What race can you not bring yourself to play?

[woodelf]

D&D-style elf. Vulcan. Klingon.

The 1st two i just never got into. The last actively annoys me.

Also, as a general rule, i don't play humans. I'm [debatably] human every day--i want to be something else when i'm RPing. Now, i'm not a pain about it--if a non-human would be way out of place in a setting/genre, i'll play a human. I'll even play a human with no funky powers, if that's what's appropriate for the game.

 

[Lars Porsenna]

Like everyone else, I dislike playing halflings and gnomes. I don't have any inherent dislike for halflings, but I just don't like playing that archetype. Gnomes, however, I can't see having a role in the campaign that is different enough from either elves or dwarves to make them viable. As it is, it should be a blend between the two, but I just can't get there. Plus, in our (long-running) campaing, gnomes have a bad rep as being very, very annoying.

Interesting comments on elves re: not structured to their preferred class. Whenever I generate a new character, the LAST thing I look at is how well the class I've chosen fits with the race. 100% of the characters I continue to play, and are dear to me, are because I created them with a ROLE-PLAYING idea, rather than making the "killingest" or min-maxed character I could possibly make. FREX, my dwarf is a cleric, and my current bevy of elfs are a mage and a fighter/Holy Liberator. All my min-maxed combat machines have been abandoned since they were boring to RP.

But if race matching the favored class is important to you, try playing a grey elf wizard instead: stat bumps to INT and DEX, penalties to STR and CON. That's my mage, and he's my favorite character I've generated in the last few years...

As for RP complaints about elves (i.e. being arrogant and haughty), I'm deliberately emulating the character Lenier from Babylon 5 (Mimbari: best space elfs ever!). Humble, dedicated to learning, without prejudice, but wise and effective in battle when pressed...

Damon.

 

[Yeoman]

Honestly I'd never play an elf, I saw so many over the years that I just can't bring myself to ever play one. Big fan of halflings though.

 

[JoeGKushner]

I can play all of them but given the option, gnomes, halflings, half-elves can all go the way of the flesh and die off.

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

I figure any of the races can be fun if you find a good angle to play them from?

Finally found a half orc that amused me: He was a half elf/half orc - raised by his loving parents - an elven paladin and an orcish peasant girl. He was convinced he was an elf. Albeit a 6'8" slightly green elf. The DM had the elves in the elven community go along with it... confused the other elven character no end. Mechanically just a half orc.

I've always gotten stuck with Gnomes - can't find a good concept to try. Closest was a creepy whispery gnome mage/navigator in Dragonstar.

Going with the theme of the thread, I really hate tinker gnomes. Annoying little monkeys.

 

[Narfellus]

In real world hermetic occult lore, gnomes are really earth elementals. They're not physical entities at all but spiritual. Same with sylphs (air) fire (salamander) and water (undines) but those last three aren't even options as PC races unless you're using Savage Species.

 

[werk]

...

I usually play full elf, but I don't have anything against any of the player races.

My characters tend to be very racist against gnomes (gnome hating elf paladin), but that's just because I think of gnomes in a Terry Brooks - Sword of Shanarra sort of way.

 

[Kalendraf]

Even before the changes in 3e or 3.5, I never really wanted to play an elf or half-elf. It seemed like everyone else always wanted to play them, but I just never saw their allure. I much preferred playing humans, dwarves or even the occasional gnome or halfling.

Now in 3.5, not playing an elf or half-elf makes even more sense rules-wise, as I firmly think the other races are far superior.

 

[KaosDevice]

I've never really liked playing elves for some reason, just personal preference. Weirdly though, I've always gotten a kick out of playing half-elves. Go figure. :\

Never been a big fan of gnomes either, there just something too....goofy about the race for me to play one.

 

[Insight]

I'm pretty much in the group of Halfling-Gnome dislike. Don't really care for them, and I don't think I have ever played one of them in a game that lasted more than a session or two.

If I can't play something different, I prefer to play human-like races, so obvious Humans, but also Half-elves and Elves. I'm not overly fond of playing Dwarves, although I have done so in the past. I can't say that under the right circumstances I absolutely wouldn't play Gnomes or Halflings, but such a situation has yet to present itself.

My preference is actually to play something wacky and off the wall, because I've done just about all the run-of-the-mill (boring) options offered in the PHB.