How many races is too many for you DM's out there? (Let's leave sub-races out of it for now.)
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So how many races are we looking at for everyone else and their worlds?
(Didn't read the entire thread) So, I voted for 11-12. I like having a limited mix b/c I wanted to delve into the culture of each race, which requires some time and effort to world build in my homebrew. My approach is slightly different too. The player choices of race highly impact which ones exist in the setting. For example, no player chose to be a Dragonborn, so at this point, they don't exist (and aren't part of the dozen or so races that are the main population of the setting).
I initially limited races to the traditional ones* but excluded Volo's. So, out of the 7 available, some players chose Elf (Wood), Gnome, Halfling and Human. Then one player asked if she could be a drow, and though it would come from an authorized source, I did have to think about it. And another player asked to be a Genasi, which again, I didn't rule out but didn't really anticipate it. I eventually said yes to both and am glad I did, b/c they brought a whole new dimension to the campaign.
That dimension solidified as the group composition changed. The player playing the human PC dropped, leaving the entire party as demi-humans. In fact, the new player asked if he could be an orc (though he was fine with being a half-orc). So, I said, "why not?" and went for it.
My conception of the world was the typical human-centric setting, but player choices (which I allowed) dramatically changed that. Now we're excited to explore this "other side".
* Dwarf, Elf, Gnome, Half-Elf, Half-Orc, Halfling, Human.