D&D 5E What is the appeal of the weird fantasy races?

[DND_Reborn]

Mostly because we wish to be something other than human, we want to be more then we already are.

That holds no appeal for me personally. I wish to be able to do things like cast spells, search for undiscovered artifacts, etc. that are tied to the adventures in the game--not the races.

So, others might want what you say, but certainly not everyone. I've known many players who only play humans--ever. shrug

 

[SiCK_Boy]

What's up with everyone just saying that people like exotic races for powergaming reasons?

It's based on my own observations and experience. Again, not very scientific, and certainly full of bias based on the kind of players I associate with.

But I've never seen anyone in my games really play out the implications of a non-human race in a human-centric world.

I've seen plenty of drow being happy to have +2 DEX and 120' darkvision (while seeming to always live in a cloudy overworld where they never suffer penalty from sunlight), and throwing a few lines here and there about being away from the Underdark or fearing Lolth, but it never amounts to anything more than that.

I make the deduction that they enjoy the powergaming aspect since that is what they mention at the table (like proudly showing off their +5 DEX modifier).

And it may not be just those player's fault or choice; a lot of it is also DM-dependant. If the DM only cares about the "main quest" and doesn't develop his setting or the story to support players investing in those aspects of their characters, you can't blame the players for using their race as a halloween costume that grants some bonuses.

In my current group, we have one human (non-variant), one drow, 2 aasimar, and one halfling. The halfling is mostly used for comedy due to his size, and the aasimar have had little impact yet (although both seem to have elaborate backstories, which I hope we get to explore more of in the future). We just had a few discussions about age recently (what with the drow being old enough to remember what it was like to live through the spellplague), which is not something I've gotten a chance to explore that often in the game; even then, I think the player himself was sorta taken aback by this angle and has been trying to build up his own knowledge to factor that notion into his interpretation and presentation of the character later on.

And even when I think of online games I've been watching on streams, it isn't developed all that much. I often see it more as an excuse for players to wear disguises and such; but rarely do I see race play a foundational role in how characters are played.

I welcome all the positive examples people are providing; it's expanding my perspective. But it's hard to make abstraction of what I've experienced and seen in the various groups I've played with.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I think D&D's brand of fantasy is increasingly stepping out from the shadow of Tolkien. There's a ton of fantasy with nontraditional beings as protagonists and sidekicks. As the fanbase skews younger, you're getting more videogame and anime influences in people's idea of what fantasy is. And heck, there's Guardians of the Galaxy, where you've got a racoon and a tree as two major heroes.

 

[SkidAce]

I think D&D's brand of fantasy is increasingly stepping out from the shadow of Tolkien. There's a ton of fantasy with nontraditional beings as protagonists and sidekicks. As the fanbase skews younger, you're getting more videogame and anime influences in people's idea of what fantasy is. And heck, there's Guardians of the Galaxy, where you've got a racoon and a tree as two major heroes.

I was going to mention this.

I mean;

Final Fantasy, DragonQuest, Dragon Age, Slayers, etc .etc. etc.

 

[MGibster]

Don't forget the DM can control what's allowed in any given campaign. No drow, only tortles, whatever.

I think the way D&D is set up it encourages players to create whatever race they want to play and DMs feel some pressure to allow those races into their games by default. I'm one of those people who feels as though character race makes very little difference in how the game plays out. It usually doesn't matter whether a character is a Goliath, Dwarf, or Elf in most scenarios.

 

[zarionofarabel]

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 have no idea. In fact I still have no idea what the appeal of playing any other race is. We are humans and that's all we can be. To me anyone playing a different race is just a human not so cleverly disguised with a funny hat. Mostly it's just an excuse for mechanical bonuses.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

Different people like different things?

Now personally I think that the intelligent species of the setting are a big part of its flavour and not every race will thematically fit every setting. I'd treat the official rules as a toolbox, and when building a world I'd pick and choose which ones make sense for that setting. For my current one I ended up altering many of the existing races and creating some new ones.

 

[GMMichael]

Hmm. If you grew up on Sesame Street you want to kill monsters. If you grew up on Daniel Tiger you want to be a monster. Maybe it's related to kids' TV.

I'm playing a centuries-old, WAY over the hill, blue dragon. I don't care about dragonborn bonuses (my cantrips are better than the breath weapon, anyway). I'm just in it to play "get off my lawn!" to the most extreme extent possible.

 

[Mannahnin]

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.

Truth. In the original edition it was spoken of positively, though the DM was advised to have them start small/young and progress to more power like the other PCs. Gary got more cautious of and negative about it by the time the 1st Ed DMG was published, but it was still allowed for.

I think there's a great deal of truth in the idea that the variant races help folks portray a less-Tolkien-dominated world, and feel more open and fresh to a lot of players.

 

[dave2008]

It's based on my own observations and experience. Again, not very scientific, and certainly full of bias based on the kind of players I associate with.

But I've never seen anyone in my games really play out the implications of a non-human race in a human-centric world.

Why do you assume they are playing in a human-centric world? When I have heavily mixed groups I typically assume the rest of the world is the same. It is typically a humanoid-centric, but not human-centric