D&D General Race Has No Mechanics. What do you play?

[CreamCloud0]

You bring up a very good point and which extends my own feelings out from it... which is that I would be more inclined to be okay with game mechanics for denoting different species (for example) if those mechanics actually always worked and were unique to that species and made them functionally different to the other ones. Which is not something that D&D usually does.

Usually D&D mechanics give a species a mechanic that is no different and completely obtainable fifty-five different ways to Sunday, and just oftentimes makes the PC merely slightly more likely to be able to do/know something... which means it in no way actually denotes anything special about that species. An Elf gains the Perception skill. Great. A skill that almost every other PC in the party is going to have. So what makes this "elf" different than any of the other species in the group? It doesn't. Everyone can Perceive equally. This is an elven mechanic that you could remove from the game and not change a bloody thing.

So instead... an elven perception mechanic should say something like "You can see with complete clarity and focus out to 1 mile." THAT'S something meaningful for this species. Something that no other species has the power to do, and something that always works-- not just a slight bonus to a check of some sort. And in fact the elf does have something like that in their Trance feature, where they only "sleep" for 4 hours a night and still maintain a sense of semi-consciousness. This always works, is not gate behind any sort of check, and makes the species completely different than any of the others in game.

If all the species write-ups had these sorts of "mechanics"... I'd be less likely to poo-poo them.

i had a thread a little while back i was trying to make more impactful species mechanics in, your comments reminded me of what i was doing in it somewhat, this is what i wrote for the elves' improved perception:

Enhanced Senses: you have darkvision for 60ft and advantage on perception checks, you may add a d6 to any check you make to notice the presence of magic.

would you consider that 'enough' to distinguish that particular aspect of them? flat standing advantage on all perception checks isn't something easily obtainable, so even if it isn't a totally custom ability in the same way 'perfect clarity of vision for 1 mile' is i'd still consider that 'unique enough' that it makes elves stand out in their perceptive abilities.

 

[DEFCON 1]

i had a thread a little while back i was trying to make more impactful species mechanics in, your comments reminded me of what i was doing in it somewhat, this is what i wrote for the elves' improved perception:

would you consider that 'enough' to distinguish that particular aspect of them? flat standing advantage on all perception checks isn't something easily obtainable, so even if it isn't a totally custom ability in the same way 'perfect clarity of vision for 1 mile' is i'd still consider that 'unique enough' that it makes elves stand out in their perceptive abilities.

For me personally? Probably not... since even though you are granting Advantage to them, they still are more than capable of failing said Perception checks. So how good could their vision really be? If I'm saying elves have special sight... then actually give them something special, not just something that is the same result as any other character but just has a "better chance" of it happening. To me that's not that special at all.

But I admittedly am a different breed of cat than most other players.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

EDIT FOR CLARITY: The supposition here is that the raves still have lore and in-fiction impacts related to the setting, which you can either define as your preferred setting, or default to whatever bits are to be found in the core books. Dwarves are dour, elves are aloof, etc...

Hypothetical sitation: you are joining a new campaign in which all other factors are positive (you know the GM and group, it's in a setting you like, whatever) but there is one hitch: race/heritage/species is cosmetic only.

So, assuming it is a very open setting in which pretty much any reasonable humanoid species is available, but none of them have any mechanical effects (including size, vision and movement types; everyone, including humans, are basically human mechanically). What species do you pick for your character?

Would race being cosmetic only be a turn off for you?

For me, all the races need mechanics or you aren’t playing a different kind of creature at all, and there is no point.

That said, gnome.

As for what race would especially bother me to have no mechanics….probably Dragonborn and any flying race.

 

[Kannik]

You bring up a very good point and which extends my own feelings out from it... which is that I would be more inclined to be okay with game mechanics for denoting different species (for example) if those mechanics actually always worked and were unique to that species and made them functionally different to the other ones. Which is not something that D&D usually does.

I follow in a similar vein. For a species' 'mechanical' bits I want them beefy: dragon breath, flight, resistances, turning temporarily to stone, blasting shards of metal in a radius, shapechange, shadow walk, that kind of thing. Things that really denote the unique qualities of the physiology.

For many other aspects, I'm fine with it being handled more on the fly either strictly narratively, or by the GM altering the difficulty (or the outcome) of challenges, or by an invokable tag/aspect/distinction if playing in a system that uses those.

 

[Shardstone]

Still either Yuan-Ti, Drow, or Tiefling.

 

[Reynard]

I really want WotC to have the gumption to put out a "humans only" campaign setting.

 

[mellored]

Either Shardmind
or a Swarm of bee's.

Because if there are no mechanical issues might as well be exotic. Give myself a role-playing challenge.

 

[Reynard]

Either Shardmind
or a Swarm of bee's.

Because if there are no mechanical issues might as well be exotic. Give myself a role-playing challenge.

The swarm of bees sounds fun, and could add something unique to a game world.

Is it a whole race? Like are there cities of swarms of bees? Or are you a completely singular being, an Awakened Swarm searching for your place in the world? What class do you pick, and how does that express your nature as a swarm?

 

[mellored]

The swarm of bees sounds fun, and could add something unique to a game world.

Is it a whole race? Like are there cities of swarms of bees? Or are you a completely singular being, an Awakened Swarm searching for your place in the world? What class do you pick, and how does that express your nature as a swarm?

There are, of course, other swarm of bees, but I may be the first sentient one. I don't know.
However, I am hostile towards stupid swarms (int less than 2). So I kill them and take their nest for my children, and that is the main reason I travel. Hoping that they will grow to be intelligent as well, and join in a more advanced bee society.
Though I hate wasps even more.

As for class... as funny as it would be for a swarm of bees to wear heavy armor and swing a great axe, the most fitting would probably be dance bard, with unarmed attack dealing piercing damage.

 

[Retros_x]

Mechanics are the main reason for me to play different races. When no mechanics are involved the races NEED to be vastly different from humans to be interesting from roleplaying perspective. Human with pointy ears, small human, green human are a bit boring. Give me the swarm of bees, the fairy, the mind-controlling little slime, the mushroom boy.