Which race should rule the world?

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

Pixies aren't a bad candidate for world domination aside from their temperment.

My personal feeling is that it would be difficult and impractical for one race to rule everything, but that in terms of relative power humans are the most overrated and orcs the most underrated.

Being innately strong, numerous, and spending a very small portion of your life in the growing up phase are huge advantages in the sort of worlds we're discussing. Not to mention their ability to subsist on anything and naturally high level of aggression.

I also think the small races are underutilized. Small size is an overall evolutionary advantage, they tend to have higher reproducion rates than the other demi-humans, they're very civilized and clever, they're unorthodox, and they don't have bad modifiers. Sure their lack of speed means they won't rule the plains without cavalry, but they will be better able to take advantage of rough terrain than others and need fewer resources to be effective.

As a side note, however, I would point out that dwarves are likely to have the largest population of any PHB race when you do the generational math. A single dwarf is more or less likely to live through 5 generations of his progeny, and the bonus to constitution means he'll be more able than a comparably aged member of the other races. This isn't even considering the length of the period in which a dwarven couple could have children, the manner in which their resitance to nasty things could improve their rates of infant mortality, the frequency of twins, marriage customs, or other phenomena that could have a positive impact.

 

[Lazybones]

I agree with the spawning undead option. I'm surprised this isn't raised more often, given the game mechanics of how spawning works. A moderately high-level cleric can cast the Create Undead spell and call a shadow or a wight. Take control of the creature. Go to a farming village (or cast the spell there, perhaps from the town's inn), and that night start spawning. The cleric doesn't even need to do anything, except make sure that every spawn gets orders not to attack him.

Since spawn are under the creating undead's control, what you get is a hierarchy of authority that goes back to the original undead creature (which is under the cleric's control). Travel to the next village with your little army, and then the next, until you have a significantly large enough force to attack a larger town. With luck, if you start in a sufficiently rural area you won't even start an alarm for a few days, enough time to "convert" 3-4 villages. With an army of 500 shadows your average town is not going to stand a chance, even if every cleric in the region is high-tailing it to your location (really their only chance is to form large groups of priests, which leads to delay, which favors the evil guys). If you can "convert" a town (which shouldn't be hard, since <1% of the population will have the power to hurt a shadow), your army grows exponentially. Then you start sending out bands of shadows to mop up the other villages that escaped your intial march.

Ideally, you do this during rainy weather, further increasing the efficacy of your force and improving the stealth effect of your shadows.

 

[Aloïsius]

Halflings and gnomes, please, next you will say the pixies take over.

A ridiculous prospect because they're small.

Hill giants should rule the world ! These puny humans are merely halflings compared to hill giants !

 

[Soldarin]

Humans should never have survived the hunter/gatherer stage of development. Going up against orcs without the benefit of superior organisation will get them killed every time. Not to mention that the complete lack of night vision will spell doom for any human-only defense against for example giants or hobgoblins.

So, obviously, the humans never had to compete with greenskins on an even footing, either doing their early development on some other world, or being created by the gods, complete with standing armies and city walls to keep the superior monsters at bay.

 

[Drawmack]

or it could be a FANTASY game.

 

[johnsemlak]

one word

Dragons

 

[Sagan Darkside]

Re: one word

Dragons

Ehh.. genies are much more interesting.

SD

 

[Nightfall]

Am I the only one that wants to see a world ruled by Slitheren/Ratmen? Or am I just dealing with a warhammer jaded crowd?

 

[Larcen]

Assuming we are talking about less-than-godlike beings, then I think liches should be ruling the world. Ok, ok, since they aren't really a race, then whatever race the liches chose to rule the world.

 

[Sagan Darkside]

Or am I just dealing with a warhammer jaded crowd?

I always thought Skaven were a cool idea, but they don't seem like a "rule the world" type. More like "destroy the world".

SD