Does anyone else never play humans?
- Thread starter Gnome
- Start date
The Shaman
First Post
Absotively.Zappo said:
I like gnomes and lizardfolk, but far more often than not I play a human character.
Sejs
First Post
I tend to default to human or near-human (half-elf, half-orc, shifter, changeling, planetouched) characters unless the character concept calls for something of a different race, mainly because I don't have to do much in the way of mental acrobatics to get myself in the mindset of those characters.
To put it another way, unless I feel I can portray the non-human character in a manner and with a mindset that is appropriate to their outlook, I don't play them. If I play an elf in the same manner and with the same approach as just a human with some different stat mods I feel like I'm doing it wrong.
And if I'm not going to do it right, I'm not going to do it because I'll find it a lot less fun to do.
To put it another way, unless I feel I can portray the non-human character in a manner and with a mindset that is appropriate to their outlook, I don't play them. If I play an elf in the same manner and with the same approach as just a human with some different stat mods I feel like I'm doing it wrong.
And if I'm not going to do it right, I'm not going to do it because I'll find it a lot less fun to do.
Kristivas
First Post
I always play humans, except in Eberron.. where I madea WF Psychic Warrior.
But, more often than not, yeah.. humans rule. Extra feat, extra skills.. what's not to love? Low light vision? Dark vision? HA! There's ALWAYS gonna be some humans in the game, so someone's gonna break out a torch or cast light. +2 dex? Well -2 con! So, in the end, I don't care much for demihumans, save for dwarves. Playing a dwarf is just fun.
If I had to pick a core-races demihuman, I'd go dwarf. Much better to be a Dwarven Fighter with a musket than an Elven fighter with a bow! Arrows are for sissies!
But, more often than not, yeah.. humans rule. Extra feat, extra skills.. what's not to love? Low light vision? Dark vision? HA! There's ALWAYS gonna be some humans in the game, so someone's gonna break out a torch or cast light. +2 dex? Well -2 con! So, in the end, I don't care much for demihumans, save for dwarves. Playing a dwarf is just fun.
If I had to pick a core-races demihuman, I'd go dwarf. Much better to be a Dwarven Fighter with a musket than an Elven fighter with a bow! Arrows are for sissies!
Angel Tarragon
Dawn Dragon
I do enjoy playing humans, but I also enjoy playing against type. It is a challenge.
BroccoliRage
First Post
Gnome said:
back when i first started playing (im almost always DM) my players showed that problem. i fixed it pretty quickly. first off, racism is a huge issue in my game. secondly i did away with racial adjustments (i play oldschool D&D). if a character is bland its the players fault. in my own campaign, humans are the most wide spread race, so seeing things like elves and gnomes is going to draw a variety of reactions, seeing as your average commoner is not well traveled.
i did away with racial adjustments because who says you arent a clumsy elf or a weak dwarf. there should be a myriad of reasons why a character chooses to be an adventurer, and why cant any of those be because they are a misfit? the elf who isnt any6 good at agile games proves himself as a great warrior or wizard, the dwarf who has no interest in mining becomes a noteworthy mage, all of these accomplishments driven by personal setbacks and a desire to show up those who ridiculed them and to conquer personal demons and to ultimately be unlikely heroes. it all boils down to personal preference. its annoying when every character is a damn elf....especially when the d&d conception of elves comes from tolkein (obviously) and his elves were rather high minded and thought alot of themselves. and here comes this elven party into a human settlement....
Shemeska
Adventurer
My last two characters were a human wizard and a tiefling monk. Looking back at PCs I've played, and it's been over two years since I actually played in anything more than a oneshot, I'm probably about 60/40 in terms of non human versus human PCs. The longest term one was a human, but to be honest, the one I'd like to pick up on again was that tiefling.
As it's been said, there are no bland character races, only bland characters. I do appreciate the plot hooks inherent in planetouched characters though, and just some of the flavor you can get with non game mechanic involved physical attributes present from whatever contributed to their planetouched heritage.
As it's been said, there are no bland character races, only bland characters. I do appreciate the plot hooks inherent in planetouched characters though, and just some of the flavor you can get with non game mechanic involved physical attributes present from whatever contributed to their planetouched heritage.
mhacdebhandia
Explorer
Most of my characters have been human - though I'm proud that my completely racially mundane human sorcerer was one of the strangest and most disturbing members of the party in the Planescape game which was my introduction to Third Edition, because he became an alienist. Beating out a half-fiend githyanki who became a lich, a werefox, a minotaur, a half-fiend, a half-celestial, a githzerai dragonfighter and a rogue modron psion in the weirdness stakes was no mean feat.
I tend to play human characters for a few reasons. First, I've rarely been inspired to play characters whose concept required being from a nonhuman race - in the example above, my alienist wouldn't have been more interesting if he had been an elf or a gnome, so I wouldn't have seen the point of taking a nonhuman race even if I hadn't had the motivation to be different by playing a normal human.
Second, most of the nonhuman races available in games I've played have been pretty dull. I'm not jazzed about core D&D's treatment of elves, dwarves, halflings, et cetera; I think the Eberron treatment gives them an interesting twist that I could get into, but no-one's running Eberron in my gaming circle (and I'm the most likely to do so).
Third, often I just find myself playing in games where humans are the only option - such as the d20 Wheel of Time campaign I played in. Similarly, Hong's "Britannia 3E" game had some nonhuman races, but they tended to be very close to humans - the main option being one of several varieties of spirit folk - which kind of makes the point of playing one disappear.
That said, I have played my share of nonhuman PCs. In a brief Forgotten Realms campaign designed around the idea that everyone in the party would have at least +3 Level Adjustments, I played a grey orc with the blooded template; in an even briefer and very canon-light Spelljammer campaign I played what amounted to an Oriental Adventures Rokugan-style naga; I'd love to play a warforged if anyone ever runs an Eberron campaign I can play in.
I tend to play human characters for a few reasons. First, I've rarely been inspired to play characters whose concept required being from a nonhuman race - in the example above, my alienist wouldn't have been more interesting if he had been an elf or a gnome, so I wouldn't have seen the point of taking a nonhuman race even if I hadn't had the motivation to be different by playing a normal human.
Second, most of the nonhuman races available in games I've played have been pretty dull. I'm not jazzed about core D&D's treatment of elves, dwarves, halflings, et cetera; I think the Eberron treatment gives them an interesting twist that I could get into, but no-one's running Eberron in my gaming circle (and I'm the most likely to do so).
Third, often I just find myself playing in games where humans are the only option - such as the d20 Wheel of Time campaign I played in. Similarly, Hong's "Britannia 3E" game had some nonhuman races, but they tended to be very close to humans - the main option being one of several varieties of spirit folk - which kind of makes the point of playing one disappear.
That said, I have played my share of nonhuman PCs. In a brief Forgotten Realms campaign designed around the idea that everyone in the party would have at least +3 Level Adjustments, I played a grey orc with the blooded template; in an even briefer and very canon-light Spelljammer campaign I played what amounted to an Oriental Adventures Rokugan-style naga; I'd love to play a warforged if anyone ever runs an Eberron campaign I can play in.
Back when 1e first came out I figured that Half-Elves would allow me to play the type of character I wanted to, or as close as D&D let me. As I stuck with that type of character for quite some time I got into the habit of playing Half-Elves most of the time, even when we weren't playing D&D. It wasn't until 3.x that the extra Feat and skill points broke the habit. (Well, partially, anyway. And it took awhile.)
