When a PC Wants a Race Transplant

[jboking]

I'm fairly new to being a DM. I've been running a campaign based on Tyranny of Dragons and we've made it about halfway through Rise of Tiamat with a few side-adventures here and there. In the party is a Half-Orc Druid who likes to be the player who disregards civilized courtesies. Well, he took a look into Volo's Guide and decided that he'd much rather be a Firbolg than a Half-Orc because, in his opinion, it fits his characterization better.

When my players made their characters for this campaign, Volo's wasn't available to them and I didn't have the experience to make a custom race just yet. I haven't decided how to rule on his problem. Are there any DMs around here who have dealt with this problem before? Recommendations?

[Drackolus]

Honestly? I would just go for it.
If you're really concerned about immersion, you can have the player die and get reincarnated by a friendly druid. Hey, things happen.
Really though, that level of railroading may be more of an immersion break than just saying "What? I've been a firbolg the whole time! I'm just ugly. Yeesh.

[Idkwhatmyscreen]

Half-Orc / Half-Firborg (Easy continuity fix) ( He has just started coming into his Firbolgness)

I mean, I doubt that the Half-Orc's parents have been featured in the campaign yet

[Mikey P]

I would just go with what you think best.

With the Firborg, you can claim that he's been using his disguise ability to blend in so far... But whatever let him do it 24/7 wore off... Reincarnation, some wild-mage zapped him and he's been polymorphed for years and it just wore off... there are any number of possibilities if you want to rationalize it in game.

What matters here is if you like it for you game or not.

[pwykersotz]

What I would do: Give all the players a chance to re-choose if they want to. Don't try to come up with in-game reasons, retcon that they were that race all along. Done.

If you're worried that this will lead to a slew of petitions for changes mid-game in the future, advise everyone that they get exactly one race swap and one class swap before level X. Past that, they're stuck with it. The goal of the swap is to enable fun, not to create chaos and headaches. Otherwise, if they want to swap, they'll have to make a new character at starting level.

[SethoMarkus]

What I would do: Give all the players a chance to re-choose if they want to. Don't try to come up with in-game reasons, retcon that they were that race all along. Done.

If you're worried that this will lead to a slew of petitions for changes mid-game in the future, advise everyone that they get exactly one race swap and one class swap before level X. Past that, they're stuck with it. The goal of the swap is to enable fun, not to create chaos and headaches. Otherwise, if they want to swap, they'll have to make a new character at starting level.

I agree with this. It is most fair to all the players, and encourages experimentation in the future.

[jboking]

Thanks for all of the advice everyone. It seems like the, "go for it, but offer it to everyone" is probable the best idea.

[Malifice]

I'm fairly new to being a DM. I've been running a campaign based on Tyranny of Dragons and we've made it about halfway through Rise of Tiamat with a few side-adventures here and there. In the party is a Half-Orc Druid who likes to be the player who disregards civilized courtesies. Well, he took a look into Volo's Guide and decided that he'd much rather be a Firbolg than a Half-Orc because, in his opinion, it fits his characterization better.

When my players made their characters for this campaign, Volo's wasn't available to them and I didn't have the experience to make a custom race just yet. I haven't decided how to rule on his problem. Are there any DMs around here who have dealt with this problem before? Recommendations?

Just let him retcon it.

He's just one ugly Firbolg. Everyone assumed he was a Half Orc, but no-one ever really bothered to ask.

Or retocon a backstory that he was cursed into this form by an angry Fey creature of your choosing. Give him a quest to undo the curse, and return to his 'true' form.

[Sigreid]

Don't see what the problem is. Clearly he was always a Firbolg.

Seriously, I'd let him change and the reality of the game would just whistle and try to act casual.

[Deleted]

I would just go with what you think best.

With the Firborg, you can claim that he's been using his disguise ability to blend in so far... But whatever let him do it 24/7 wore off... Reincarnation, some wild-mage zapped him and he's been polymorphed for years and it just wore off... there are any number of possibilities if you want to rationalize it in game.

What matters here is if you like it for you game or not.

I feel like their abilities could cause a lot of issues until they learned to use it. I mean... Lots of babies switched at birth kinda issue.

[Vorpalchicken]

Make his character go on a side quest to find the world's only surgeon capable of performing an orcendectomy. Then require his character to pay an exorbitant fee for the surgery. (The fee can be waived with a sufficient DM pizza bribe.)

[Spectre9000]

Reincarnation or True Polymorph, or simply retcon it as he was under a curse that made him a half-orc, and a simple remove curse will turn him back into a Firbolg.

[Herobizkit]

At his next level-up, his connection to nature changes him to be more fey-like. If he has a patron God/dess, maybe they reward him with his 'true nature', shedding his ugly duckling skin to become the beautiful (?) fey-giant within.

[Blacky the Blackball]

Don't see what the problem is. Clearly he was always a Firbolg.

Seriously, I'd let him change and the reality of the game would just whistle and try to act casual.

Yeah, this. I wouldn't try to come up with an in-game rationale for the change of race. Just assume he has always been a Firbolg and carry on with the game.

I've done this before for changes of race and changes of class, and it's by far the easiest way to handle things.

[Asmotherion]

Pay a high level wizard (probably a Transmuter) to cast true polymorph on him. Problem Solved

[pwykersotz]

To all the people saying that the best way is to alter the character in-game in some way, let me tell you a short story about the death of my immersion.

I was playing a Hengeyoukai in 3.5. It was my first character in my first game. I chose it because I liked the idea of shapeshifting into a bird. I hadn't learned yet that these races all had details to them, and I didn't know how many options were out there. And so I had a good time for about two games.

The DM was great, very much a storyteller who knew how to bring out the richness of the world. Unfortunately for me, he also brought out the richness of the Hengeyoukai and all the fluff that entailed. I hated it. It clashed with my own idea of who my character was. It made me feel like I wasn't me anymore. But my friend who introduced me to the game said that if I asked I could almost certainly switch races. So I started reading.

I read countless splatbooks filled with races, trying to find one I liked. And then I found them. The Goliaths. I liked their competitiveness, their honor, pretty much everything about them. I could picture this character being raised by them, growing up in this environment, and journeying down from the mountains when he unlocked his magical potential, looking for ways to train it. I was absolutely ecstatic. I knew the DM would bring out the fluff of this race just like the Hengeyoukai. I would feel completely immersed in the world. I asked the DM if I could switch in an email. He told me that I could.

At the next game, we picked up back where we left off. I hadn't been asked to introduce a new character, so I figured we would retcon that I had been a goliath all along. Okay, that was cool, it meant I still had a connection to the in-game events. And then the DM did something I will never forget. I was off on a side mission with a powerful demigod, ruler of the local area, and primary quest giver. And the DM, knowing what I wanted, had him change me into a Goliath. I thought, maybe there's going to be something to this. Maybe he has some sort of plan. I'll keep with it. And then I went back to my party. There was a brief comedic scene where they all reacted to my new form. They laughed, the GM laughed, I politely laughed, but that character died right there because my immersion did too.

I wanted to play a Goliath because I wanted to BE a Goliath. I wanted the culture, the experiences, the whole package. The DM assumed I was after the stat changes and special abilities. I didn't even care about those. But I was a new gamer in an experienced group. My ability to articulate displeasure in something was incredibly low. So I quietly kept my head down and kept playing, and we got to level 40 after two years of gaming. The character was great and powerful, and I had a lot of fun times, but he never really connected with me again. And from then on, I could never become immersed in the campaign. I didn't have a character, I had a sheet with numbers and words on it. It took me over five years to reclaim that ability.

So, moral of the story, find out what the player actually wants. The DM says this player wants to play a Firbolg because it fits his characterization better. The surest way to ruin that is to transform him. A retcon would be fine, a new character would be fine, but a transformation sounds like a repeat of perhaps the worst feeling I ever had in D&D. Bad DM's and railroads have nothing on being part of something great and turning it sour.