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genderlich
2019-01-16, 09:53 AM
When I make up character concepts--both roleplaying, visual, and mechanical ones--I tend to default to either the most common races (usually human and half-orc for me) or my few favorites of the less common races that I know really well (for Pathfinder, tiefling, drow, and dhampir). This is because unless I am very familiar with the race and how it roleplays, I find it next to impossible to find a concept for a character of an unusual race that I find believable, realistic, and one I can relate to as a player. I'm not a powergamer by choice, though I can be if forced, so I rarely take a race purely for its gameplay stats; if I have a character concept for a human fighter, making them, say, a gnoll fighter would 100% change that character to me to the point that it's unrecognizable even if it's a strict upgrade mechanically.

There's a school of thought that says to just roleplay them all as everyday people (humans), but being realistic, surely a grippli, lizardfolk, duergar, or sylph has such a different worldview given by their upbringing and how they've been treated in broad society that it must be taken into account when determining not only their personality and goals, but even their class? I usually turn to setting materials for this--but many uncommon races have precious little in way of details about their society and worldview, let alone what would make one seek an adventuring life.

How do you approach this issue? Do you handwave it, since an adventurer is by definition not an average member of their species? Or do you spend time and energy reconciling the racial background with the character?

Tectorman
2019-01-16, 12:36 PM
When I make up character concepts--both roleplaying, visual, and mechanical ones--I tend to default to either the most common races (usually human and half-orc for me) or my few favorites of the less common races that I know really well (for Pathfinder, tiefling, drow, and dhampir). This is because unless I am very familiar with the race and how it roleplays, I find it next to impossible to find a concept for a character of an unusual race that I find believable, realistic, and one I can relate to as a player. I'm not a powergamer by choice, though I can be if forced, so I rarely take a race purely for its gameplay stats; if I have a character concept for a human fighter, making them, say, a gnoll fighter would 100% change that character to me to the point that it's unrecognizable even if it's a strict upgrade mechanically.

There's a school of thought that says to just roleplay them all as everyday people (humans), but being realistic, surely a grippli, lizardfolk, duergar, or sylph has such a different worldview given by their upbringing and how they've been treated in broad society that it must be taken into account when determining not only their personality and goals, but even their class? I usually turn to setting materials for this--but many uncommon races have precious little in way of details about their society and worldview, let alone what would make one seek an adventuring life.

How do you approach this issue? Do you handwave it, since an adventurer is by definition not an average member of their species? Or do you spend time and energy reconciling the racial background with the character?

I treat them as everyday people (humans), because I don't hold assumptions about what their worldview or upbringing must be (more specifically, that it must be neither human nor relatable). So I reconcile their racial background with everything else about their character if they aren't human the same way I would if they were human (by refraining from placing too much importance on race).

Psyren
2019-01-17, 01:15 AM
When deciding on a fitting class for a given race, the most basic place to start is with their core mechanics - racial adjustments and traits. A member of that race would logically gravitate towards professions that come easier to them, and away from professions that are more difficult. A Sylph Rogue for instance is a reasonable combination because their increased agility, smarts, and darkvision are all useful traits to have in that line of work.

The second place I usually look is their fluff - as you mentioned, it can be thin for the less common races, but there's always at least some, especially if you're using an established setting like Golarion where there are specific areas in which to find enclaves or settlements of these races. Using Sylphs as an example again, their blurb states they lean towards being chaotic and have little patience for rules and restrictions - unsurprising for creatures born of air, and again, fairly in keeping with a rogueish outlook.

The third thing I look at to get indications for what they would choose, are more ancillary features - things like favored class bonuses, racial feats/archetypes, or racial items and spells. Often those kinds of techniques hint at ways those races put their own unique spin on the vocation of a more common race. Sylphs for example have racial archetypes for Druids (Sky Druids) and Wizards (Wind Listeners) which suggests that there is a tradition or at least offshoot of Sylphs that pick up those disciplines. Here, the elemental side of a Sylph's heritage gets played up.

With all that said, remember that the majority of adventurers come from a minority of their given races. Most individuals/civilians in a setting are NPC classes, just trying to make a living and not get eaten in their monster-filled world. If someone walked up to you and proclaimed they were an adventurer, you'd probably look at them like they were daft - and though this is probably a more common occurrence in a D&D setting than in ours, I expect it would still hold more or less true. So don't let a tendency, traits, or tradition stop you from making a more unique character; if you want a Dwarf Sorcerer, Elf Barbarian, or Ratfolk Paladin, you should feel free to make one - those are the kind of oddballs that might choose the mantle of "adventurer" in the first place.

Florian
2019-01-17, 01:50 AM
How do you approach this issue?

I've stopped caring about that issue a long time ago. I don't need "immersion" of feel a need to "relate" with my character.

Kaptin Keen
2019-01-17, 06:27 AM
I generally play humans. So when I think of other races, it's usually as NPC's. That shouldn't affect the core issue, however.

Generally, I try to stay away from the base concepts. Yes, there are elves and orcs, but they are not the elves and orcs from the PHB. Sure, both are evil races, but they're evil in different ways, and for different reasons. Elves are evil because they think very little of other races, and will kill them over any slight or insult - but they would never steal, raid or wage war upon them. Orcs for their part are evil for pretty much the exact opposite reasons: They will happily raid, steal and wage war, primarily because of their jealousy of other races.

So when I create a character, I try to come up with a backstory, from the ground up so to speak.

Why are goblins the way they are, actually? Well, because of short lifespans, they have a rather short term view of life, and the world. Their real problem is, they breed too quickly, and don't plan far enough ahead. So whenever they land in a prosperous situation - enough food, room and other ressources for everyone - they thrive mightily for awhile, then they reach overpopulation, and need forces them to raid, plunder, wage war.

This is the key concept for goblins (in my games): They do not realize that all their problems are of their own creation - they only know that they are running out of food and space, and they need to grow and expand.

In their view, they are not evil. They do only what they must to survive - and how is it fair that a few hundred humans take the land, that would support thousands of goblins? How, how how can that be fair? Why must so many goblins starve and die, simply because the greedy humans refuse to share?

Also, to a goblin, clearly only kobolds, gnomes and halflings are proper sized people, and everyone else are giants. It's clear that this is the reason for the unreasonable greed of the larger races: They simply fail to realise what a strain on the land they are, with their voracious appetites.

And thus, I arrive at a sort of coherent mentality for a goblin. Doesn't matter what class he is, but his INT may affect how much of this he actually believes to be true. A highly intelligent goblin might have the insight to realize their problems are of their own making. He'd likely still rationalize their behavior, but still.

Jay R
2019-01-18, 12:01 PM
Mainly I try to keep his point of view centered on his own race.

Gwystyl, my current gnome illusionist, refers to other races as gnomoids, not humanoids, and considers halflings and gnomes normal sized. We discovered a human skeleton which he described as a "larger than normal gnomoid skeleton".

We are in a town of mostly humans, with some elves and dwarves and a small gnome community. In my write-up of the adventure, I described it as "There’s a small gnome settlement, and the biggies are scattered around them."

The town's name is Marebor, which is short for Mary's Borough. I decided that he heard it as Mary's Burrow. Since he lived most of his life underground, that seemed more likely to him.

He also considers names changeable and temporary. His backstory makes clear that he has never before used the name he gave the party. Also, he's in the process of inventing a name for each character in the party, which he will then use exclusively.

Spore
2019-01-20, 05:03 PM
When I started I took races for their stats. Then I took races for their added fluff.

Today, I get an idea for a character concept. If an non-normal race adds to the story, I pick it. If it subtracts or does nothing for it, I go with human, half-elf or half-orc, occasionally halflings.

Lord Raziere
2019-01-21, 02:19 AM
There's a school of thought that says to just roleplay them all as everyday people (humans), but being realistic, surely a grippli, lizardfolk, duergar, or sylph has such a different worldview given by their upbringing and how they've been treated in broad society that it must be taken into account when determining not only their personality and goals, but even their class? I usually turn to setting materials for this--but many uncommon races have precious little in way of details about their society and worldview, let alone what would make one seek an adventuring life.

How do you approach this issue? Do you handwave it, since an adventurer is by definition not an average member of their species? Or do you spend time and energy reconciling the racial background with the character?

well first you need to figure out the race itself to see where they are coming from, what their norm is.

then you need figure out their environment, which is just as important as their race.

your not just making an individual who is an exception to a species, you making an individual who is an exception to a family who is an exception to a town who is an exception to a culture who is an exception to a nation which is an exception to a species. race, species is so broad that there are many layers in between you must consider to truly make a fully realized individual and not have them be just another human.

and that is assuming the species in question has a concept of families, or reproduces the same way or anything like that.

and to make something truly alien, you must start with how it reproduces. the farther away you get from human sex, the more alien it is likely to be, as well as the social customs and society that builds around it.

for example a race that reproduces by setting things on fire is probably very alien in comparison to humanity: they'd gather all their wood just to make their young and wouldn't bother fireplaces any other time because they are made of flame and thus do not need to be kept warm- they are naturally heated by their own fire-based nature. this leads to clothing not being for warmth at all, only decoration or protection, they probably burn any threads anyways so all that they wear would be made of metal chains and have a different sense of touch concerning wearing such things, finding the cool metal nice on their hot skin. and they rely entirely on umbrellas to stop the rain and are afraid of the rain since it can put them out so they often seek out deserts to live in. their homes are made of stone, since they singe or outright burn wood. and so on and so forth. one thing leads to another until you have something that doesn't resemble us.

Mechalich
2019-01-21, 02:51 AM
I think it's helpful to divide the uncommon 'races' into classes, since there are several distinct types. Generally speaking, there are Hybrids, Variant Humans, Anthropomorphic Animals, and True Oddities.

Hybrids represent those 'races' that are a base species (which defaults to human) plus the influence of some other race or being. This includes the core-supported half-elves and half-orcs, but also the numerous planar-influenced races like Aasimar, Tieflings, and Genasi (or their PF equivalents), monster hybrids like Dhampirs, Skinwalkers, and PF Changelings. When building character of a hybrid race it is generally assumed that they were not raised by a true breeding population of that race and instead grew up among a community of something else, usually humans. In these cases a character of one of these races is going to carry a lot of the traits of the culture and race that raised them, but also they will be shaped by their outsider status and by the influences of their actual race. They are also to likely bear common backstory elements: unusual circumstances of conception and damaged families being highly likely.

Variant Humans include races that are 'mostly human' structurally but have slight physical and psychological differences that keep them from just being a quirky culture. This classification includes the various D&D core races of dwarves, elves, gnomes, and halflings, but it also includes the various 'goblinoid' races, and unusual human-variants like Illumians or Samsarans. These races are true breeding and are likely to have communities (or at least enclaves within larger communities) of their own. Characters from such races probably come from a much standard community and were raised in its culture. However that culture is going to be weird. Most of the variant human races work by taking an already unusual cultural base and then stretching it well beyond normal human acceptability whether through physiological or psychological differentiation. Any character from such a race is going to have trouble with human cultures. They'll think they're strange and they will have altered expectations. So playing, say, a Vishkanya really isn't any different than playing an elf, it's just that it takes some extra work to define the Vishkanya culture and its relations with the dominant (human) one.

Anthropomorphic animals includes numerous classic races like catfolk or lizardfolk, and also chimeric humanoid/animal crosses like Centaurs. These races generally combine a blend of human and animal physiology with a blend of human and animal psychology (or at least what the designers think that psychology ought to be, which gets a bit dicey for lizardfolk or thri-kreen). Playing a character of this nature means figuring out where that blend ought to land, what sort of lifestyle it would produce, and how the character would fit into that lifestyle. This can be relatively easy for something familiar like catfolk, or almost impossibly difficult for something genuinely alien like thri-kreen (in 2e, TSR wrote an entire book, Thri-Kreen of Athas, largely about just how weird playing a thri-kreen actually was).

True Oddities are where it Androids, playable fey like Naiads, and other genuinely weird stuff. This is hard to handle and in general GMs should be very careful about letting such characters into games. There's really no standard and in many cases little support in published material for how to handle such characters. So there really aren't many guidelines. Somewhat tragically, these kinds of races have multiplied in 3e and PF because races are mechanically easy to produce, but difficult to properly support or fit into a setting.