Return old-school terminology: subclass, demihuman, etc.

[Libramarian]

If and only if the old school terminology wouldn't drive players away who either look back with a distinct lack of regret for the passing of that specific old school term, or new players who take a look at words like "demihuman" and say "wait, what?".

I don't think it would be such a bad idea to drive away the portion of the fan base who diss the old editions, calling them relics etc (referring to an above post). They're not really fans of D&D as a whole. D&D is a very old game by now and it should embrace that in the way it presents itself to new players: it's a "classic" that is the granddaddy of the multibillion dollar CRPG industry, and got a lot of things right the first time. This factor is what drives a lot of newbies' initial interest in D&D, and the game and fan community shouldn't upset that expectation. Players who don't have any nostalgia or respect for older editions don't really fit into that picture.

 

[howandwhy99]

I'd rather 5E did not do this, unless these were designed into a module. For me the words are specifically used because of the game design they were meant to represent. Using them to refer to something different, even opposite sometimes to what the original intention was, only serves to confuse the issue. Yeah, use them. But let's allow the next iteration of D&D to be its own thing first rather than tying the whole system to one of the past.

Demi-humans - Refers to anthropomorphic, generally non-hostile (towards man) creatures that may be played as characters: elves, dwarves, halflings, etc.

Humanoids - Refers to anthropomorphic, generally hostile creatures: orcs, goblins, hobgoblins, kobolds, etc.

Milieu - An unique game setting embodying the numerous possible variations in its creation, i.e. the "world" in which the adventures take place.

Trick - Any device or machination which is more likely to be solved by wits rather than force. Tricks do not necessarily involve physical harm to the characters, examples are rooms which rotate or descend to confuse mappers, statues which perform random actions, slanting passageways which take the party unknowingly to a deeper level, etc.

Undead - A class of malevolent, soulless monsters which are neither truly dead nor alive, including skeletons, vampires, ghosts, zombies, ghouls, et al.

Subclasses are not explicitly defined as I can find, but they are full classes which fall mostly under the scope of a more primary class for the game's design.

Subraces are like subclasses, but according to race. The oldest reference I can find is in the MM under Halflings, where subrace is basically a variation on a single race's abilities within it. Some Halflings tend towards Dwarves, some Elves, some Humans. FR Elves in 2E are probably the biggest purveyor of this term. I think it gets dropped today because of its definition is equivalent to making human racial distinctions.

Us dwarves like to think of humans as "demidwarven", and find the term "humanoid" to be racist. I hereby move that all races be referred to as "dwarvenoid".

Definitely one way to get into character as a dwarf.

 

[Hussar]

As H&W99 points out, "demi-human" had a fairly specific meaning - PC race that wasn't human. I really, really doubt that the dem-human/humanoid distinction will hold true in 5e since it's very unlikely that we'll have limitations on player races. Being able to play any race is just too popular to go away.

 

[Mattachine]

Back in 1e AD&D, weren't half-races referred to as "semi-human"?

Should we bring back "giant class", too? How about the list of "persons" from the old hold person spell of AD&D?

 

[variant]

What about the word subraces too?

• Dark Elf subrace (with Drow as a separate, non-Elf race, as per recent Forgotten Realms events; Drow not included in the PBH)

Stupidest thing in the history of Forgotten Realms. I don't want that anywhere near the Core Rulebooks, thank you.

 

[Sunseeker]

Honestly the biggest thing that bugs me about calling them "races" is that they're not. They're species. Eladrin, Sun, and Moon elves are races. Elves, Dwarves, Humans and Halflings are species. Even though they can interbreed in most cases, they're still species, not races.

Pesonally I've always been partial to the term "near-human", it doesn't imply superiority or inferiority, only closeness, and is more specific to creatures that are human-variants(ie: fat short humans, pointy-eared humans, mini humans, ect..) Humanoid can more loosely include any creature that is bipedal and has at least the minimum human parts. IE: a 3-headed, 4-armed, winged creature on two legs is humanoid. It is not "near-human" though.

Anyway, we should all start calling them "playable species".

 

[Steely_Dan]

I would love Race as a Base "Class"/"Option".

 

[Incenjucar]

Anyway, we should all start calling them "playable species".

While I wish this was possible, it's ingrained deeply not only in D&D, but in gamer culture as a whole. It's not going anywhere.

 

[Steely_Dan]

Honestly the biggest thing that bugs me about calling them "races" is that they're not. They're species. Eladrin, Sun, and Moon elves are races. Elves, Dwarves, Humans and Halflings are species.

No, subraces, get it right.

 

[Gryph]

Demihuman only ever really meant races that were mostly human but slightly different, and D&D is just a bigger game than that anymore.

Humanoid is a much more meaningful term that carries a more useful meaning, especially since it's used outside of D&D and you don't have to explain it to most people. There's no benefit in making the game more difficult for people to grasp.

Demi-human had the very specific meaning of non human race that could be played as a PC. The connotation of less than human was very deliberate. EGG was very vocal in his attitudes about playing non-humans. Its the same reason for the racial limits.

I agree that the game has grown bigger than that view. I would like to see demi-human given the burial it deserves.