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Message: <blockquote data-quote="LazarusKane" data-source="post: 9693967" data-attributes="member: 49324">Allmost all people in fiction don't exist and authors invent them, perspectives and all - and all fictional characters are reductive. (Good) Writers may be thoroughly investigating topics they don't know but ultimatively it's all made up. A male writer could for example interview one hundred females so the female characters he invented feel real in their actions and the way they talk and feel - or he could only use sexistic stereotypes. But both aproaches will result in a difference between the female and the male characters in his story.Or someone can dislike the elves a writer uses in his work and love the elves in another writers stories, but that means that both writers made the "species: elf" different from the "species: human" - except if the critique is "These elves are simply 'humans with pointy ears'" - like IMHO the characters in Ravenloft: Heir of Strahd.Yes, but's that's what I was saying to counter your "players in my experience do not care if they fight Orcs or Goblins or Haflings"/"(a)nd yet whenever the players faqce (sic) them, the reaction is pretty much the same regardless what they're facing - it's in my way and I kill it." Many evil? species have unique quirks. And I must disagree (again): tactics themselves do give enemies enough personality to step beyond being a simple obstacle.Simple example: Drow ambush you - or you ambush them; they take slaves so the heroes may have a second chance if they fail to defend the villagers; they flee if in danger and will leave their comrades behind.Orcs are more likely to attack openly with brute strength; they are not interested in puny humans and slaughter them all - or, if you want to be morbid: take females as slaves; they fight till the end.Hobgoblins? They raid the villagers - and let them live to raid the village again at a later time; they are disciplined, they will fight until they get the command to retreat and will try to save their comrades.These a three very basic templates for these species. Individual groups/individuals may act different - but then the players may not only know the difference between an "orc" and a "drow encounter", they will realize: "Hey, these are not your run of the mill orcs!"But that's my argument: I felt he manice of Whateverism so I disliked the cut of the modifiers. If a "species with +2 in the same stat will always feel the same" for you, how is it better when I can distribute modifiers completely freeform? And how is "I can take (sic) simple statblock for generic enemy and add abilities unique for specific species that players may recognize" working with "I don't need a whole "Hobgoblin Assassin has mechancis different from Orc Assassin" because players don't care"?!?</blockquote>

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