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Message: <blockquote data-quote="fba827" data-source="post: 5273630" data-attributes="member: 807">I completely understand what you mean - I don't think the group i've played with recently has ever had a party that could walk into a tavern and not be considered at least 50% freaks.  Not that there is anything wrong with it, just some people prefer to play that loner outcast (but, yes, it does get a little overdone after you've seen a player do variations of it for several PCs in a row).In general, I have no concern one way or the other with restricting race as long as it fits thematically with the setting you're presenting (i.e. maybe all dragonborn are slaves, thus it can't be a viable PC given that a dragonborn PC wouldn't be able to function in a town without being tossed in jail as an escaped slave. drow are automatically evil.  and warforged have been made mindless soldiers by the king to serve in his army.  and maybe shardminds simply don't exist in this world, heck niether do psionic classes.  the trick is to leave enough options and maybe one or two freak options for those that need such an outlet.)With regards to your presented mechanics, I know if I were to do something like that in one of my groups, it would generate hurt feelings ("why does he get to do that race when I wanted to?" and so on.)sidebar question: do you get the feeling that they are picking the "freaky" races for the stat syngery with the classes? Or do you think they really like playing the freak?if it's stat synergy, perhaps you can present stat bonus options for some of the races (i.e. if you pick elf, you can put a +2 Dex and the other +2 in Wis or Cha -- or whatever you think is thematic for your setting).if it's because they like to play freaks, maybe a little house ruling -- ask everyone to stick with a more common race, but tell them that there is something unique about them and they all have a bonus encounter power or something.  this way, they have to figure out what made them so special and what to do about it, and so on.if you wanted to be really underhanded in a subtle sort of way, the races you define as common get some extra little something.  maybe they get a little bonus equipment in the first session -- don't call it out as "because of their race" but rather "because you would be tied to this area, you have this from some family contacts next door" etc.  whereas the rare races wouldn't have those sorts of contacts.or define it like "all dragonborns in this setting are slaves" thus, the player knows going into it that if he's playing a dragonborn, it's going to be a slave, or escaped slave, and he'll have trouble doing most anything in cities due to his status in town.be sure to play up the freakiness - they'll have trouble getting a table at the tavern, or getting good deals with the merchants, and the king will have a hard time being convinced to listen to them, etc.if all else fails, just roll with it. yes, they are freaks.  and they are perhaps the only one of their repsective races here... and that leads to the question of 'why' ? perhaps there is something happening in that region that affects the world (and no one else knows it) thus they have to track it down and stop it, and so on.(sorry for the scattered thoughts, it's late and i'm tired. but hopefully you can get the gist of what i'm saying <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> )</blockquote>

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