D&D 5E PC races that a DM has specifically excluded from their campaign and why

[jdrakeh]

Honestly, for me, it depends entirely on the setting. For official D&D settings or settings by third parties built to accommodate all of the official D&D PC races, I don't ban any races. If I'm playing in a third party setting that assumes specific races, I will limit certain options most of the time. For example, if I'm playing in Robert Howard's Hyborian Age, you'll all be playing humans (or variant humans) by default.

 

[Zardnaar]

One campaign has no real restrictions. Another campaign has certain restrictions based on our DM's homebrew. I don't recall them all but I know that Gnomes are extinct, so none of them.

I'm getting ready to run a campaign using Midgard from Kobold Press. I'm planning on presenting a limited list of races for that campaign, mainly for a thematic purpose. There is a suggestion in that book to limit races depending on Geogrphical area and that's basically what I'm doing, to ensure a consistent theme. It's an Italian themed campaign featuring Humans, Half-Elves, Dwarves, Minotaurs & Tieflings. (Elves have retreated, gnomes and halflings, etc are not common in that region.) There might be one or two other races I'd have to check my notes.

That's how I use Midgard.

Different areas spotlight different races. I might let one person run a Traveller but I don't want a whole party of them.

The PCs get to pick what areas (or none) interest them.

 

[Grantypants]

Chaotic Good Human Ranger who has pledged his twin scimitars in opposition to the tyranny of his evil cousins?

Lol, only if he's extra angsty about it the whole time.

EDIT: Oh, hey, major +1 for all the people who treat worldbuilding as part of character building in Session 0.0-0.5. Generally, there's about seven unique lineages in the PHB, and I think a D&D world should have about twice that-- including "standard opposition"-- but there's no reason they have to be the same 7-14 in every single game. Let players whitelist and blacklist things on their own, see where it goes.

Hard Agree. Once everyone's chosen their races and classes, I always like to go around the table and have all the players establish something that explicitly does not exist on this particular world. Only rule is that it can't be something that someone else has already mentioned as part of their character or the basic premise. Then I have everyone add something new to the lore that does exist. Collaborative worldbuilding is the best.

 

[renbot]

I usually exclude some races from the world but only after the players have chosen their PC races. I don't see a reason to limit character choices but I also don't see the need for dozens and dozens of sentient humanoids with their own civilizations. After the players have decided on their races I say "okay nobody wants to play X,Y or Z? Then they don't exist in this world."

 

[The Green Hermit]

I typically exclude standard Dwarves from any setting that I create, because the stereotypical way 98% of all players play them is really goddamn annoying. (And it occurs to me that I don't use alignments for the exact same reason.)

I don't use alignments, because we've figured out that the players at my table are incapable of following them. Lol!

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

I've done a world that was Humans only because it was a 'mundane world' at the beginning. As things got weirder and 'the veil' was torn between realities, I was going to let them change races gradually as they were affected by the bleeding energies of the Wyld.

I never go that far enough in the campaign, though.

 

[FrozenNorth]

Any time I try to limit any player choice, whatever I'm limiting will be the very first thing the players ask for. Oh, Mr. DM, you want to run a low magic campaign with no core casters? Can I be the only warlock/wizard/sorcerer? (first three character pitches I received after stating I wanted a low magic game). Oh, Mr. DM, you want to run a Greyhawk game and have provided all sorts of background for the region? Yeah, I'm going to play an orc, a firbolg, a gnome, and two humans. Oh, Mr. DM, you want to run a Waterdeep Dragon Heist game? Ok, I'm going to play a sentient skeleton and a warforged.... sigh.

Step 1: Tell your players that you are running a gonzo campaign. They can be any race they want except humans, elves and dwarves. Explain that you feel that those races are overplayed and that you don’t think there are any new or interesting concepts for them.

Step 2: Wait for your players to show up with 3 humans, a dwarf and an elf.

Step3: Profit!!

 

[Hussar]

Step 1: Tell your players that you are running a gonzo campaign. They can be any race they want except humans, elves and dwarves. Explain that you feel that those races are overplayed and that you don’t think there are any new or interesting concepts for them.

Step 2: Wait for your players to show up with 3 humans, a dwarf and an elf.

Step3: Profit!!

That's been the standard joke. Next time I want to run Thule, I'm going to insist that everyone plays a full caster and they're not allowed to play humans. Should pretty much get what I want.

 

[FrozenNorth]

I tend to be pretty permissive with races. I will provide a list of races that are common to the area, and others that are uncommon. All other races are rare.

I do explain to my players that if they choose to play a rare race, they will probably have to be from elsewhere, and that because of this, their characters may be less “embedded” in the setting and therefore have fewer personalized campaign hooks.

I have on occasion restricted races that I believe are too strong mechanically.

 

[CleverNickName]

I usually exclude some races from the world but only after the players have chosen their PC races. I don't see a reason to limit character choices but I also don't see the need for dozens and dozens of sentient humanoids with their own civilizations. After the players have decided on their races I say "okay nobody wants to play X,Y or Z? Then they don't exist in this world."

This is the way to go. Everyone gets what they want, no conflict, no frustration.

 

[Bitbrain]

Reply to OP.

I excluded dwarves from my current dark sun campaign, as I wanted to emphasize the idea of muls being dwarvenkind’s heirs.

It goes without saying that my interpretation of muls can breed true.

 

[Norton]

In 5E that's Aaracokra and anything else that flies.

Aaracokra and anything else that flies. I might allow it if the entire group took flying races. Flying races exacerbate the 'lone scout' PC who is playing the game while the rest of the party waits patiently for their report.

Both of these. And as I mentioned in another thread (before I saw this one, apologies) they tend to attract a certain kind of player who is damage-shy and power games the map to within an inch (or pixel) of its life. Practically, I can't share a map only for them even if they've flown ahead and seen pretty much everything (rogues and the like will always have a limited view). Also, I've yet to have a player who role plays them as the exotic, winged creature they are. They're usually treated like humanoids with jet packs who can fly away from any trouble.

All that complained, if a player assured me they would role play them as the strange beings they are and fully embraced how they would be regarded in most humanoid communities, I would consider it. BUT...DCs for stealth to fly ahead are going to be super high. And this is going to be a usable range weapon, as well.

 

[Scott Christian]

In D&D - no. It is a fun mess of nonsense, so why bother. Heck, make your own if you want. I have no qualms.

But a game with curated lore, in my humble opinion, must be limited in order for it to make sense.

 

[Tonguez]

No tieflings - demonspawn should be an interesting background with a good story not a race option
No dragonborn - dragonspawn should be a ….

Dwarfs - short viking miners dont fit my world
Halflings - they are ’fey’ who live in the shadow world
Elfs - they are vampiric creatures of the mist who steal mortal souls (Half-elfs do exist however)

 

[Zardnaar]

Both of these. And as I mentioned in another thread (before I saw this one, apologies) they tend to attract a certain kind of player who is damage-shy and power games the map to within an inch (or pixel) of its life. Practically, I can't share a map only for them even if they've flown ahead and seen pretty much everything (rogues and the like will always have a limited view). Also, I've yet to have a player who role plays them as the exotic, winged creature they are. They're usually treated like humanoids with jet packs who can fly away from any trouble.

All that complained, if a player assured me they would role play them as the strange beings they are and fully embraced how they would be regarded in most humanoid communities, I would consider it. BUT...DCs for stealth to fly ahead are going to be super high. And this is going to be a usable range weapon, as well.

Yeah that's kind of been my experience as well. They think they're being tactical avoiding damage. Most if the time they're just to far away to do much.

 

[cbwjm]

In my current campaign, I banned the more monstrous races and kept more or less everything PHB only when it came to races as I wanted there to be a clear delineation between the good guys and the bad guys. Since orcs, goblins, and hobgoblins were going to be largely the bad guys (at least initially) I didn't want anyone choosing one of those races.

 

[Hussar]

I have to admit, I'm just not seeing the problems you guys are. Flying ahead to scout? What you never have players with familiars? It's been so long that we didn't have a flying drone scout that I forget what it's like. So, I show the maps to the players. It lets them then make informed decisions instead of blundering in blindly into encounter after encounter. Fantastic. I love the fact that the players get so engaged in the game rather than, "Oh, look, we blundered into this dangerous monster yet again, roll for initiative". A flyer lets me info dump on the party and that's a good thing.

And, why are flying creatures so different from any other non-human? It's not like Aarocockra are particularly alien in their outlook or anything like that. They really are just humanoids that can fly. It's not like they're virtually immortal - remembering past lives with perfect clarity - gender fluid faeries. Same with the owl folk character in my current game. I wouldn't actually expect it to be terribly different from any other PC. Different yes, and race should matter, I agree. But, "exotic"? How are they any more exotic than any other PC race?

Now, the Lucidling - the flying dream creature created by an Aboleth? Now THAT'S exotic. And it's played as such.

 

[Mad_Jack]

I've just given up to be honest. There's just no fight left in me. It's been this way since I can remember. The second I suggest any sort of limitations, the players immediately want to play that. I could suggest fifteen other things they COULD play, but, no, I'm yucking in their yum for not letting them play what they want.

Like others have said, try banning all the races you want them to play...

I briefly played in a game where the DM didn't want elves in the party because they were supposed to be the huge movers and shakers of the world - rock-star near-gods, essentially.
Two people insisted on playing elves just to be wankers about it (we were all friends, they just wanted to give him grief), so I and another player decided to run with it, and had our characters act like drooling fangirls... Every time we came to a town, we'd blow a horn and loudly announce their presence like heralds. We'd order their dinner for them, taste their food, dress them, and refuse to let anyone who wasn't a noble speak to them directly.

 

[Morley_Dotes]

Kender, from day 1 (Tho I liked Tas's character in the books). I had a couple of players who would have played one but didn't want to "play" a Kender, they just wanted a reason to be obnoxious in the D&D game; and bragged about planning to play that way.

 

[cbwjm]

Kender, from day 1 (Tho I liked Tas's character in the books). I had a couple of players who would have played one but didn't want to "play" a Kender, they just wanted a reason to be obnoxious in the D&D game; and bragged about planning to play that way.

This is the main problem with kender players and largely the reason why people think kender are disruptive to the game.