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Message: <blockquote data-quote="James Gasik" data-source="post: 8824642" data-attributes="member: 6877472">Most of the time, the PHB includes those races that are common archetypes of fantasy, easily recognizable to new players.  If I drag a person off the street into a D&D game, who has never played or has any experience of it, it's likely going to be very easy for them to grasp what an Elf is, or a Dwarf, or even a Halfling.Dragon-men, Devilfolk, and much stranger things, like living robots and edgy pirates of the Astral Sea?  Probably not so much.  Even the other branches of the elven family did not get into the PHB until 5e.The game started with Humans, Elves, Dwarves, and Halflings.  1e gave us Half-Elves, Half-Orcs and Gnomes, 2e took away the Half-Orcs, and 3e brought them back.  Then 4e decided to remove Gnomes, but give us Eladrin, Dragonborn, and Tieflings.  You could argue that Eladrin were just a new take on Elves, but Dragonborn and Tieflings were a surprise to people new to 4e.  It's not like they were a new idea; AD&D had several dragon humanoid races, like Half-Dragons (in Dragon magazine), the Draconians of Krynn, and the Dray of Athas.  Tieflings had been created for the Planescape setting.But why here, why now?  It was a sea change, and not one welcomed by all D&D fans.  Official WotC sanctioned gaming allowed people to play any race, in any setting.  Thanks to Living Forgotten Realms, suddenly Warforged, Psionic Crystal-Men, and Hamadryads were now rubbing elbows with Dwarves and Elves.Campaigns where the "classic" races all had a place and role were suddenly being forced to accept all these strange newcomers, and the lore needed to be changed to adjust for that fact.  Sometimes, this was an easy fix; it's not hard to imagine using reskinned Warforged as sentient constructs. Sometimes it was heavy handed, like dropping an entire nation of Dragonborn onto the map from another dimension.People who wanted to continue to play in older settings, either official, or ones of their own design, often had little use for these interlopers.  But players wanted to play them, because they were new and interesting.  Precisely why we got new races in the PHB, really.  WotC broadcast their intent loud and clear, "Come play the new D&D, it's more exciting and lets you play whatever you want!".As to where I stand?  Personally, I don't mind new races.  But they need not to overshadow the old.  I noticed a lot of attention was put into integrating the newcomers, and as a result, not much was being said about the old guard that hadn't been said a thousand times before.This has done a disservice to these races, I think.  The PHB should be home to races that fit into almost any classic setting.  Adding newcomers, that will instantly attract notice for being more colorful and exotic, and not just "humans but with pointy ears", when they might not fit another's idea of fantasy is going to lead to some strife.  I mean, I've seen it, maybe others haven't."Who wants to play D&D?""Ooh, me!  Totally me!  I have this awesome idea for a guy who is Half-Aasimar and Half-Tiefling.""Aasimars and Tieflings have no place in my game.""But, but, I mean, Tieflings are in the PHB, why not?""Vague and non-negotiable reasons, that's why.  You can play an Elf.""A drow elf?""No!"Now, sure, these conversations could happen even with the the classic races.  There's always going to be a DM who says "No Elves!" or "Humans only!".  In my own campaigns, while I have a soft spot for the classic races, and always give them a place, I know damn well my players are going to want to play whatever strange races I add.  I always have mixed feelings about that, because I realize I didn't do anything new to make the standard races interesting.Even the time the campaign was set on a large island, and the main culture was a Halfling kingdom, nobody really wanted to play a Halfling.  Though they did get very tired of fighting Halfling opponents, lol (this being in the 4e "Second Chance" era).I do think it's integral that if you want a race to be played, you have to make it interesting.  A place needs to be made for them in the setting, and people need to have reasons to choose them over something with intriguing lore and cool abilities; all races need to be equal.  And if this isn't the DM's job, then whose is it?</blockquote>

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