Least Favorite (Core) D&D Race

[Leif]

And the only reason most people play dragonborn in 4e is because they are statistically the best race for paladins/warlords.

Another reason is the utter NOVELTY of the Dragonborn at the moment. This is still a brand new race, at least for most of us. I'm not comfortable hating something until I have fully experienced it and had an up close and personal view of just how bad and foolish it is. This was my motivation to make my first (and probably last) dragonborn character.

 

[Mercule]

It looks like the Professor still casts a long shadow. Middle Earth ftw?

Naw. It's in the implementation.

I'm good with lizard people in my game. Just not ones that have breath weapons, nurse their young, and lack tails. Seriously, who actually approved that "Ecology of the Dragonborn" article. Better question: Didn't anyone say, "Guys, we're talking about bipedal iguanas -- with breasts?"

The concept of tieflings is more or less okay, too. I'm not totally cool with demon spawn in the PHB, but I don't mind the idea as a high 2nd tier playable race. But, the enormous horns and the thick tail are ridiculous. Make them more like the 3e tieflings in appearance.

I'm also baffled at the removal of gnomes, but retaining halflings. Halflings have never had a viable schtick in any of their many incarnations. Granted, gnomes don't have much of one, but it's impossible for any race to have less of a role than halflings.

Maybe I should have voted half-elf, though. First, I'm simply tired of half-breeds as core races, which is pretty self-explanatory. Second, the half-elf's new schtick doesn't even make sense. They live at the edges of two societies, not really fitting in to either one -- so everybody is more likely to think well of them. WTF? What next -- dwarves who are stout and hard to move, so they get a bonus to dexterity?

Give me lizardfolk, hobgoblins, goblins, shadar-kai, and shifters. You can keep half the Tolkien crap and all of the lactating lizards.

 

[The Little Raven]

Better question: Didn't anyone say, "Guys, we're talking about bipedal iguanas -- with breasts?"

Maybe you missed it, but dragons (and dragonborn) aren't lizards or reptiles. Thus, any judgment based on "but reptiles/lizards aren't like that!" doesn't apply.

But, the enormous horns and the thick tail are ridiculous.

Yeah, the tail strikes me as... odd.

Make them more like the 3e tieflings in appearance.

I don't see why one race should have near-unlimited appearance options when others do not.

I'm also baffled at the removal of gnomes, but retaining halflings. Halflings have never had a viable schtick in any of their many incarnations. Granted, gnomes don't have much of one, but it's impossible for any race to have less of a role than halflings.

"You are the burglar. Go and burgle something."

Halflings, like it or not, are a fantasy icon in a way that gnomes haven't been: serious heroes capable of overcoming innate limitations (size), rather than just comic relief (which is what the majority of gnomes are used for in fiction).

First, I'm simply tired of half-breeds as core races, which is pretty self-explanatory.

Half-races bug me, too. I'd prefer a half-breed system to allow people to create their own half-breeds, rather than having a "race" composed of half-breeds.

They live at the edges of two societies, not really fitting in to either one -- so everybody is more likely to think well of them.

I think it's the fact that living between two worlds (elf and human) causes them to have to develop stronger social skills.

 

[Mercule]

Maybe you missed it, but dragons (and dragonborn) aren't lizards or reptiles. Thus, any judgment based on "but reptiles/lizards aren't like that!" doesn't apply.

Actually, the judgment is still valid.

They are reptilian in appearance. They are also entirely imaginary. In "Races and Classes", WotC stated that one of the reasons for the brand new dragonborn race was because there were lots of lizardfolk and similar races and they wanted to ditch the baggage while making a lizard-like race core. Even barring that statement, dragonborn fill a niche that is alien and inhuman. I'll grant that lizards with mammaries are definitely alien, it's not really the sort of alien I was looking for -- it's more bukkake alien, which isn't a good thing.

The entire "but they aren't reptiles" argument really comes off as a kind of whiny "because I said so" thing. The fact that there was a section in the ecology article justifying it is just... creepy.

WotC and anyone else who cares can write tomes about the biology of the dragonborn and how it's okay for them to wear chainmail bikinis because they aren't really reptiles. It kind of a moot point, though. They look like reptiles. That means that giving them breasts calls way more attention to the sex organs of imaginary pseudo-lizards than I am even remotely comfortable giving.

I have a feeling that, somewhere down the road, we'll hear something like the Redgar story where the concept was done one way, but someone in marketing/management forcibly over-ruled it. I really think that someone at WotC sat down and decided that drawings of cosmetically reptilian females would attract a more significant market segment if they could be hung with cheesecake. That is just plain sick.

 

[Umbran]

Leif just got himself banned from this thread (not the boards, just this thread) for edition war style trolling.

Do not engage in blanket "Your edition sucks, mine rules" kind of stuff, folks. We've given everyone sufficient warning - do not expect it to be tolerated.

 

[Jonathan Drain]

It's the Tieflings I don't like. I loved them in third edition, but the new art style makes them look ugly and monstrous. One of the pictures shows a tiefling fighting a half-orc, and I've no idea which one is supposed to be "the good guy".

 

[Da'Shain]

The half-races rub me the wrong way as well. I picked Half-orc (because half-elves at least have Tanis as a redeeming character), but anything that can't propagate itself seems rather ridiculous to count as a race. Obviously the half-races can breed, but their child isn't going to be another half-whatever; they'll be a half-half-whatever, and so on. I'd be all for eliminating them, and then having rules for crossbreeding the races show up in the DMG so that the DM can tailor a halfbreed for their players if necessary, but they aren't immediately playable. In other words, barely anyone would look at the PHB and say "these races both look good, I want to play a cross between them" compared to the amount of people who look in there and say "the half-whatever looks good, I'll play that".

Halflings are not included in this because they're their own race. I don't mind them so much, although sometimes they are a bit bland. They're basically just small humans, IMO.

Dragonborn are also a bit too gimmicky for me. At least the writers were honest about it being for people who want to play dragons, though.

 

[username_]

Tieflings. Dragonborn are a little weird, but I'll get used to it. The idea of tailed, horned humanoids running around is just annoying though. I wouldn't have any problem with them if they didn't have tails and horns.

I think in my campaign I'm just gonna say "tieflings don't have tails or horns."

 

[The Little Raven]

They are reptilian in appearance. They are also entirely imaginary.

Neither of which makes them a reptile, as they are neither cold-blooded or a tetrapod (two necessary traits to be a reptile).

In "Races and Classes", WotC stated that one of the reasons for the brand new dragonborn race was because there were lots of lizardfolk and similar races and they wanted to ditch the baggage while making a lizard-like race core.

No, they said that the dragonborn were there because of the amount of dragon-races in 3rd (half-dragons, Dragon Discipline, kobolds, late edition Dragonborn, etc), not Lizardfolk, and the fact that people want to play dragons.

I'll grant that lizards with mammaries are definitely alien, it's not really the sort of alien I was looking for -- it's more bukkake alien, which isn't a good thing.

Then it's a good thing they aren't reptiles.

The entire "but they aren't reptiles" argument really comes off as a kind of whiny "because I said so" thing.

The continued claim that they're reptiles when they're explicitly not reptiles just comes off as you wanting to ignore facts that don't support your pre-conceived notion.

They look like reptiles.

Apparently, so did a lot of dinosaurs, but they weren't all reptiles. Looking like a reptile doesn't make you one if you lack the necessary traits to categorized as a reptile.

I really think that someone at WotC sat down and decided that drawings of cosmetically reptilian females would attract a more significant market segment if they could be hung with cheesecake.

Or they simply elected to use the same kind of sexual dimorphism that they use for every other race in the game.

That is just plain sick.

I think the fact that you're fixated on wanting to believe this, and ignoring all facts to the contrary, is far more sick.

 

[Brennin Magalus]

Neither of which makes them a reptile, as they are neither cold-blooded or a tetrapod (two necessary traits to be a reptile).



No, they said that the dragonborn were there because of the amount of dragon-races in 3rd (half-dragons, Dragon Discipline, kobolds, late edition Dragonborn, etc), not Lizardfolk, and the fact that people want to play dragons.



Then it's a good thing they aren't reptiles.



The continued claim that they're reptiles when they're explicitly not reptiles just comes off as you wanting to ignore facts that don't support your pre-conceived notion.



Apparently, so did a lot of dinosaurs, but they weren't all reptiles. Looking like a reptile doesn't make you one if you lack the necessary traits to categorized as a reptile.



Or they simply elected to use the same kind of sexual dimorphism that they use for every other race in the game.



I think the fact that you're fixated on wanting to believe this, and ignoring all facts to the contrary, is far more sick.

Good fantasy is not completely divorced from reality. Dragonboobs are a fine example of bad fantasy.