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race popularity

your favourite PC race

  • human

  • elf

  • dwarf

  • ugly humanoid (orc, half orc, ogre, stronger and bigger humanoids go in here)

  • midget (halfling, gnome, fairy, anything that can run between legs of human oponent)

  • furry (furry and scales bucket. Check this if you want to be a dragon )


Results are only viewable after voting.
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IncendiaryDevice

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I was going to say in the shoutbox convo that started this, Dragon Age probably isn't the best place to look for stats for quite a few reasons, most notably that Elves in that universe were kinda the supressed hobo race, which wont fit with people's power fantasy. You then combine this with the fact that in those games you're given a specific job title relating to the human world, I think it was Grey Warden for that one, or was that the other ones, well whatever, you know what I mean & picking an Elf for that job is kinda weird from the outset. Then on top of that you have the sexualised nature of Bioware games at that stage & the meme of gay Elves was kinda at its peak then. So yeah, the perfect storm there to have players picking human 80% of the time.
 

Cyberarmy

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Divinity: Original Sin 2
Dwarf(ven?) master race supporter here!

latest



DD-cleric-featured.jpg




main-qimg-715f302632affea4caf172aa8125d748-c
 

Sjukob

Arcane
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Orcs, dwarves, various elves... I honestly want them to be thrown out of fiction already, I want to see new races that are more obscure. I've also passed that period where you try to associate character with yourself, I just create an image in my head and roll with it, it's dissapointing to me that 99% of time you have to play human, I really want to see something more original. The classic race stock has become incredibly stale to me, even though I haven't played that many games.
 
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IncendiaryDevice

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Orcs, dwarves, various elves... I honestly want them to be thrown out of fiction already, I want to see new races that are more obscure. I've also passed that period where you try to associate character with yourself, I just create an image in my head and roll with it, it's dissapointing to me that 99% of time you have to play human, I really want to see something more original. The classic race stock has become incredibly stale to me, even though I haven't played that many games.

I must admit, Grey Warden would be more fun if you could play him as a Gelatinous Cube.
 
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IncendiaryDevice

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Orcs, dwarves, various elves... I honestly want them to be thrown out of fiction already, I want to see new races that are more obscure. I've also passed that period where you try to associate character with yourself, I just create an image in my head and roll with it, it's dissapointing to me that 99% of time you have to play human, I really want to see something more original. The classic race stock has become incredibly stale to me, even though I haven't played that many games.

Also, have you played Serpents in the Staglands yet?

where:

Your mortal body will be that of one of the game’s five playable races, varied and a breath of fresh air in a genre that too often borrows from Tolkien’s works, and will choose one of the three racial variants to further differentiate character creation.

The races are:

Ameythevian
Varuchov
Lachovinian
Taratorith
Pasaaren
 
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IncendiaryDevice

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I must admit, Grey Warden would be more fun if you could play him as a Gelatinous Cube.
I don't understand how anybody can speak of fun and bioware at the same time.


Also, have you played Serpents in the Staglands yet?
I wanted to but haven't got to it still, don't know anything about the game.

Well, you moan about generic races, but generic races only really appear in dumbed down for-the-masses games & you not knowing much about SitS other than knowing you wanted to try it 'one day' suggests you're not a fan of smaller games, so I'm having a hard time imagining what you class as 'fun'... unless you're one of those people who like AAA crap but is dedicated to the Bioware=gay meme.

?
 

Sjukob

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Well, you moan about generic classes, but generic classes only really appear in dumbed down for-the-masses games & you not knowing much about SitS other than knowing you wanted to try it 'one day' suggests you're not a fan of smaller games, so I'm having a hard time imagining what you class as 'fun'... unless you're one of those people who like AAA crap but is dedicated to the Bioware=gay meme.
Alright, I opened SitS manual, the races are: Pink elves, white humans, humans with tatoos on their face, asians and hairy humans. Their description also smells of cliche, I don't understand your argument about SitS original and creative races, is it because they have fancy names ?

As for small games, I do play them, but they are usually not RPGs.
 
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IncendiaryDevice

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Well, you moan about generic classes, but generic classes only really appear in dumbed down for-the-masses games & you not knowing much about SitS other than knowing you wanted to try it 'one day' suggests you're not a fan of smaller games, so I'm having a hard time imagining what you class as 'fun'... unless you're one of those people who like AAA crap but is dedicated to the Bioware=gay meme.
Alright, I opened SitS manual, the races are: Pink elves, white humans, humans with tatoos on their face, asians and hairy humans. Their description also smells of cliche, I don't understand your argument about SitS original and creative races, is it because they have fancy names ?

As for small games, I do play them, but they are usually not RPGs.

So you want original races that aren't bi-pedal humanionds?

& yeah, I kinda gathered you're not that into RPGs.
 

Sjukob

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IncendiaryDevice

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Yep, that'll do. I'll be thankful if you could make a list of such games and send me a PM, I'll make sure to check them out.

I'm not the dude to draw you up a list, I'm a lightweight here compared to the people you should be asking. Fowyr is probably your best bet, but whether he can be bothered I have no idea.
 
Joined
Feb 11, 2007
Messages
2,951
This is likely a bit skewed by Pathfinder's balance. Humans are the best option for most classes (Summoner is the only real exception, and even then humans are pretty high up.). Half-Elf and Half-Orc get human's choice of boosted ability score (You can add a +2 to any stat), which makes them solid for most things, while if you're going to take weapon profiency or skill focus (which is needed to take the very nice Eldritch Heritage feats) Half-Elf compares fairly solidly. Aasimar and Tiefling have a long list of variants that allow them to do pretty much anything (though the basic forms of each race are still popular). The real interesting thing is that elf is so high up. Elves suck in PF because they lose con, the stats nothing* can dump and gain +dex +int, which is for classes that are really hurt by lower con. Kitsune being as high as it is is also interesting. Not sure if it's furies, people that like shapeshifting, being an eastern race or all of those combining.

*Things that become undead can dump it, but I'm not aware of any player friendly options in PF for becoming undead.

Very much agree, both on the Dragon Age and on the Pathfinder argument. It's a damned shame Kingmaker did not implement racial traits to allow for more customization. Grabbing an exotic weapon proficiency at level one is my number one reason for going with a half-elf. As it is they lost their flexibility and Multitalented and got nothing in return. Bah.
 

Dodo1610

Arcane
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Never understood the popularity of dwarfs I allways thought they are obnoxoius and incredible boring, I mean is there any fantasy universe where they are vastly different then Tokien's dwarfs.
I usually play the more unique races like lizzard or cat people or good old humans.
 

Mastermind

Cognito Elite Material
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Steve gets a Kidney but I don't even get a tag.
Never understood the popularity of dwarfs I allways thought they are obnoxoius and incredible boring, I mean is there any fantasy universe where they are vastly different then Tokien's dwarfs.
I usually play the more unique races like lizzard or cat people or good old humans.

they're popular because they're comic relief and everybody likes a good laugh, which dwarves tend to provide. i mean just looking at them will send a normal person into fits of laughter.
 

Serus

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Never understood the popularity of dwarfs I allways thought they are obnoxoius and incredible boring, I mean is there any fantasy universe where they are vastly different then Tokien's dwarfs.
I usually play the more unique races like lizzard or cat people or good old humans.
Except "lizard" or "cat"-people are not "unique". Just humans with superficial, purely physical animal features thrown in, in most cases. Usually it goes something like +2 speed/agility/whatever for "cat-people" or +to some other stat/some resistance to "lizard-people" and that's more or less all the differences from humans. Basically they are just humans with scales or fur. Oh my, how original. Dwarfs can do the same thing but in addition dwarfs in games can copy the Tolkien-esque lore and culture which makes them different from humans. It's always a variation on the same theme, and yes it gets boring and silly the 10th or 100th time it's copied but even that is better than nothing aka: "Human with cat's/lizzard head and fur/scales. Some stat adjustement. End of story" type of original.
 

Lutte

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Never played gnome what's their niche?
A race of artisans and tricksters. Not particularly riveting.
Which is the problem with most fantasy races, they're one note. You don't have to play them in a one note manner but the base canvas is uninspired and trite. They don't feel like an actual culture that stands on its own as much as taking a trait that already exists in humans and cranking it to 11 while making other traits subdued. Rather than just having a few unique traits because of their biology and different cultures, they feel like pigenholed cardboard stereotypes and are dominated by those traits rather than being something that adds to preexisting depth. Humans can be treehugger faggots just as much as elves, or be as talented in magic, or be just like your stereotypical ax crazy drunkard brawling dwarf, but not all of them are, and that's what makes humanity what it is. Fantasy writers at times write characters that are different from the average of their race but that only supports how wildly one-note the race itself is when they have to deal with the cultural conflict that comes from being different from the average person of their own race. The cringe gets particularly heavy when you take a race that had originally been created solely for the purpose of being cannon fodder to kill by the hundreds, inherently evil enemies like drows (something which is already pretty retarded. I like killing enemies who had real individual motives and rip their ambitions out of their flesh, not born-evil garbage), and make something like the self-righteous, outcast wanderer type ala Drizzt out of it.

Arcanum correctly handled what it'd be really like for walking stereotypes to meet the power of human civilization, something that doesn't limit itself to predefined eternal conducts. Dwarves and elves alike are going through their race last gasps, unable to adapt to a changing world and resist the might of a culture that has no qualms taking everything good from others, like the dwarves technology and make it one of their many own traits. Humans are not beholden to a set destiny, they create their own.
 
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The problem with D&D races is that there is no real difference between them aside from some minor stat deviations and abilities (e.g. infravision). So given this sameness, most people will opt for the familiar (humans), since other races are inferior in looks from our human perspective (gayish elves, midget dwarves/gnomes, ragged orcs, etc).

If there were deep functional differences between them, as in say the original version (ie Tolkien), now you are talking. If elves were immortal/extremely long living with all the pluses/minuses that come with that (some kind of game mechanics that support that), and able to dabble in magic, and if dwarves were master craftsmen and metalworkers and able to live underground, and so on, then people would have a lot more incentive to choose these other races.
 
Unwanted

a Goat

Unwanted
Dumbfuck Edgy Vatnik
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How about Avernum that has:

StartingQuarters.jpg


Cat people and lizard people?

I think it's the most fantastic game ever, it even has black people!


On a serious note I absolutely love the irish-sounding drunk guys. They're the same in every game. Isn't that great?
 

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