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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Chaosmancer" data-source="post: 6770092" data-attributes="member: 6801228">This is something I don't get. It just doesn't compute, perhaps because I never got a chance to actually play DnD until 4e (DM ran Darksun) so most of those races seem standard DnD to me. Let's take my current character. I wanted to play a Tiefling Storm Sorcerer who was a jeweler (using the Unearthed Arcana Storm Sorcerer). Started life as a street rat, broke into a shop and got a magic gem embedded into his hand that was a shard of elemental power, owner of the shop trained him to be a jeweler. I liked the idea of the gem accident giving me magic, so perhaps the Tiefling part wasn't core to my concept, but it has played an important part of my characters development and relationships. If I'd gone to your campaign and pitched this idea, and you'd said no, I'd probably ask "Why?" If your answer was I don't allow Tieflings in my game I'd ask why again. If your answer was because I don't like them, I'd be quite taken aback, if it is an issue with their demonic lineage I might have offered suggestions to make it work. I could play a different character, I generally have a few concepts bouncing around, but to approach a table and have my character summarily dismissed over their race, when I'm not going out and finding obscure 3rd party lore no one has heard of, seems utterly alien to me. Why take a packaged concept and tear it apart to its component parts? If I pitch my Gnome Cleric idea (my next character if I get the chance) it isn't because I want to play "a charming 3 ft tall forest trickster with fey heritage and divine magic powers". It's because I want to play a Gnome and explore the ideas of the Gnomish pantheon and the "Lost Sisters". I also like the mechanics. The advantage against all mental magics makes my character very difficult to befuddle or confuse, and fits greatly into my concept of a very devout individual who is highly resistant to mind altering effects. Once I have a concept I marry mechanics with lore and backgrounds. For example, this particular idea needed an explanation for why my cleric has a dex with a negative modifier. I decided a childhood accident crushed one of his legs (thinking he got ran over by a farm wagon, but it could also be a tinkering or mining accident) which led to him not being able to work as his family expected. This led to his teacher taking him in as a hermit and follower of a different sect of the pantheon with some odd beliefs. Mechanics leads to fluff leads to mechanics. There doesn't need to be a stark divide of "the player wants these abilities" and "the player wants this lore", in my experience they go hand in hand.</blockquote>

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