Stop playing humans, Veeky Forums. You're one in real life, do something more exciting and unique next game

Boooring.

Well fuck you too

This guy explains at the outset that by monster he means a particularly powerful and broken character, and explicitly says there's nothing wrong with humanoids in a normal campaign and that playing as a dragon or something will require a particularly special campaign.

All of that is true today and nobody would argue against that. Instead, what people should strive for is something more adventurous than a party of short humans, thin humans and regular humans.

>hurr durr so scaly humans and bug humans are that much better?

Yes, because they are more visually interesting and can be used in ways that normal humans can not.

If you refer to a dark-skinned human as a nigger, that's not comfortable for a lot of people to have in a game. But if you refer to a kobold or lizardman as a suitcase or give them the nickname "Boots" it's generally seen as alright, and you can have fun, racially charged banter that way, unlike with other humans or even humans with disabilities or deformities such as dwarves.

Which is more 'unique' - an exotic race that is exactly like me in terms of personality, or a human that is different from me in character and traits?

I would rather play a very standard race well, then push myself to be unique and special and end up with a character I don't care about at all and really don't know anything about, because all I did was slap on a different race name and stat bonus. Or worse, I overthink the inherent differences that would form with a dragonborn or some shit compared to a human, and I get something that's just utterly alien and that I don't actually want to play.

Escapism isn't just being different from myself in terms of body, but being different in terms of being a different person. Do you get what I mean when I say that?

That's from Gygax in the AD&D DMG. If you check OD&D he used to allow players to play as anything they wanted, and there's evidence there was at least one guy playing as balrog in Blackmoor, but as you can see on that pic he changed his tune after a few years

That sounds like your personal preference, user.
>Escapism isn't just being different from myself in terms of body, but being different in terms of being a different person. Do you get what I mean when I say that?
That's fine. If that's what you're comfortable playing, you can definitely try to take the bounds of humanity as far as they will go. Just don't shit on the folks trying to be a bit more creative.

>You're one in real life

100% of the most interesting people I personally know, as well as know of, are human.

>BUT I WANT TO PLAY THE MOOOOOONNNNNSSSSSTTTTEEERRR

>Mindflayer infant adopted by some sad cuck elf and raised in a backwater hamlet
>rejoices when he wins the Harvest Cup with his best friends

>changed his tune after playing a few years with people who played every little thing

GEE

I WONDER WHY

>You shouldn't play as a Balrog
is not the opposing argument to
>Elves and hobbits are boring

One is a call for balanced game mechanics and one is a call for aesthetics and story content

Your shitting on the human olayers by insisting they aren't creative
What makes playing a non human character more "interesting" or "creative"? The fact that they aren't human? The racsim others may have against them? I purpose that anything a non human character can explore a human character can explore just as well.

I know, and I get that other people will feel different from me - maybe they never even played humans, always wanting to go for some sort of different race. There is something to be said for always wanting to explore uncharted territory and never wanting to just be the normal guy or the straight man, even as part of a buildup to something else.

But you would not believe how many people either want me to play something really out there and act offended that I don't want to or don't want to have my character changed drastically partway through the adventure by a spell or something. Or almost worse, people that don't care what I make and assume it's basically a self-insert of myself. You'd think I'm completely alone in how I feel.

I never really understood what drives some people toward playing exotic races. Whatever character traits you wish to express can be played as a human character also. I can't think of a single example where the unique physical characteristics, such as longevity or diminutiveness had any significant impact on characterization.

People play halflings because they want to be friendly and curious - humans can do that. People play dwarves because they want to be gruff and loyal - humans can do that. People play elves because they want to be wise and aloof - humans can do that. And so on.

I don't mind playing such races and don't have strong opinions either way, as long as you don't end up with the implausible motley circus party where everyone is his own brand of special snowflake (tiefling, aasimar, dragonborn, throw in some drow for good measure - but no human in sight, even though they make up 90% of the setting? At least try to explain how and why such a band could assemble).

I was just giving context to the image while the thread is still young, but now that you brought up balance, it's worth noting that you were allowed to play anything as long as you started about as weak as any other 1st level character or at least advanced in levels very slowly. That is exactly how the standard demi-humans were handled, too. The dwarf/elf/hobbit were all stronger than their human counterparts, but they had level limits, limited class choices and gained levels more slowly. The idea of a list of kosher player races that you are expected to strictly adhere to is an AD&Dism for the sake of standarization after Gygax grew tired of every

OD&D was basically freeform

>ahur dur I can't handle the challenge of rping an alien mindset for more unique RP

>me not have imagination

>after Gygax grew tired of everyone playing wacky shit

>I never really understood what drives some people toward playing exotic races.
Bonuses and general munchkin behavior is a strong candidate.

But my character is the straight man of the party.

That's from a multiplayer planescape RP server , lots of unique choices.

...

>Rping an entirely different culture isn't an alien mindset
Jesus you're just as bad as the HFY people

Gorilla-face

>not playing as a human
Low energy, desu. You should stop taking those estrogen pills.

What?

b-but it's a conan game

SHUT THE FUCK UP ALBEDO YOU'RE NOTHING MORE THAN A FUCKING COCKSLEEVE FOR A BONEY SKELLINGTON WHO DOESN'T EVEN HAVE A COCK I'LL PLAY WHATEVER THE HELL I FUCKING PLEASE AND IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT MAKE LIKE A SUCCUBUS AND SUCK MY DICK

Why would I want to play a meme?

A human cannot have the same mindset and goals as a devil. By saying play only humans you're completely losing just one of hundreds of avenues for rp and interaction. The planar races, rogue constructs, all of the great stuff planescape has to portray.

Stay salty, my snowflake.

So?

>Stop playing humans, Veeky Forums. You're one in real life
you don't know that

>You can play as a cold blooded human
>You can play as a human with teeth and claws
>You can play as a human with a tail
>You can play as a human that can hold their breath for 20 minutes
>you can play as a human that has digitigrade legs
>You can play as a human that has a secondary set of arms that are small and vestigial but can help you do sneaky things
>You can play as a human that has hard, synthetic skin that doesn't heal the same way other people do
>You can play as a human in a culture with 8 fingers and thus lives in a base 8 society

>You're one in real life

Who the fuck is albedo?

if you aren't a human yet sapient enough to type then tell me where you are so that I may fuck you

Most of those are only able to be used one way, evil, good, lawful, elf, dwarf, etc

Humans can be used in all those ways and more. There's a reason why the best races are equally as free (such as the vampires from VTM)

Nothing inherently wrong with playing other races but humans give me the roleplaying freedom I love.

These are all superficial gimmicks. None of those tells me anything about what a person is about.

>Most of those are only able to be used one way, evil, good, lawful, elf, dwarf, etc
That's objectively wrong, please consult your monster manual or dungeon master's guide for literally any edition

So you're saying that a person's physical qualities has no bearing on what sort of personality might develop?

Are you retarded?

No, and no. Mind your manners.

>one in real life
>implying im not jewish

I understand what you're saying, but how many people probably really take that into account when they play a non-human?

Like, take an Argonian from TES. They can breathe underwater and it's hinted that they hatch from eggs and stuff, but you still play them like any other character, and that's even true in the lore outside of the games.

You're right you know, whatever he thinks. Being cold blooded like lizardmen for example would completely change how a being would see the world and their personality.

Purge the xenos filth.

I think his point is that none of those are personality traits, and even though those who have them can be inclined to have particular kind of personality, you can still find that personality in humans.

You don't interact with other PCs in elder scrolls. This is about roleplay.

>You can play as a human with a gimmick

>Being cold blooded like lizardmen for example would completely change how a being would see the world and their personality.
Such as?
"See you in a bit, gotta get me some warmth first" is not a compelling character trait. It's a curiosity that gets mentioned once and then becomes stale.

Stop playing animate objects

This line of thinking is so retarded.

Who are you to say what's a compelling character trait?

Why not just play white male? You are probably one, and whatever character traits you wish to express can be played as a white male character also.

A human being with opinions?

BORING opinions.

And who are you to say it is
Who says i can't play a human witha special birth defect that only exist in this world that makes me cold blooded
Who says i can't play a inbred human with eight fingers
Whats the point of doing that
Why play a devil when i can play an evil human

Evil humans are literally currency and livestock to devils tho.

Everyone i disagree with is just boring and thus should be ignored
Everyone should play mary sue races because i find humans boring

So just power gaming
Why not rise up and make the devil your bitch
Sure it might be hard but it could be fun if your DM is cool with it

Gygax was not in favor of predominantly demihuman parties, and the term humanoid exclusively referred to monsters until after WotC bought the IP.

Someone who has a bone to pick.

In all seriousness, a demon lady from an Iseki style anime where both the MMO the main character stuck in his avatar and the very not MMO fantasy world he finds himself shunted into run off of obviously D20 rules and magic.

Its called Overlord. You may have seen a webm or gif of around these parts of a skeleton buffing himself with magic about shitposting. That is an edit of a scene where the same skeleton is buffing himself with very familiar spells...

Or...at least familiar d20 era spells translated into japanese and then translated back into english.

Please do elaborate on the deep character ramifications of having a base 8 number system.

>You're one in real life,
No I'm not, I'm an american black

Nope demons are always demons, angels are always angels, etc.

If I'm playing a modron I'm playing a lawful stupid human.

There is nothing stopping me from playing a human who can do each and every one of those things.

The only monsters that are worth including are either completely free like humans (i.e. VTM vampires) or completely alien (ie the color from outer space)

So if a race has something unique about it's culture/role a human can't just copy, it's powergaming?

And I've had a lot of fun with other PCs trying to one up us baatezu players in contracts and etc, it creates lots of good plots.

>People play elves because they want to be wise and aloof - humans can do that.
You can't be a human with a "lifetimes" worth of life experience and not be changed by debility of old age. humans can't do that.

for reference

how have you managed this?

When the options are human, short human, pointy eared human, ugly human, and animal person (that thinks and behaves like a human), why shouldn't I pick the one that's at least honest about it?

>playing a human with a superspeshul mutation giving them 8 fingers or cold blood is fine
>but playing a nonhuman is being a special snowflake

>39x21

It's called walking into a high mana area, or having dragon lineage.

Plus what bonuses do 3 extra lifetimes give you? Most elves seem to be less wise than a 40 year old human.

I too want to know how you managed this wondrous bit of sorcery...was this an attempted Export of the webm into a gif with too tightly constrained dimensions?

I mean I appreciated someone posting it for reference because I couldn't find it so quickly...but wow this is just a fascination.

I mix it up. I mean I usually play humans but I on occasion head into Dwarf Town or something more exotic. Its more about jumping into unfamiliar cultures for me, so if the setting has cool stuff that I feel a bit removed from I'll jump all over it.

>meta shitposting a meta shitpost webm

Preach

The best way to experience exotic cultures is from a familiar mindset. Play a character you easily identify with, and then go explore.

That's some good shit, but it's not /lgbt/ tier.

>"I keep getting uninvited to games for demanding to play a 3 year old, but physically mature, cat girl with big anime tiddies. Better go make a thread on Veeky Forums so I can slowly try to degrade the common sense of other gamers to a point where I'll finally be allowed to jerk off under the table."

>do something more exciting and unique next game.
But playing alien races isn't exciting or unique. You're just playing a giant fucking stereotype.

No matter how unique you think your human character is, they are also just a stereotype. They're a pirate/cleric/blacksmith/assassin/ whatever probably influenced heavily by a character you saw in a movie or videogame.

Humans don't have access to high mana areas
Humans don't have dragon lineages
You just invented entirely novel circumstances that inevitably make your humans non-human. The only thing they presumably keep is their human "skin" (probably not with dragon lineages).
Might as well slap pair of floppy ears and call them something else. It's fairly popular genesis of fantasy races actually.

>Most elves seem to be less wise than a 40 year old human.
*Most players

It worked for the post-modernists.

>Most players
Then why try in the first place playing someone or something you're actually incapable of portraying?

Why play different race or culture? Why play opposite sex? Why play character of different age? Why play different personality from your own? God forbid you fail to authentically portray it. What is this, some role-paying game or something?

Some players do have the imagination and RP ability to portray things like that. Others, like you, are probably better off just sticking to the basic easy human choice.

Only fags want to play as non-human for anything other than mechanical reasons.

>most players
Elves are always huge jerks with no forsight.

If you want to be the stereotypical wise dude you roleplay a human village-elder.

It worked for a lot of things and that's why it scares me because I know where this hobby is heading.

>Elves are always huge jerks with no forsight.