D&D General What are humans?

[Minigiant]

More receptive to memetic programming would be the aspect of social cohesion that causes an extra skills and feat, not sharing and caring.

Yes. More that we adapt and overspecialize into smaller roles and niches via social pressure than not sharing and caring.

Dwarves don't travel and don't actively attempt to progress.
Halflings literally have low ambition.
Elves do travel and physically change but reform elfdomin their god(dess)'s image.
Gnomes attempt to progress and fill societal roles but have low success rate.

 

[GrimCo]

Compared to dwarfs and elfs, we are breeding faster and in greater numbers. In time that takes elf couple to raise their kid to adulthood (say 100 years), human one already has grandkids. It's hard to kill of humans below replacement speed. Quantity has quality of it's own.

Unlike Orcs, humans are more open to cooperation and trade, at least if they see their own benefit ( we are greedy bunch). Also, while we are tribalistic, we are fast to unite against common enemy And just like stereotypical orcs and goblins, humans are capable of doing some horrific stuff. Don't underestimate hairless murder apes.

Curiosity is also one of strong suits. It's that curiosity that inspires us to innovate and progress technologically.

 

[James Gasik]

Wanderlust
Individual Specialization
Family

Oh, so Halflings, then.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Oh, so Halflings, then.

Nah. Halflings explicitly don't have wanderlust (Bilbo, Frodo, and other Tooks are called out for being weird about that--they really do mean it when they say "adventures make one late for dinner"), and "individual specialization" seems pretty orthogonal to their stuff.

Halflings are homebodies who adventure for reasons other than adventure in most cases, with the wanderlust-y types being an abnormal deviation, just as, for a totally random example, elves and dwarves don't get along because of their origins and their divergent perspectives, apart from a few special exceptions.

If "family" is the only thing making the two similar, then humans, halflings, dwarves, dragonborn, (half-)orcs, and a handful of other things are all "the same" as well.

 

[fuindordm]

More receptive to memetic programming would be the aspect of social cohesion that causes an extra skills and feat, not sharing and caring.

Responding to the ideas above that humans are prone to personification, finding imaginary patterns, and memetic programming... if this is a vulnerability that is uniquely human perhaps we could represent it in game terms as a penalty to wisdom relative to other races (but apparently we don't do that anymore!), or a small saving throw penalty (not full disadvantage) on charm & suggestion spells.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Responding to the ideas above that humans are prone to personification, finding imaginary patterns, and memetic programming... if this is a vulnerability that is uniquely human perhaps we could represent it in game terms as a penalty to wisdom relative to other races (but apparently we don't do that anymore!), or a small saving throw penalty (not full disadvantage) on charm & suggestion spells.

The latter makes sense to me. Pack-bonding and pattern-recognition are two of the particular quirks of humanity, even compared to other ape species, so having one or both of those produce a weakness seems apt, if one wishes to give humans one.

 

[Minigiant]

Oh, so Halflings, then.

No.

The weird Halflings act like humans.

The average Halfling is a homebody who does the same exact things as their neighbors.

 

[fuindordm]

The OP poses an excellent question, really.
In the rules, the advantages and disadvantages of other species are always expressed relative to a human baseline. But what if some other species is considered the baseline?

For example, if humans are newcomers in a world dominated by (wood) elves what would that look like?

Humans are like elves but:

• quicker to specialize, quicker to master new skills (+skill, +feat)
• a bit bigger and slower, but especially more long-term endurance (-5' move, +Con?)
• more willing to explore, try new things, including cultural adaptation (multiple sub-species adapted to different environments, grant a minor resistance of choice)
• assume that other species are just like them, gullible; or else recklessly violent with "the other" (-Wis?)

Elves on the other hand: no stat mods, no bonuses, no nuttin'

 

[Minigiant]

Responding to the ideas above that humans are prone to personification, finding imaginary patterns, and memetic programming... if this is a vulnerability that is uniquely human perhaps we could represent it in game terms as a penalty to wisdom relative to other races (but apparently we don't do that anymore!), or a small saving throw penalty (not full disadvantage) on charm & suggestion spells.

It cancels out.

Humans are vulnerable to social pressure and pattern recognition.

BUT
The influence has to make sense AND not contradict long held beliefs.

Like one person said, humans are STUBBORN.

 

[Aldarc]

I would potentially go with something simple like trade and agriculture, including the domestication of animals and plants. It is a desire for trade that leads to humanity to connect the different peoples of the fantasy world.

Do not be afraid to be critical with humanity's uniqueness, so the above leads to a willingness to exploit the natural resources of the world with little long-term care of the consequences.