Why do players want to play a large race?

[Li Shenron]

I know it's a silly question, and mostly it's a rant...

When the DM freely allows races not in the PHB, I often see players asking for a large-sized race, but I have the suspect that the only reason is that they're looking for a PC who does lots of melee damage (you know, Str bonus + large weapons + reach...), and nothing else.

When someone asks to play a small race, IMXP it's always for RP/flavor reason instead...

Am I completely off?

I don't know how the others feel about it, but I have a hard time thinking of a character concept less original than "big guy who deals lots of melee damage"

 

[Tetsubo]

I know it's a silly question, and mostly it's a rant...

When the DM freely allows races not in the PHB, I often see players asking for a large-sized race, but I have the suspect that the only reason is that they're looking for a PC who does lots of melee damage (you know, Str bonus + large weapons + reach...), and nothing else.

When someone asks to play a small race, IMXP it's always for RP/flavor reason instead...

Am I completely off?

I don't know how the others feel about it, but I have a hard time thinking of a character concept less original than "big guy who deals lots of melee damage"

I will freely admit, it is not original in the least.

But it is a great deal of fun. And often quite simple to play.

I am the Eternal GM. If I were given a chance to play I would probably play a melee monster. And there is no better melee monster than a Large character. Of course with the Goliath around now...

 

[mhacdebhandia]

People also play small races for the sake of enhancing their rogue PCs' abilities. Smaller weapons mean less to a rogue relying on sneak attack than to a fighter, after all.

Personally, I don't play nonhuman characters very often, because in my experience they're often either a crutch for roleplaying (I really quite loathe racial personality traits) or chosen for mechanical reasons.

However, a race like the goliaths is interesting because of their culture - advice like "keep track of your achievements in comparison to others" is not necessarily so inspiring, but the idea of a culture driven by competitive cooperation is pretty fertile ground for backstory and characterisation.

So, in long-winded answer to your question, if I played a Large race it would be because I found the race interesting, not for mechanical reasons - though Powerful Build is cool.

(Yes, I'm aware goliaths are Medium, but they fit the general purpose of the question.)

 

[Henry]

Yeah, you've pretty much got it. However, I wouldn't say it's an invalid character concept; in fact, it is so stereotypical as to be a standard of ANY genre (fantasy, sci-fi, modern, what have you). Some people just like to vicariously have the physical mangling power they don't have or don't want to exercise in real life. A lot of times, younger players like it I've found because it's a wish fulfillment sort of thing; when you're a minor, and seemingly have no power against the world, it's nice to be the big guy who bashes heads and makes bad things turn to good. One of our younger players LIKES being the big guy with the 6-foot sword; it's a recurring archetype for him, and who am I to say no?

 

[francisca]

Yeah, you've pretty much got it. However, I wouldn't say it's an invalid character concept; in fact, it is so stereotypical as to be a standard of ANY genre (fantasy, sci-fi, modern, what have you). Some people just like to vicariously have the physical mangling power they don't have or don't want to exercise in real life. A lot of times, younger players like it I've found because it's a wish fulfillment sort of thing; when you're a minor, and seemingly have no power against the world, it's nice to be the big guy who bashes heads and makes bad things turn to good. One of our younger players LIKES being the big guy with the 6-foot sword; it's a recurring archetype for him, and who am I to say no?

Yep. What he said. First time I ever played Shadowrun, I played a Troll Merc. Talk about a one-troll wrecking machine....

 

[Tonguez]

I played a angsty giant cleric who was unsure that his god actually cared about Giants for RP reasons not because of the power boost (though that was fun too). Also being from a tall family (average height 6'2) means I can envisage being large more easily than I can small

The problem is that in DnD most large races are characterised as big dumb oaf whch somewhat limits the RP possibilities to melee brute

 

[BiggusGeekus]

In a 6th level game I played an Ogre Wizard-2. It was fun, but I wouldn't have wanted to play the character past Wizard-4.

It isn't just that the big guys are well-suited to being warriors, they make really crummy spellcasters.

 

[Turanil]

When the DM freely allows races not in the PHB, I often see players asking for a large-sized race, but I have the suspect that the only reason is that they're looking for a PC who does lots of melee damage (you know, Str bonus + large weapons + reach...), and nothing else.

When someone asks to play a small race, IMXP it's always for RP/flavor reason instead...

I mostly agree with you. However, as a DM concerned with flavor, I do prefer Giants (Xpsi or AU) to gnomes and halflings. I especially hate gnomes, don't know why.

 

[Numion]

When someone asks to play a small race, IMXP it's always for RP/flavor reason instead...

Am I completely off?

IMO, yes. Every time someone plays a small PC IMC there's a powergaming aspect there. Only small PCs I've ever seen are Wizards, sorcs and rogues. All those have benefits of being mini-mes. Sorcs for example have no not to be small: better AC, better to hit with ray spells, better saves. And your spells have lost none of their potency.

Rogues are also helped by small size, even more than sorcs. Sneak attack is where the action is, so it doesn't matter that the damage dice is smaller.

 

[diaglo]

Rogues are also helped by small size, even more than sorcs. Sneak attack is where the action is, so it doesn't matter that the damage dice is smaller.

that's b/c they didn't scale sneak attack or other damage with size also.

look for that in 3.75ed.