the "remote village" backstory can be easily applied.

 

[Slit518]

Do I like a lot of race options in my game? Including sub-races are part of one race?

Probably 12-18 to choose from being my sweet spot.

 

[DND_Reborn]

Once my players have chosen their races, that's when I start to worldbuild around them

Which is cool, but as nearly permanent DM I go the other way: the world is there, choose from what is in it. I don't want to recreate worlds for each new group and I've been using the same game world for decades now.

 

[Minigiant]

Don't sell yourself short. There are many reasons you can be weird, no reason to limit yourself just to one.

Or I like many classes too. I'm double weird.

 

[TwoSix]

Which is cool, but as nearly permanent DM I go the other way: the world is there, choose from what is in it. I don't want to recreate worlds for each new group and I've been using the same game world for decades now.

I know, but that’s kinda why the OP question annoys me a bit. We should all be aware by now that the division between those who place setting first and those who put PCs first is a clear and consistent one within the community, and dependent largely on motivations of play that aren’t going to change.

The reason for so many races is to satisfy those who want different types of characters to play, and are easy to handle for DMs who put facilitating PCs at the center of play. If you put worldbuilding at the center of play, a lot of races is probably harder to accommodate unless you center your worldbuilding around that premise. It’s not a hard question to answer.

 

[DND_Reborn]

Or I like many classes too. I'm double weird.

Woah! you really are, huh? I mean, I always suspected it... but to finally have confirmation is like mind-blowing...

I know, but that’s kinda why the OP question annoys me a bit. We should all be aware by now that the division between those who place setting first and those who put PCs first is a clear and consistent one within the community, and dependent largely on motivations of play that aren’t going to change.

The reason for so many races is to satisfy those who want different types of characters to play, and are easy to handle for DMs who put facilitating PCs at the center of play. If you put worldbuilding at the center of play, a lot of races is probably harder to accommodate unless you center your worldbuilding around that premise. It’s not a hard question to answer.

Agreed. I'm not annoyed by the OP, since I see the point, but I do find it funny when one DM says "Hey, I only have 5 playable races in my game because that is what the world was built around" and someone challenges that with "How can you take away player fun/agency!?!"

 

[Scribe]

Yeah, but I guess that makes it more of a "can't be arsed to completely kill each other off"; which I suppose is still a form of coexistence

It isnt though. Its a matter of if the predators have the means to extend their power to a point where killing off their prey is possible.

Like humans can do to everything else, and eachother.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I'm not sure why it's a necessity to have all of them with distinct cultures and long histories. Why can't the setting just have a ton of small enclaves, with most of the races just numbering a few hundred to few thousand individuals? The lost village of Harengon or the single treetop village of the fairy folk seems much more in keeping with standard fantasy tropes.

Yoy don't have to, of course, but I prefer some naturalism in my settings, fantasy or no. Helps with the verisimilitude and immersion that are my top priority in gaming.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I think that just speaks as to how one uses races as a tool in the creation of the setting. To me, I see race first and foremost as a player-facing tool. It's giving them options to express their vision for a character by choosing from various aesthetics. To a lot of players, those aesthetics are VITALLY important. I've had players get tremendously excited over having an owlin or a fairy or a harengon as a new character concept.

Once my players have chosen their races, that's when I start to worldbuild around them. Races that characters don't pick can be used to worldbuild elements I think are interesting, and the rest are simply backburnered and not mentioned unless a new PC gets created that wants to utilize them. That's when the "remote village" backstory can be easily applied.

I feel the opposite. Heritages are a worldbuilding tool, within which I will allow for player desires as much as it makes sense to me.