PROLOGUE: I know this subject can get contentious, so i want to get out in front of it here. I am advocating for the inclusion of always evil servitor races for malevolent cosmic powers to be used as stock enemies in D&D. I am not saying anything about real world racism or real world racial essentialism. I am also very specifically not talking about playable races, or ones that fill non-enemy roles in a campaign (so no orc shopkeepers or honorable enemies).
One of my favorite things in the first couple episodes of Rings of power was
I believe that for the style of fantasy action adventure that D&D excels at, the presence of enemies that can be killed without compunction is good. And while hacking away at cultists, fantasy Nazis, bandits and so on can be rewarding, from a world building perspective the minion race serves a special purpose. Given that we are dealing with fantastic worlds here, usually ones with as much or more wonderous elements as found in ancient myth (as opposed to more grounded medieval romances) the inclusion of beings that were formed by and serve the Dark Powers gives those Dark powers presence even in the earliest stages of a campaign. The trollocs at the beginning of the Wheel of Time tell us and the characters that the Big bad is coming.
Of course not all campaigns center around a singular big bad, but I still think your orcs, gnolls, trolls and thouls serve a purpose. Not only do they give the PCs something to flex their muscle and powers on, they can create a basic architecture of evil in your world. Even if there is no Sauron, the presence of orcs speaks to Morgoth's lasting impact on the world. Note that this bit about evil races and world building also applies to inherently good races and world building, and I think most D&D worlds need more of those, too.
Now, this should not be taken as me saying that race X or Y should not be allowed for PCs. I don't care if groups like goblins or orcs for CPs because I know that a few decades of presenting those creatures as attractive is meaningful. I am only saying that the presence of some kind of servitor race(s) is a net positive for most D&D campaigns -- with the caveat that what those races are depends pretty strongly on the details of that world. For example, draconians as unrepentant evil monsters is pretty core to the initial world building of Dragonlance (even if later works gave draconians more nuance).
As a side note: inherently evil doesn't necessarily mean non sapient or sentient. We see sapience in the Lord of the Rings orcs all the time. They are individuals with personalities (which is different than WoT's trollocs, I think, but I am less well versed in that example). But if we allow for the idea that Morgoth did not give orcs free will -- that is, they can make choices but they can never not choose evil -- it does not contradict the "inherently evil" aspect.
Anyway -- RoP got me thinking about it again and I thought I would try and make the case.
One of my favorite things in the first couple episodes of Rings of power was
the return of the vile orc as an enemy.
I believe that for the style of fantasy action adventure that D&D excels at, the presence of enemies that can be killed without compunction is good. And while hacking away at cultists, fantasy Nazis, bandits and so on can be rewarding, from a world building perspective the minion race serves a special purpose. Given that we are dealing with fantastic worlds here, usually ones with as much or more wonderous elements as found in ancient myth (as opposed to more grounded medieval romances) the inclusion of beings that were formed by and serve the Dark Powers gives those Dark powers presence even in the earliest stages of a campaign. The trollocs at the beginning of the Wheel of Time tell us and the characters that the Big bad is coming.
Of course not all campaigns center around a singular big bad, but I still think your orcs, gnolls, trolls and thouls serve a purpose. Not only do they give the PCs something to flex their muscle and powers on, they can create a basic architecture of evil in your world. Even if there is no Sauron, the presence of orcs speaks to Morgoth's lasting impact on the world. Note that this bit about evil races and world building also applies to inherently good races and world building, and I think most D&D worlds need more of those, too.
Now, this should not be taken as me saying that race X or Y should not be allowed for PCs. I don't care if groups like goblins or orcs for CPs because I know that a few decades of presenting those creatures as attractive is meaningful. I am only saying that the presence of some kind of servitor race(s) is a net positive for most D&D campaigns -- with the caveat that what those races are depends pretty strongly on the details of that world. For example, draconians as unrepentant evil monsters is pretty core to the initial world building of Dragonlance (even if later works gave draconians more nuance).
As a side note: inherently evil doesn't necessarily mean non sapient or sentient. We see sapience in the Lord of the Rings orcs all the time. They are individuals with personalities (which is different than WoT's trollocs, I think, but I am less well versed in that example). But if we allow for the idea that Morgoth did not give orcs free will -- that is, they can make choices but they can never not choose evil -- it does not contradict the "inherently evil" aspect.
Anyway -- RoP got me thinking about it again and I thought I would try and make the case.