Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="GreenTengu" data-source="post: 7296562" data-attributes="member: 6777454">I don't really view the differences between the giant races and the goblinoids being quite the same as the elves.The differences between the elves strike me as simply wanting to take the same races, same size, same shape, same features... give it a slightly different color and then min/max it to be ideal for a different class. The differences between "high elves" and "wood elves" are not so narratively different that I couldn't see them existing as some sort of super charming and attractive race that people tend to exaggerate the abilities of. It all kind of comes down to the fact that they are more in-tune with the mystical forces of the world and live for a longer time and are otherwise these people that everyone just goes ga-ga over.But the giant races? I guess that would cover Orcs, Goliaths and Dwarves. Honestly, I am not even particularly keen on Goliaths being a race per se. I think both half-orcs and Goliaths are an attempt to create a PC Orc race while still reserving Orcs as a thing separate that one can slaughter without much consideration about it. But it seems like there could be enough difference between a "Dwarf" and an "Orc" to keep them separate, with the former being more inclined to subterranean and order and the later being more inclined to cold climate and wilderness survival. But... why should Goliaths be separate from Orcs instead of a just being a type of Orc? I really don't know-- there is no good reason other than the fact that someone at WotC came up with them and either didn't seem to realize that what they were creating was quite similar Orcs or well... was aware of that and was just trying to sneak yet another "good guy orc" variant under the door.The Goblinoids are a bit more tricky. Despite both having "goblin" in their name, there doesn't seem to be enough overlap between the small, short-lived, weedy but cunning common Goblin and the very human-like, honorable, warrior Hobgoblin that one can draw and real parallels. In this case it really seems like what might have once been a single people, but through self-selected-breeding they have become as different as a Dobberman and a Chihuahua... or, really, almost as different as a cougar and a common cat. It really doesn't seem possible to express that as a singular idea as despite the fact that there are definite physical overlaps, in terms of actual abilities they are drastically different. One might as well be attempting to cover the Dwarf and Gnome as a singular race.Now, perhaps Hobgoblins and Bugbears could be pulled under the same umbrella. After all, they are close to the same size, have similar features and well... a barbarian hobgoblin would be practically indistinguishable from a Bugbear, while a Bugbear who was practically any other class would probably pass for a Hobgoblin. The thing is, how to even implement that as a singular idea.Oh, as for why I didn't do the Dragonborn right away... it seems to me that to be proper Dragon-people, the Dragonborn should fall into the same category of beast-men that would universally have natural armor and natural attacks. I just have yet to get around to writing that out. But I am pretty sure the whole category, including Dragonborn, Gnolls, Tabaxi, Lizardfolk, etc. would all have the Barbarian's natural armor trait and the monk's superior unarmed attack. But balancing the traits beyond that is the key.</blockquote>

Verification