What moves you to choose a specific race?

[Theo R Cwithin]

I generally opt for the race that looks most compelling in skimpy underwear. In a world rife with wooly rhinofolk, amorphous waxoids, and three-legged cheese mephits, the choice is rarely as straightforward as you might think.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Simply put: it derives from the PC concept. Once I figure out what kind of PC I want to play, then I start filling in the details, like race, class, and so forth.

 

[Razjah]

Whatever fits my concept. I rarely take race into mechanical consideration, other than a "Can this still be useful?" line of thinking. I don't want to end up playing a character that is not helpful to the party. But I'm okay with not being as efficient as possible.

4e game example: An eladrin wizard is kind of boring, but an eladrin wizard who focuses on damage dealing spells whose sister is in the party and is a magical prodigy for blowing stuff up (sorcerer)-better. He perfects his magic. Fireball is not an attack that explodes, it is a larva hurled into a space that grows into a nest before exploding into a massive sphere of flaming butterflies. His sister has way more raw talent (fluff wise she learns magic much easier and her offense has greater power), but he goes for the show and the technical aspects of magic.

 

[Li Shenron]

Character concept, or more specifically my vision of the character. Many times, it's an actual picture that inspires my choice.

Most of the times it is Human really, because indeed they are easiest to roleplay, however if I'm playing in a setting that features some races prominently, I probably want to try them out. For example, I dislike Eberron and I don't want to see Warforged spill into other settings, but if I ever start playing Eberron I'd probably play a Warforged at some point because that race is very important. It's one of the key element that makes Eberron have its own identity, so I'd go with the iconic flow. (Incidentally, one of the most irritating things to me, is players that invariably and inevitably want to play something that is counter to the setting, the first freakin' time the play in that setting)

 

[Weather Report]

Pure flavour/vibe, do not think it should be any other way.

 

[tuxgeo]

Sense of wonder: I wonder what it would be like to play a certain type of character.

(I have never wondered what it would be like to play a dragonborn or a tiefling or a warforged. Shifter, yes, once.)

Most of my characters are human because I am. For all those characters, I wonder what it would be like to have certain different traits, without going too far away from what I am now.

I have a hard time imagining myself morphing into a gnome; perhaps I should stretch my imagination farther, but that takes time and effort. Maybe later.

 

[Razjah]

For example, I dislike Eberron and I don't want to see Warforged spill into other settings, but if I ever start playing Eberron I'd probably play a Warforged at some point because that race is very important. It's one of the key element that makes Eberron have its own identity, so I'd go with the iconic flow. (Incidentally, one of the most irritating things to me, is players that invariably and inevitably want to play something that is counter to the setting, the first freakin' time the play in that setting)

Interestingly, I have seen this A LOT but never actually connected the dots. Why do players want to go against the setting's vibe in their very first foray into the game? I like to get a feel for the setting and picking a setting-specific iconic race is a great way to do that.

 

[Wiseblood]

Usually because of stats. I hate to say it but there it is.

 

[Greg K]

When I play, I choose, almost exclusively, humans. I think that, in all of my years of playing D&D, I have played 1 Dwarf, 1 Elf and 1 Half-elf. Everything else has been human.

As for why, I suppose it has to with my influences. Outside of Lord of the Rings, the fantasy stories and movies that influenced me feature protagonists that are exclusively human I suppose that this is why I don't care for the majority of DnD fantasy races as PCs and/or in concept. This dislike includes, but is not limited to: illumians, darfellan, shadar-kai, githyanki, githzerai, dragonborn, shardminds, dhampyr

 

[Mishihari Lord]

For me it's always about roleplaying and generally the race is decided before class, role, or anything else. My RPG fun has to do with immersion, method acting, sense of wonder, etc, etc. The primary consideration is how does the character think, and race will have a bigger effect on that than anything else.

I can't imaging choosing a race based on mechanical benefits.