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General Tabletop Discussion
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What is the purpose of race/heritage?
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<blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 8689339" data-attributes="member: 6790260"><p>Multiform. It serves at least three distinct purposes. In no particular order, because each person would order them differently:</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Character customization. Whether this manifests as <em>optimization</em> will vary from player to player, but it offers a choice.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Thematic representation. Even as we move away from monolithic examples (fewer racial monocultures and monoracial cultures), ancestry still encodes thematic elements. Elves are lithe, graceful, magical. Dragonborn are strong, noble, poised. Dwarves are hardy, blunt, traditional. Etc.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Cast differentiation. Have you ever noticed that, apart from humans, you'll usually see only one or two of a given ancestry in a group? It's obviously far from universal, but it's a pretty clear pattern I've noticed. Having distinct ancestries offers a form of character <em>differentiation</em> (as opposed to customization) that makes for a nice, clean shorthand.</li> </ul><p>Some would fork apart the first option into whether the customization is chosen to support a narrative concept or chosen to support a more "mechanical" optimization, but IMO those two impulses aren't actually different. They manifest the same way, highly selective choices of mechanical options, they just have different specific goals. Hating one and liking the other is not particularly coherent, especially since most people have just as dim a view of "bUt It'S wHaT mY cHaRaCtEr WoUlD dO!!!" excuses as they do of "but my optimizations!!!" excuses, if not moreso. Disruptive customization is disruptive regardless of whether the goal is "be really good at X mechanical thing" or "demonstrate X concept as fully as possible."</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="EzekielRaiden, post: 8689339, member: 6790260"] Multiform. It serves at least three distinct purposes. In no particular order, because each person would order them differently: [LIST] [*]Character customization. Whether this manifests as [I]optimization[/I] will vary from player to player, but it offers a choice. [*]Thematic representation. Even as we move away from monolithic examples (fewer racial monocultures and monoracial cultures), ancestry still encodes thematic elements. Elves are lithe, graceful, magical. Dragonborn are strong, noble, poised. Dwarves are hardy, blunt, traditional. Etc. [*]Cast differentiation. Have you ever noticed that, apart from humans, you'll usually see only one or two of a given ancestry in a group? It's obviously far from universal, but it's a pretty clear pattern I've noticed. Having distinct ancestries offers a form of character [I]differentiation[/I] (as opposed to customization) that makes for a nice, clean shorthand. [/LIST] Some would fork apart the first option into whether the customization is chosen to support a narrative concept or chosen to support a more "mechanical" optimization, but IMO those two impulses aren't actually different. They manifest the same way, highly selective choices of mechanical options, they just have different specific goals. Hating one and liking the other is not particularly coherent, especially since most people have just as dim a view of "bUt It'S wHaT mY cHaRaCtEr WoUlD dO!!!" excuses as they do of "but my optimizations!!!" excuses, if not moreso. Disruptive customization is disruptive regardless of whether the goal is "be really good at X mechanical thing" or "demonstrate X concept as fully as possible." [/QUOTE]
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