Tiefling and half-orc should not be in the PHB

[SeRiAlExPeRiMeNtS]

And the game is no better because of it.

The game would be better without them? They are interesting races, the game is better with them, even if only they give more mechanical option to build a character.

 

[Sunseeker]

I like tieflings, and warforged, but I don't thinkthey should be in the core. Not because I dont like them but because D&D is a tolkienesque fantasy style game. This edition shouldnt be about moving away from the D&D brand, it should be about embracing it. Make a kick but traditional fantasy style game, and let mods expand it.

LOTR already has an MMO and a TTRPG. Having D&D imitate it with limited racial options will not improve D&D, it'll just make people go: Why should I play that when this already does it all?

 

[CasvalRemDeikun]

Not if the 5e MM was written in such a way as to make intelligent races (including gnomes and half-races), certain undead, awakened animals, and the like as playable options.

So because some people can't fathom the idea of more options being in the PHB, where player stuff goes, the designers are supposed to use up space in the monster book, where monsters go, for player stuff? How is this any better, AT ALL?

If anything, it increases confusion on where to find things, and wastes space in books with options that have no business being in there.

Why don't they start putting monsters in the PHB, magic items in the monster book, and make you buy a separate accessory for combat options at that? Player options go in the PHB and its derivatives, monsters go in the MM and its derivatives. And options that belong in the first PHB, such as half-elves, half-orcs, gnomes, and many other things shouldn't have to go in a separate product because a small minority of players/DMs want to dictate what other people use in their games.

 

[Stormonu]

My interest in a D&D next game would be lessened for each former PHB race (any edition) that is not in the main book (well, maybe I won't miss the Shardmind, but...).

My first AD&D character was a half-orc assassin, of whom I'm quite fond. I've been playing with a draconic race in my own homebrew since at least '86. Minotaurs have been available ever since they appeared in the Complete Humanoid in 2E. I picked up vampires as a playable race after the Grim Harvest Ravenloft modules in 2E. While I was late to the party to pick up Tiefling, Aasimar and Deva, I'd like to see them around as options. Heck, my homebrew has a whole line of (fey) animals-as-humanoids races that I picked up from the cartoon Flash Gordon days; cat-humans, dog-humans and other such anthropomorphic races have been absent from the PHB for a long time despite their reoccurring appearance in fantasy.

I think that in the PHB they should include as many races as they can and put in a big sidebar disclaimer, right at the beginning of the race section in the PHB - "Check with your DM as he may make some of the races listed herein rarer or non-existent in a particular setting. As always, the final decision of playable races rests with the DM."

 

[Khaalis]

No one is assuming anything. Of course some people want to play weird and strange things. That is what expansion books are for.

I think one of the core problems with this entire discussion is summed up in this statement. What 1 persons considered "weird and strange" is something a common staple to another. When you come right down to it.... ANYTHING in fantasy is weird and strange. That's kind of the point. When it comes down to it, half-orcs and tieflings have become icon D&D races, whether some people like them or not.

 

[SeRiAlExPeRiMeNtS]

I think one of the core problems with this entire discussion is summed up in this statement. What 1 persons considered "weird and strange" is something a common staple to another. When you come right down to it.... ANYTHING in fantasy is weird and strange. That's kind of the point. When it comes down to it, half-orcs and tieflings have become icon D&D races, whether some people like them or not.

And the PHB races should be simple, half a page or something like this, the fluff information shoul be in the settings book.

 

[TwinBahamut]

I think one of the core problems with this entire discussion is summed up in this statement. What 1 persons considered "weird and strange" is something a common staple to another. When you come right down to it.... ANYTHING in fantasy is weird and strange. That's kind of the point. When it comes down to it, half-orcs and tieflings have become icon D&D races, whether some people like them or not.

Yeah, tieflings or half-orcs don't even come close to my bar for weird or strange. Once you encounter a race of creatures which are best described as "the dead souls of human sinners stuffed into penguin suits that say 'd00d' all the time and are forced to serve as cheap labor for lazy demons," then there is no turning back.

 

[Kynn]

New rule:

Only races I personally like should be allowed into the PHB, everything else is BANNED.

I think that's pretty reasonable. Don't you?

 

[Libramarian]

Don't tell 'em my secrets. (The hlfact that my home setting is New York City as a giant city-plane with each neighborhood as their own minikingdom has noting to do with this)

I just don't want to be forced to play racial stereotypes for a year as I wait for the Race book because I am only given a small batch of shoehorned, poorly supported, similar races and the modular options are low.

That's pretty rad. But I think the best solution would be a race generation system in the core book. Which is right out of OD&D. Although calling it a system there would be generous...

"Other Character Types: There is no reason that players cannot be allowed to play virtually anything, provided they begin relatively weak and work up to the top, i.e. a player wishing to be a Dragon would have to begin as let us say, a "young" one and progress upwards in the usual manner, steps being predetermined by the campaign referee."

 

[Libramarian]

I don't think it is just a Tolkien inspired game though. The magic system is not from Tolkein it is from Jack Vance the rogue is from Falfred and the Gray Mouser books.

It borrowed heavily from a lot of fantasy. And I think going back to only pleasing first and second edition fans is a mistake. There is room for things from every edition.

The races are from Tolkien though.