D&D General how did we end up with the thousand types of Bruiser?

[Seramus]

how did we end up with the thousand types of Bruiser?

One bruiser race for every elf subtype, that's why.

 

[BookTenTiger]

Bruisers look better in the annual Handsome Hunks of D&D Calendar WotC puts out than skinny elves and halflings.

 

[Mind of tempest]

Because we also have plenty of twiddly fingered magic users or hyper dextrous acrobats? If you cared enough (I don't) to add up all the races and sub races that fall into different categories I think you'd have far more that fall outside of the bruiser class than in.

It's just one archetype, there are only so many.

we will get to them latter.

WotC's been leaving it to you to do something with them in your own campaign. If you choose not to... if you are just sitting back waiting for WotC to do the work for you... that's not WotC's problem.

Giving a half-dozen racial stats in a book so that someone could play a race they wanted is one of the easiest things WotC could do. So they do it. Whether or not you think more should be written about it is on you to do so for your game.

okay, what have you done with them? as aside from a block of stats they often lack hooks to expand on or subvert.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

we will get to them latter.


okay, what have you done with them? as aside from a block of stats they often lack hooks to expand on or subvert.

Why would you expect them to be used? D&D probably has accreted around a hundred PC races and subraces, that are there for players to use if they want to, or, statistically far more probable, not use.

There is a minotaur crewman on the Dawn Treader. He doesn't do anything apart from stand in the background and haul on a few ropes. the swashbuckling mouse gets far more to do.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

how did we end up with the thousand types of Bruiser?
we have dwarves, orcs and family, minotaurs, Dragonborn and whatever Goliath are plus whatever we had it past editions
why do we seem to end up with some many bulky folks made only to mash things?
what is the point each one has to set it apart from the others?
why even have more than one of these per setting?

let the discussion commence!

I think it's pretty clearly a result of the fiction. Different fiction has different bruisers, but people want to be specific ones. The same person who wants to be a Dragonborn, probably doesn't want to be a Minotaur or a Goliath. I've seen this in my own group - we have one guy who usually plays this kind of race. He absolutely play a Goliath. He will absolutely play a Minotaur. He would not play a Dragonborn if you put a gun to his head, nor an Orc or Half-Orc. Whereas another player, and I am not kidding or exaggerating for effect or whatever, has played several Dragonborn, and both an Orc and a Half-Orc, but would never play a Goliath, and sneers at Minotaurs (or indeed anything with horns).

So they appeal to different players.

Also it's a really common fantasy, and a really common thing IN fantasy writing and games.

Small people are rarer, and get played a lot less - you can see this very easily in video games. Even where the stats of characters make almost no difference or there's actually no stat-size linkage in a game, the small races are nowhere near as popular as the big bruisers. And the most popular races always, without fail, the humans and elves (and things in that general zone). Devil-people are also typically pretty popular, and a lot more popular than the small guys.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Am I the only one who doesn't see Dwarves or dragonborn as 'bruisers'?

Tanks certainly, they can take punishment, but I put that in a different category than Smashzilla. The dwarf stereotype is Cleric OR fighter and dragonborn are paladins.

As for the other examples, they all bring something different to the table, IMO.

The half-orc is a carboard stand-in for actual orcs; they're the ISO standard 'fringe of society but part of it' tough guy. They're your bouncers, the hired goons, etc.

the minotaur, depending on where you hopped on to minos as a race, is the balance of beast and brain. They can be highly honorable MtG minos, or bestial guardians. Usually their strength is used not for offense but defense.

Goliaths tend toward Green Scar Hulk expies. Strong, bright enough to not be feral, and apart from society. They've become more iconic of the cultural barbarian.

A lot of others; half-giants, half-ogres, have all been basically prototypes for Goliaths that never caught on as well as they did for various reasons.

 

[Democratus]

Because D&D is trying to be more like Star Wars, with dozens of exotic races to give the world more of a cosmopolitan and fantastical feel.

 

[Mind of tempest]

I think it's pretty clearly a result of the fiction. Different fiction has different bruisers, but people want to be specific ones. The same person who wants to be a Dragonborn, probably doesn't want to be a Minotaur or a Goliath. I've seen this in my own group - we have one guy who usually plays this kind of race. He absolutely play a Goliath. He will absolutely play a Minotaur. He would not play a Dragonborn if you put a gun to his head, nor an Orc or Half-Orc. Whereas another player, and I am not kidding or exaggerating for effect or whatever, has played several Dragonborn, and both an Orc and a Half-Orc, but would never play a Goliath, and sneers at Minotaurs (or indeed anything with horns).

So they appeal to different players.

Also it's a really common fantasy, and a really common thing IN fantasy writing and games.

Small people are rarer, and get played a lot less - you can see this very easily in video games. Even where the stats of characters make almost no difference or there's actually no stat-size linkage in a game, the small races are nowhere near as popular as the big bruisers. And the most popular races always, without fail, the humans and elves (and things in that general zone). Devil-people are also typically pretty popular, and a lot more popular than the small guys.

you got any idea what the odd behaviour is over? if not could you ask them it is likely slightly interesting?

 

[Vaalingrade]

IME, there are different kinds of Strongliness.

Do you want to the Arnie, all super-ripped and throwing pipes through smarmy jerks?

Do you want to be Bruce Lee, wirey but with enough force to shatter a man with a one-inch punch?

Do you want to be the Hulk, whose claps can blow holes in buildings?

Do you want to be Captain America; all around 'strong' but no extreme in any one category who can leap higher than a normal man but can lift and throw a mini cooper at best?

Hell -- do you want to be also a dragon-man or also Grog Strongjaw just in an aesthetic sense?

The reason we have so many... anything races in D&D is because there's a vast range of preference beside just being able to break the bat over your knee or burgle dragons.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Am I the only one who doesn't see Dwarves or dragonborn as 'bruisers'?

No.

Sometimes they are, just like sometimes humans are, but they aren't as obvious candidates for "the big guy" as a half orc, bugbear, goliath, wookiee or minotaur.

A lot of others; half-giants, half-ogres, have all been basically prototypes for Goliaths that never caught on as well as they did for various reasons.

I played a half ogre back in 1st edition days.