Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="delericho" data-source="post: 5452230" data-attributes="member: 22424">I'm really not a fan of gonzo characters. Basically, if people are going to play a character, then I want them to actually play the character. In particular, this means that an Elf should not just be a "human with funny ears", I want the player to bring something different to the table. And yet that happens so rarely...Now, part of the issue here is that a lot of the races just don't have any depth to them. Elves, dwarves and the like have been around long enough, and have more than enough exposure, that people have a reasonable common ground on which to base characters of the race. And, because we have that common ground, they also have the option of not making the character a cookie-cutter example of the race - they are able to play against type, because we actually know what the type is!But with the Shardmind, or the Raptoran, or many of the other races, there's almost nothing there to begin with. And so, unless the player goes to great lengths to make the character distinctive, then he might as well be playing a Human. (And, I'm sorry, but in my experience, very very few players can or will go to those great lengths.)(Oddly, I haven't found the same to be true of some of the newer races. Warforged, Shifters, Tieflings and Dragonborn all seemed to immediately gain lots of traction, and now seem to be settled races. I'm actually reasonably sure that the same will be true of Shardminds with the next edition as well.)And don't get me started on the "only good Drow/Orc/Klingon/Borg" concept...When DMing, I only allow the 'standard' races: Human, Elf, Dwarf, Half-elf, Half-orc, Halfling and Gnome (plus, in Eberron, the Warforgerd, Shifter, Changling and Kalashtar). I don't run 4e, or I would add Tieflings and Dragonborn to the list.When playing, I will likewise stick to the same standard races for the game/setting (and something I feel I can reasonably portray as well). My preference is that the bulk of the group do likewise; however, this is really up to the DM, so I generally won't get involved in that discussion unless asked.Characters should be special because of what they do; they should not need to be special based solely on what they are.</blockquote>

Verification