MoonSong
Rules-lawyering drama queen but not a munchkin
I read the first 3 pages and last 3 pages of the thread. Apologies if I missed something golden in pages 4-9.
Absolutely! My current campaign is set beneath the surface of the sea. As you might expect, core races are not permitted. PCs must have a natural swim speed and the ability to breathe underwater without the use of magic. Thus I am a proponent of the "Savage Species" route - any intelligent being should be a playable option (Apologies to Gurgalurk, my gray ooze illusionist).
You know, I like this idea. In 1e, half-orcs could be of human, goblin, or hobgoblin stock. So use orc as the playable base and expand half-orcs in the MM to include variable parentage.
Human, elf, orc, halfling, and dwarf seem like a varied choice for a start. Yes, I like gnomes as much as the next person, but I think the initial choices should be simplified for new players. Half-elves, half-orcs, and gnomes, along with most intelligent creatures in the MM, should be presented with playability in mind. After all, sea elves, merfolk, and locathah are the "core races" in my undersea game.
Just five races is enough, for a starting box not for core, core isn't "just for noobs", neither the most minimal options for the game, nor what must be enoforced on every table. Core is about the minimal rules and elements needed to fully play the game and all of the options that can be taken for granted. Everything outside the core remains a luxury (and yes, even a homebrew setting is a luxury, the only difference is you pay for it with time and effort instead of money).
Even inside core, every character option not in the PHB is also a luxury for players. As such even when I think core should include some way to use all or most inteligent creatures as playable races, that shouldn't force the most liked and inconic races outside the PHB. Having twelve races doesn't confuse new players, what confuses them is having thousands of options suddenly dumped into them. Having a too few races in the PHB, punishes too many players -who used to take their beloved tieflings, gnomes, etc, for granted and suddenly find them become a luxury- for little benefit.
The following has no specific dedicatory, really.
The most civil way for a DM/GM to introduce players to a homebrew world is say "This is the world it works this way, the playable races and available classes are these, these other stuff is off-limits, if you really want to play with that and have though of some way to make it work without disrupting the world or monopolizing gameplay, I'm open to suggestions". No rulebook in the world will magically solve the interpersonal and compatibility issues between a GM and her players.
And "I don't want x race on my homebrew, ergo it shouldn't be in the core" is a bad argument, every race has it's lovers and it's detractors, as such each one of them is bound to be left out of a Homebrew setting at some point, we may as well get no races in the PHB.
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