races and the players who play them.

[Sariel Vailo]

im wondering about others but i like drow and aasimar can evryone give me their two favorite races and why. it'd just be nice to get oppinons on other players and. if you play other games like dragon age. 4th edd. and 5 edd. tell me in parenthesis. pls i play drow for well really only two reasons to be a ****, or to work my way out from the darkness with effort. just being good i wanted someting polar opposite from tiefling and being a good tiefling didnt fit especially since i play with my younger brother. he always a tiefling warlock. of the old ones or fiend hes just evil i wanted a being whod spit in his evil face on principle

[Freed]

Dragonborn and Humans.
Dragon born because I like good backstory and dragonbreaths.
Humans because, well, umm.... I just like that extra feat.

[Kelb_Panthera]

Love me a changeling. I can play a different character every -scene- if I want and the psychology that comes with having no fixed identity can be very interesting to explore.

Kalashtar are also cool. Spiritual symbiosis with dream creatures comes with psychic powers and an the secret war between them and the inspired is just great stuff.

Paradoxically, I'm not overmuch fond of eberron itself, just bits and pieces of it.

[Potato_Priest]

Firstly, I am disappointed to only share 2 of my favorite races, as there are many others that deserve honorable mention. (Kobolds in particular). But, I have narrowed it down. Here are the top 2:

I like Halflings. I don't play them much, due mostly to a fanatical obsession with grappling (our table uses size modifiers), but I like their flavor and appearance, and I think that their worldview is interesting.

My other favorite race is probably Humans. Humans never feel like they are being pushed into a role, or expected to be anything in particular. It really helps me write backstories for a race that I am in real life, because I naturally think like one.

I play 5e.

[Sariel Vailo]

Firstly, I am disappointed to only share 2 of my favorite races, as there are many others that deserve honorable mention. (Kobolds in particular). But, I have narrowed it down. Here are the top 2:

I like Halflings. I don't play them much, due mostly to a fanatical obsession with grappling (our table uses size modifiers), but I like their flavor and appearance, and I think that their worldview is interesting.

My other favorite race is probably Humans. Humans never feel like they are being pushed into a role, or expected to be anything in particular. It really helps me write backstories for a race that I am in real life, because I naturally think like one.

I play 5e. when I put this on I said you could put as many just put spoilers for them and game or eddition

[Samayu]

I tend to want to play halflings a lot. I build them to be powerful, so I like the fact that they're opposite of what people expect. I played a halfling defender in D&D 4e, for a long time.

I usually come up with a character concept first, and then find a race to fit, so I don't really have a preferred race.

[Aasimar]

I like to play close to human.

Mostly because my characters are more about the 'character' than the race. And I feel I can make quite varied personalities while sticking close to what I find more human-like and empathize more easily with.

So, humans, elves, half-elves, halflings. I'll sometimes stick my neck into half-orc, drow or tiefling for the right concept, but I always describe them pretty close to human (or elf/drow)

I think it connects to my gender dysphoria, so maybe I'm an atypical example. I like making characters that I feel are at least in some ways attractive and who I feel like represent at least some part of me. (though I can play anything from CE to LG, I usually don't connect with LN or LE types at all)

I always make female characters, usually somewhat tomboyish, but not always. (my latest proposal for a half-orc could probably even be described as genderfluid and she presents as male much of the time)

So yeah, escapism for me.

[BWR]

I'm not interested in races per se, I'm interested in culture and history. Without much to go on, I make humans by default because they tend to be more flexible mechanically and usually fit better in whatever setting we are playing in.
Give me a cool culture with a cool history and I'll like just about everything.

[Red Fel]

Tibbit and Warforged, 3.5e.

Tibbit, because so many reasons you guys. They have powers that can come out of nowhere (e.g. Psion, using psionics as a kitty; CE Soulborn, having full humanoid STR as a kitty). Being heavily feline, but not catgirlsfolk, you can play as many or as few tropes as you like with them. And also, because, as a Professional Villain, I appreciate the value of a fluffy white cat; doubly so if the cat is actually highly intelligent and powerful.

Warforged, because robots. Robots with or without feelings. Robots with or without magic. Robots filled with bees. Robots made of trees. Robots hidden in the mists. Robots wielding mighty fists. Robots here and there. Robots anywhere. Warforged are an absurdly powerful race with no LA, and there are so many great things you can do with them, even before you completely break them with things like Dragonborn or Warlock or Warforged. Plus, robots as kung-fu butlers.

[Sariel Vailo]

I like to play close to human.

Mostly because my characters are more about the 'character' than the race. And I feel I can make quite varied personalities while sticking close to what I find more human-like and empathize more easily with.

So, humans, elves, half-elves, halflings. I'll sometimes stick my neck into half-orc, drow or tiefling for the right concept, but I always describe them pretty close to human (or elf/drow)

I think it connects to my gender dysphoria, so maybe I'm an atypical example. I like making characters that I feel are at least in some ways attractive and who I feel like represent at least some part of me. (though I can play anything from CE to LG, I usually don't connect with LN or LE types at all)

I always make female characters, usually somewhat tomboyish, but not always. (my latest proposal for a half-orc could probably even be described as genderfluid and she presents as male much of the time)

So yeah, escapism for me.
I use role playing games to handle my gender fluidity so I get it a lil bit

[Celestia]

Tibbit and Warforged, 3.5e.

Tibbit, because so many reasons you guys. They have powers that can come out of nowhere (e.g. Psion, using psionics as a kitty; CE Soulborn, having full humanoid STR as a kitty). Being heavily feline, but not catgirlsfolk, you can play as many or as few tropes as you like with them. And also, because, as a Professional Villain, I appreciate the value of a fluffy white cat; doubly so if the cat is actually highly intelligent and powerful.

Warforged, because robots. Robots with or without feelings. Robots with or without magic. Robots filled with bees. Robots made of trees. Robots hidden in the mists. Robots wielding mighty fists. Robots here and there. Robots anywhere. Warforged are an absurdly powerful race with no LA, and there are so many great things you can do with them, even before you completely break them with things like Dragonborn or Warlock or Warforged. Plus, robots as kung-fu butlers.
I absolutely love both of those races, too. They are definitely my favorites.

I also like Dvati for the uniqueness of it. You get to be twins except not really because they're the same person.

[jscape2000]

I'm not interested in races per se, I'm interested in culture and history. Without much to go on, I make humans by default because they tend to be more flexible mechanically and usually fit better in whatever setting we are playing in.
Give me a cool culture with a cool history and I'll like just about everything.

This in so many ways. I default to human because in D&D and Pathfinder, humans are the default. But give me a storytelling reason to play a certain race, and I'm all in.

[RazorChain]

Tiefling in Ad&d 2nd ed. Sometimes the bad boy in me needs to be unleashed and then it's time to play something diabolical. If I ain't playing ruthless, calculating, manipulative bastards then I'm playing some other type of bastard.......even my paladin turned out to be a bastard. I am noted for my luck with dice so my 2nd ed. tieflings always ended up with cool powers.

Also Tieflings go hand in hand with halflings and I hate halflings. The only reason to keep those endlessly snacking gluttons with the party is because I don't like to carry my food. When the halfling has eaten everything from the party then you eat the halfling. Also they are noted for their resistance to poison (at least in 2nd edition) so you just stuff'em full of poison and send them alone into the Dragon's lair and hope that the Dragon eats them and dies of poisoning.

[eru001]

Most of the characters I play are human for the simple reason that I am a human and can more easily feel immersed in a character which is like me.

Second most common are dwarves. because I find dark age scandinavian history really interesting and the dwarves I play tend to be short danes gone i-viking rather than more lore faithful. (though lore for dwarves is not far from short danes gone i-viking)

[Knaight]

Humans. I'm sick to death of Tolkien ripoffs, and if I never see another elf, dwarf, or orc ever again I'll be happy. Occasionally there are specific settings which benefit from non-human races, but as far as I'm concerned 99% of settings that have non-human races have them because of tradition and not because they add anything. That number goes up in the context of RPGs. If there's an actual coherent setting side reason for things other than humans, I'll play them. It's rare, but it happens. "Tolkien did it and our incoherent kitchen sink setting thus has it" is not a good enough reason.

[Lord Raziere]

Humans. I'm sick to death of Tolkien ripoffs, and if I never see another elf, dwarf, or orc ever again I'll be happy. Occasionally there are specific settings which benefit from non-human races, but as far as I'm concerned 99% of settings that have non-human races have them because of tradition and not because they add anything. That number goes up in the context of RPGs. If there's an actual coherent setting side reason for things other than humans, I'll play them. It's rare, but it happens. "Tolkien did it and our incoherent kitchen sink setting thus has it" is not a good enough reason.

Funny, I go in the exact opposite direction because I dislike Tolkien ripoffs as well and try to play anything but human as much as possible, because humans are boring. The only humans I play are enhanced to be transhuman or have powers that make it so that they don't really count.

[2D8HP]

I've played a half orc (in 1e AD&D) for role-play reasons, but usually I play Elves or half elves for "roll-play" reasons (optimization) typically in 5e D&D now.
Except for the "crunch" advantages for playing a non-human, I'd rather just play a human, because I actually think I can roleplay a greater variety of individual characters with humans, wheras with non-humans I find that I wind up playing a "race" rather than an individual, which makes it less fun for me.

Also some of the other posts have mentioned that they like to "switch pronouns" with their characters from time to time, which while I did do that with some PC's long ago, I don't now which come to think of it is odd in that in recent years I've been inspired to create characters who are expy's of characters of the opposite sex in the original fiction, but I now change the PC's to match my real life gender, wheras years ago I was just making up characters, and was more likely to "switch it up".

Riddle me that?

:confused:

[Anonymouswizard]

My favourite two races?

Well Celtic is the one I play the most because as my real life race it's the one I default to, but I have a fondness for East Asians, especially Han Chinese. One of the characters I'm sad I never got to play was Anglo-Chinese, the other I really wish I had played was middle eastern. Although I did once play a character who was ambiguously brown (they also had 'generic' facial features).

Oh, wait, you mean species? Then human is by far my favourite, I love entirely human settings. It just feels like I can concentrate more on the cultures rather than having to decide how each race acts. Plus it's a decent default of I don't know what to play.

I'm also fairly fond of pulpy aliens, in particular four-armed Venusians (or whatever planet they come from in harder soft science fiction). I'm not happy with ones that look like Humans, but give them a rubber forehead or a different skin colour and it's just a bit of fun I know not to take seriously.

Honourable mention to artificial intelligence, who I love but tend to regulate to lower key implementations.

[mr-mercer]

In general terms, I prefer anything really big and intimidating: half-orcs, dragonborn, goliaths, you name it. I honestly couldn't name a favourite out of any of these, because they all share the exact same reasoning for my liking them.

I tend to avoid humans, elves and dwarves (except for my elf warlock, but elves were gorillas in that setting so I'm cool with it) because those are basically the same no matter what setting you use (with the exception of the gorillas). I don't play Dragon Age that often, but whenever I've tried to get into Inquisition I always pick Qunari: that sort of thing suits me to a T.

[Professor Chimp]

I usually just go with plain old Human, mostly because they are generally the most versatile, both in terms of mechanics and roleplaying possibilities.

If going by the Tolkienesque tropes, a human can be elegant but haughty like an Elf, or prone to Dwarven stubborn grumpiness, or have a crude and violent disposition like an Orc. And it's always easy to find some flavorful explanations for those traits, because a Human can be anything. They're usually the best 'blank slate' race.

[Tiktik Ironclaw]

My favorite race is kobold, bar none. I love the law-abiding orderliness, the draconic features, and the fact that my rangers, rogues, and sorcerers have great AC and Stealth. Role-playing wise, it's also fun when your character does not understand personal space. :smallbiggrin:

Second place is drow, usually when I feel the urge to play a boisterous naked berserker in the body of a pious 90-lb. priestess. As I've said elsewhere, the ebony-skin, ivory-hair look is exceptionally appealing to me, and why I like the aesthetics of drow whilst I'm ambivalent to other elves.

Hobgoblins get an honorable mention for their Romanesque (in my setting) culture, their blue noses, and their very nice stats, gnolls for their hyena appearance and culture and their strange psychology, and goblins because MtG seems to be incapable of not making you love goblins.

I tend to stay away from humans, as I find them dull. I came to play an epic adventure where I can be anyone and anything, if I wanted to be a human I could go outside and hit things with a stick, like a pleb.

[Maglubiyet]

Goblins and shifters. I like stripping civilization down to its bare bones -- a group that's together for mutual survival.

[Jay R]

First and foremost - humans. They are central to almost every fantasy story I've ever read.

Secondly, hobbits. No, I do not mean halflings. I mean actual hobbits. Yes, I know the Tolkien estate made TSR file the serial numbers off of them, because nobody can make money out of hobbits without their consent. But I don't make a dime out of gaming, and in my games, there are actual hobbits. They are the perfect rural or small town English yeomanry.

[Corsair14]

Elves I prefer Tolkien elves, tall and willowy, aloof and superior to the younger races(in their own minds). Drive my current GM nuts to where he forces me to roll on the height table because otherwise all of my elven characters would be 6'4"-6'6"(even better when I DM and all elves are that tall). I try to RP the superior mindset when I play so yes, all of my elves tend to be a-holes to other races.

Dwarves-While I prefer Deurgar and always have, 5th isn't very kind to them rules-wise(a liability actually) so I haven't played one yet. I like dwarves in general as they are a very crafty race as I am(I build actual combat armor(no not that silly LARP crap, mine has to withstand shots that would break bones sometimes) and do lapidary work for fun). I get to talk with a horrific Scottish accent and there are multiple interesting angles to build characters from, from the underdark ranger, dishonored berserker, to my current pirate from a dwarven steam powered ironclad. Dwarven handbook from 2e is still my favorite book released for any version of DnD.

[Stryyke]

3.5

Ogre. Sometimes it just fun to cut loose and kick some a##. They are stupidly funny to RP.

Pseudodragon. It's tiny. Ridiculously good at hiding. Speaks without making noise. And makes for good anything, other than fighter.

I like to try new monsters and races, but I've always just had the most fun with those two.

[ComaVision]

My favourite is definitely human. They feel like much more of a blank slate, free of the trappings of the stereotypical cultures of most other fantasy races. It also feels that I can put a lot more of myself into a character that is more similar to myself. Lastly, I play 3.5e D&D so human is always a good mechanical choice.

Conversely, my second favourite race is halfling because it is so dissimilar to myself (without being totally exotic like a Thri-kreen). They're short, generally jovial folk where as I'm an extremely tall pessimist. It feels challenging to play an altruistic good-guy now and then. The variety of halfling sub-races in 3.5e D&D also means they're a good choice for most builds.

[MintyNinja]

Playing 5e I tend to favour elves. I happen to change up their backstory enough that they have pretty human traits, though. One wizard I played would actually go to sleep (trancing under a blanket) because he was raised by humans and that's what humans do. I also like to toy with their longevity, but never more than 150 years old. It puts too much stress on the GM to have a character know more about history because he was actually there. My next concept to play is a Wood Elf Death Cleric, infuriated by the arrogance of his peers and all the more humble for his devotion to death.

A solid second placer in terms of stats and roleplaying is Svirfneblin. Deep Gnomes to those with little patience. They've got all the good arcane resistances of a gnome and the physicality of a dwarf with the stat boosts of an elf. Not to mention that it's fun to play the surly miner in a party of jolly fools. Of course, the Underdark homeland does limit the likelihood of Svirfneblin PC's.

[Bohandas]

Except for the "crunch" advantages for playing a non-human, I'd rather just play a human
You see, I think humans are actually slightly op, at least in 3e. Plus the abilities are kind of arbitrary, I get the impression that they derive from a combination of a clumsy lampshading of the writers' inability to write compelling non-cookie-cutter non-human characters and non-human locales and a sort of committment to mediocrity that made them want to subtly encourage people to mainly play humans (sort of like 2e's level caps)

[Dr paradox]

Human. One reason is because it doesn't generally have the issue of adhering to racial archetypes, or else consciously rejecting those archetypes (And thus still be defined by them.) In my homebrew setting, I like making sure that races are defined more by ideological conflicts within their own oevre than by how they're different from humans.

The other reason is because they usually feel like the most compelling lens to view high fantasy through, on account of their real world and historical grounding. Humans in fantasy usually start out doing all the same stuff as humans in the middle ages - farming, shoeing horses, dying of plague, getting press ganged into the military - and I like the sensation of being a normal guy facing down extraordinary threats. When my character sees the sweeping underhalls of Moria, I want to be comparing it to the thatch hut where I lived for ten years, not the my spectacular elven treetop metropolis of light and music, or the jewel encrusted galleries of my home hold. It's a small difference, but it means a lot to me.

[2D8HP]

Human. One reason is....

Very well said indeed!

Is it wrong that I want to hug this post?

[iceman10058]

First one is Gnomes, cause when i play one i can hear the other players cringe in fear of what im about to do.

The Second goblins, cause they are less predictable than gnomes.

[lylsyly]

1. Dragonborn Half Orcs Barbarian and Paladin
2. Tibbit Sorcerer and Dragonfire Adept
3. Dvati Rogue Based Critfishers

Hmm ... I just had a thought ... Dragonborn Tibbits ... gotta go .... books to read :smallbiggrin:

[Celestia]

Hmm ... I just had a thought ... Dragonborn Tibbits ... gotta go .... books to read :smallbiggrin:
A Dragonborn Tibbit would be rather useless. You'd lose your transformation ability. As well as everything else. So, you'd just be a Dragonborn with the Monstrous Humanoid type and with -2 Str instead of -2 Dex. Technically, you would keep the shapechanger subtype even though you can no longer shapechange. So you'd have automatic simple weapon proficiency. Hooray?

[NecroDancer]

I like to go Teifling for my bard builds to be as "metal" as possible, I would go half-Orc but I'm an optimizer.

[Celestia]

I like to go Teifling for my bard builds to be as "metal" as possible, I would go half-Orc but I'm an optimizer.
If you really want to play a metal bard, you should be a warforged.

[Typhon]

2e AD&D: I liked human and True Lycanthropic humans (Werebear & weretiger). It made for more interesting roleplay and allowed me greater versatility.

Rifts: Wolfen or human

3.x: Human or Half-Orc. I like the underdog, either mechanically or story wise.

I would list more, but honestly I have been a little out of touch over the years. Typically human, because it allows me some variety and I feel it is kind of broken to get awesome powers and bonuses without really setting out to earn them. Which I feel is usually played out when the DM/GM always has us deal with unground settings. Having a weakness is important to a good character.

[No-Kill Cleric]

Can't go wrong with humans, they're versatile and easy to justify in any situation. I play them a lot, and a bonus feat and extra skill points are lovely.

I played a kitsune "geisha" once, and though there was some in character conflict (the goblin barbarian wasn't keen on the "dog" in the party, and the wayang had a giant chip on his shoulder IC and OOC) I absolutely adored her and how silly her character was for a nonsexual person like me. I'd love to bring her out of retirement someday.

I also want to play with fey-based races, but I haven't had the chance yet.

[daniel_ream]

Humans. I'm sick to death of Tolkien ripoffs, and if I never see another elf, dwarf, or orc ever again I'll be happy. Occasionally there are specific settings which benefit from non-human races, but as far as I'm concerned 99% of settings that have non-human races have them because of tradition and not because they add anything. That number goes up in the context of RPGs. If there's an actual coherent setting side reason for things other than humans, I'll play them. It's rare, but it happens. "Tolkien did it and our incoherent kitchen sink setting thus has it" is not a good enough reason.

This. Sooooo much this, and for exactly the same reasons.

That said, I have played Giants in Arcana Unearthed, and a homebrew minotaur race from a homebrew campaign (based on Minoan culture; they were phlegmatic, laconic seafaring traders).

[Pugwampy]

Half Orcs .

I am a die hard orc fanboy . I dont know why I like em I just do . Before i started playing DND in early 2008 , I played lots of RTS and RPG,s games . Warcraft 3 , Dawn of War , Baulders Gate 2 , Morrowind and Oblivion . I like making my life Orky .
Because of Bgate and similar DND comp games , I immediately asked to be Half Orc barbarian when DM and vet players asked me before i even knew about miniatures and dice .

I love collecting minis and my orc army is the biggest army i can field . I never allow my dwarf , goblin or zombie army to out number my orcs .

That said i have no interest in the old school "Pig Men" orcs or wereboar looking orcs .


Humans

Its one of those I cannot imagine playing Arcane caster class using any other race even if other races might be better at it . Maybe because its something familiar or perhaps because there is no advantages or disadvantages . I would still choose a HOOMUN even if DM gave house rule advantages to other races .


If its a wizard it has to be human and if its a Barbarian , it has to be Half Orc .

Both boardgames and computer games . Always orcs and humans .
I only once ever played a half elf in my life and being the closest thing to a human was probably my only reason .

[Cluedrew]

Humans.

I've seen too many characters that are humans with pointy ears or humans with particularly bushy beards or {other variations} to really care about anything that is just a funny looking human. So now I just enjoy humans most of the time.

Warforaged

They don't fit into a lot of settings (you need this weird mix of fantasy and sci-fi for them to work) but there are one of the few races I've actually been able to do things with Warforaged that I wouldn't be able to do with a person. The only character I have played across campaigns (well, versions of the same character) is a warforaged who wouldn't be able to survive to adulthood as a human. But a warforaged neither has to grow nor can they starve to death, so it manages to get along and sort of work.

I suppose the generic version would be golum or just robot.

[Anonymouswizard]

I like the idea of the Warforaged, a race created or of the remains of battles....

[Psyren]

I like exotic races that are defined by their mental prowess. So races like Buomman, Astomoi, Elans etc. From this bucket, Astomoi are probably my favorite despite being relatively new.

I also love humanoid races that are based on animals, like Catfolk, Lupins, Loxodon etc. My favorite in this set are probably Ratfolk but bird races like Tengu and Syrinx are also appealing.

[Marlowe]

I don't play races.

I try to play characters.

[jitzul]

Tieflings I like the aesthetic of the race and it's bonuses. I honestly can't imagine playing any of the "tolkien" races. Human, elfs ,half elfs, dwarfs, gnomes, and halflings.ITT it's mostly due to my background of playing horde in wow as my first full on fantasy experience(I watched lotor but didn't really get that in to it.).

[Ursus the Grim]

Lizardfolk: Fell in love in 3.5. I love the primal, primordial, predatory feel to them. I love that they can just grab a club and go toe-to-toe with a well-armored human. I love their emotional detachment. I love that they are incredibly versatile. Good in aquatic encounters, good in unarmed fights, good without their gear. . . .

[Joe the Rat]

#1: AD&D, 2e; D&D 3-5 in theory: Kobolds. Quintessential cannon fodder turned surprisingly effective thief (and with the natural AC as good as leather, take advantage of those no armor skill bonuses!). Small enough to ride in backpacks. Plus the dog faces were adorable. Many of my best memories ("Slinger and Tank", Gurgrach, The tale of the Vorpal Club) involved kobolds. I played all of one session of 3.0 kobold, so I don't have a lot of play perspective there, but I love the principle.
Still have mixed feelings about the dragon thing.
In other games, I will look for kobold analogs. Ask me about my Two-gun Jawa.

#2: Human. If I don't have an idea or a story that works best as another race, I'll go with vanilla. Most games treat them as the main race, and if there's good setting development, you can get a lot of variety and nuance in culture and play without getting your ears done up.


If you really want to play a metal bard, you should be a warforged.Enh, I'm not that into Styx.

[Psyren]

I don't play races.

I try to play characters.

Ooh, edgy.



That said i have no interest in the old school "Pig Men" orcs or wereboar looking orcs .


I'm kinda glad those fell out of fashion too. (I kinda wonder what made everyone switch to greenskins and tusks?)

[Marlowe]

Ooh, edgy. Hm?




I'm kinda glad those fell out of fashion too. (I kinda wonder what made everyone switch to greenskins and tusks?)

I think we had a thread ages ago where it turned out the old D&D Cartoon from the 80s had something to do with the green skin. EVERYONE brings up Warhammer but I'm skeptical about GW having an original idea in their collective lives. Jabba the Hutt's guards from Return of the Jedi might have had something to do with it.

Myself; I have the following headcanon.

Tolkien's descriptions of Orcs heavily echoes the description of Huns from Jordanes's Gothic History.

The Huns are still around, only the underwent an image makeover and are now called Bulgarians.

Therefore, Orcs=Bulgarians.

Therefore, Orcs look like
https://mavericktraveler.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/bulgarian3.png
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/f2/13/86/f2138637f3f917b4db03157750b6b6e4.jpg
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/63/7c/ed/637cedba0b66153b950999a09a46f2b4.jpg


Terrifying.

[Celestia]

Ooh, edgy.



I'm kinda glad those fell out of fashion too. (I kinda wonder what made everyone switch to greenskins and tusks?)
Well, the tusks are obviously a hold over from the pig faces...

[ForzaFiori]

My favorite races are probably Goliaths, just because I love being a huge, raging barbarianesque character. I also love half-orcs for the same reason. On the other side of the scale though, Im incredibly fond of Elans. The living forever and innate psionics leads to some interesting characters.

BTW, were are tibbits from?

[Celestia]

BTW, were are tibbits from?
Dragon Compendium, I believe.

[Pugwampy]

I think we had a thread ages ago where it turned out the old D&D Cartoon from the 80s had something to do with the green skin.

DND toon was made in 1985 . Both Warhammer tabletop and Starwars Return of Jedi was made in 1983.

Unless we have a green orc or orc like thing in a pre 1983 popular media , thats probably its origins ?

I could also argue that non green orcs are not very much different looking from "prehistoric apeman." Green is a very distinctive and unnatural colour that says monster .

[geonova]

My number one, personal favourite race to play is the Thri-Kreen; playing as someone from a race that doesn't possess a complex culture due to their lifespan and environment intrigues me and watching characters interact with an amoral hunter/gatherer is humorous and raises some interesting conversations.

After that I love changelings; primarily because i love characters based around deception and intirgue, which changelings are specifically designed for.

[The Vanishing Hitchhiker]

I don't really have a preference; I pick the race by character. I have avoided playing the same race in concurrent games; I enjoy the variety.

[Corsair14]

Not to derail this, but what? Orcs changed colors and aren't green skins anymore like goblins? Taxonomically, do they still fall into the overall goblinoid family group?

[Celestia]

Not to derail this, but what? Orcs changed colors and aren't green skins anymore like goblins? Taxonomically, do they still fall into the overall goblinoid family group?
I know that in 3.5, at least, they are not goblinoids. They have their own subtype: "Orc." I'm not familiar enough with other editions to comment on their classifications. From what I've seen in other fantasy media, that distinction is also present in most of them. In the Elder Scrolls series, for example, orcs are actually a subrace of elves, while goblins are completely unrelated monsters. The only extant series that I can think of that still has goblins and orcs related are LotR and Legend of Zelda. Though I fully admit that I'm not an expert and am probably missing some.

[Potato_Priest]

Not to derail this, but what? Orcs changed colors and aren't green skins anymore like goblins? Taxonomically, do they still fall into the overall goblinoid family group?

In 5e, orcs still have green skins, but are humanoids, rather than goblinoids. Only Hobgoblins, bugbears, and, surprise, goblins fall under that banner.*

*The Banner of Maglubliyet, may his conquest be eternal.

[Dr paradox]

In 5e, orcs still have green skins, but are humanoids, rather than goblinoids. Only Hobgoblins, bugbears, and, surprise, goblins fall under that banner.*

*The Banner of Maglubliyet, may his conquest be eternal.

Additionally, in 5e, goblins now have orange skin, and the goblinoids are largely distinguished from each other based on build.

[Bohandas]

I know that in 3.5, at least, they are not goblinoids. They have their own subtype: "Orc." I'm not familiar enough with other editions to comment on their classifications. From what I've seen in other fantasy media, that distinction is also present in most of them. In the Elder Scrolls series, for example, orcs are actually a subrace of elves, while goblins are completely unrelated monsters.

And in Warhammer the orcs are a type of fungus monster IIRC

[Dimers]

No matter what species my character is, I tend to play loyal, tough, grounded and defensive/cautious, so ... dwarves. I love their stat boosts and racial power in 4e and I use the hell out of earthy-sensey powers in 2e. I enjoy the idea of breaking the normal bounds in 5e (ooh, so radical!) by playing a revenant dwarf for 18 Constitution at level 1. Less fond of dwarves in 13th Age and Shadowrun 4th-ed, but that's just because wood elves and orks (respectively) are so OP.

I don't find that dwarves are expected to have monoculture or particular mental traits in any given gameworld, so they're just as good as humans for being a 'blank slate' most of the time.

[Anonymouswizard]

And in Warhammer the orcs are a type of fungus monster IIRC

In 40k. In WFB it's unclear, they seem to be one race (or two races), and may or may not possess secondary sexual characteristics. In Age of Sigmar they are not acknowledged by me, the same as the rest of Age of Sigmar.

Actually,a friend of mine had an interesting idea for WFB style orcs that went that orcs can change their sex. Most orcs are 'female', but the biggest and 'ardist will become da boss and become 'male'. Any orc that beat da boss tended to become da boss and so became male. Occasionally you would get bigger bosses who'd boss da boss, and would also be male, or lone orcs without a boss who tended to become male. It really made them seem more alien.

[Winter_Wolf]

Humans are my go-to. Because it's easy to identify with them and I have a vast panoply of caricature to draw from. And that whole "humans with funny hats/ears/beards" thing seems like an extra step I don't care to add. Really, how do I "get into the mind of a dwarf/elf/gnome" anyway? Sometimes I'll play a demi-human sure, but if I'm honest I'm probably doing it for mechanical benefits and some stereotype as much as anything else.

Thri-kreen are my second favorite, because thri-kreen. And yes, I had a thri-kreen monk that specialized in Mantis style fighting. Let the hatred commence! :smallbiggrin: his suckage had nothing to do with class choice, either; when you're rolling natural ones all night nothing can save you.

Honorable mention to lizard men/lizard folk.

[Joe the Rat]

Thri-kreen are my second favorite, because thri-kreen. And yes, I had a thri-kreen monk that specialized in Mantis style fighting. Let the hatred commence! :smallbiggrin: his suckage had nothing to do with class choice, either; when you're rolling natural ones all night nothing can save you. Was he called Grasshopper? Please tell me he was called Grasshopper.

[Karl Aegis]

Housed within an indestructible steel frame are the heart of an orphan and the soul of a madman... This is a kongohki. A killing machine few mortals can survive, this warrior is the nightmare of many. Somewhere between a two-armed biped, a snake with eight arms and a spider, this killer could be anything. You can add more souls of madmen or more hearts of orphans to this machine, but to do so risks cracking the seal on it's memories, a seal better left untouched. Also gets visions of what the madmen's lives were before they became it's source of power by acting cool.

Samurai are warriors who have given up their humanity to gain a super-powered evil side. Having what amounts to a demon bound to their flesh gives them enormous power which they can access at will, but they will never have children. Is the cost worth it? The ability to fell entire armies by themselves certainly does have it's appeal, but the samurai are not insurmountable. A naturally talented samurai certainly is difficult to deal with and you may risk becoming a monster yourself...

Honorable mention goes to Valkyries. Robots who have awoken from stasis only recently, but recall things from the distant past. Has basically no knowledge of what the current political scene is. A foreigner from a distant time in an unknown land. Also has the ability to jump a motorcycle across a canyon halfway, glide across the canyon the rest of the way, and then remount the motorcycle on the other side to hit someone in the face with the back tire. Bonus cool points ++

[Bohandas]

I know that in 3.5, at least, they are not goblinoids. They have their own subtype: "Orc." I'm not familiar enough with other editions to comment on their classifications. From what I've seen in other fantasy media, that distinction is also present in most of them. In the Elder Scrolls series, for example, orcs are actually a subrace of elves, while goblins are completely unrelated monsters. The only extant series that I can think of that still has goblins and orcs related are LotR and Legend of Zelda. Though I fully admit that I'm not an expert and am probably missing some.

In they're a subrace of elves in LotR too, in addition to being related to goblins.

[Celestia]

In they're a subrace of elves in LotR too, in addition to being related to goblins.
Not really. The orc is a creation of Morgoth that was made by twisting the elves with his evil. Yes, they came from elves, but they are not a subrace of elves. Just like you wouldn't call trolls a subrace of ents.

[Stealth Marmot]

Definite tendency towards humans.

Why? Mechanics are deifnitely a good reason So many builds and concepts require an extra feat or skill points.

but I also agree tiwth the idea of having my race not have to be something that defines my character, and the temptation of any racial build is following what the race does. However, I have played elves, half elves, and halflings before without it affecting how I presented the character.

To this day my favorite character I got to play was an Aasimir though, and I enjoyed playing it because I could have her have an unearthly beauty to her. A sort of almost alien look and mysterious feel. She had metallic silver solored hair and gold eyes.

It was fun making this character who would turn heads and be the talk of the town, gathering fans and followers. I had planned on giving her the leadership feat, but that didn't pan out.

Still, an aasimir was an incredible way of her being a great beacon of goodness and hope.

Too bad we messed up that chapter and got the semi-apocalypse ending. Crap.

Edit: Also as far as I know there is no humanoid/Marmot race.

[Winter_Wolf]

Was he called Grasshopper? Please tell me he was called Grasshopper.

I've been putting it off because I didn't want to break it to you: he was not Grasshopper. Not officially anyway. I love me some glottal stops and clicking noises. I think the DM might have started calling him Grasshopper. It's not like he lived long enough for it to matter much. Could've been called "splat!" Pretty accurately.

[SaintRidley]

If at all possible I will always play a Changeling in D&D because who needs defined gender?

[KillingAScarab]

Humans are certainly my most frequent species, but I think I have to chalk up something else as a favorite, simply because RPGs let you put yourself in such different skins than your own. Half-orcs are nice for being able to have a foot in two worlds built in, plus they are fairly widespread. Vampires, though... those are quite tempting (except in D&D 4th ed.).