I’m currently sitting at 12 playable races in my Homebrew world and a fair few of them are variants more than actual races by themselves (Aasimar, Tieflings, Shifters, Half-Orcs and Half-Elves) which realistically means I only actually have 7 playable races (Humans, Dwarves, Elves, Orcs, Dragonborn, Firbolg and Leonin). I generally have a vibe that I don’t really want to add a race unless I can give them a unique existence in the world with their own unique culture; which is why I executed Gnomes (tinkering is a Dwarven thing, I will die on this hill) and Halflings (utopian hobbits don’t overly fit in a world thats predominantly Humans bickering with one another over various political and religious ideologies).
WFRP has humans, halflings, dwarfs, and wood- and high elves (and gnomes + ogres + skinks if you allow those), and frankly that’s already a problem because there’s only one human in my game’s party (and your game will almost always be set in the human-centered Empire!!)
I think D&D just has a problem with trying to make a race for everything, everywhere, anywhere with hardly any distinction between them, or for right about every animalistic appearance one can think of
1 Like
SPEAKING OF
Remember Adamanthia??? The OTHER black dragon? The one who challenged Neltharion and was imprisoned by him oh so many years ago? I ask because it seems like Blizzard forgot about her entirely when dealing with the black dragon aspect stuff. She never showed up again.
I joke about Emberthal as Aspect but Adamanthia’s got just as legit a claim as Ebonhorn/Sabellian/Wrathion…
This isn’t a criticism but it’s always interesting which beast races get included and which ones aren’t.
As printed, 5e across all its settings has
Aarakocra (bird), Harengon (hare), Kenku (bird), Locathah (fish), Owlin (owl), Tabaxi (cat), Tortle (turtle), Centaur (horse, kinda), Grung (frog), Minotaur (bull), Yuan-Ti (snake), Naga (also snake), Loxodon (elephant), Giff (hippo), Hadozee (monkey), Thri-kreen (insect) and Leonin (lion)
Which is a lot! A solid chunk of those aren’t setting specific either. It’s the sort of thing where if I wanted to include them in a setting they’d probably all fallen under “Beastkin” or some other similar term and have a semi-unified culture from that, even if mechanically they could be quite diverse.
2 Likes
always wanted to play one but never got to
This will always sound like some crappy ale Brewdog push out on customers.
5 Likes
i’m not a big alcohol drinker so trying to understand whether or not i’m going to like an IPA based on the name is entirely impossible
i order based on vibes alone and hope for the best.
1 Like
Lions are cool.
Joking aside, I do imagine other beast races like Minotaur are [there] in the world, but they’re not really “playable” in that sense of the word. Leonin on the other-hand are playable because in my world they’re the result of horrific blood magic experimentation done upon the slaves of the ancient Elven empires for a two-fold desire:
- To create an indentured labor force capable of greater prolonged exertion capable of carrying much greater weights on average
- Because the Ancient Elves wanted to make a horrific mockery of the animals the Human Tribes regarded as noble and kingly animals so they took them + slaves and made a monstrous fusion to turn slaves into a chained icon of their revered animal.
They’re also intertwined with the dominant Human religion of the Seraphic Church and are, in modernity, held in high esteem within the Human Empire that came about from the liberation and emancipation of the slaves.
1 Like
I’ve never wanted to play in a campaign that has a pet lizard more
oh hey that’s how Genasi came to exist in my setting.
1 Like
Pass on being sat there drinking a £5 can of ale called “Toddy Whiskers” which tastes like dish water when i can enjoy a double rum for less instead.
1 Like
I’m a Tia Maria enjoyer and won’t be shamed for it.
The only good and memorable I’ve had with an IPA where both name and taste were exceptional was with one called Yeastie Boys.
1 Like
They were included as an option in the Lustria sourcebook, primarily as a character options for, well, a Lustria-based campaign
The party came across one in a circus cage some time ago and freed it because it looked sentient but it uhh, did not end well
You never know, it might make them very useful in encounters of a Dwarven kind!
1 Like
They’ve recently found a Dwarf’s personal book of grudges and, with his death, are aiming to fulfill his last grudge! Otherwise they mostly just abuse that they’re in Sigmarite country and that one of the Sigmarite Faith’s core tenets is to be nice to Dwarfs…
2 Likes
Given how stuffy the dwarfs are, it tends to be the right direction to go.
They may suddenly find a very old debt in one of their books and you won’t hear the end of it.
2 Likes
tbh pretty much the entirety of the Cult of Sigmar’s core tenets tend to be pretty reasonable given the setting it’s in (aiding dwarfs, killing greenskins, servants of chaos, and corrupt magicians, imperial unity over the liberty of primarily the nobility to just do whatever)
2 Likes
Beats being Brettonian.
2 Likes
to be fair even being an Ulrican beats being a Bretonnian and I wouldn’t want to interact with an Ulrican more than I’d have to at any point in time
“Guns are for peasants! Your horse is ugly. Your language is coarse! You call that a sword? No lance too. Have you even heard of chivalry?!”
Average 'uhm Bretonnians are chivalrous and heroic actually 
’ mfers falling very silent the second you ask them about how to treat anyone not male + of particular birth + particular martial prowess
1 Like