How diverse are playable races in your setting?

How diverse are playable races in your setting?

It's a human only setting, but it ends up more varied than you think. It's a far future sci-fi where pure humans consider themselves the only true descendants of humanity, a culture of genetic augmentation consider themselves the perfection of humanity, and a chaotic utopia of disembodied minds, some of which were human once, no longer really sees any point in 'Human'.

Not at all. Humans only.

An adventuring party that looks like a fucking circus act has long ago grown tiresome. Any game I run now forces the players to be actually creative in making unique members of the same race they can identify properly with, instead of falling back on the crutch of inherently different heights, ages, appearances, etc.

Anything that's not human, they get the fuck away from quick.

You must be fun.

You can play a black dude I guess. Or an asian chick.

Primary is human only, but there are many ethnicities and cultures to draw from.
>
I'm kinda in this camp, I feel like having too many sapient species in the world makes shit too much of a cluster fuck. I think that if the race could pass for a human if they put on a fucking hat, they are out.

I don't really get the point of having other races unless they're somehow physiologically different than humans. If they are, then excellent, because that presents a fascinating way to explore life & consciousness. If not, then you know. Not a super big deal but still.

All of my players must make their characters straight, white, and male.

Kill yourself furry.

I'm Triggered

The game tends to be, unless you have to be the special one to have fun. You probably won't enjoy being a man with steel amidst a world of monsters that are most often a man still.

Holy shit, that is Mae, Lowe, Main Character, Khris and That-One-Guy from Shining Force. That takes me back.

Shining Force had some interesting races. It's not every day I actually get to play centaurs or bird people in an RPG.

>Come in thread expecting people talking about interesting races in media and in their own homebrew settings
>It's just people talking about their human-only setting and bashing the idea of having fantasy races
okay

>in a game world where elves, dwarves, etc. exist and interact in a non-hostile manner with human kingdoms on a regular basis putting "elf" or "dwarf" on the race section of your character sheet is somehow more special snowflake than putting down any given culture in a human only one.

This meme is such a strawman it needs to go to Oz and get a brain

There are quite a few races but most aren't very player friendly, they're welcome to try though, because they're very alien (communication is an issue even) and not humanoid.

For those that are playable no problem it's

3 flavors of humans ("earth"), 2 flavors of raptor like creatures ("sky"), 1 flavor of dolphin monster ("sea"). Flavors mean their crunch benefits and common appearance are different.

The other races aren't 1:1 to the animals they are based on of course just like we're not 1:1 to other apes. For instance the dolphin guys are more like pic related adapted for (clumsy) bipedal movement out of water and manipulating things with their webbed claws.

That doesn't mean they can't be a catgirl or anything like that. We just make it fit within the setting so that they're originally human and were experimented on to make some sort of chimera or something.

Most cannot interbreed, and very few are even aware of the other's existence due to the low tech and degree of spatial seperation. As such, it is incredibly rare to have a party with many races. Also, each race has about 2-5 distinct ethnicities and subraces. Not done with the setting, but hers what's done

The only races that are "human" are Humans (with two distinct ethnicities and a few subcultures), Half-Giants, Nephilim Giants, Titans. The latter two are not true races, but rather are uplifted superhumans/relatives of the Deific Emperor of one of the human Empires, while the Half-Giants and Nephilim are their half-human progeny. Humans are characterized by innate drive and intensity, and are considered best at tactical improvisation and adopting new techniques. They are also the only race with boobs and beards.
The two major ethnicities are the Iskanthri and the Shayeshen.

The Iskanthri are a mighty Empire, ruled by the aforementioned God-Emperor, who gained his divinity by eating of one of the Fruits of Life, and proceeded to conquer the disparate City-States around him, and creating a unified culture and people. He then divided his nation into several Fiefs and appointed Fuedal Lords to rule over them, while ensuring his own rule via an Imperial Legion sworn to loyalty to the Emperor with garrisons across the Empire. Each Fuedal Lord is divinely transfigured to the form of a Giant to denote their mandate and servitude to the Emperor, and aside from a few direct federal laws are expected to maintain their own rule over their fief. Twice a year, the Giants must return to the capital for the Moot, to discuss grievances, report and legal changes they have made, discuss matters of military strength and planning, make requests, and other such open forums before their Emperor and the Senate. It should be noted that thier Giant status can be revoked, and their territories be reassigned or redistributed if they fall out of favor with the Emperor.

All races are good. Custom races too if they make it balanced.
I just dont allow

>magical realm anything.
>human but with animal ears and tail, or with wings

Wanna play a kitsune or catfolk? Prepare to go full Thunder Cats or gtfo. At the slightest hint of furry or erp degenerateness, they will be excused from the table.

Not very.
All the special unique snowflakes were butchered by the Orcs.
So now it's humans, dwarfs, and some half-elfs and halflings cowing behind the walls of ancient cities.

> there is never goibg to be a good Shining Force Table Top
>or another Shining Force game.
Thanks SEGA.
My races are pretty standard fare, the weird ones are satyrs, changelings and robots

Attack on Orc?

The Shayeshen were originally warring tribes from the Mountains along the Northwest edge of what would later become Iskanthri land. Being original warring tribes and scattered monasteries, they believed the greatest honor in life was to die in glorious combat so that your spirit would be able to soar above the mountains on the wings of pheasants.

When the Iskanthri began to war and conquer, many tribes tried to sell their services as mercenary clans, but as the Iskanthri continued to conquer their neighbors, they began to eye the the hirsuit men of the mountains, and eventually sought to bring them into their Empire. Worse yet, these Invaders not only wished to force a sedentary lifestyle on them, but also relied on Divine power rather than the strength of their own arm! Meanwhile, the few Monks and Shamans in their monasteries also realized what was happening, and decided that they would not let themselves submit to this new and arrogant God. So, they called a meeting of the remaining clans and tribes, and united into the loose Cloud-Throat Compact.

This alliance forced the tribes to out aside thier differences, at least temporarily, for the purpose of fighting and expelling the Iskanthri. With the support and enforcement of the various Monasteries and Shaman Covens, they were able to push back the Iskanthri Invasion, and maintain an uneasy armistice.

Still, all is not peaceful, and the Compact only allowed the monks to intervene so long as there was a common enemy, so to this day the various tribes and clans still war and battle against eachother when not also fighting against and raiding their lowland neighbors, though it has gotten the tribes to be slightly more accepting of mystical power and aid.

Although it isn't really my setting, it's pretty much a zoo, but in space. I dunno how else to describe it.

We got a race of former slaves whose genetic code has been so fucked with that the only thing that the average individual compared to another has in common are fish-like qualities and usually some amount of psionics.

We got another race of former slaves, this time rats who are feral (but clever) animals on their own, but when in groups upwards of 5, gain sapience and psychic abilities. To put it in perspective, if there was say, an NPC focused on dispensing their own form of justice, they wouldn't only be judge, jury, and executioner, they'd be a whole legal circuit.

Then we got this authoritative and paranoid large monstrosities that are basically a cross between a lizard and an insect, featuring both an endo- and exoskeleton, as one of the main forces of the setting. The remains of humanity are their only allies.

Then we got these giant lobster-men who are practically jailed to their home solar system, because they were such goddamn assholes and fucked everyone's shit up. Like the lizard-bugs mentioned above, but way less authoritative and more like rabid dogs (lobsters). Additionally, they're the creators of ion weaponry in the setting.

And while there's others, I feel this post is getting a bit long, and I wouldn't feel snow-flaky enough without mentioning my race contribution to the setting. Basically Kender, but as four-armed asianeese frogs that everybody hates, along with being an Iron Age society in FTL space.

I think the only "major" animal we're missing is cats, but we made up a joke race of gyspy nekos/catfolk for one of the party members to have an irrational hatred (and commit eventual genocide) them, so I guess that covers it.

Kinda.

There are several different kingdoms that are primarily a single race, though there are a couple that are mixing pots. The interesting one is the city of shadowcopse, it's at the base of a volcano that has caused the atmosphere around it to be darkened and colored red so that it is never brighter than dusk. This has allowed Drow to build their lone surface settlement there.

As for the PCs, since they generally start out in the melting pot that is Hightower I'll allow any race that they can give me stats for and I deem not overpowered. except Kender, fuck those little thieving bastards.

in my Setting everything has boiled Down to groups of half-races. with only visual differences.
elfs and dwarfs.
humans are nearly extinct because they couldn't stop fucking elves.
besides that you have very varried ethical groups, religions, cults, cultures and whatnot so in the end you have a huge variaty.

Both the Iskanthri and Shayeshen have a disdain for purely magical and mystical arts. As such, both cultures have great import and emphasis on combat, Martial Arts, and learning the arts of warfare. What Magic they use is tied directly into thier martial arts and traditions, which vary immensely between the two. Almost no Human, Iskanthri or Shayeshen, would ever be caught dead using magic, as it is despised for being associated with the Cursed and Despised Fae, though that's a story for another time.

For Iskanthri, the soonest magical capability can be tempered into something and more refined, or at least learn to repress it, the better. All who show an innate aptitude for the mystic ways are taken in by the local garrison, and shipped off to the Academia Thavmeus, where they are instructed in how to best channel or surpress their gifts. Those who learn to surpress their magic are returned to their homes, while those who wish to develop these skills are "encouraged" to join either a branch of the Legion, stay as faculty for the Academia, find employ under one of the Giant Lords, or serve under the Ecclesia Vasilikos, the official church of the Deific Emperor and his assorted family and saints.

The Shayeshen are a lot less complicated. Whenever one of their number shoes magical signs, they often just take them to the tribe's preferred Shaman Coven or Monastery. So.e tribes also do neither, and instead ha e a Tradition of putting the individual in question through rigorous training and intoxication, teaching them to instead channel thier Magic through their bodies in a savage and riotous bloodrage while in battle. Luckily such practice is rare, and is generally looked down upon by other tribes and being undignified and harmful to the soul of the warrior.


It's getting late, and I'm still not done designing all the races. Would you like me to go over an inhuman race before sleeping, answer a human question, or are all of you sick of my writing?

My setting uses the standard races, but besides humans, the rest are kinda in the background, their numbers dwindling in the age of man

>Humans
Ancient humans used to be organized into technologically advanced city states, but were conquered by the Dragon empire. Modern Humans are split into different cultures with varying advancements, with most at the level of mid-to-late medieval levels of tech, with some near the mid-renaissance, others descended into tribal clans with more primitive, but effective technology. Most Human Cultures are drawn from Old-World Earth Cultures

>Elves
Keepers of ancient lore, Elves are in their twilight era (Except the Dark elves). Star (high) Elves live in floating cities far above the world and are probably the most advanced civilization, they use a strange mix of caste and gender system where your career is your effective gender (of which there's five, four from the humors and one for the Elderly), their powerful mages and alchemists are able to manipulate life itself and regularly change plants into useful tools (street lamps made from trees with glowing fruit). Most Skycitadels were destroyed during the Dragon Wars, but some remain

Dark Elves were originally Star Elves who were exiled from their homes forced to wander the world, but when they passed through the nightmare realm of Nod, their skyskiffs lost power and crashed in the Barren wastelands. Now the Dark Elves rule from the crumbling citadels of the old Noddian Empire, they twist their bodies into monstrous forms using the plant manipulation that the Star Elves used, as well as draw upon the powers forbidden by Star Elf Doctrine (Taking power from Infernal and Abyssal Souces)

Wood Elves were part of the Dark Elven Flotilla, but left when the majority became Cruel and wasteful, they believed in living in unison with the world, not shaping it to your will, so the outcasts settled in the jungles and built some big temples, then Died out (From mysterious circumstances)

Highly diverse. If my players want, they can be French, Swiss, or even Bavarian instead of standard Human. Not that any of them took any of those options.

Reasonably so. There's also quite a few non-playable races.

Anything on the PFSRD, within reason.

I'm lazy.

Depends on the region we're playing in. If it's egypt, I'll allow someone to play a beastkin liek an Anubis or Wadjet (snake people) if it can fit. Otherwise, I like sticking with mostly humans. Dwarves and giants are basically just 10 ft or 4 ft tall humans, and elves don't exist.

Humans, Demons, and Mutants of near infinite variety.

sounds cool m80

>Dwarves
Much like the elves, dwarves have several distinct Sub-Races, but they all enjoy hardy drink and avoid work when possible. The dwarves cultures vary based more on their Depth than their geographical distance.

At the top you have the Hill folk who are sometimes thought to be the same breed as the Shirefolk halflings (due to their lack of ambition and stature). They live in burrows slightly beneath the surface (their villages often appear to be mounds with chimneys) and are famous for their goat and bee based products, along with thier small clockwork contraptions. Hill folk are amongst the most common Non-Humans to see in human lands thanks to their happy trades with Humanfolk

Beneath them are the Mountain Dwellers, they live in stony complexes beneath the surface, usually stretching into the Hallows Below. While the Hillfolk have small contraptions that are mostly oddities and baubles, the Mountain Dwellers use large steamwork semi-autonomous machines tho supplement everyday life, no digging, constructing, or farming are done by hand.

Living almost solely in the Hallows Below, the Deep Dwarves are decadent nobles with government similar to merchant republics of the late midieval period. Even though they possess much of the mechanical knowledge of the Mountan Dwellers, Deep dwarves prefer slave labor. Many Humans villages near sinkholes and canyons are terrorized by the Deep dwarves gathering more servants for their mines and plantations

>Dragons

Dragons are split up into Dragonborne, Drakes, and True Dragons, the First one is a player race, the others aren't

Dragons (True and Dragonborne) oncle had an Empire that spread across the continent of Miros. As ages past and the true dragons died out, the dragon Empire fell, and the dragonborne were forced into small pockets and kept isolated, so now you have the Revanchist Dragons of High Peak, the Drakefolk tribes in Gai'ana, or the Sealizards of the Fakida islands. Most of them are primitive.

Humans, Elves, Dwarfs, Orcs, Halflings, Dark Elves, Kobolds, and Goblins. These races can all interbreed, but there are no half races. Children are the race of one of their parents with some qualities from the other's race. Almost everything else is non-sapient and considered either monster or animal. The sapient monsters include nature spirits, things that were once people like undead and demons, Lizardmen, and dragons, although everyone thinks the dragons are nothing more than exceptionally clever hunters. Some groups argue that the Lizardmen are people because they have a sort of society, think similar to D&D hobgoblins. It isn't common knowledge, but they were once the Kobolds of a particular continent before beginning to worship evil spirits and becoming corrupted into more monster than man.

9 types of Human
Paladin Holy (classic+Holy) Humans, Witch/sorcerer Humans, Huge barbarian Humans, Humans who shape shift into animals, Magic/element attuned Conjuration monster summoning Humans, Reincarnating Spiritual Monk Humans, Humans who were transformed into golems, The Ghost Folk,

5 types of Dwarf

Dwarf Classic,
Bolvarian Dwarves
Viking Dwarves,
Scottish Fae Fearing Dwarves,
Dire Dwarves

4 types of Elves
Star Elves (literal energy beings made of cosmic gasses and stuff)
Elf Classic
Arcane Elves, Elves who went full hog on arcane magic and infused it into their being in every possible way
Nature Elves, same thing, but with druidic and fae magic

4 kinds of little people.
Gnomes. Tinkers
Halfings. Hobbit folk
Lost Child. Peter Pan folk.
Inovings. Halflings that try to innovate in more scifi ways.

All of them are part of a Mega-alliance where that to really see the uniquesness of their cultures you have to visit their home countrys.

>Beastmen
The beastmen are pretty much any mortal that was changed into a mix of it's parent and an animal, common ones are the Minotaur, the Lycans, and Garuda, but many others exist. Most of them live in Romani-style Caravans or in Beastial Hunter Gatherer tribes, except Minotaur who live in communist-collectives.

>Orcs
My orcs are closer to the WoW variety, so Big Muscles, Noble-Warrior archetype, ect. Chernabog, the dark god of the nothern wind sculpted the members of his favored tribe into beings of his own image, the result was fierce and fit for the northern frost of the far north. They quickly expanded over the northlands until now they're one of the three major Races of northern Miros (others being Giants and Wraiths). Some tribes explored southward and eventually ended up in the Gai'ana and became the Jungle orcs, they ride boars and fight with the remainder of the wood elves.

>Faun
Forest folk who some believe to be Humans cursed by the Sidhe, the Fauns gaurd the sacred forests of Miros and Omos, they live in tight knit tribes, tending to the wilds and keeping the forest in balance. There are also Satyrs who are outcast fauns that live in human cities and party all the time

>Halflings
The halfbreed of Hillfolk and Humans, most are known by their more common moniker, the Shirefolk. They're basically hobbits

>Goblins
Halflings that got too close to a particular Sidhe Feylord, the small cute-but-vicious kind

>Kobolds
The lowest of the dragonborne castes are called parvulus, they're the dragonbold

>Giants
Frost and Fire Giants live in the far north and live in a warrior culture. Hill giants are the inbred offspring of outcast Northern Giants, but they sometimes pick up powerful natural magics and become stone giants

Theres a whole lot more, I try to keep options open to the players, but most other races don't play a significant part in the world at large

>literally 21 different races

not him but it seems like its more of race+culture combos.
Which honestly seems fine. I've played games where you always have at least 2 classes and it generally enhances the experience

What's wrong with a lot of races? More options are better.

Too many options get overwhelming, especially if most of the differences are only cultural. Besides, them all being available as options means there must be 21 races in the game, right? That's a lot.

This seems like a preference thing. I don't find many options overwhelming and I enjoy diverse cultural options in games.

I've got humans, of course. They're biggest human settlement is a kingdom in the mountains where they've been maintaining the largest library in the world. All the best scholars are humans. Then there is a gnoll-like race that's mostly focused on a desert empire with some serious stability issues. Third available race is a relatively uncivilized tribe of goblins from deep underground that got driven out of their home and into the surface world. Last playable race is like a halfling, the main civilization for them is right in the middle of the major hubs of the other three, putting them in the perfect position to take diplomatic control.

Only four playable races but it's enough variety for most people I think.

Yeah, but, like...

Okay, let's just look at the Dwarves for one second? So you got Viking Dwarves, but what's stopping you from just using normal human Vikings instead? They're SO incredibly similar that there's really no point in making the distinction in the first place. Why not just fill that "Viking" void with the ones that actually existed IRL? So scratch that off the list.

Then you've got these Scottish, Fae fearing Dwarves. Now I'm assuming they're a bit of a mix between the Scottish and the Irish (Irish folklore features a lot of faeries and fae and stuff). But again, what's the difference between some red haired, pissed off manlet and a Scottish styled dwarf? Nothing really, except the dwarf might be just a little bit taller. So, again, you can go ahead and scratch that off the list.

Now I have no idea what a Bolvarian Dwarf and a Dire Dwarf actually are, so I'll leave those alone for now, but let's all take a look at the "Classic" Dwarves that Veeky Forums loves (or hates) so much.

They're a race of small, hirsute miners who like to drink, and eat, and fight all day, right? Sooo, what? That's it? That's all they're relegated to? That's like, their one "defining" trait?

Why not just make that a small subculture of mining-minded, rough-and-tumble humans then? I mean, every "Dwarf" concept is actually just some inspirational trait taken from some culture (The Scots, the Irish, the Russians, the Jews), and then just dialed up to 11. So why not just make them the humans they were based off of in the first place, and then just dial up the stereotypes to 11? It's literally just cosmetic.

The ONLY thing separating a Dwarf from a human is their height. They fall in love as Anglos do, they drink as the Irish do, they fight as the Scottish do, they eat and sleep and piss around the floor as the Norseman does, so why not just make them human already?

Dwarves are literally Not!Human, which begs the question, why not make them human in the first place?

Why even play in fantasy? If you are going to use human vikings, why don't you just use real vikings and other real cultures? Anything magic can just be superstition or better yet non at all. Magic is just plot power after all.

Wow that was a lot of words to say "Why does your setting have to have interesting details when you could just iron out everything into something simple like everything else does."

>AD&D 2e with all the splats
Yes.

If anything, having multiple types of the same race helps keep them from being steriotypical "This race is special because of this" hat tropes and instead gives them varied cultures like you would find in an actual race.

Humans only.

If you're a bitch and this idea makes you cry and scream as a reaction to hearing it, well...thank you for the red flag.

>9 types of Human
> Paladin Holy (classic+Holy) Humans, Witch/sorcerer Humans, Huge barbarian Humans, Humans who shape shift into animals, Magic/element attuned Conjuration monster summoning Humans, Reincarnating Spiritual Monk Humans, Humans who were transformed into golems, The Ghost Folk,

These are not races, these are classes.

What the fuck is wrong with you?

Yeah, but, like...Okay, let's just look at the Asians for one second? So you got Asian Americans, but what's stopping you from just using normal white Americans instead? They're SO incredibly similar that there's really no point in making the distinction in the first place. Why not just fill that "American" void with the ones that actually are more familiar to me?

Race or Species in RPGs is an additional vector for characterization. Really you are just restricting traits arbitrarily. So you have thing, why not use other thing to replace it. Even when being a dwarf influences a character only a miniscule amount, you don't go around and forbid personality traits for not having a minimum severity. You must be extremely temperamental, you can't just be a little.

My setting is the product of a bunch of sleep deprived college students orchestrated entirely by myself and our monk. As such, it's kind of bananas, but overall pretty damn diverse because we couldn't stop adding things.

Here's some short notes on it:
>Most countries don't really have a major race demographic. Orcs and humans are goddamn everywhere, halflings are MOSTLY on one continent, but get around everywhere, and there are a bunch of other races like goblins and gorgons where it comes on tribal/cultural basis.
>The big two isolationist groups are Dwarves, who just kind of do that because innovation and cosmopolitan ideas don't come naturally to them, and Elves, who are either racist xenophobic fucktards or hiding underground waiting for plot to happen.
>Also, if you didn't want any of those, you can have an undead version, thanks to your friendly neighborhood necromancer-empire up north (It's okay, they're a giant pile of hedonists and bored liches.)

In terms of general race selection, we have.
>Six different types of goblin.
>Three types of kobold.
>Two types of orc (but way more than two cultures)
>Two types of elves.
>Two types of Gnome
>Gorgons
>Three kinds of halfling (Most of them are mongolian khan-hobbits.)
>Two types of gnome.
>A whole fuckton of undead.
>One type of Dwarf.
>A myriad variety of Humans.
And any other species we handle on a "could you think up a cool place for them in the setting? Here, I'll help" system.

We also have demons, which are technically playable, but are really weird and nonsensical in the metaphysics we made, so no one has tried yet.

>not allowing based Ctarl-ctarl-like people
you sound like a faggot fampai.
Although i can emphatise, someone who starts saying "half fae catboy shota" will be booted off my table face first before he speaks the whole sentence.

Do you think there's a word for something you know you would absolutely enjoy, but never comes to be in quite the way you want it?

Humans only. You don't need anything other than humans.

Cry more, faggot

it's true, though.

bittersweet? Monkey paw?

Life?

What does it count as if all races are technically human, but some humans have been significantly altered by excessive exposure to spirits/magical phenomena somewhere along the line and now are pretty odd-seeming?

So kinda like wakfu?

Probably, I wouldn't know.

Type breakdown

Goblin
>Mountain goblin (Your traditional bunch, kind of aztec-y)
>Sun Goblin (Ride beetles, smaller, desert dwellers)
>Hobgoblins (Tallish, pale xenophobic farmers who make golems)
>Redcaps (Pale, swamp-dwelling murder goblins who are selectively colorblind)
>Salt goblins (Pirate shark goblins who are ripped as fuck)
>Deep goblins (Half mushroom underground scholars)

Kobold
>Sky Kobold (Weedy, hollow bird bones, tied to cold-damage dragons)
>Island Kobolds (Look like komodo dragons, short, have the world's only accurate prognostication)
>Stone Kobolds (Large, buff, slightly phosphorescent warmongers)

Orc
>Xanagoth Orcs (From the jungles of bootleg south america, slightly green, about people size, conquistadors)
>Aizan Orcs (About 7ft on average, brownish skin, from bootleg china, samurai)

Elves
>Hirau (High elves, huge douchebags, literally eat pride, bald with antlers, population of about 5000)
>Drau (Dark elves, bioluminescent predator dreads,grouchy bastards, covered in magic-tattoos.)

Gnome
>Seelie (Descended from seelie fae, upbeat, bright colors, complete sociopaths)
>Unseelie (Descended from unseelie fae, predatory, cool colors, complete sociopaths)

Gorgons
>Silicate based, lamia legs, eat rocks with acid spit, are mostly pirates.

Halfling
>Kokuro halfling (Mongolian hobbits, not actually all that short, like 4ft)
>Boreal halflings (Arctic eskimo hobbits, crazy paranoid, cannibalistic, blue skin)
>Akashan halfling (Ethiopian hobbits, sick body paint, huge badasses, ride giant lizards)

Undead
>Ghouls, vampires, morghs, wights, mummies, frankenstein things, and anything else bored liches think up.
Dwarves
>Industrial revolution mafia dwarves, can't comprehend progress well, Prussian inspired

Humans
>They're humans, what do you expect? They're everywhere.

Sword of Shannara?

I could make an exception for manime

Adding on from my last post

I always explain to players, I play my settings in the eve of the age of reasoning, where many of the humanoid races are coming to terms of having a common ancestor, and were not made from the divine sculpting of a god. Perhaps a god in charge of its nating partners, maybe.
Homo-sapien, Homo-elvish, Homo-Orkish...if you wanna be technical

Lizardfolk is a broad term for people of scales; kobolds, dragonborn, chamelionfolk, gatorfolk, etc.

Catfolk is broad for the varying species id that family or whatever taxomic level you wanna call it. Jaguirefolk, lionfolk, domesticcatfolk.
Alot of it is just flavor and not mechinical.

Id lile to play agame with The Legend of Zelda races.

>Elves and Humans are all one mixed blood race.
>Jamacian rock people, brutha. Lets boogy till the sun goes down.
>2 types of fish people. Ocean Zoras who look like they come from innsmouth and shoot fireballs at you, and the beautiful river zoras who will bro it out with you on a fishing trip, then evolve into birds

>fucking goblins that ride boars, and their leader is a great axe swingimg merc
>children of the corn niggas that evolve into shrubs

>minish people who are aerity like fucks who live in your house

I mean shit, there are so mamy its hard to remember.

In FF11 all (playable) races are known as Humanity because they are all wide scale mutations/evolutions of a central race that went extinct. So you have Humes (pretty much just humans), Galka (reincarnating long lived buff beast dudes of only male gender), Mithra (catgirls and technically boys but mostly just girls), Tarutaru (magic midgets), and Elvaan (if elves were actually fit giraffes) are all technically considered Humanity since they have a similar evolutionary starting point, while other sentient species who didn't share said origin aren't. Point of note though, the race they all evolved from were not humans but another race called the Zilart (immortals humans pretty much).

That Asian-American argument seems kind of ridiculous.

In the case of Dwarves and Elves and Orcs and shiz being redundant, it's because they're filling a needlessly overfilled niche. Asian-Americans exist because they patch up the "Asian AND American" niche of "Asian American". Then you also have "Asian-African", who patch up the niche in "Asian AND African", and then you have "Asian-Latinos", who patch up the niche in "Asian AND Mexican".

In all the different countries, they all have their own little Asians because it's an obvious niche that needs to be filled.

Now say you're world building and you want there to exist a culture of Viking-like warriors. And you can go two routes; one, your already existing race develops a culture to accommodate for that Viking-less vacuum and they end up being the defacto "Viking" culture.

OR, secondly, you can create a whole NEW race of people, or monsters, or beastmen, or what have you, and you can make them Vikings and Norsemen and Hadradas and shiz.

And then if you want to give every single race a Viking-culture equivalent, then it just gets ridiculous, because then just have Elf-Vikings, and Dwarf-Vikings, and Human-Vikings, and Hungry Skelly Lich-Vikings.

Like, damn, son. Humans have managed to create more than a million cultures as it is, it's not like I need a couple 800 million more of the same shit, but in different outfits.

Cultural differences don't come into existence to fill niches though. They can be shaped by niches that need to be filled, but cultural differences are just things that happen to any group over a period of time. So logically, there would be both viking humans AND viking dwarves. And probably other species that have an interest in viking shenanigans as well. If circumstances led to there only being dwarf vikings then that's just how it happened. After all, you don't have Mexican Vikings or Indian Vikings. Sometimes that's just how things come about.

I don't see why you are so against fantasy cultures in fantasy games. It's a confusing outlook.

guys
what if
GUYS
what if
WHAT IF
One Viking culture but made of Humans AND Dwarves?

...I'd be down with that. As long as no stinky Elves show up.

No, but in all seriousness, 2 races is as far as I go. Elves and Humans? Alright, fine. Elves and Dwarves? Okay, whatever. Humans and Elves AND Dwarves? We gots a problem, motherfucker.

The question isn't how many races are in the same culture. It's what caused humans/dwarves/whatever to both band together into their own society like this.

2 races total or 2 races per culture? I can see merchant city-states being a clusterfuck of different people, while something like remote bumfuck kingdom would be made of one race.

Common enemy.
Lack of competition over resources.
More or less common culture and values.

Extremely homogeneous. There is only one playable race: clones of myself.

Well, let's look at it from a DM standpoint. You know me, I'm the guy that doesn't want more than 2 races in my world.

If someone asked me, as a DM, how two races got together to become a nation of Vikings, I would say:

"Well, you see, user, the Dwarves weren't actually native participants of the Human, Viking-like culture that we now know as the "Vraggarth". Sure, nowadays you'd see a Dwarf wife with a Human husband walking around town and it wouldn't be such a big deal, but back when they did all that Viking shit, most of the Dwarves were either conscripted mercenaries, or just as often, they were slaves for rowing. The Vraggarth quickly found that the short, muscular frames of Dwarves made for good rowers, and thus, they were put to the galleys for years.

Over time, as those same Dwarven ancestors gained their freedom or escaped, or earned citizenship, they gained a reputation as incredible sailors and navigators, no doubt to their long experience at sea. Thus, as the Dwarves began to live and integrate into Vraggarth culture, it would become more and more common to see Dwarves and Humans fighting with each other during raids and pillages. And that is why when we think of the Vraggarth, we think of both Human AND Dwarvish Vikings."

Or something like that, I don't know.

2 races total. And by "race", I mean "Elves and Dwarves only", or "Humans and Elves" only. You can have Viking Elves, Cowboy Elves, Scottish Elves, Wood Elves, Black Elves, White Elves, Asian Elves, Brown Elves, Anglo Elves, Light Elves, Dark Elves, what have you, but they'll all be the same exact race.

And within those two "races" would exist the races we're familiar with today. So Humans would have blacks, asians, whites, while elves would have wood elves, dark elves, light elves. And of course each would have their own cultures and languages.

So in dense market places, you'll see various human races as well as a few elves, but you'll never see a giant or a kobold.

almost anything goes, but not-africa sunk into the ocean after an earthquake so no blacks

But not all black people live in Africa?

>dwarves
>avoiding work whenever possible
Nigga you think those underground super cities build themselves?!
Dwarves are the hardest working race there is, in tolkien lore most won't marry because it takes away time they could be using on thier trade which is why so few dwarves exist.

Interesting to see so many humans only or "low diversity" attitudes in one thread.

I fall into the same category though. There are basically two types of humans, "normal" which constitute absolute majority of the population, and "tall ones", a fairly small demographic of giant-like human relatives.

Then there are also few unplayable "races", "Old Ones" who are immortal humans, left over from a long-past civilization and various "Constructs", artificially created organisms, some of which may be sentient.

The Tall ones, Old Ones and Constructs are however really just a rarity of the world.
"Normal" humans are absolute majority. That said, they are obviously divided into dozens of different ethnicities and cultures, the differences between those are intentionally somewhat exaggerated. I generally prefer to go into cultural variation more than racial variation. I do believe that highly diverse race lineup isn't necessary to create an interesting and imaginative world: in fact I believe that in some cases, it can actually hinder it, as most fantasy worlds creates races that are A) collections of worn out tropes and anti-tropes, and B) actually differ really only very superficially.

I'll rather have very detailed and interesting places and cultures than than tons of token races with token differences between them.

Not every day we get to play as Armadillos and Jogurts either. Seriously though, loved Guntz, though Adam was probably my favorite 'cause I dig robots. Bleu and Zylo were pretty cool too, though Zylo felt like cheating.

I ended up with an extremely furry D&D group, so I did a little bit of (literal) refluffing to end up with something that both my players and I are happy with.
>Elves
Faechatte, catfolk elves who come from the fey. They tend to hole up on a small island in the middle of nowhere and manipulate the other races like the assholes they are.
>Dwarves
Woofdorfs, or just dogs. They're a mix of your stereotypical scottish dwarf with a little bit of WWF thrown in. Made when a wizard long ago wanted loyal guards, they've since become a race of their own long after hundreds of thousands of years, their culture pretty much centered around fighting for sport.
>Halflings
Rabbits, generally either ignored or made into slaves, with very few actually managing to get into positions of power. One of the best players in the campaign is a rabbit and I'm thinking of replacing halflings in any future D&D game with these guys.
>Kobolds
Come in a variety of flavors in addition to the standard lizard kobold. Current variations include shark and pangolin.
>Tiefling
Now known as the Cambion, they're cursed humans with goat heads looking quite similar to baphomet. They come into the world already indebted to a demon who takes their soul when they die, making them one of the few races on which resurrection magic simply does not work for them. Their culture tends to be very bureaucratic, but not many venture out from the island nation they originally hail from.

> go full Thunder Cats
That's furry.

Also, kitsune are not anthropomorphic. They are either foxes (with one or several tails) or humans (without fox ears or tails).

I'm letting my party play a kenku and a kobold. So long as they're still good about role playing it'll be fine

unbeatable

>normal white Americans instead

Because white people aren't and shouldn't be considered the default 'Human' race? If we're going purely by numbers then it would make more sense for humans to default to either Black or Asian. Most likely Asian considering current demographics.

39 races, although I don't allow all of them to be played with the same leniency:

Aaesimar
Dark Eldarin
Dragonborn
Eldarin
Elf
Gnome
Halfling
Human
Ork
Squat
Tau
Tiefling
Thri Kreen
kenku
Kobold
Dryad
Arachne
Catfolk
Dullahan
Duskling
Fairy
Githyanki
Githzerai
Goblin
Goliath
Ikthys
Kitsune
Kython
Laika
Limulian
Lizardman
Minotaur
Ophidian
Sahuagin
Sphinx
vanara
Vyzard
Warforged
Youma

This user here. I'm awake now

I know this thread was originally supposed to be for racial diversity, but considering the early mindset of the thread, I felt it necessary to start here. Now, however, I'm ready to start on the Inhuman races.

Which would you like me to start on?
>Louphi and Jakrir, two reptilian-esque races that split off during a massive civil-war/crusade
>the Bra'Treesha, a race that was originally three different races, but were united when their Patron General-Kings gestalted together when they achieved Apatheosis via a Fruit of Life
>the Kednopah, the scaled armies of the Skinbourne, who dwell in thier mountain holes after the War of the Sundering Heavens.
>The Guldjur, shaggy men of the Northern Steppes, who are fragments if the Fallen Eternal Empire
>the Diatomols, the voiceless dwellers of the deep seas and coastal marshes, who serve under the old things that lurk deep below.
>the Trichtiq, misbegotten and chitinous remnants of the Fallen Eternal Empire, forever cursed for their nature
>the Razleyek, feathered natives of the Southern continent, who entreat with the spirits of legends and Tales past
>The Jakitus, sea faring and fecund people who spread for in hopes of finding enough land to live on.

Keep in mind, some races are more finished than others, as the setting is still very much WiP. Also, I may be limited for time, and it'll be slow going since I haven't written much down on them.

Several well thought out species>>Humans only>>>>>The whole zoo

I've got three playable species, each with a couple races. They have a long and intertwined history that I couldn't have pulled off with 20 species.

Well, it's a table of random animals for each body part. So...very?

Louphi and Jakrir

Okay, here comes massive posts. This may take a while


You have the Louphi and Jakrir, a race that resembles a cross between a snake and a canid, with Louphi normally resembling garter/wolf while the Jakrir are more akin to cobra/jackal. Overall features include a flat “shovel faced” snout, reptilian eyes, course fur along the dorsal side of their body with a thicker matte along their spine, ovoidal scaled neck, chest and abdominal area, and plantigrade feat with four clawed toes. Hands also have four fingers. They also possess a long serpentine tail. Males tend to be broader shouldered, with thicker fur along the shoulders and encroaching along the edges of the chest, while females tend to be wider hipped and possess longer tails. Despite their squamatic appearance, the races could be considered mammalian for they possess two mammary glands and give live birth, though they do not express permanent boobs like humans, and their glands are inguinal rather than pectoral.

The two races split ages ago after a massive civil war, with the Jakrir fleeing off to settle the deserts and wastelands, while the Louphi live near strictly in forested areas.

>races from 40k in dnd
holy clusterfuckness

dungeons the dragoning senpai

Nice projection, Cuck.

See pic related?
Good, now imagine thats the size of a wagon and inhabited by thumb-sized, wingless pixies.
Basic fluff is some fey wanted to get all civilized and shit but got caste out of the wild and lost their wings and magic... heh, just gotta wait til my players run across their first human to realize it.

...whoa
seconded

what the fuck is that

Louphi live regimented and orderly lives, dedicated to the pursuit of personal skill and wisdom for the good of thier tribes, and strictly follow the guidelines of their founding prophet, which includes ethical guides, tribal organization, population and breeding restrictions, and Exodus imperatives. Due to both their culture and slow predatory metabolism, Louphi are slow to make and commit to a decision and will often spend much time discussing and considering their options, before shifting all of their energy and focus into a singular task with predatory tenacity.

In a Louphi tribe, everyone is expected to find a place, and every gender has a role to play. Most men are generally expected to become Hunters, sentries, and scouts, as well as artisans in charge of tool maintenance. Further, it is most often Men who are expected to become the tribal Sages and Sage Walkers, who are responsible for seeing to the magical, spiritual, and genealogical needs of the tribe, and to enforce the Pact of Oaths, the Holy doctrine to which all Louphi must ascribe to.

Females, meanwhile, often fulfill the majority of artisan and agrigarian roles, as well as form the Matron Societies that are in charge of the internal politics, planning, and organization of the tribe. While these societies and councils are not allowed to make their own decisions on mystical manners, they can appoint villiage representatives, huntsmasters, reallocate resources, determine growing patterns of plants, and see to and focus on the physical needs of the tribe.

Yeah, I don't think I'd let someone play a Sphinx. The lack of hands and odd make up would create issues, they're just too monsterous.

Arachne and Ophidian causes issues too with their weird body shapes, athough Goliaths have trouble as well since the world generally isn't designed with anything bigger than a Space Marine in mind.

The fuck da ya think it is? tis a town/church/fortress.