Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Race Class Combos, Design, Roleplaying and the fear of the new
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Lylandra" data-source="post: 7253069" data-attributes="member: 6816692"><p>I think there is a reason why the majority of player races are called "humanoid". And I guess it is the very same reason why we see weird stuff like DragonBoobs on 4e dragonborn. These races are meant to be relatable by human standards, they have similar feelings like humans and in many cases they take one or more human (sometimes cultural) aspects and exaggerate it. The only thing that makes true humans different from them is that humans can be all of that in any combination they like.</p><p></p><p>Personally, I find this approach a bit lame. I do love my races to differ more from a "general" human and a dwarven or elven relationship can differ vastly from a human one in my settings. But the same applies to cultures. Many D&D (human) cultures are such carbon copies of easier to comprehend human cultures (for a western audience) that I'm feeling bored.</p><p></p><p>Another random thought is that "gods (or some greater power) created us the way we are right now" for the majority of races isn't really that clever world building. Why not evolution? Why not explain why humanoid races can interbreed with the fact that they all have the same ancestors? Why not explain animosities between the species with centuries of competition for resources? Unless all of the gods sat together at a table and said "okay, let's play a game of Humanoids&Monsters, so please everyone design their people!", it wouldn't be that logical to have a similar physiology or allow interbreeding or have remotely relatable means of communication etc. at all.</p><p></p><p>Now, at least in 4e, we got some weirder races for those who were into it. We got dryads and shardminds and warforged. And I think these options are great! But I sometines ask myself why such a magnificent creature would need or occupy the same "class" or have the same "background" a humanoid does...</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lylandra, post: 7253069, member: 6816692"] I think there is a reason why the majority of player races are called "humanoid". And I guess it is the very same reason why we see weird stuff like DragonBoobs on 4e dragonborn. These races are meant to be relatable by human standards, they have similar feelings like humans and in many cases they take one or more human (sometimes cultural) aspects and exaggerate it. The only thing that makes true humans different from them is that humans can be all of that in any combination they like. Personally, I find this approach a bit lame. I do love my races to differ more from a "general" human and a dwarven or elven relationship can differ vastly from a human one in my settings. But the same applies to cultures. Many D&D (human) cultures are such carbon copies of easier to comprehend human cultures (for a western audience) that I'm feeling bored. Another random thought is that "gods (or some greater power) created us the way we are right now" for the majority of races isn't really that clever world building. Why not evolution? Why not explain why humanoid races can interbreed with the fact that they all have the same ancestors? Why not explain animosities between the species with centuries of competition for resources? Unless all of the gods sat together at a table and said "okay, let's play a game of Humanoids&Monsters, so please everyone design their people!", it wouldn't be that logical to have a similar physiology or allow interbreeding or have remotely relatable means of communication etc. at all. Now, at least in 4e, we got some weirder races for those who were into it. We got dryads and shardminds and warforged. And I think these options are great! But I sometines ask myself why such a magnificent creature would need or occupy the same "class" or have the same "background" a humanoid does... [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Race Class Combos, Design, Roleplaying and the fear of the new
Top