Quote from: ForgottenF on August 05, 2024, 07:38:49 AM

Quote from: David Johansen on August 05, 2024, 12:56:36 AMFremlin from the Complete Book of Humanoids.  Who thought it was a good idea to give immunity to non-magical weapons to an annoying joke race?

I had not heard of that one before, but that's part of why I made the thread. Yeah that's baffling.

Quote from: Chris24601 on August 04, 2024, 10:50:35 PMGnomes. 4E was right to put them as an optional race in the Monster Manual

They are a popular pick for annoying players IME. Gnomes and Halflings are the PC version of Orcs and Goblins for me.  A setting really doesn't need both.

Quote from: Ratman_tf on August 04, 2024, 09:08:33 PMHumans. A boring race that unimaginative players take and portray with bad, exaggerated Monty Python accents. They're either Tolkien ripoffs or cheesy pastiches of real world human cultures.

Hey, sometimes they're Conan ripoffs! What does a Tolkien ripoff human look like, though? Do you mean people just literally playing Aragorn?

Well my tongue is firmly in my cheek here.

In seriousness, players tend to "pay homage" to existing fictional characters and that's fine.

Quote from: blackstone on August 05, 2024, 08:26:05 AMI can't limit it to one particular race. There are quite a few that are bad IMO:

-Tieflings, Dragonborn: two races that scream "power gamer".

-Kender and Tinker Gnomes: they're the reason that Dragonlance as a game setting sucks

Originally they did not get much of anything special really compared to other races.

5e Dragonborn are ok compared to the other races. Nothing powergamy surprisingly. The Tieflings get some potentially abusable goodies by level 5. But so do the drow. Not quite powergamy.

Warforged on the other hand get alot of boons and no drawbacks.

Imagine how obnoxious the 5e Kender would have been had wotc kept that rule that Kender dont really steal things! You see theres a magic on them that mysteriously fills their pack with all sorts of trinkets and stuff and no one knows where it all comes from! Honest!

Quote from: Exploderwizard on August 05, 2024, 11:42:09 AMIf we are talking lamest race ever, I would have to go with the Shardmind from 4E. A piece of rock. Really?

Probably has great natural AC, though.

Ha!!!

I would probably go with Half-Elves. Basically they are like humans, but have slightly pointy ears

Goliaths, a lot of people say you can teplace other races with humans, but Goliaths especially have nothing going for them besides stats. They're just large humans with natural tattos. Or alternatively, Muls with all the interesting parts ripped out.

Tieflings are the worst IMHO, because 99% of the time they are fetish-bait, edge lords, or some stand-in for non-binary LBGTQ+ stuff.  This is a shame because they are actually not a bad race, just almost everyone playing them is doing it for some ridiculous reason rather than playing an outcast trying to make their way in the world.

Dragonborn I liked (I played one in 4e and it was a blast) but I don't think they should be a "default" race in the setting, shoehorned in where they don't belong.

Honorable mention to Warforged because, despite the fact I like them and Eberron actually made them fit, they fall into a problem I have with a lot of "science fantasy" or "magipunk" type settings; there's a point where you're trying too hard to shoehorn sci-fi stuff into fantasy.  Warforged are "robots" in everything but materials used (and even then they're basically robots) so they are jarring to a fantasy setting, even one with magic-as-technology.

Elves. All of them. Magical, nigh immortal losers who somehow manage to not rule the world or are in actual decline depending your preferred lore.

Halflings are the first ones that come to mind. Like orcs, they immediately transform settings into Tolkien-ripoffs in a way elves, dwarves, goblins and other creatures from myth don't.

Quote from: Slambo on August 06, 2024, 11:12:16 AMGoliaths, a lot of people say you can teplace other races with humans, but Goliaths especially have nothing going for them besides stats. They're just large humans with natural tattos. Or alternatively, Muls with all the interesting parts ripped out.

Muls or half-giants?

Quote from: Eric Diaz on August 08, 2024, 02:00:56 PM

Quote from: Slambo on August 06, 2024, 11:12:16 AMGoliaths, a lot of people say you can teplace other races with humans, but Goliaths especially have nothing going for them besides stats. They're just large humans with natural tattos. Or alternatively, Muls with all the interesting parts ripped out.

Muls or half-giants?

Both i know they used Goliaths as Half Giants in 4e Dark Sun but Muls are also larger than average people known for their athleticism.

Quote from: Slambo on August 06, 2024, 11:12:16 AMOr alternatively, Muls with all the interesting parts ripped out.

Muls were half-dwarves I believe. Been a whole since opened up the boxes.

Quote from: Omega on August 09, 2024, 12:31:04 AM

Quote from: Slambo on August 06, 2024, 11:12:16 AMOr alternatively, Muls with all the interesting parts ripped out.

Muls were half-dwarves I believe. Been a whole since opened up the boxes.

Yes they are. They're also sterile and for some reason really tall (not as tall as golitahs ill give you but still big)

Aren't all D&D races the same now?  I guess that makes them all equally lame.

Quote from: Svenhelgrim on August 09, 2024, 03:23:49 AMAren't all D&D races the same now?  I guess that makes them all equally lame.

No. They all have their differences in appearance and what racial tricks they get.

The change was essentially reverting the way races were originally handled in O and B/BX/BECMI/RC D&D where no race had stat bonuses. They just had little racial quirks like dwarves could detect secret doors and elves were immune to sleep and charms and halflings were good at hiding.