D&D 5E Human v. Dwarf FINALS!

[Cody C. Lewis]

I think what always makes me like playing humans is that when they grow into themselves to become powerful forces in the world, dangerous in their own right, they do it without being overly gifted.

This is less the statistical portion of D&D and more the world and lore. Elves carry some innate magical abilities and resistances and have a long life to develop them; dwarves have extended lives to train, natural abilities to see in the dark, and are attuned to the stone around them; Half-orcs may have social disadvantages in the world, but you cannot deny their physical prowess, or the ferocity to still be formidable even at the brink of death that their orc lineage grants them; etc etc.

Kind of like what makes Batman so great, he's just a man. No powers of flight, no super speed or ability to breathe underwater.

He is a badass. And yet he is still just a man.

 

[PnPgamer]

It would be horrifying to find out that actually this poll is what aliens use to decide what type of creature they will change mankind into.

 

[Salamandyr]

I go with human because everything else is the exaggeration of a human attribute. Depending on the author, they're either a way to criticize, laugh at, or celebrate humanity.

But one can do that just with humans.

We're people. We contain multitudes.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Voted Dwarf. It's so incredibly, stultifyingly boring to see Human as an option--because no matter how good or bad, no matter how interesting or boring, no matter how finely-crafted/overwrought/clumsy the story behind them, humans will be a massive plurality. The poll, last month, saw them garner over 2x as much support as the next-closest option, which itself was half-human anyway (half-elf).

When was the last time you saw a setting that intentionally averted "humans are the dominant form of life and everyone else is just hangers-on"? Even Mass Effect made humans extra special.

 

[Leugren]

Voted dwarf as well. Compared to dwarves, humans are all a buncha shandy-drinkin' poofters.

 

[Slit518]

Voted for the single most iconic fantasy race around, the DWARF!

Seriously, is there a fantasy franchise where dwarves aren't always recognizable as dwarves?

How about the Elder Scrolls? The Dwemer were a race that was supposed to be Dwarves. Yet, they were taller, and, their ancestry were related to Elves. Does that count?