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What is the purpose of race/heritage?
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<blockquote data-quote="DEFCON 1" data-source="post: 8688604" data-attributes="member: 7006"><p>It's because of the game mechanics.</p><p></p><p>I firmly believe we'd have more Humans in D&D if race gave no mechanical benefit whatsoever and it was purely a flavor thing a player would append to their character story upon creation.</p><p></p><p>We see all the time people here talk about not wanting or bothering with "character backgrounds" or "character histories" and instead want their story to come out of gameplay at the table. If a character's race became just one more thing you'd create in your character's "background" or "history" and had no impact at the table... I believe a large number of players would stop bothering to choose.</p><p></p><p>Some players of course would continue to select a race for their character-- those that actually created a background and past history of their PC prior to adventuring-- but that number would be less than it is now because of all the players who select non-human races because of the mechanical benefit.</p><p></p><p>Yes, I'm jaded. <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite2" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=";)" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="DEFCON 1, post: 8688604, member: 7006"] It's because of the game mechanics. I firmly believe we'd have more Humans in D&D if race gave no mechanical benefit whatsoever and it was purely a flavor thing a player would append to their character story upon creation. We see all the time people here talk about not wanting or bothering with "character backgrounds" or "character histories" and instead want their story to come out of gameplay at the table. If a character's race became just one more thing you'd create in your character's "background" or "history" and had no impact at the table... I believe a large number of players would stop bothering to choose. Some players of course would continue to select a race for their character-- those that actually created a background and past history of their PC prior to adventuring-- but that number would be less than it is now because of all the players who select non-human races because of the mechanical benefit. Yes, I'm jaded. ;) [/QUOTE]
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What is the purpose of race/heritage?
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