Vaalingrade
Legend
It serves to add here that there's no way to tell whether Pike and Scanlan from CR are Gnomes or Halflings except that they tell you at the start of each episode.
D&D General Why Do People Hate Gnomes?
- Thread starter Levistus's_Leviathan
- Start date
Bolares
Legend
Mind of tempest
(he/him)advocate for 5e psionics
halflings are all English country folk and thus would never be able to make those cultures.
Every single race in D&D is just a "stereotyped human".
Take a Human... change its body shape... select three or four things it REALLY likes over all others... and voila, you get any D&D race and/or sub-race. So if people don't like Gnomes, it's because they just don't like the body shape or the three or four things the gnome (or sub-race gnomes) focuses on.
If players like playing Dwarves, it's cause they enjoy playing the human qualities of "gruff", "a heavy drinker", and "naturally comfortable underground" (plus of course all the beneficial game mechanics that go with that). And if necessary, throw in a Scottish accent. Because that's what almost all Dwarves are like in D&D, and what most players end up playing.
Now there's absolutely no reason why a player couldn't play a Human with those qualities... but if you're going to, you might as well just play a Dwarf because those are what have been earmarked for Dwarves in D&D since the beginning. Likewise, you could play an "aloof, outdoorsy Human"... but at that point you might as well just play a Wood Elf since that's what almost all Wood Elves are presented as. And the player who plays "aloof and outdoorsy"... there will probably be little to no difference as to how it gets plays at the table whether the character is a Wood Elf or a Human. So the two different races might as well not even exist-- except for the game mechanics one gives over the other (and is really what the player cared about in the first place).
For my money... it doesn't matter in the least which races or sub-races are used or not used in D&D, or whether "monsters" can become PC options or not. Because at the end of the day... they will be played by all the D&D players as nothing more than human beings with just a couple specific quirks and a rubber mask.
Take a Human... change its body shape... select three or four things it REALLY likes over all others... and voila, you get any D&D race and/or sub-race. So if people don't like Gnomes, it's because they just don't like the body shape or the three or four things the gnome (or sub-race gnomes) focuses on.
If players like playing Dwarves, it's cause they enjoy playing the human qualities of "gruff", "a heavy drinker", and "naturally comfortable underground" (plus of course all the beneficial game mechanics that go with that). And if necessary, throw in a Scottish accent. Because that's what almost all Dwarves are like in D&D, and what most players end up playing.
Now there's absolutely no reason why a player couldn't play a Human with those qualities... but if you're going to, you might as well just play a Dwarf because those are what have been earmarked for Dwarves in D&D since the beginning. Likewise, you could play an "aloof, outdoorsy Human"... but at that point you might as well just play a Wood Elf since that's what almost all Wood Elves are presented as. And the player who plays "aloof and outdoorsy"... there will probably be little to no difference as to how it gets plays at the table whether the character is a Wood Elf or a Human. So the two different races might as well not even exist-- except for the game mechanics one gives over the other (and is really what the player cared about in the first place).
For my money... it doesn't matter in the least which races or sub-races are used or not used in D&D, or whether "monsters" can become PC options or not. Because at the end of the day... they will be played by all the D&D players as nothing more than human beings with just a couple specific quirks and a rubber mask.
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Vaalingrade
Legend
Because very few people are either capable of writing good xenofiction or interested in engaging with xenofiction.
Mind of tempest
(he/him)advocate for 5e psionics
note to self make diet xenofiction.
Absolutely. I've yet to see any player even attempt to roleplay an elf who was actually a thousand years old. They usually act and react just like any normal human does who thinks they only have a short period of time to get things done.
I prefer Xenofiction Zero Sugar myself...
Vaalingrade
Legend
You're going back in time to found White Wolf?
Mind of tempest
(he/him)advocate for 5e psionics
why would a thousand-year-old elf go anywhere they would be like weeks from death not prime adeventure time.
try looking into mass effect asari for how elves might take to adventuring.
look I am not old enough for me to fully get this joke, I know they made those vampire games which had media spin-offs a game and a VHS show both of which I believe my mother bought.
so can you explain how they are diet xenofiction?
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