Races I like are Humans (all kinds, I loved the way they did them in Mongoose Conan), Dwarves and 5e Goliaths, but I think it's because they've got a decent enough history, or just enough to add on to.

I find dwarves attract lazy people oddly enough.

Quote from: Skarg;1046769It seems to me that very often, the stereotypical behavior of non-human races tends to confine and replace (and/or mainly remove) the individual personality from the way people play those characters (both in RPGs and in dramas).

I have seen players who, when I tossed them an ordinary human NPC that was with the party to play, they had a great time playing them as an interesting person who had heartfelt aspirations and did interesting things... and then in a later session when they brought a new detailed PC that was a [Flavor] Elf or something, they largely sat around as if they were trying to be as generic and passive as possible, and the personality that showed up seemed like the player's own persona plus [Flavor] Elf stereotypes.

A good point; that may be the player paralyzed with a sense of "maybe that's not the way a [Flavor] Elf would or should act" and thus doesn't act at all, unless it's squarely within the stated stereotypes for [Flavor] Elf.

I find typical PC races like elf and dwarf not much of a problem, because players usually don't get hung up on the flavor/background in the current game. And players usually find it easier when there's a trivial stereotype to follow: dwarfs have Scottish accents and view beards as important, and after players hit those two stereotypes they then feel free to play an actual character.

As a player, I don't like races that make the world silly. I'm willing to learn about weird races that are not silly in the course of play, so it depends on the GM being consistent with them and not making them silly, even if they turn out to be about the same as other races.

For player characters in my game, I accept almost any race (that doesn't make my world silly) as long as the character can effectively adventure with the other player characters. Similar size, similar mobility, suited to similar environments, and able to function in the same social situations as the rest of the PCs. More annoying than dragonborn and tieflings are human barbarians who refuse to enter cities and have to interrupt any actual adventuring to remind the table that they do not understand anything they have encountered; or paladins who can't adventure with thieves or unlawful characters or otherwise dictate other players' character choices; or any character who is seriously insane.

I like Palladium's Wolfen.

I like the Races of the Dragon version of Dragonborn.  Switching from another race for draconic traits to fight Bahamut's holy war was more interesting than being a race of failure dragon-people.

I dislike Eberron's Kalashtar because they are dull and redundant.

I dislike Kender for the usual reasons.

Quote from: jeff37923;1046739It has been my repeated experience that players choosing those races do not do so to bring about a unique character that defies the stereotype. I wish it were so. Instead they tend to choose those character races for the comic relief aspect, even though they are the only ones who find it funny. As it is, I'd rather be Captain Buzzkill for the one potentially disruptive player then GM Buzzkill for allowing a disruptive player to screw up the game for the whole group.

I never had problems with special snowflakes killing my fun. Sure there was the evil Tiefling in my 1995 Planescape game whose player really wanted a katana for mechanical reasons. So one day he found a scroll called Summon Katana. It summoned Katana Jirokoyama, a Solar in the service of Ameterasu Omikami, who had a big katana. He handed the katana to the Tiefling. It was a Holy Avenger and his hands began to smolder. That pretty much ended his whining about a katana.

Quote from: Krimson;1046827I never had problems with special snowflakes killing my fun. Sure there was the evil Tiefling in my 1995 Planescape game whose player really wanted a katana for mechanical reasons. So one day he found a scroll called Summon Katana. It summoned Katana Jirokoyama, a Solar in the service of Ameterasu Omikami, who had a big katana. He handed the katana to the Tiefling. It was a Holy Avenger and his hands began to smolder. That pretty much ended his whining about a katana.

So you were Captain Buzzkill for the one potentially disruptive player, got it. I wish that my tabletop gaming experience had been devoid of such disagreeable players as yours seems to have, but I guess that is what differentiates GMs.

Quote from: jeff37923;1046855So you were Captain Buzzkill for the one potentially disruptive player, got it. I wish that my tabletop gaming experience had been devoid of such disagreeable players as yours seems to have, but I guess that is what differentiates GMs.

Yes 23 years ago. I have grown up a little since then. If you're the same person you were at half your current age that would be kind of sad.

Quote from: Krimson;1046858Yes 23 years ago. I have grown up a little since then. If you're the same person you were at half your current age that would be kind of sad.

"A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life." - Muhammad Ali

Quote from: AsenRG;1046743Yes, indeed:)!
"In the ancient empire of Am'Shaan, (read the "m" and "sh" without a pause between them, or it becomes a curse), almost 1 in 6 of the citizens is a tiefling. Today, they're people like everyone else, though often drawn to violent trades, from soldiers to city lantern bearer (who have the obligation to protect the - usually drunk - patron that hired them and lead him or her safe to the address, all for a hefty sum of course). Their ancestors, or the ancestors of those that survived, mostly belonged - literally and/or voluntarily - to the cult of the Snake, which prescribed couplings with the cult's demons on the sacred nights. The eventual, albeit thought rare, offspring resulting from such unions became leaders of the cult.
When the cult of the Snake was outlawed 268 years ago, like all cultists, the thieflings had to choose between conversion and being put to the sword. It is to be noted that a lot less tieflings chose the sword than the cultists from other races. They also showed piety in the new-found religions, shaming the accusers who kept talking about a plan. Snakes don't plan ahead, as the tieflings kept pointing out...
Since then, they keep their numbers mostly steady, despite their often violent trades. It is to be noted that tiefllings are prone to couplings with other races, but are almost exclusively marrying among themselves."


Admittedly, the thing I find most interesting is how few people chose to talk about races they like;).

Nice! That's a cool idea.

Quote from: Krimson;1046858Yes 23 years ago. I have grown up a little since then. If you're the same person you were at half your current age that would be kind of sad.

My my, aren't we touchy? I was willing to just chalk it up to a different set of experiences between us, but you seem to be taking this rather personally.

Quote from: Kiero;1046862"A man who views the world the same at fifty as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life." - Muhammad Ali

"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." -  George Santayana

Quote from: jeff37923;1046868My my, aren't we touchy? I was willing to just chalk it up to a different set of experiences between us, but you seem to be taking this rather personally.

Touchy? Not really. I'm certainly not the same person at 46 than I was at 23. Maybe I should have added a at the end of the last post. I'm a little too concerned about a mountain lion leaving animal entrails lying around my neighborhood to be worried about teh interwebs at the moment.

Quote from: The Exploited.;1046863Nice! That's a cool idea.

Feel free to use it, if you like it;). Just tell us how it went!

I generally have an aversion towards most elven races. I get that dwarves and gnomes and such also tend to come in a rather generic stereotype, but at least they usually end up being funny. While the standard elf I see so often is either a buzzkill or just straightup boring.

I also dislike most forms of "animal" races, like Catpeople or some such. Usually because both players and creators put exactly zero effort into making them interesting beyond "Lol I am Cat.".

Flying races can be a potential nuisance if the player is trying to game the system. But otherwise they have some major drawbacks and it usually balances out.

I heavily dislike 3.5's seeming obsession with having an elf sub-race for every occasion. Tieflings should just be a template that you add onto a base race, same with Aasimar. Lizardfolk > Dragonborn, every time.

Honestly though, I'm fine with any race in theory, it's only when I get parties where everyone's a difference ancestry, none of which are native to the area, that I start getting annoyed.