PHB - Human only?

[Quartz]

Guys, I'm not asking if D&D should be humans only, ok? I'm asking if humans should be the only race in the PHB. This is a big difference.

 

[FreeXenon]

You may not be asking that question directly, but indirectly that is what it may mean to some if only humans are available in the PHB.

For many people that play D&D the only book they have is the PHB, and for them that is all that they will have available to them as their D&D player experience. For some, if it is not in the PHB it is not available to them to play at all, evah.

So, in the interest of saving the puppies and the kittens... other races including humans should be available in the PHB as playable PC races.

I think I will be quiet now, as I may be completely off my rocker and I do not want to spoil the thread.

 

[dmccoy1693]

I don't even like the thought of a PHB without Gnomes. Without any other race, hells no. No Way, No Sir, No How. At that point, it is no longer D&D, no question about it. I have no problem if a specific setting had human as the only playable character race or if another fantasy game had humans at the primary playable race (i.e. RuneQuest, Exalted, etc), but for generic fantasy (which the core 3 D&D books are suppose to be), they should have the standard playable races.

 

[Nifft]

Guys, I'm not asking if D&D should be humans only, ok? I'm asking if humans should be the only race in the PHB. This is a big difference.

In that case, I didn't understand your poll.

I'm not really sure what you're asking then. Should all players who want to play non-humans be forced to buy another book? What's the advantage here?

Cheers, -- N

 

[Kae'Yoss]

How about going a step further and drop dwarves, elves, etc. and allow the DM to create his own races.

No.

Races with abilities are set in stone for a lot of people (why I have no idea) and this would kill that.

Why kill a good thing? Why should I pay money for a game that doesn't do the work it's supposed to? I don't want to make rules. I pay other people for that.

 

[Kae'Yoss]

That's not what I'm asking. I'm asking if humans should be the only race in the PHB. After all, don't we expect the GM to own the DMG, PHB, and MM?

The GM, yes. The players, no. And those guys should be able to read about their choices, not have the DM read them from the Grand Fairytale Book of Rules.

 

[GreatLemur]

Honestly, I wouldn't have a problem with it. I kind of dig the idea of encouraging PC race options to be more of a campaign-setting-specific thing. With this kind of setup, you wouldn't come to a new game expecting to be able to play an elf any more than you expect to be able to play a goblin. I've never really dug the immediate assumption that all D&D settings--worse, even a lot of non-D&D d20 settings--need to include elves, dwarves, and halflings.

 

[Hejdun]

Humans are already the most overused and boring race. I can't even remember the last time someone other than me ran a non-human in our group. I've never run a human just because everyone else does; that and they seem so boring. A bonus feat and skills and nothing else? Why don't I just play half-orc? At least they get Darkvision.

I would die of boredom for the first 2 months until we got new races. Terrible idea.

 

[Driddle]

Wild idea: All characters begin without a race but with two extra feats. Then you must declare a race: If you want to be human, you spend one of those feats on the "+1 skill pt/level" ability and save the second feat to use later. If you want to be a non-human (elf, dwarf, ect.), you spend your two feats on various other racial ability packages. ... Halvsies, like those with an elf parent and a human parent, can pick and choose to represent an appropriate mix.

There ya go. The new 4th edition race mechanic. (takes a bow) You may throw roses now.

 

[FreeXenon]

Wild idea: All characters begin without a race but with two extra feats. Then you must declare a race: If you want to be human, you spend one of those feats on the "+1 skill pt/level" ability. If you want to be a non-human (elf, dwarf, ect.), you spend your two feats on various other racial ability packages. ... Halvsies, like those with an elf parent and a human parent, can pick and choose to represent an appropriate mix.

There ya go. The new 4th edition race mechanic. (takes a bow) You may throw roses now.

I was just thinking something along that lines as I was checking this thread or something along the lines of a generic Race and then you pick your racial abilities from several lists ala 'Skills and Powers' from 2E.