Nonstandard D&D Races?

cool pasta

>living an endless chain of lives because they gave up their immortality, but the primal spirits won't have them
Technically they are only allowed their constant reincarnation because the primal spirits agreed to it.

How about a wemic? Can I play a wemic?

Volo's Guide came out and said "forget everything, they're all berserker satanists"

So, given the vast array of canonical D&D races, has anyone ever used them to fill one or more of the "Five Race" slots when creating a custom setting?

For example, I've used Dragonborn, Goliaths, Gnolls and Minotaurs as "Strong", Kobolds as "Fairy", Aranea, Shadar-Kai, Shardminds, Devas, Diaboli and Tieflings as "High Men", Goblins as "Mundanes", and Phanatons as "Cutes".

I've added goliath to a tetrad of "earthen" races (humans, dwarves, halflings, goliath), which are as close as any race in the setting gets to standard. Other rqces have their own category/groupings, like elves, gnomes, dryads and styrs being fae, dragonborn, kobolds and dragons themselves being dracoforms, and a whole bunch of things tossed into beastmen.
I also made shadar-kai a goliath offshoot

>muh special snowflake furfag races
Easiest way to identify bad players and dms by far

I've had a small obsession with snake ladies lately

either the sexy ones with skin and lips or the... pic related

>1976

>fighter, cleric, thief, magic-user, elf, and dwarf, those are your options

>b-but DM, what if I want to play a human woodsmen who is in tune with animals and stuff, could I get some abilities that give me something like a companion animal or something?

>MUH SPECIAL SNOWFLAKE HOMEBREWEREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Personally for me it depends on the race, lizardmen for example are more "exotic" than dragonborn but I prefer lizard men to dragonborn

>they're so incredibly useful if you're homebrewing a setting of your own.
I actually find that the overabundance of races offered in D&D is probably one of the biggest hurdles for homebrewers to overcome. It's incredibly easy to think, especially when you're new to it, that you need to put them all in, and there are certainly players who will be miffed if their favorite race isn't playable in your setting.

It's more important to make sure that the races you use fit your world. And sure, sometimes that means that you use gnolls and kobolds, and sometimes half-ogres and githzerai. But often by then you're better off just making your own races rather than using preexisting ones.

Why? I'm curious as to why so many disdain dragonborn but don't mind lizardmen

It's usually one or more of a couple of reasons:

1: Lizardfolk are a much older race concept. Lizardmen have had PC stats since Basic D&D, whilst Dragonborn as 4e and 5e depict them are completely new to the last couple of years; the closest things you had in past editions were half-dragons, dray (magical experiments at "uplifting" humans into lesser Athasian dragons) from an obscure Dark Sun adventure, and draconians (orc-esque corrupted dragon hatchlings), followed by the 3.5 version of dragonborn (humanoids remade into mock-dragons).

2: Dragonborn are seen as "inherently more powerful" than lizardfolk, simply because their closest associated race is the Half-Dragon of editions past, which tended to be drastically stronger than a conventional PC race.

3: Special snowflakism: Again, due to the "dragonborn = half-dragon" assumption of many. Half-Dragons were, like tieflings, aasimar and genasi, obvious fodder for "I want my PC to be *really special" players. So, many people just blindly assume Dragonborn are more of the same "uber mary sue" fodder as half-dragons.

There's a couple of other reasons, but it ultimately boils down to dragonborn both lacking the "traditional weight" of lizardfolk and inheriting the stigma of half-dragons as "special snowflake" fodder.

I'm kinda okay w/ having a few pure evil races. Makes the game more fun and less WHO IS THE REAL MONSTER, HMMMMMM????

Oh, so like Dark Elves.

Or Hobgoblins.

Or Bugbears.

Hobgoblins and bugbears aren't big on the whole mindbreak thing, though I imagine drow would be.

Eh, I can see them dabbling. They are one ruler away from being all about that shit.

Veeky Forums has so many faggots on it, seriously. You want to have a thread about different or interesting races? Somebody just HAS to come in and tell you how it's a special snowflake meme and you're a furry for wanting to play something that isn't a human. In a fucking fantasy roleplaying game.

Played a two headed ogre with a buddy. Shit was so cash. Separate turns in initiative order, but when combat started whoever had higher initiative would control movement. The other head could use a bonus action to force a reroll and wrestle movement control away.

Yeah, cuz they are trolls who don't even play roleplaying games.

And you fall for their bait by posting shit like this. You cannot shame the troll, faggot.

Heh, I could see this being fun.

I like satyrs. Trending between hippy lifestyle and artists and lovers of fun and mischievous adventures.

I once played a undead satyr cleric who was raised and enslaved by a necromancer until the necromancer was defeated by a group of heroes. They were about to destroy me until I pleaded for mercy. They brought me to a church of the goddess of the dead where I was made into a grounds keeper/grave digger. After a few weeks they tested to see if my character was able to channel divine energy and he was proven to be able and was trained as a cleric

The campaign I had lasted about a 2months but it was good fun

What's the sweet spot in the number of races?

What's the best archetypes to fill races with?

Is having nonstandard races being the standard for a setting more interesting, or is having the standard races there for juxtaposition a better idea?

Depends on the setting
But seriously, there's a lot more to consider about a setting before deciding what races to put in it. Medieval? High fantasy? Post-apoc? Grimdark? Noblebright? Mythological? Realistic?

The thing is that these races really aren't different or more interesting than any of the stock options when it comes down to it, just superficially flashier. They're nothing more than a crutch used by bad players to justify laziness in creating their backstories, feeling special, as some sort of cheap gimmick, or to fuel their furry fetish nine times out of ten.

The average human player character is going to be more interesting than the average kitsunegnollkobold every time, as the players need to create personality themselves as opposed to pulling it from the "race all acts like this" guidelines for every nonhuman race and furthermore need to actually make a background to organically differentiate themselves from the rest past being a part of a super speshul race descended from dragons or whatever. I mean, in an ideal world you have roleplayers good enough to pull it off without being shallow or obnoxious, but that's almost never the case especially since good roleplayers almost never play the most exotic races.

Ideally, I think you want around 4-6 playable races, with maybe double that number being the total number of races in the setting if you include more monstrous and non-playable ones.

I'd also say that, as a whole, it's better to not have races be one specific archetype. That just leads to cases where you have, for example, a race of Lizardmen who are only good at being Fighters and Barbarians. Since they're only good at that, they're going to be a race of barbaric raiders. Any player who plays one is either going to go with that and end up with something very generic for the race, or try and go against the racial stereotype and get something very weird.

Ideally, I would say that most races should have a certain degree of cultural divide between them. Rather than one big swamp where all the Lizardmen live, there should be some that live there, some that live in a desert, some that live in mountains, and they should have enough differences between them that a player could more readily justify a Lizardman of many classes.

Let's say the setting in question is a noblebright high fantasy setting, one laden with sci-fi elements like powered armor, airships, and "laser" weaponry- all powered by magic. One where the nations of the world are small, with a wide and sweeping frontier filled strange and wondrous sights, creatures, and ruins of ancient civilizations.
A world of adventure, progress, and pure wonder.

In my experience, going for very non-standard things tends to throw people off. You should only have 1 or 2 races that are really 'weird' and esoteric, while the others should be more grounded with expectations.

That doesn't mean you have to go for the standard Human/Elf/Dwarf/Halfling + one wildcard, but any races you swap out for the standard ones should be similarly mundane. Half-giants or Goliaths are a good example, since they're essentially mountain-dwelling warriors that are just taller, stronger humans. You could have them as a standard race without anyone really batting an eye, since 'tall human' is easy enough to understand just like 'short human' is.

Granted, any of these standard races should have more to them than just being 'humans with X' in terms of culture or other quirks, but it's important that the majority of races give your players a familiar starting point.

I would suggest humans be the default and several fairly fantastical races live out in these undiscovered areas. This will help relate the player to the dominant race so they can share in that sense of discovery and wonder in the new world.

I would avoid generic nonhumans like elves and dwarves since they are very familiar and dont add to the feeling of the undiscovered, though if desired they could be a minority in the human dominant civilization. That could play into themes of diversity and cooperation, which I would assume would be strong in a noblebright setting focused on social progress. Though again, using more fantastical races under the explanation of recently colonized/integrated territories in the new world could acheive the same feeling and avoid that sense of the familiar.

Also, ruins are kind of an odd thing to have in a noblebright setting of advanced tech and societal progress. Combined with small civilization I'm led to think actually post apoc where the world suffered some recent collapse and inherited most of it's tech from precursors instead of developing it themselves.

Have humans as the socially awkward "newbie" race of the setting. For whatever reason, they have been forcibly reclusive or hidden, but new events have forced open their barriers and allowed them to brave the outer world that is already rich with history, cultures, and other races that are all too eager to exploit, destroy, or uplift these strange newcomers.

With a setup like that, my knee-jerk suggestions would be:

Gnolls: Proud warrior race guys. They might not necessarily have evolved from hyenas due to exposure to arcane radiation, but their society has grown out of scavenging from some particularly choice ruins - or a fallen "starship" (if of the Spelljammer variety). Matriarchal neo-barbarians who wield energy bolt-launcher "bows" and las-bladed spears.

Aranea: If there's an element of spelljamming in this setting, you could have them be stranded aliens, forced to rely on their shapeshifting to protect them as they integrate into host civilizations. They may even control the nation-state that is the best at airship production, part of their generations-spanning plan to recreate the arcanotechnology they need to return to the stars.

Chitines would be an alternative, more degenerated take on the idea, but that angle is probably best left to more grimdark interpretations.

Shardminds and/or Warforged: Ancient creations of the lost civilization who live on in their wake. Shardminds could be artificial counselors, or the now-fragmented remains of some vast magical artificial intelligence network. Warforged could be the remnants of mekanikal armies.

Nagpas or Devas: Could represent all that remains of the lost civilization (or one of them, at least); too few to preserve what they had, but blessed with the chance to guide the young races in their wake - or cursed to watch the inept fumblings of inferior inheritors.

Lizardfolk or Dragonborn: A once-mighty empire that blasted itself back to savagery, but which is on the rise again, to fit the noblebright motif.

Lupins or Rakasta: A vibrant, energetic, rising young star amongst the nation states. Mystara had faux-French swashbuckling paladin lupins and samurai rakasta on the moon who rode flying sabertoothed tigers. Just think about it.

That's just a handful of ideas, but I could suggest more if needed.

The ruins are from an ancient empire, a magic Roman Empire mixed with Atlantis. I really liked the idea of Atlantis, so I decided to throw that in to the setting. I figured the world is rebuilding after the empire's collapse, finding a way to forge a better future.

since when are kobolds a "super speshul race"?

Hobgoblins are best race. After hobgoblins, githyanki and githzerai

Since koboldfags made them the scrappy underdog race full of hyper competent inventors, geurilla fighters and wide hipped fap bait.

>since good roleplayers almost never play the most exotic races
Yeah, of course. I take it that by 'good roleplayers' you mean specifically certified by you and you alone?

Hobgoblins are fun, but they're essentially just Klingons in 5e.

Two of the four continents in my campaign setting doesn't have dwarves, humans, elves, etc. One is stocked with tabaxi, lizardfolk, kenku, aarakocra, goliaths and kobolds and the other is stocked with tritons, sahuagin, merfolk, kuo-toa and bullywugs.

I always love that awkward silence when players walk into a campaign and realize that they have to read up about a race that they've never heard of.

Never had an issue.

Don't play 5e then?

These are all really solid ideas. I think I'll use them.
Thank you so much, this has been a roadblock for me nearly as long as I've been planning my setting. I'm in your debt, user.

I mean, a flavor change is really easy and their stats aren't bad, so the discretion is on your end.

I always thought they were more Romulans.
Dragonborn are Klingons.

I would never run them as klingons. But I've already cemented them as classical chinese + warrior culture + andromeda nietzchean thing in my games, which I find way more entertaining than klingons.

I can see that argument

So, are there any other anons here who really liked a lot of 4e's efforts to either create new races or update old races with better fluff?

Yes. But it was 4e so it's all dead and buried

None of them follow a god of consummate destruction of everything for it's own sake, and the ones that do are not nearly as organized, dangerous or successful.

I hope you realize that the shitposter you're replying to posts the same copypasta in practically every exotic races thread. "Crutch for bad role players" should be the giveaway, because it's used verbatim every time.

>4th edition's take on Bladelings as abandoned creations of the God of War is a lot more fun to mess around with than 2e's "they're probably a stabilized strain of tiefling, or a minor fiendish race; who cares?"
So you don't know shit about bladelings is what you're saying? They actually have a fairly interesting backstory with a prophet and pilgrimage through hell along with enough mystery to adapt them as needed for games.
"Abandoned creations of x god" is the most pointless cliche shit and doesn't actually define anything about their character or attributes.
You're celebrating their individuality being replaced with generic by the numbers bullshit.

I kinda hate to use the "4kids" stereotype but it seems to fit here. Proud ignorance, "le who cares? XD", while hailing generic overdone shit as original amazing ideas just because it's new to them.

Eberron has a Gnoll who uses his voice mimicry to sing in a bar called Glitterdust in Sharn.

I think he even has some minotaur saxophonists in the back, but I may have halucinated that.

>Bladelings were once rumored to be tieflings, the spawn of fiends and humanoids. Unlike the other castoffs of the Lower Planes, however, bladelings are a distinct race unto themselves. Human-shaped, the average bladeling stands about 6 feet tall. The resemblance to humankind ends there. Bladeling eyes glow like translucent chips of glacial ice tinged with purple. Skin and bones protrude in the form of sharp blades of wood and ice and steel, jutting out at all angles; bladelings have no soft flesh. They have blood the color and consistency of oil.

>Habitat/Society: Not much is known about the bladelings, for they discourage any investigation into their lives – harshly. They are highly superstitious, and most are exceedingly xenophobic. Though they are courteous to strangers encountered outside their home, they tend to administer swift death to those who invade their territory. Bladelings can become conjurers, priests or fighters. Female bladelings may become fighter/priests, while males may become fighter/wizard (conjurer) specialists.
>Certain bladelings have the ability to call on their unknown gods. These bladelings, usually (but not always) female, can achieve 10th level as priestesses. They are the rulers of bladeling society, guiding it as they see fit.
>The bladelings live in Ocanthus, the fourth layer of Acheron, amidst the whirling blades of ice and iron. Their city, Zoronor, lies in the Blood Forest. This pulpy mass of wood (and other less savory, unidentifiable material) protects the residents from the whirling blades that are the main feature of this layer.
>Zoronor is the only known bladeling city. Here, bladelings obey their priest-king fanatically, having followed his tenets and gained some measure of security, which they will defend with their lives. The city itself yields litle except assassins and travelers.

Bladelings didn't have a whole heap about them when they turned up in 2e.

You missed the backstory of their pilgrimage through the lower plains to get to their city after their prophet heard mysterious whispers and once there he blessed them with protection from the rust, and how the prophet has cloistered himself away and almost no one has seen him for ages.
There's a base and history that help to define their characteristics and behaviors like culture, family groupings and attitudes towards outsiders and some open ended plot hooks and mysteries to use as needed for games. Not all of it was republished from 2e but it's out there.

But all of that is beside the point that even if they don't have as much written about them as other races, how is all that "le who cares?" and improved by completely abandoning it to replace with a generic "abandoned by god of x!" story?

You cannot shame anyone who isn't a subhuman.

Liking the Snek
An excellent choice either way.

So, random question; anyone ever run a dark fantasy setting? Because I've just not been able to stop thinking that a game where soul-eating catfolk, trickster goblins, mortifs and calibans are viable, thematic PC options would be a pretty unique one.

Yeah, it was called ravenloft. My players actually didn't like it. Said it was depressing.

Ravenloft's "Gothic Horror Fantasy" rather than "Dark Fantasy". Which basically means it's one of those games where every DM out there takes the setting as an excuse to give you shit for not playing a human.

Shame, too; there's some interesting aspects to it, but I find the fandom's attitude tends to make it unplayable. A lot like Planescape, really.

What does the fandom say about Planescape that makes it unplayable?

It's mostly that "we know best - we have the one great truth!" fueled sense of superiority that's baked into the books and which the fandom flaunts.

I'll admit, I probably take it harder than many, as I find the Great Wheel a clunky mess and much of Sigil's other lore aspects little better - I have way too many complaints about most of the factions, and as for the Blood War...? Don't get me started.

Even so, way too many Planescape fans seem to assimilate the worst of the smug superiority of the Sigilites. I hear one more patronizing comment on "the Clueless" or rant about how "The Great Wheel was so deep", and I'm going to punch somebody in the face.

Lizardfolk are a much more compelling character race (especially in 5e where they have very complex mannerisms). Dragonborn are just another "my mom fucked a non-humanoid" race. They just seemed silly and juvenile to me.

But drow are in player's handbook

Also I find human players the worst - ironocly they make worst personalities for there characters

As I said, a significant minority of anons mistake "dragonborn" for the "half-dragons" of editions past, instead of the "lesser dragons made in humanoid shape as servitors by dragons or born from the blood of the slain god of dragons" fluff they actually have.

So they're just fucking Kobolds? That's even dumber than I thought

Oh, yes, because kobolds are totally a Race of Proud Warriors with a provable history as a Great and Glorious Empire, with tangible links to dragonkind and the respect and/or fear of other humanoids.

In other words, no, dragonborn are what kobolds since 3.5 *wish they were*.

I ran an all barbarian party with a Gnoll, Bugbear, Half-ogre and a halfling.

The normal combat method was the halfling either riding one of them into combat, or was thrown into combat, often causing 2d4+Strmod damage on hit plus using spiked armor for an additional damage (smaller spikes, smaller damage). A critical hit allowed the Halfing to start grappling too.

The half-ogre's name was Bub. He had an intelligence of 5 and a Str stat of 30 (i ran a 5d6-lowest statblock). he was 300lbs and 8 feet of terror who wasn't particularly mean. He actually had the nice-guy flaw which was bonus to charisma and penalty to intimdate.

Garrok the bugbear was really smart and surprisingly dexterous. he had a 20 int and 18 dex. he had a thing for learning and, after spending a point to learn how to read, regularly took knowlege in dungeoneering and always took survival. Ended up saving our asses on a couple of occasions.

Dron, the Gnoll was a violent fucker. Straight up barbarian, great at intimidation and dual wielded either battleaxes or warhammers, depending on his mood. I remember one time, a barkeep wouldn't let them drink there and he intimidated him so badly that the barkeep shit himself and cried while pouring his drink.

Then there's Jos, the halfling. As previously stated, he used spike plate as his main armor. He had no proficiency with this until level 5. He could barely move in it, but specialized in grappling. He was the only one to ever multiclass and he took fighter just to get more feats. all specialized in grappling. he was based off of Pwent, the most based character ever.

We eventually got killed when we failed to stop an incursion of mind flayers, but at least they didn't get much of a meal from Bub.

That was kind of my point. They already had a race in that niche but decided it was too difficult to rp so they made one that fulfilled all of the flaws of the other. It's retarded.

That is fucking badass

Now I want to run something like this - just with lower stats possibly - outcasts of the monsters could be a nice campaign

So guys, I wanted to ask if this could be a way to improve dragonborns for some campaign, fluff vise:

Instead of noble half human dragonborns, we have ones that are much more savage?

Like lizardfolk dragonborns (Same stat block possibly) or gnoll dragonborns?

First one would look like lizardfolk with some draconic feutures, while other is weird gnoll dragon hybrid

As for ways how this could happen, I will wait for suggestions, but for lizardfolk I think some white dragon could be lonely and kidnap some lizardfolk women (or men, depends on your taste) or if you want something weird - have some strong lizard "subdue" a dragon....

I have to be honest, why not just use Reptilefolk or Gnolls as is?

I would use them as is - I just want to change the dragonborn

Yeah and I give a d8 bite attack to all player gnoll pcs

...

Dragonborn aren't half human to begin with. I don't understand what you're trying to do

Well I wanted a reason for them to have tails

You could just give dragonborn in your setting tails. It's not thematically inconsistent. Do you also want tailless dragonborn or something?

Only in 5e are drow in the PHB, and you have to ask your DM if you are allowed to play one.

The answer is no, fuckwit.

>this borderline unreadable post
Yeah, that's pretty much what I'd expect from the average furry defending snowflake races and who thinks human characters are "boring".

They went out of their way to make it so Gnolls well never be a playable race in 5th. Their are mind control by a devil god evil now

The lame breath weapon and always picked by new players before they know they suck eggs.

hobgoblins in 5th are the new best Wizard race. Plus Int and Con

All my settings are homebrew, and part of the preparation for beginning a campaign is issuing a big list of playable races, and a document with basic history, and politics for each established nation/group/tribe/etc. as well as a map of the generally known geography. I leave enough wiggle room for inventive character concepts and backgrounds, and after character creation actually privately tell the player characters slightly more about the area and things they come from.

People trying to add a race of their own in character creation generally fall into one of two camps, both of which are repugnant for different reasons:

People trying to achieve some "combo" or munchkin their stats or gain access to some power they want. I usually just say no.
&
People who want to be "unique" or "special" and being their own race that wasn't on the list is a way to ensure that. Basically this says to me that they don't have either the RP skills or the desire to create a character while actually using the campaign materials I prepared. However, since these requests often come with some original thought in them, I've granted them every once and a while when they were particularly inspired or added something I liked to the setting.

The purely cosmetic requests are sometimes quite easy to grant if you're creative, without disrupting the campaign or adding a whole race. I had someone who really really wanted to be a crocodile man, just for the sake of being one. I asked if he was okay with being a former human transformed through a magical mishap, and he said that was cool and boom, problem solved.

I love playing human characters - but for gods sake, those that only play them are faggots - playing damned mary sues

Just mentioning it...As DM can ban humans as well - as they don't fit all settings

they picked human? - after 20 years of gaming - 80% chance of not being a good roleplayer and well just play themselves. 110& chance of telling you that good role play comes from taking the bad race pick. Spend more time talking about good role play than doing it!

I love you man!

Can you be my DM?

You are arguing with a next-level scaly/dragonfag, and it's an unwinnable game.
I have experience, so let me tell you how to recognize one.
They come into threads unannounced, usually making quoting mistakes or being overly 9kek, and ask about whether or not they can be allowed to play a "lizard man" or "dragon man". They are polite though incomprehensible at first, but it very quickly becomes obvious that they have an absurdly narrow expectation of what their own perfect "dragon man" is, and they expect everyone else to know all about it and become furiously passive-aggressive if they're told that the setting doesn't work like that.
They resent having to homebrew anything themselves, and even in cases where homebrew is needed, they'll keep on asking for "how the dragon men in the setting are" and getting mad when people don't answer according to their personal tastes.
Their tastes, then, are very similar to the point that half of them might just be some kind of supreme autismlord haunting the board - all of the concepts I've seen from scalies obsessed with dragons on this board have been "gentle giant" lizardmen or dragonborn, and they must always, always, always have had a tail and have been born as a full-blooded member of the race. They are intended to be friendly, caring party members, but the scalies fail to grasp that people, both players and NPCs, would naturally cringe at their ways of being "friendly" - most of them act like bara robots, fighting for the party until something tiny about the setting draws the player's interest, after which they'll hump that spot like a stuck Roomba and cause wiling drama if anyone attempts to dissuade their character from their unhealthy obsession with one specific object, NPC or setting element.
It could be one shitposter. I don't want it to be just one shitposter.

I had always just assumed that is what most furfags are like, it never really occurred to me that one person could be responsible

You'd be surprised how determinedly obnoxious one person can be. It's one of those deals where the most annoying elements are the most visible.

>dragonborn, and they must always, always, always have had a tail and have been born as a full-blooded member of the race

Is giving a ficional tail-less race tails a very, very specific fetish I've just never encountered before?