Mustrum_Ridcully
Hero
A Pincer Staff might be closer to a hug...
Does anyone actually like Dragonborn and Tieflings?
- Thread starter Mercurius
- Start date
MerricB
Eternal Optimist
If one were to look at traditional (real world mythological) races, one finds...
...human (duh)
...elf
...dwarf
...and that's about it.
Hey, I'm reaching on elf. Tolkien (via Norse, sort of) and Celtic Myth.
Dwarves have a stronger lineage, although - again - Nordic mythology is the strongest source for Dwarves As We Know Them.
After that, Halflings sort of exist (apart from Tolkien) as the little men of fairy stories: perhaps brownies and others of that sort. They're not really a strong PC race (as oD&D halflings weren't, either! You played a halfling only because you Really Really Liked Halflings).
(Asian Mythology has a bunch more animal and river spirits, of course...)
Cheers!
EATherrian
First Post
I was just looking through some old video games last night and discovered my Planescape:Torment discs and it came to me. I really think that my dislike of the Tieflings is more tied to their current look and back story than the race itself. If they presented a Tiefling like my beloved Annah I'd be more open to them. As for Dragonborn, I've been going over some old campaign world notes and actually found a place for them! So, I'm moving up from dislike to neutral. I still don't like the fluff and look for them, but I can see how to do decent work with them. Also regarding the breasts argument, I always thought that Dragons had live births. Has it ever been revealed, maybe in an Ecology article?
I actually think the old version of the gnome is more in tune with traditional fairy tale creatures, at least with the affinity for pranks and illusions; but you have a good point overall.
I actually think the old version of the gnome is more in tune with traditional fairy tale creatures, at least with the affinity for pranks and illusions; but you have a good point overall.
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Doug McCrae
Legend
Consider this, the claim that the cancellation of Dungeon & Dragon 'felt like being raped', which was made by a poster on ENWorld, will never be forgotten.D. Furthermore, I would suggest not taking certain phrases too literally or as solid dogma; my usage of "universally despised" was obviously overly dramatic and inaccurate, but I didn't mean it in a heavy handed or permanent way. I should have used less strong language, but I certainly didn't mean it to be set in stone (Yet another semantic wrangle on ENWorld). This is symptomatic of taking things too politically here; notice how when a politician says something somewhat controversial, pundits hold onto it and chew over it endlessly, like a dog gnawing on a bone. What is worse about the internet is that you can always go back and say, "Look what he said! That is his permanent, fixed viewpoint." Even if something was said in-the-moment, somewhat whimsically, and/or for effect. So yeah, I think it would behoove all of us to take things a bit more lightly around here. And of course I should probably be more careful with my language and "de-incendiarize" it a bit
Particle_Man
Explorer
IIRC, before page 1, there are some small roman numeral pages...at least for the DMG 1st ed AD&D.
Doug McCrae
Legend
I think if you look at European myth and folklore, the strongest case can be made for a small trickster humanoid whether it's called a troll, leprechaun, goblin, fairy, elf, brownie, kobold or whatever. Like hobbits they tend to be very domestic, either cleaning your house or messing it up. And the other common one is a nature spirit such as the green man, dryad, nereid or rusalka.
So there should be three races in D&D - humans, leprechauns and dryads.
I would add one more. The changeling. In this case meaning the seemingly human individual who is actually a fey creature in disguise, which was swapped with the real baby at birth.
lutecius
Explorer
and ogre/giant/troll, you forgot a big race!
In one of my homebrews the humanoid races were:
- human
- gnomes (generic small race including dwarves, halflings, leprechauns, goblins...)
- fairies (hawt nature spirits, nymphs, dryads, male and female elves...)
- ogre (generic tall brutish race, half-giants, hags, orcs...)
everything else was a subtype.
SuperGnome
First Post
Sad to say i'm on the Grognard wagon. The races are alright, but I have a deep dislike of them being core. If there were in the phb2, that's totally cool with me, but they don't fit into the history of almost anything. To just plop them in like they were always there and retroactively change the histories and topography (and cosmology I suppose) to fit bugs me. It bugs me more when classic core races are pushed out to make room. And yes, you can just choose to not use either/both of these races, but because they're core it cuts into the players options in a pretty serious way.
That all being said, and recognizing I've purchased my Grognard Express tickets, I allow them as core. If my players all think they don't belong, I'll take em out and substitute gnomes and half-orcs back in. If they like these two new ones, that's fine by me.
That all being said, and recognizing I've purchased my Grognard Express tickets, I allow them as core. If my players all think they don't belong, I'll take em out and substitute gnomes and half-orcs back in. If they like these two new ones, that's fine by me.
Eric Tolle
First Post
*blink blink* Just what do you mean by "real world" here? Traditional role-playing games surely, not real-world mythology. Because there's a hell of a lot more mythological races than that.
Let's see...
Satyre, Dryad, White Women, Centaurs, Mermaids, Nixies, Selkies, Trolls, Phooka, Folletti, redcaps, Spriggans, boggarts, Clurichaun, Domovoi, Vodyanoy, Rusalka, Vila, Kappa, Kitsune,Tengu, Apsara, Aziza, Tanuki, Mimi, Tjilpa, Caipora, Duende, Chitauli, Rokurokubi....and that's just a start. There's thousands more supernatural races in world mythology.
Even if you do the dodgy thing of combining different mythological creatures by shared characteristics, there's a hell of a lot of diversity in European mythologies, much less the rest of the world.
This sounds to me like a dodgy attempt to support a limited creature selection in rpgs, rather than anything based on actual mythology.
hendelmasad
First Post
Meh!
This is a very minor quibble. While I do not hate the idea of either race, I really hate the name Tiefling. It just doesnt sound EVIL-ESQUE. It just doesnt fit imo: "Ohh this is my hunting Falcon, his name is Fifi!" I know its minor but every time someone says the word "Tiefling" its like nails on blackboard. SO I will include both races in any game I run but, change the name from Teifling to something else...I thought Cambion was cool.
HMasad
This is a very minor quibble. While I do not hate the idea of either race, I really hate the name Tiefling. It just doesnt sound EVIL-ESQUE. It just doesnt fit imo: "Ohh this is my hunting Falcon, his name is Fifi!" I know its minor but every time someone says the word "Tiefling" its like nails on blackboard. SO I will include both races in any game I run but, change the name from Teifling to something else...I thought Cambion was cool.
HMasad
Rel
Liquid Awesome
This is a very minor quibble. While I do not hate the idea of either race, I really hate the name Tiefling. It just doesnt sound EVIL-ESQUE. It just doesnt fit imo: "Ohh this is my hunting Falcon, his name is Fifi!" I know its minor but every time someone says the word "Tiefling" its like nails on blackboard. SO I will include both races in any game I run but, change the name from Teifling to something else...I thought Cambion was cool.
HMasad
Agreed. I prefer the term Satan-Spawn myself. Feel's very 1980's!
This is a very minor quibble. While I do not hate the idea of either race, I really hate the name Tiefling. It just doesnt sound EVIL-ESQUE. It just doesnt fit imo: "Ohh this is my hunting Falcon, his name is Fifi!" I know its minor but every time someone says the word "Tiefling" its like nails on blackboard. SO I will include both races in any game I run but, change the name from Teifling to something else...I thought Cambion was cool.
HMasad
For native german speakers, "Tiefling" sounds close to "Teufel", the german word for "devil", so I never thought it did not sound evil-esque. Literally translated, "tief" means "deep", and that's not that un-evil sounding either.
Brennin Magalus
First Post
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Choranzanus
Explorer
Since when are half elves not traditionaly mythological?
In fact all 3.x races have pretty solid mythological roots except half orc.
Granted, for someone from central europe gnome=dwarf.
Well, I don't remember having heard or read anything about half-elves outside of Tolkien's novels (and even there they've not been called 'half-elves'). What traditional, mythological roots are you thinking about?
Ruin Explorer
Legend
My problem with Dragonborn is that it feels too much like catfolk. Or dogfolk. If I wanted a part-animal part human, I'd go with lycanthropes.
As for the tiefling, if they only had the asimars with them, then I'd be alright with them. Those two go together, like two peas in a pod.
And that dragling image way back looked way too much like the offspring of Jar Jar Binks and a human.
Also, am I the only one who thinks the Elderin, Elves, and Drow are nothing more than Asian, European, and African elves?
As for the tiefling, if they only had the asimars with them, then I'd be alright with them. Those two go together, like two peas in a pod.
And that dragling image way back looked way too much like the offspring of Jar Jar Binks and a human.
Also, am I the only one who thinks the Elderin, Elves, and Drow are nothing more than Asian, European, and African elves?
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