What moves you to choose a specific race?

[Jackinthegreen]

I'm a bit here and there. If I have a reasonable idea of what the setting is and how the DM handles things beforehand then I explore a bit more. I recently played a cajun pirate shifter druid, for example, although not as well as I would have liked because getting that accent and personality down in text is... difficult. When I'm not quite sure what's going on though, I've played it safe with humans.

I'd say so far I've chosen race based more on a character concept. The sneaky, wise ninja I've played was a whisper gnome. The hulking brute was a half-ogre. The skilled divination specialist was human. The charismatic charmer was a changeling. The desert warlock was a half-giant with the primordial template.

Having read a lot of D&D stuff I just tend to have random ideas, though the rules and mechanics tend to help guide them. I know that it takes a large race or a medium one with powerful build to take a specific feat that allows them to bull rush people around easier (and used that one with the above half-ogre). Which one might be the best choice? Depends on the campaign and other stuff going on. Other stuff like racial-specific feats or class substitution levels tends to limit one's options a little, but at least there are plenty of variants on those races too if the DM allows for them. And even with those variants there are certainly plenty of different ways to play those characters!


I think I might redo the shifter though. If none of my teammates have rolled their eyes at that choice I ought to smack them. That and I suck at playing prepared casters due to just enough OCD that I hold things up.

 

[jbear]

I almost always play a human. Maybe because I like to take little bits of my character and then develop them into a character in isolation, someone I can relate to, or that I can portray with more depth because I know me, I know humans. But I may be over analysing. Maybe I just like the idea of a reflection of me and what I might do in a fantasy world.

When I don't play a human I usually play a dwarf. That is probably because I would always run a NPC dwarven cleric with the party, so no one had to be the chump that dished out the healing all the time and missed out on the fun. Plus they were easy to play gruff and unhelpful enough that players would quickly give up on trying to wheedle information out of the DM by putting the squeeze on the dwarf. I guess I grew a soft spot for them.

In Pbp games I currently play I run a:

Human Wizard
Human Druid
Human Fighter (x2)
Human Paladin/Warlock Hybrid
Human Swordmage/Wizard Hybrid
Human Cleric
Human Thief
Human Fighter/Runepriest Hybrid
Dwarven Rogue type
Dwarven Shaman

 

[Lwaxy]

Both roleplay and char creation, as in if I wanna be a barbarian I will not pick a goblin, kobold or halfling

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

Then you don't know what you're missing!

(Loganberry, Feral Halfling Barbarian/PsiWar, TWF with blade-claws...)

 

[Lwaxy]

I had a barbarian halfling once and it kinda... well the game usually was comedy central. Don't want that to happen a lot

 

[Nytmare]

Both roleplay and char creation, as in if I wanna be a barbarian I will not pick a goblin, kobold or halfling

By creation do you mean "optimization"?

I have to admit that one of my favorite parties I was ever a part of was Hansen's Light Brigade, a halfling cavalry unit comprised of a paladin, barbarian/ranger, cleric, and bard all mounted on war rams and mastiffs.

 

[Lwaxy]

By creation do you mean "optimization"?

I don't usually optimize all that well, but some combinations of race and class have issues if you do it more than once just for the heck of it, like the mentioned barbarian. There is just not enough strength.

Sure a bunch of goblin barbarians are dangerous, but one single such barbarian, even with the help of others, just lacks the strength in my experience.

In a party supposed to be for a serious adventure (well, more or less) I prefer to give the classes more fitting races.