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<blockquote data-quote="Geoffrey" data-source="post: 3261147" data-attributes="member: 764">You're right. Demihuman PCs have always been a part of D&amp;D. It is also the case that options for demihuman PCs have continually expanded from 1974 to today, so that demihuman PCs are far less limited than they used to be and are therefore probably more common.I don't think that excluding demihuman PCs makes D&amp;D cease being D&amp;D. The impression I get from the 1974 rules is that Gary basically threw them in there simply because The Lord of the Rings was (and is) so popular. In other words, demihuman PCs started out as a marketing technique: &quot;Hey! You can have a party of four hobbits, an elf, a dwarf, a magic-user, and two fighters! Sound familiar? Hint, hint.&quot; Here are the options for demihumans in the 1974 rules:Elves could rise as high as 4th-level fighters and 8th-level magic-users.Dwarves could rise as high as 6th-level fighters.Hobbits could rise as high as 4th-level fighters.And that's it.Those roles are so restrictive that it is a very small step to disallowing them completely. Compare that to the notes in the 1974 rules that humans are completely unlimited in class and levels (with examples mentioned of 20th-level characters). Imagine a party of three 20th-level humans and a 6th-level dwarf. He'd be toast. The numbers were stacked to clearly discourage demihuman play.Ergo, I do not think a human-PCs-only game thereby ceases to be D&amp;D.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Geoffrey, post: 3261147, member: 764"] You're right. Demihuman PCs have always been a part of D&D. It is also the case that options for demihuman PCs have continually expanded from 1974 to today, so that demihuman PCs are far less limited than they used to be and are therefore probably more common. I don't think that excluding demihuman PCs makes D&D cease being D&D. The impression I get from the 1974 rules is that Gary basically threw them in there simply because [I]The Lord of the Rings[/I] was (and is) so popular. In other words, demihuman PCs started out as a marketing technique: "Hey! You can have a party of four hobbits, an elf, a dwarf, a magic-user, and two fighters! Sound familiar? Hint, hint." Here are the options for demihumans in the 1974 rules: Elves could rise as high as 4th-level fighters and 8th-level magic-users. Dwarves could rise as high as 6th-level fighters. Hobbits could rise as high as 4th-level fighters. And that's it. Those roles are so restrictive that it is a very small step to disallowing them completely. Compare that to the notes in the 1974 rules that humans are completely unlimited in class and levels (with examples mentioned of 20th-level characters). Imagine a party of three 20th-level humans and a 6th-level dwarf. He'd be toast. The numbers were stacked to clearly discourage demihuman play. Ergo, I do not think a human-PCs-only game thereby ceases to be D&D. [/QUOTE]

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