Does anyone actually like Dragonborn and Tieflings?

[Lurks-no-More]

Unfortunately, as we read in Races and Classes, Wizards thinks that good guys are lame; only angsting anti-heroes are cool!

Yes, that's why they're explicitly discouraging Evil-aligned PCs in the PHB.

Or, in other words, you're spouting frantic hyperbole.

 

[ProfessorCirno]

Yes, that's why they're explicitly discouraging Evil-aligned PCs in the PHB.

Or, in other words, you're spouting frantic hyperbole.

"Tieflings trace their origins back to the 2nd Edition PLANESCAPE Campaign Setting. With their horns, tails, and wicked tongues, tieflings quickly became the exotic "bad boys" and "bad girls" of the Outer Planes. Sly, sexy, and a little sinister, they afforded D&D players a chance to flirt with the dark side without actually crossing the line into full-blown evil. Why play Drizzt when you could play the great-grandson of a pit fiend"

Tieflings reappeared in the 3rd Edition Monster Manual as one of the "plane-touched," inexorably bound to their do-gooder cousins, the aasimar. Forgive my bias, but I'll take horns and brimstone over sunshine and perfection any day. Sometimes it just doesn't pay to be the super good guy."

Word.
For.
Word.

Page 48 of Races and Classes.

 

[Fenes]

Anti-hero doesn't have to mean evil, it usually just means "bad tempered or otherwise "not so good" hero that kills evil with lots of violence and other dark touches".

Tieflings and Dragonborn seem to fit this rather well, compared to say the clichee Paladin that upholds honor and good without using every means at his disposal.

 

[hong]

"Tieflings trace their origins back to the 2nd Edition PLANESCAPE Campaign Setting. With their horns, tails, and wicked tongues, tieflings quickly became the exotic "bad boys" and "bad girls" of the Outer Planes. Sly, sexy, and a little sinister, they afforded D&D players a chance to flirt with the dark side without actually crossing the line into full-blown evil. Why play Drizzt when you could play the great-grandson of a pit fiend"

Tieflings reappeared in the 3rd Edition Monster Manual as one of the "plane-touched," inexorably bound to their do-gooder cousins, the aasimar. Forgive my bias, but I'll take horns and brimstone over sunshine and perfection any day. Sometimes it just doesn't pay to be the super good guy."

Sounds pretty cool, huh?

 

[rounser]

Forgive my bias, but I'll take horns and brimstone over sunshine and perfection any day. Sometimes it just doesn't pay to be the super good guy.

Do they actually believe this or is it just marketing cheerleading?

 

[Steely Dan]

Or, in other words, you're spouting frantic hyperbole.

I think "frantic" is an exaggeration… You see; you see what I did there?!

Yes, ban the word "hyperbole", whenever I see that word on these boards it comes off as pretentious twatness.

 

[Choranzanus]

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?

Never underestimate the amount of mythology in Tolkien's novels.

Well, I am somewhat biased, because some of the most important persons in Czech mythology are half elves, in fact. But in european mythology as a whole most wizards have nonhuman heritage and fey heritage is by far the most common, so they are in fact quite common (that is not to say they are all wizards but most of them I think are). Of course you do not find them under labels like half elves because they are all unique and not a proper race as such, althought they share many traits.

In my campaign I have elves and half-elves as humans with variuos amounts of fey blood. Half-elves are thus more common than elves. Unfortunately, racial cultural traits in 3.5 do not really support this very well. 3.5 elves do not seem very fey blooded to me.

 

[Rel]

twatness.

Steely Dan, please don't say twatness like I did in this post.

Twice.

 

[Nifft]

The ones in the middle aren't sitting on the fence though. They're not indifferent. They like one and dislike the other. You can't count them out.

You're wrong. I like Tieflings and am indifferent to Dragonborn.

What option should I have chosen instead?

Cheers, -- N

 

[williamhm]

Im going to ask the people who think tieflings and dragonborn should not be core one question. Why? Why should they not be core? Just because tolkien did not have them?