Does anyone else never play humans?

[pogre]

Does anyone else never or almost never play humans?

My wife never plays humans - refuses to. She claims it's not fantasy if you are playing a human.

 

[Truth Seeker]

That sounds correct.

My wife never plays humans - refuses to. She claims it's not fantasy if you are playing a human.

 

[interwyrm]

I was of the opinion that in most worthwhile fantasy the protagonist is human. Basically, pointy ears or beards are gimmicks. It's like... in star trek, all the aliens are humans with funny makeup and an exaggerated characteristic personality trait.

In my opinion, good fantasy is fantasy which takes realistically believable characters and forces them to make realistically believable decisions in an environment that is not realistic at all.

The reason is basically that if I am trying to get involved in a story, I do not care about characters I cannot relate to. The ancient and noble race that is perfect in every way and has pointy ears does not interest me. Humans are interesting because they are short lived. They have to deal with mortality. They have a time-scale that they are racing against. I mean, what does a human wizard do... he rapidly assesses knowledge over a short period of time and uses it, typically, to try to cheat his own mortality. That is interesting. The 1000 year old elf who just, I dunno, happened to pick up tidbits of magical knowledge along the way because he could is really dull. The other reason humans are more interesting is because they don't have a 'favored class.' I mean, an elven wizard, a dwarven fighter, a halfling rogue... those are all tired concepts. It goes even further than that though... elven rangers/archers and dwarven clerics are also tired.

Let me clarify - stories are interesting because the characters overcome problems. If characters don'to have problems, they don't have an interesting story.

 

[interwyrm]

On a more personal note -
My hat of elevs know no limit.

 

[Kid Socrates]

I tend to play humans. I have, in my gaming life, played a half-fire elemental sorcerer, dwarven paladin, and elven fighter in nonhuman games. My next character will be a gnome if the mood is right, mostly because I've never played one. I also would like to play a Warcraft-style Orc.

Humans are easier to define, roleplay, and get attached to in my mind. I'm trying to shake that, and broaden my horizons. DMing more is helping that. Oddly enough, so is World of Warcraft.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

I'm with lastalas...I tend to feel, when playing a non-human, and especially as I'm just starting out, without having had a chance to define the character in play, that I'm either settling into the stereotype ("Yeah, he's dour and taciturn. He's a dwarf.") or else conspiciously bucking the stereotype ("Hey, everyone, look at *this* dwarf! He's flighty and flamboyant!").

Ok, obviously that's a gross oversimplification, and it's plenty avoidable, but it does seem to me that in most settings, every race but human has a "built-in" culture, whereas humans are more or less free (again depending on the setting) to choose a culture as they see fit.

Not an iron rule, and obviously a bit of creativity can make an interesting and nuanced character of any race (though everyone enjoys a taciturn dwarf every now and then), but I do think it's a point worth making that there's a sort of conflation of race and culture in the core rules (and most settings) that can feel a bit limiting at times.

Quoted for truth. I usually play humans unless the setting offers an interesting option for something else that won't work with human (in Arcanis, for instance, I'm playing a Val) or the stat-mods and special benefits offer a unique challenge or option. (As an example of the latter, I'm playing a multiclassed halfling paladin, and a wood elf ranger in Greyhawk--the first falls under interesting mechanical challenge and the second mechanical advantage). If I play a non-human, in general, the non-human element is disguised by a different aspect of the character (for instance, an alienist is crazy whether he's a human, a dwarf or an elf) or is limited by the playing to type/"look at me, I'm DIFFERENT" dichotomy.

In 2.0, of course, I usually played elves and half-elves because the mechanical advantage was big enough that it was worth it and I was less concerned about character. (I used bladesinger and elven warmage kits (with the bladesong fighting style of course) too. I should be ashamed).

 

[BroccoliRage]

I was of the opinion that in most worthwhile fantasy the protagonist is human. Basically, pointy ears or beards are gimmicks. It's like... in star trek, all the aliens are humans with funny makeup and an exaggerated characteristic personality trait.

In my opinion, good fantasy is fantasy which takes realistically believable characters and forces them to make realistically believable decisions in an environment that is not realistic at all.

The ancient and noble race that is perfect in every way and has pointy ears does not interest me. Humans are interesting because they are short lived. They have to deal with mortality. They have a time-scale that they are racing against. I mean, what does a human wizard do... he rapidly assesses knowledge over a short period of time and uses it, typically, to try to cheat his own mortality. That is interesting. The 1000 year old elf who just, I dunno, happened to pick up tidbits of magical knowledge along the way because he could is really dull. The other reason humans are more interesting is because they don't have a 'favored class.' I mean, an elven wizard, a dwarven fighter, a halfling rogue... those are all tired concepts. It goes even further than that though... elven rangers/archers and dwarven clerics are also tired.

Let me clarify - stories are interesting because the characters overcome problems. If characters don'to have problems, they don't have an interesting story.

im sorry, shortened your quote by a bit.

all the greatest fantasy heroes have been humans, from aragorn to elric (melniboneans are an advanced but failing race of humans, read youre books) to the all the heroes of the narnia series to farfhnrd and the grey mouser. while nowadays its very fashionable to play nonhumans, most people do it because they think of d&d in terms of strategy and not role playing. i havent played a nonhuman in ages ( with the exception of my orc who i stripped of all special characteristics and played with the same stats as a human because i wanted to play an orc for an orc's sake). in the last week i went out and bought a third edition phb and dmg and i have to say that they have truly butchered the game and turned it into a rules lawyers' and strategists game and away from a a ROLEPLAYING game. not that a certain amount of strategy doesnt come into play, but your first level character is not going to be a master of tactics.

thats the problem, everyone invests so much in their characters. maybe its the growing onslaught of anime heroes who are all powerful, but i think the real culprit is that people have forgotten that Role playing is far more of a challenge and their characters are only sheets of paper.

alas....

 

[ydirbut]

On a more personal note -
My hat of elevs know no limit.

Preach It, Brother.