How much is too much (Race Bloat)

[prosfilaes]

If I wanted to remove race bloat in a Star Trek RPG, I'd get rid of all the people in funny suits -- I'd reskin Klingons into a human warrior culture, Ferengi into merchant guild members, Vulcans into logical monks, and Romulans into a post-modern Roman empire. But this would mean killing sacred cows and inciting much trekkie rage.

You describe it as killing sacred cows, but you're not playing Star Trek then. If you want to play one of the Star Trek RPGs for a non-Star Trek setting, I'm sure no one would object.

In all fairness, I don't think D&D ever offered compelling human translations of elves, dwarves, halflings, etc. If it did, perhaps we'd know best if people really want to play elves or just want humans with the mechanical benefits of elves.

Is it that hard of a question? Yes, there's people who want the mechanical benefits of elves. There's people who play elves because they like elves. And there's people in between. Personally, I like small and large characters; you can provide whatever mechanical benefits for humans you like, but unless they're 3 feet or 10 feet tall, they're not going to scratch that need.

 

[LurkAway]

You describe it as killing sacred cows, but you're not playing Star Trek then.

Sure, although I can imagine a conversation like "You describe it as killing sacred cows, but you're not playing D&D then" in reference to the transition from 3E to 4E, and presumably 4E to 5E. And so it goes...

 

[Glade Riven]

Eh, depends on what type of campaign, too - plenty of TOS episodes where the only humanoid alien in the show was Spock, and he's still half human. Many of the "nose ridge" aliens were vaguely reskinned humans, anyways.