What are your favorite "evil" or monster races? Do you like making them playable or more civilized in your settings?

I like Gnolls!

Warcraft is the worst everything.

The dead. The restless dead. Something just horrifying about facing the unyielding cold hate of the dead. And as players can't play that appropriately, no, I don't like them playable.

Then I like the goblinoids. All types really. Both the goofy and the insidious. Just depends on my mood. And again, players can't get it right, so no, I don't like them playable.

Naga are preddycool.

hell yeah man, came here to post gnolls

Hobgoblins being my favorite, but Goblinoids in general. I base their culture around old Indian culture, most importantly a very strict caste system, with Hobs at the top, followed by Gobs, then Bugbears.

Kobolds. I mean obviously.

Although I love all sorts of crazy shit, I really like teiflings despite only playing them sparingly, Nagas with like snakey tails are cool... centaurs also cool tho rare.

I don't like making them more playable or civilized, if a player ever requested to play a monster I'd totally agree.

Orcs, but with a growing fondness for goblinoids. They have a built vareity that lets you play around with them without totally deviating from expectations

I am sure you anons have no ulterior motives here, nope.

Probably Drow, and yeah if I have Drow in a setting I usually have fun with their societies. I really like all monster races though, you get to work from different assumptions with them and that's fun.

My nigga

Hobgoblins are the fucking best goblinoid/orcish race.

Best lore in all of Eberron is having the Rome of the setting be the Hobgoblin empire.

>Bugs under Gobs
How

Liches, wich arent really a 'race' and minotaurs are my jam

Word.

Hags FTW

>liches aren't a race
racist

Gobs may be weak, but with a little work they can be educated, and be made presentable.
Bugbears don't clean up at all, and you'd have a better chance teaching mandarin to bricks then you would teaching a bug to speak complete sentences in its native tongue.

Mimics/Doppelgangers. I'm sorry but those things are just too fucking useful to just be monsters.
Been trying to make a good playable race for a while, but it hasn't gone well. So instead every mansion has at least one mimic in the vault or as a garden fixture to be security. And a brothel of doppelgangers.

Driders
large abdomen to carry shit
much casters
very climb
dungeons now have 2 more dimensions to charge shit at
good speed

Nerubians in warcraft are neat.

true
got any nerubs ? specially those old mummified once? gibbe boss!

You're my nigga. I love oni-flavored races. Wild hair, red/blue skin, asian aesthetic. I wish more games had prominent or playable oni look a likes

only in game

>tfw you will never play a cute nerub mummy because it would break every single campaign
why even roll...

I have never come across this intelligent bugbear stereotype. At least not when compared to goblins

I tend to dislike weird races like Gnolls and such in classical human-dwarf-elf parties since no towns would accept them, but I can see nerubians making sense in certain situations.

Like in a scourge controlled lordaeron, where you have Kael doing missions like moving the wagons in silverpine.

Everything is to shit, a living nerubian could've gone questing to far away lands in hopes of finding something to fight the scourge in his homeland. A player party fighting the scourge in lordaeron could have very unusual allies imo.
Like an elf, a troll.
The troll and nerubian would have to wait outside if they find one of the small pockets of human civilization though.

In wrath you have players doing missions for the still living nerubians.
Before that you might be able to run a campaign where dwarven survivors of muradins expedition and some nerubians realize that they're better off working together, so they fight the scourge and the faceless.

Well, its like a template. Like vampire. You become a lich

>you become a lich
I was born this way you racist shitlord.

Sharkpeeps still the shit in my book

I like some evil races to be fully evil, while others have the potential to be less destructive. Having them all be just misunderstood seems like a lame waste.

My DM had them be ruthless mercenary tribes that band together and organize themselves into legions. All for profit and because they get their jollies off combat.

>Kobolds. I mean obviously I'm a furry.
Fixed

Gnolls and Kobolds.

I've done gnolls as tribal islanders and as flatlands nomads in the same setting. Shamanistic, matriarchal spotted gnolls, and striped gnolls that run a market-based meritocracy respectively.

Kobolds I usually do as a series of societies under specific types of dragons that look kind of like the dragons they live with. Desert dragons tend to be scrawny-looking, twitchy, and fast, and manipulate sand, and their kobolds rattle and wheeze when they talk and specialize in sandstone and sand sculpting, for example, and cavern dragons are stocky with stegosaur-like spines or plates, long, stony claws, and can warp the earth around them, while their kobolds have short spines on their shoulders and do gem-cutting and -setting. Repeat for all the classical elements and demi-elements(like sand, ice, electricity, smoke, etc).

My niggas

Goblins.
They're wasted as primitive, unintelligent fodder for low level characters.
I make them cunning, dexterous, crafty, underhand, selfish, and spiteful.

Goblin Rogues/Thieves/Assassins are some of my favorite characters.

Yes, more games need oni

Hobgoblins, efficient wizard-hating soldiers.

I usually have Goblins, Orcs and Hobs working together (bugbears are rare because my players don't know what they are or do most of the time).

I love Orcs and Goblins. Orcs are stripped straight out of Warcraft/Warcraft 2, and Goblins are intelligent malevolent fey creatures.

Humans, cause i think we all know that humans are the most evil thing on this planet right now.

Insofar as "evil" is a concept only humans recognize.

Plenty of animals display traits and actions that would commonly be called "evil," but the difference is that they don't see anything wrong with it.

Consider bottlenose dolphins, Canadian geese, cuckoo birds, and seagulls.

Of course, since the question by its nature and the nature of this board implies fantasy or science fiction settings with a multitude of sapient species, it's pretty clear that you're just using this to springboard onto a misanthropic soap box.

I'm familiar with what the other three do, but what's the deal with Canadian geese? Is it another, "there's one word mother nature takes super fucking seriously, and it's, 'territorial,' but humans are too stupid to understand that," kinda thing, or is it something else?

I don't know shit about Warcraft as a TTRPG but in the games you would hire Mercenaries of all the different monster races, so I don't see what the problem with them accompanying the party would be in that case

I'd say that was all if it weren't for the fact that the only way to know what WON'T provoke them is to get close and somehow walk away unharmed - because that indicates you were obviously doing SOMETHING right.

They shit everywhere, make angry noises, they're big, and they're not afraid of people. Also, their favorite places to hang out are large flat grassy areas AKA: lawns and public parks. It's not because they're claiming territory, they just like flat grassy places because they need a flat area to get a running start and take-off, and they eat the grass (and bugs and stuff they find in the grass).

Every American and Canadian knows this because their range covers literally the entirety of both countries.

Tieflings. I don't know why, but the image of a dapper 'devil' just sticks with me.

>Gnolls

Gnolls are a strong second after Orcs for me, but I haven't done as much with them because I prefer them as murderous half-demons which makes them less useful to create a culture for because the players will primarily be interacting at spearpoint.

>very strict caste system
AAaanndd stolen.

Jesus why have I never before

Good job user, this will be a serious step up for my campaign.

>I like some evil races to be fully evil, while others have the potential to be less destructive. Having them all be just misunderstood seems like a lame waste.

Likewise.

The e.g. Gnoll/Orc split is good IMO - Orcs are evil because they have a raider culture of warriors who value strength and who take thralls because of course. Gnolls are Evil because their entire race is the spawn of a Demon Prince fucking a hyena. One can understand the value of cooperation, even if he is going to, continually, think you're a faggot if you don't punch people who annoy you. The other is a vile murderbeast who will go out of his way to hurt you just because.

HAVE you read: diggercomic.com/

Takes a while before the gnolls show up, but they're super interesting.

The Skaven.

Playable? In the right game, sure. More civilized? They're already the most civilized, yes-yes.

This. Driders show up for to little in games.

Hell, 3D terrain and races that can properly take advantage of it show up for to little.

>Skaven
>civilized
They're insane rats with deathlasers playing at civilization

My very favorite evil race is from Everquest. A setting that is usually very par the course and DnD esque.

However i have a soft spot (probably due to nostalgia) for the Iksar.
Usually Lizardmen come in two variation: primitive tribesmen and ancient aliens.

The Iksar are unredeemably evil, but in a sophisticated way. Their signature class is a group of pseudo Shaolin Monks that worship the living embodyment of primal faceless fear.
They are also big into ritual necromancy and got a high class of Anti Paladins.
they arent limited to swamps either, they have their own continent thats obviously out to kill you full with volcanos, jungles and glacier peaks.

They are the only race in their setting to have successfully taken on an alliance of dragons.
Their origins lie as a slave race to Conan esque Serpent people that kileld gods, whom they ended up overthrowing only to become even worse Slavers and Warmongers also creating their magically engineered Slave Soldiers.
These guys are essentialy the Shaolin Waffen SS and somehow managed to become the most iconic and recognizeable race of their franchise.

I've always loved Monster-trolls. Berserk really did them well imo.

I added them in a game, with implied rape and everything. The Players did fairly well against them, considering we only lost one.

Oozes.
>Do you like making them playable or more civilized in your settings?
Yes. Lousy Ghaunadaur had to go and have the bright idea to turn all his worshipers into mindless blob (as opposed to intelligent blobs). He deserves the power loss associated with that. I try to make sentient slimes when I can. Playable? They don't really fit into most mechanics, though. I mean, they can't speak or use weapons. But there's also no telling how much of that stemming from intelligence loss. Maybe they could have shaped dexterous hands before?

Never played the game, but they sound pretty cool.

I tend to dislike "always chaotic evil because it says so in the book" monster races, ie. "orcs always rape and pillage because they're orcs, now go kill them for xp". I prefer it when there's some thought put into the race's society, both for explaining why they're evil and how their evil society works.
In my setting orc society is built around the idea of might makes right, so they see no problem raiding each other's settlements or those of other races: if they can take your stuff, they deserve it more, and if you can beat them, then they'll respect you for being stronger (and probably want to fight you again to prove their strenght), while my dark elves are a lawful evil theocracy that's not a particularly bad place to live provided you're a dark elf and don't step too much out of the line, but they treat every other race as inferior. They don't see themselves as evil, but as the chosen people of the gods, who are destined to rule over the less enlightened races. Everybody else sees them as a bunch of assholes who want to enslave other races and/or sacrifice them for their gods.

Yeah, but Canadian geese are super fucking territorial.

I've not seen a game that handles 3D terrain well

Tabletop games are innately 2-dimensional, so go figure

I don't think they're a race, but I really like Liches as characters.

Do liches reproduce asexually or does mama and papa lich get busy? Where does the bone go?

Undead.
Because basically they're us and when done right they can range from entirely horrifying to incredibly tragic without too much of a problem.

I've never encountered problems with them. My university has loads of them, and you'll invariably find some in any area with grass, really, but they just seem to stand around and not give a damn about people constantly walking right past them.
They're an invasive species here, though, and shit absolutely everywhere, so I still think they should be killed off, though. But apparently they're a protected species, even when on a continent they don't even belong to.

Where is this? Because I've had them drop out of the fucking sky and start hissing and biting me for no fucking reason.

Yes-yes, what is your point man-thing?

I've never seen them get violent either in NYC. They just laze about on lawns and shit all the time

I don't know, man. I'm from the middle of nowhere. Maybe the geese who migrate through here are less used to people.

For the record, it's a $3000 fine anywhere in the United States for killing a Canada goose. Even if your dog does it without your knowledge.

That said, they're pretty big and the meat's not too bad. I suggest a shotgun with a fairly hefty shot. Buckshot's gonna be a bit overkill, but eh.

bump!

Why aren't geesemen a thing in RPGs? Someone needs to write up an origin story for them.

>Territorial
>Violent
>Rapey
They're basically just Orcs

Flying Orcs that shit everywhere.

Give 'em a rich and lively half-demon culture. Just look at history for how to create a Chaotic Evil sometimes literally bloodthirsty culture.

Honestly? Bug people.
>armies of man-eating ants lead by a queen
>giant beehive mazes
>horned beetle axe-wielding armored warriors

Rogue AI.

Goblins, little sly bastards living in slums and and emerging to sell dodgy souveniers to tourists.

Iksar were great when introduced, with terrific models (no boobie-lizard girls) and animations, as well as a different city design (they were natural swimmers so their city was full of canals), just overall excellent race.

Like everything else in EQ though they became more bland and unoriginal as time passed.

These are two ideas that work well for opposite reasons. A scary bad-guy needs to be "too close to home" like many undead are, as we all get old and die and have this innate fear of this cycle. Depending how the undead work it can be real creepy.

The other way is something very alien from us, like bug people who think and live and feel in a way totally foreign to us, so it is hard to understand their motives and desires.

It's when you fall in between, like standard fantasy orc or goblins that are "kinda like us, but different" things get bland. I'd rather just everyone be human almost.

Thanks friend! I haven't seen that one before!

This.
l like Goblins but l hate them as a playable race. They're cool when they're savage as they can get, like violent monkeys almost.
Orcs CAN be kind of cool if you make them reallly really big and dumb, but most of the time you might as well make them buffy humans.

I'm really fond of pig orcs myself. Bonus if they go feral under certain conditions.

Like sighting an elf?

Snek people are pretty dope.

Now that's just elf propaganda

Orcs, to be honest. I know it's pretty cliche, but I like the idea of them being that deposed empire that's usually taken up by elves. Had them sort of roman/Greek in my homebrew setting, and they hold on to a lot of the philosophy. Now they're sort of a mix between Hunnic barbarians and Native American Indians, with bits and pieces of that old Greek culture thrown in there. They also vary a lot from tribe to tribe, so one tribe might be bitter and hate the world for what they've done, thus sort of working as those stereotypical angry brutish orcs, and another tribe might be more peaceful, sort of like a Native American tribe that just wants to be left alone to their ways.

I'm fond of breaking race stereotypes, so I liked the idea of tall, noble, intelligent orcs. I know it's been done before, but it's a good trope that I like.

I like drow, personally.
I make them treat adventurers nicely for the first time they visit a city, mainly because they're an unknown factor. So they tend to get a bit relaxed around them.

Then someone ends up with a dagger in their back and someone has at least four poisons in them and the other is being dragged off by a drider.

Now the party just kill drow on sight. It's amazing.

I had been toying around with an idea of a playable Ooze race that needs to stay in containers to keep their intellects

On the long term, anyway, they can be outside for plenty of time to do the usual ooze-stuff, like slipping under doors or engulfing folks

But other than a race of oozes 'wearing' suits of armor, I didn't get anywhere

Oh yeah. The ending was... good, if a bit bittersweet. It was where I got the idea for the tribal ones, and I based the shamaness of their village heavily off of Boneclaw Mother.

I've always liked drow. Hey, I liked them before Drizzt. The only good thing he did for them was get them more artwork, since he was constantly fighting other drow.

See, I like to make them the original elves. They had a big empire and tons of slaves before it crumbled and your impure-blooded surface elves became what all the people think of. Now the snobby surface elves have the baggage of having been supremacists in the past and having their religion being based completely on the old drowish religion. This means their holy texts have all this stuff about domination and subjugation of the lesser races. Now the elves have a bunch of apologetics and historical cover-ups to fuel conspiracies. It doesn't help that there are cults trying to go back to the old drowish religion and bring back the drow. And in the shadows, the drow are plotting a resurgence to power...

I have literally never had a single problem with geese and I live in Canada.

No. Orcs are evil because they are the vile corruptions of Morgoth. They are as damned as Gollum and the Nazgul. They are not noble savages and not to be fetishized.