D&D 5E Do you restrict racial choices in your games?

[toucanbuzz]

So far pretty lopsided to restricting to the campaign setting/theme.

I find campaigns more enjoyable when we voluntarily immerse into a theme. I've posted before about Curse of Strahd, going with a heavy gothic tone where we all agreed to limit our races to humans, elf, half-elf, and dwarf. It fit the art, mythology, and feel of Transylvania/Barovia for us. Same for our current Kingmaker campaign. I opened up more races but advised if anyone wanted to get into a greater intrigue/political game, wanted to be a royal bastard, and so on, the host nation is human.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Each campaign I run has a selection of races allowed that both make the most sense for how/where/why the campaign exists, as well as providing the best opportunity for the PCs to have an active hand in what will be going on.

So for instance... my Curse of Strahd game was entirely humans because I wanted the horror/thriller experience to be funneled through the identities of humans dealing with this situation rather than layering on an additional facet of dealing with the horror while also dealing with being a goliath (for example) in and around a whole host of humans. I wanted the focus of play to be on one thing, not both.

Whereas my Eberron game pretty much allowed for every single option you could think of, as that is a primary point of the setting itself... that everything in D&D has a place. So I had humans, and dwarves, and drow, and bugbears, and Valenar elves, and Khorvaire elves, and warforged, and Khoravar, and gnomes etc. etc. etc.

My quarantined online Phandalin campaign was all the standard PHB races that I got through my D&D Beyond subscription the players could choose from. So it had a constrained selection based not on the setting but on what was physically available to choose from in the program.

For my next campaign set in Theros it'll be mostly humans with perhaps one or two non-humans from the options in that setting (leonin, triton, minotaur, centaur, satyr.) Again, because the three main poleis are humano-centric and I want this game to focus on the politics and warfare of one of those three.

I think every DM should make these kinds of choices for what is best for their campaigns, to render the specific tone and color that they want for each of them. If each game is meant to evoke a different feeling, then selecting the player options that best exemplify that should be the ones the DM chooses to make available.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Human Fighter Only. Final Destination. No Items.

 

[Mind of tempest]

personally, I vote for what I want to play in

 

[delericho]

I find campaigns more enjoyable when we voluntarily immerse into a theme. I've posted before about Curse of Strahd, going with a heavy gothic tone where we all agreed to limit our races to humans, elf, half-elf, and dwarf.

Yeah. When TSR and then WotC did the various campaign settings, a part of me wishes they'd been more willing to remove some choices from the palette, the better to fit a theme.

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

I don't really restrict races. Its an Eberron game, so pretty much anything either already fits, or can be made to fit.

 

[dave2008]

I voted anything public is fair game, but that is not quite accurate. I let my players pick any sentient creature from the MM as well.

EDIT: I am not opposed to restricting races for a particular setting though.

 

[Mind of tempest]

Yeah. When TSR and then WotC did the various campaign settings, a part of me wishes they'd been more willing to remove some choices from the palette, the better to fit a theme.

same man, we would have a lot of really different settings that have reasons other than the basic theme.

 

[DemoMonkey]

No halflings in any game I DM.

You want to play a super short human who is lucky (ie, whatever racial traits the halfling in the PHB has instead of the human ones) , go ahead, but there is no general culture of people like you.

 

[Vaalingrade]

No halflings in any game I DM.

You want to play a super short human who is lucky (ie, whatever racial traits the halfling in the PHB has instead of the human ones) , go ahead, but there is no general culture of people like you.

Can I do that and take the Leadership feat in your game?

No reason, just asking.