Fantasy Races and Originality

[Turjan]

I find that on the issue of fantasy races, D&D fans seem to be particularly set in their ways. New races are greeted with hostility and suspicion among a seemingly large body of the D&D crowd.

Which is a shame, I think. There are lots of neat concepts to explore.

It depends. I think that nobody needs more of the same. The niches of tribal brutes, snotty wood dwellers, gruff miners and devious chthonians are in firm hands, and some of them in several different hands. We could extend the concepts to tribal wood dwellers, snotty chthonians and so on, but we'll notice that we can fill up most categories with elf subraces alone. Actually, we can fill up most categories with subraces of each and every main D&D PC race (or classic "evil" races that get the same treatment, like goblins, kobolds and orcs). On a first glimpse, this looks like more options. If you look closely at this, you'll see that this treatment waters archetypes down and makes everything the same. In the world of endless subraces, we end up with endless sameness.

That's where the "new races" step in. Now, we get a monster or class ability slapped on a base race, together with a completely new name. Great. I acknowledge that some of the new races are viable and unique enough concepts, like warforged. Their "base monster", the construct, doesn't really get anything taken away, because it was a weak concept without much life of its own. This works fine, most other attempts don't. IMHO, of course .

 

[Turjan]

It seems to me that D&D ends up as an uncomfortable hybrid of sci-fi and mythology in terms of how it treats races. You've advocated going full-bore mythological non-scientific, but an interesting case could be made for going the other way (which is where I'm currently leaning). Getting rid of the magicallity (maybe simply magic would be right word here?) of the races and exploring themes like: what would it have been like to have two races of "humans" vying for dominance of the planet, ala the coexistence of Homo sapiens and Homo neanderthalis in Europe? Or, what if humans had been bred by some other race in the same manner that we have bred dogs, cats, horses, cattle, etc. into fairly divergent forms to fulfill specific roles? You can be a bit more exacting about the genetics and heredity and what it means.

These are all interesting concepts, although I don't mind the sci-fi and mythology mix. I use both of those examples in certain ways in my homebrew, though not in the "pure" form that you suggested .

 

[kenobi65]

One thing I did, and while I am certain its not original but I found quite enjoyable was to make the only major known "evil races" to be cursed versions of the normal ones. A great chasm had been found and the first orcs were formed from dead humans tossed into it. When an Orc Chieftain and Orc shaman work a special ritual they can create a Breeding Pit. Living humans who are dropped in come out as Barbarian classed orcs and recently dead humans come out as warrior classed orcs. Halflings become goblins (they are always thrown in dead because orcs consider halfling eyes and hearts a delicacy), and elves were special. Legends say that only 1 elf was ever thrown in and it came out as the first Troll. Every time a troll is cut down if not all significant pieces are burned the remnants will grow into new trolls. Those are a few things I have done.

Sounds interesting...though your suspicion is right, it's not original. If you read Tolkien's "The Silmarillion", you'll learn that the deity Morgoth created orcs in the First Age of Middle-Earth by capturing elves, then warping them in his breeding pits.

 

[kenobi65]

The Arcanis setting is another example of taking what, on the surface, look to be the standard D&D races, and developing them into something much more. A lot of that development has to do with the designers coming up with interesting, rich backgrounds for each race.

Elves are called Elorii, and they are the children of a group of elemental gods (most of whom were killed by the humans' gods). Each sub-race has certain abilities based on which element they favor. They are theoretically immortal, get taller as they get older, and boy, do they have a chip on their shoulders over this whole our-gods-got-killed thing.

Dwarves used to a race of giants, and were tasked by the gods to serve mankind. When they messed up, the gods cursed them, and made them short (among many other things). There are several different clans of dwarves, each of which strive to redeem themselves in the eyes of the gods in different ways.

Gnomes are even more cursed, as they are the offspring of a dwarf / human union. They tend to be stunted and deformed.

There aren't any halflings in the setting...apparently, there *used* to be a halfling race, and they were powerful psionicists, but they got wiped out by another empire.

There are also half-orcs, and half-hobgoblins.

Vals are sort of like aasimar...they have celestials in their bloodline, and serve the role that the dwarves used to (though many argue that the Vals, too, have been negligent in this duty, and are overdue for a dwarf-style butt-whuppin'). There are numerous Val bloodlines, each based on which Valinar (celestial) founded the bloodline, and which god that Valinar serves.

Dark-kin are sort of like tieflings, and are generally very distrusted, due to their infernal taint. However, that taint does give them certain powers.

Even the humans have numerous, well-detailed cultures.

 

[Turjan]

Even the humans have numerous, well-detailed cultures.

Why the "even"? This is the standard. Humans have numerous, well-detailed cultures. Non-human cultures are defined by (sub)race.

 

[Greg K]

What interests me is culture, not race.

Same here.

One of my biggest disappointments with WOTC has been that they have paid little to no attention (at least in their non-setting stuff) to addressing difference among humans from different cultures or enviroment in terms of access to certain skills, armor, weapons. Unlike in previous editions, there is nothing in the Barbarian class to reflect barbarians of different enviroments (jungle, plains, etc.). The DMG, despite having subraces for the nonhumans, has nothing about creating cultural differences for humans. Even the Unearthed Arcana which discussed non-human variants for various enviroments did not address how humans from different enviroments might differ by limiting or granting certain skills, feats, armor, weapons, etc. Its as if every race can have cultural or environmental variety except humans.

 

[Eosin the Red]

I beleive the answer is in the depth of your creation rather than the originality. There is a reason that we continually return to archtypes and a reason that they are so appealing. Sci-fi uses it as well - Vulcan & Mimbari are just elves in space.

So the real question to ask yourself is "How do I give the race some soul." Writing ~ "Elves are cool and live in the forest. They look cool. Elves are awesome but detached from the concerns of mortal realms." ~ is not including elves in your world, it is shorthanding the collective knowledge of elves in a cliche rather than putting some thought into them. That doesn't mean that they need to be different, it means that they need to be evocative and elves/dwarves/orcs are exactly that when when done correctly.

 

[Turjan]

Its as if every race can have cultural or environmental variety except humans.

It is funny that we come to completely opposite conclusions, because I basically said that it's funny that in D&D humans are the only race that can have cultural variety .

I suppose that we just point out that humans and "demihumans" are treated mechanically different in this regard. Humans are more painted like real world humans: they have a vast range of different cultures, and that is what makes them different and unique. Opposite to this, for every small cultural twist in demihumans, a new subrace is born. That's how you end up with gully dwarves...

 

[Turjan]

That doesn't mean that they need to be different, it means that they need to be evocative and elves/dwarves/orcs are exactly that when when done correctly.

I think I can subscribe to this point. No matter whether the race is traditional or new, it has to be evocative beyond a one line description.

 

[kenobi65]

Why the "even"? This is the standard. Humans have numerous, well-detailed cultures. Non-human cultures are defined by (sub)race.

Yeah, poor choice of words. Should have said, "The humans, too, have cultures that are equally well-detailed."