But I probably assume that these races have special abilities or powers or skills that make them superior.
That's not a good assumption at all, and I don't believe evidence supports it.
Folks sometimes like different even if it isn't more powerful.
But I probably assume that these races have special abilities or powers or skills that make them superior.
I'm totally with the OP on this. I am amazed at how many players seem to want to play the more "unusual" races nowadays. A lot of the minis people preview in the HeroForge Color thread I started shows the rather strange eclectic hodgepodge (to me) of PC concepts that are out there... I don't see the appeal and when someone insists on playing one, when you go into towns, etc. in my games you are likely to get some strange looks from the townsfolk--who don't often see such strangers in their communities.
Frankly, that is 99% of my campaign worlds.Weird races are only weird if they don't fit into the campaign world!
Id prefer if they got a chance to see what the classic settings looked like, so they can choose what settings to use for what story ideas, rather than just get the idea that D&D is supposed to be a kitchen sink menagerie on every setting by default.
The nature of exotic species has always been attractive.I'll admit I'm an old school D&D player/DM. I've never discounted a player idea in osr or 5e, but I still wonder. Turtle people (tortles) flying people (aarokara), dragon people (dragonborn)... and so on.
Why do people chose these races?
To me, elves and dwarves have a human element. But Turtle people, and cat people and demon people and dragon people seem like the new normal. Do people who play D&D now, feel more comfortable with role-playing animalistic type characters than before?
It is kind of off-putting when your player party is a bunch of bird people, elephant people, demon people, cat people... and so on. I mean are humans even relevant in D&D anymore?
Is it a role-playing thing, or just a ability bonus power-up thing?
is the normal for D&D 5e is ampthormorophic / furry role-playing? I don't think I've ever ran a group that had a single human in it.
I'll admit I'm an old school D&D player/DM. I've never discounted a player idea in osr or 5e, but I still wonder. Turtle people (tortles) flying people (aarokara), dragon people (dragonborn)... and so on.
Why do people chose these races?
To me, elves and dwarves have a human element. But Turtle people, and cat people and demon people and dragon people seem like the new normal. Do people who play D&D now, feel more comfortable with role-playing animalistic type characters than before?
It is kind of off-putting when your player party is a bunch of bird people, elephant people, demon people, cat people... and so on. I mean are humans even relevant in D&D anymore?
Is it a role-playing thing, or just a ability bonus power-up thing?
is the normal for D&D 5e is ampthormorophic / furry role-playing? I don't think I've ever ran a group that had a single human in it.
What's up with everyone just saying that people like exotic races for powergaming reasons?I rarely consider any of the uncommon races from the PHB, nor any of the myriad other books released over the years. When I've been tempted to consider these, it was usually because I had a very specific character concept in mind.
My impression is that a lot of players, even if they won't admit it, pick those races first and foremost for powergaming reasons. They look for a race that will grant them some edge along with their class. Same reason variant human is so popular: as soon as you get rid of the free feat, you see humans become the least chosen race.
In the end, it often matters very little. Darkvision is quickly handwaived in a group where everyone except one halfling or one dragonborn player has it. Rarely do DMs go through the trouble of developing a world that specificaly reacts to those races (even drows are not provoking much reactions from most NPC nowadays - or tiefling, to take a less loaded example because of the real-world parallel that can too easily be made with the drow), and very few adventures are centered around the specifics of those player's races / communities. Most players using one of these races are exiled or "unique", and as such, there is little need for the game to explore what it's like to be a Tortle in this fantasy-land, for example.
Because your class is purely "chosen" (except for sorcerer, that can be an inborn power) and learned (from a character perspective), there is a lot of emphasis on having your class define what you can do, and what kind of adventuring enterprise you would take part in. But your race, by definition, is not something the character chose (even if the player did choose it), and is much more part of what you are, as in your whole upbringing should be greatly shaped by your race (and, to some extent, by your background). Most people (DM or players) cannot invest the amount of energy needed to fully realize a character with such an upbringing; it's easier to just focus on your class and where you want to take your character as a member of that class (rather than as a member of a given race). The race just becomes a small list of mechanical benefits to add to the package (if there's one good thing out of the added flexibility with race abilities coming out of Tasha's, it's that it allows the players to fully assume the irrelevance of race by just letting them pick any "suit" they want to wear, get the mechanical benefits they prefer that align with their chosen class, and let go of all the cultural and societal baggage that should come from a race if they don't care for it).
If people had vested interest in specific races, you would be seeing a lot more campaigns based on a party of all non-humans (like an all dragonborn party that could explore all the interplay between various colors, the role of the clan in dragonborn culture, etc.). These are really the exception; the much more common adventuring framework is the motley / circus crew of random weirdo races (who luckily always happen to have one melee fighter, one party face, one arcane caster, one healer) all meeting in a tavern and forming a group to loot the surrounding monster lairs.
Maybe if I had more exposure to examples of players really playing up their race as part of their character development, I wouldn't be so cynical.
I must say a number of the replies in this thread have me thinking I may just not have been exposed to a sufficient variety of groups or players...
Same reason they want to play monster races, I guess? And people have been wanting playable monsters for as long as D&D has existed.I'll admit I'm an old school D&D player/DM. I've never discounted a player idea in osr or 5e, but I still wonder. Turtle people (tortles) flying people (aarokara), dragon people (dragonborn)... and so on.
Why do people chose these races?