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What it means for a race to end up in the PHB, its has huge significance
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<blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 9350586" data-attributes="member: 6790260"><p>Then you are in very rarefied company. Dragonborn are (at least as of the most recent data) the third most popular non-human option, after elf and half-elf (which vary depending on survey which one is in first place).</p><p></p><p></p><p>For me, and I think for a lot of people who like them, this is a significant part of the draw. I don't want to be just a human who looks like they've had some tacky scales glued on at semi-random points. I <em>want</em> to look different.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Oh, believe me, I hear you. It was incredibly frustrating to have to argue to folks that 5e dragonborn were actually incredibly weak relative to other races. I had people insisting (on both this forum and a previous forum) that 5e dragonborn were perfectly fine and I was just whining (or, alternatively, a "call me a dirty powergamer without <em>calling</em> me a dirty powergamer" situation.)</p><p></p><p>Yet another one of those "delightful" situations where folks insisted 5e couldn't possibly have problems for years and years, and now act like everyone's always known it was a problem and it doesn't need to be talked about anymore.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Oh yeah, I very much expect people to be asking for gith. As stated, Dak'kon breathed new life into his race, and Lae'zel has done the same for hers. I wouldn't be even <em>slightly</em> surprised if Lae'zel clones become the newest version of the same idea behind Drizzt clones. That is, a race where 99% of player characters are defectors away from the evil awfulness of their people and thus brooding loners with a need to prove themselves.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Dragonborn got an entire series where the adoptive father of the main character is a dragonborn (and also a gay man, which is some nice representation). The author, Erin M. Evans, has put a <em>ton</em> of work into Tymantheran culture, and some of it is really quite interesting.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Interesting. Somehow I missed this. Good to know we've gotten more recent data. Also, dragonborn continue to ascend; according to this, they're now the <em>second</em> most popular non-human 5e race, behind only elves.</p><p></p><p>More to the point, this still would seem to indicate that there's not a whole lot of room for stuff to grow even if it <em>does</em> get added to the PHB. Goliaths might rise, what, two places? Three? And if they do, they'll merely displace something that was already PHB in the doing, like gnome, further cementing the idea that being PHB isn't a guarantee of a win.</p><p></p><p></p><p>According to the above statistics (despite the <em>terrible, AWFUL graph design</em>), aasimar are only slightly behind goliaths in 11th place, at about 85k, meaning they're about 1/8th as common as humans, overall.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Ah, but there's a twist to that. Looking evil is cooler. Being evil is not. Being evil is generally pretty uncool, actually. But if you can look evil while secretly being good, you get the best of both worlds and an extra cherry on top: you get to be badass and impressive and do all sorts of showy (but ultimately meaningless) "evil" things, while doing the right thing for the right reason at the right time when it actually matters, <em>and</em> getting the "I am persecuted by those who judge a book by its cover" jerk-with-a-heart-of-gold vibes too. That's why things like Drizzt, Lae'zel, and tieflings are so popular. They get to cross the line <em>thrice</em>: looking evil and presenting "cool" outwardly evil/asocial/destructive behavior, secretly doing the right thing what-you-are-in-the-dark style, getting to indulge some petty revenge against those who wrongly judge them, but ultimately showing their superior moral fiber by not <em>giving in</em> to the revenge and doing something actually problematic.</p><p></p><p>All the perks, none of the drawbacks. Angels? Angels can only play it straight, being obviously good people who do obviously good things, <em>or</em> subvert it by becoming boringly actual-evil people despite looking like a good person. They can only cross the line once, if they cross it at all, but in a way that is boring and (these days) pretty over-used. "Pretty person is actually a haughty, self-righteous jerk worse than the people they condemn" is a stock supervillain origin these days.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="EzekielRaiden, post: 9350586, member: 6790260"] Then you are in very rarefied company. Dragonborn are (at least as of the most recent data) the third most popular non-human option, after elf and half-elf (which vary depending on survey which one is in first place). For me, and I think for a lot of people who like them, this is a significant part of the draw. I don't want to be just a human who looks like they've had some tacky scales glued on at semi-random points. I [I]want[/I] to look different. Oh, believe me, I hear you. It was incredibly frustrating to have to argue to folks that 5e dragonborn were actually incredibly weak relative to other races. I had people insisting (on both this forum and a previous forum) that 5e dragonborn were perfectly fine and I was just whining (or, alternatively, a "call me a dirty powergamer without [I]calling[/I] me a dirty powergamer" situation.) Yet another one of those "delightful" situations where folks insisted 5e couldn't possibly have problems for years and years, and now act like everyone's always known it was a problem and it doesn't need to be talked about anymore. Oh yeah, I very much expect people to be asking for gith. As stated, Dak'kon breathed new life into his race, and Lae'zel has done the same for hers. I wouldn't be even [I]slightly[/I] surprised if Lae'zel clones become the newest version of the same idea behind Drizzt clones. That is, a race where 99% of player characters are defectors away from the evil awfulness of their people and thus brooding loners with a need to prove themselves. Dragonborn got an entire series where the adoptive father of the main character is a dragonborn (and also a gay man, which is some nice representation). The author, Erin M. Evans, has put a [I]ton[/I] of work into Tymantheran culture, and some of it is really quite interesting. Interesting. Somehow I missed this. Good to know we've gotten more recent data. Also, dragonborn continue to ascend; according to this, they're now the [I]second[/I] most popular non-human 5e race, behind only elves. More to the point, this still would seem to indicate that there's not a whole lot of room for stuff to grow even if it [I]does[/I] get added to the PHB. Goliaths might rise, what, two places? Three? And if they do, they'll merely displace something that was already PHB in the doing, like gnome, further cementing the idea that being PHB isn't a guarantee of a win. According to the above statistics (despite the [I]terrible, AWFUL graph design[/I]), aasimar are only slightly behind goliaths in 11th place, at about 85k, meaning they're about 1/8th as common as humans, overall. Ah, but there's a twist to that. Looking evil is cooler. Being evil is not. Being evil is generally pretty uncool, actually. But if you can look evil while secretly being good, you get the best of both worlds and an extra cherry on top: you get to be badass and impressive and do all sorts of showy (but ultimately meaningless) "evil" things, while doing the right thing for the right reason at the right time when it actually matters, [I]and[/I] getting the "I am persecuted by those who judge a book by its cover" jerk-with-a-heart-of-gold vibes too. That's why things like Drizzt, Lae'zel, and tieflings are so popular. They get to cross the line [I]thrice[/I]: looking evil and presenting "cool" outwardly evil/asocial/destructive behavior, secretly doing the right thing what-you-are-in-the-dark style, getting to indulge some petty revenge against those who wrongly judge them, but ultimately showing their superior moral fiber by not [I]giving in[/I] to the revenge and doing something actually problematic. All the perks, none of the drawbacks. Angels? Angels can only play it straight, being obviously good people who do obviously good things, [I]or[/I] subvert it by becoming boringly actual-evil people despite looking like a good person. They can only cross the line once, if they cross it at all, but in a way that is boring and (these days) pretty over-used. "Pretty person is actually a haughty, self-righteous jerk worse than the people they condemn" is a stock supervillain origin these days. [/QUOTE]
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