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A typical question, I know, but yet one that's always made me curious. Which race do you prefer to play in games (this is Pathfinder focused, but you can state your favorite race in general in RPGs that you've seen)? Why? What are its merits? Do you have any preferences because of stats, or because a fondness for the concept?
And on the opposite end of the spectrum, which races do you particularly dislike. Why do you dislike them? Have you ever tried playing as them before, or have stayed away?
Discuss.
My favorite race is and always will be Half-elf. Maybe it's a Tolkien thing, I dunno.
My least favorite race is Half-elf, the ability to take two Favored Classes is nice, but I don't really like multi-classing so it's a non-benefit to me. Most people who do multi-class don't even select Half-elf when they do. Half-elves need love too, man.
My second favorite race is Hu-mon. They've been the best racial selection, bar none, ever since 3.x. You just can't beat an extra starting Feat and an extra Skill Point per level.
I love anything non-Core, if only because I've gotten tired of the Core races by now. Aasimar, Tieflings and Changelings are on my top three, but I also love Kobolds and Duergar, in spite of the limited RP potential of the latter. They're like the common Dwarf, but tougher and angrier. Oh, and out of all the Core races, I dislike Humans the most (gotten tired of playing them in all RPGs ever), though I still play one on occasion.
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I love anything non-Core, if only because I've gotten tired of the Core races by now. Aasimar, Tieflings and Changelings are on my top three, but I also love Kobolds and Duergar, in spite of the limited RP potential of the latter. They're like the common Dwarf, but tougher and angrier. Oh, and out of all the Core races, I dislike Humans the most (gotten tired of playing them in all RPGs ever), though I still play one on occasion.
Just for clarification, what do you mean when you say Changeling, because there are several races from several games under that name and each interpretation is something different
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My favorite race is and always will be Half-elf. Maybe it's a Tolkien thing, I dunno.
My least favorite race is Half-elf, the ability to take two Favored Classes is nice, but I don't really like multi-classing so it's a non-benefit to me. Most people who do multi-class don't even select Half-elf when they do. Half-elves need love too, man.
For me it's this as well, but it also goes back to my childhood. My parents and brothers basically looked at me as a bit of a freak for my interests (not just D&D, but that was part of it). Dragonlance was just coming out, and Tanis was a character I could really 'get'. Plus he got the girls, so at 14 he was the man.
I became their champion again when 3.0/3.5 came with basically the worst thought out version of a race ever. I was so pissed off, I became their defender and posted several alternate versions of them on WotC forums that actually made sense back in the day.
I like to think my arguments made their way indirectly to the Pathfinder people (I was out of gaming when Pathfinder alpha was starting up). Certainly, they did something very close to what I was posting back in the day. I like the APG stuff a lot, including what they did to make arcane characters single class choices of choice. But basically I love them now mechanically and in other ways.
So basically, I have a thirty year on/off love affair with being an outsider.
I play a characters that are half human or more.
Ive always loved dwarves. something about their way of life intrigues me. tieflings come in at second with catfolk in third.
Humans. Humans Humans Humans. Only Humans. In fact, and I've said this before, if my players wouldn't put me in a hole and pour gasoline and lighted matches on me, my homebrew worlds would have ONLY Humans as PC options, with all the other races being creatures of myth and legend, if they were even mentioned at all.
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Generally really don't play favorites with fantasy races, but if any pulled slightly ahead:
Orcs, when presented in the Proud Warrior Race Guy context rather than the Big-Dumb And Always Evil one.
Primal, somewhat monstrous looks, not the sharpest folks but no fools either, hot-blooded, proud and possibly values dissonant honorable hunter-warrior types.
Always had a soft spot a mile wide for tieflings and other "half-human" types too.
I'm really generally fond of most. It's easier to name the few that have actually rubbed me the wrong way(none of which are from PF), but that's another thread.
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Generally really don't play favorites with fantasy races, but if any pulled slightly ahead:
Orcs, when presented in the Proud Warrior Race Guy context rather than the Big-Dumb And Always Evil one.
Primal, somewhat monstrous looks, not the sharpest folks but no fools either, hot-blooded, proud and possibly values dissonant honorable hunter-warrior types.
Always had a soft spot a mile wide for tieflings and other "half-human" types too.
I'm really generally fond of most. It's easier to name the few that have actually rubbed me the wrong way(none of which are from PF), but that's another thread.
Heh, no, feel free actually. Likes and dislikes can go here as to my original question...
which it just now occurs to me I never answered myself. For my own favorite, I'd have to say Ratfolk, since I always found the idea of a rat-person funny for some reason. Of the races, there are none I particularly dislike, per se, but I tend to stay away from Half-Orcs, mainly because I enjoy creating origin stories for my PCs, and it seemed to me that the origin for a half-orc are fairly limited...
For purely mechanical reasons, I'd probably choose Human, especially with Pathfinder. As others have commented, the bonus feat and skill rank is just too good to give up.
For flavor, I like the dwarf. I'm not a big fan of the Scottish accented dwarf that has become popular since the LotR movies (with Gimli providing more of a comic relief laughing stock of a character) but I've always been fond of the stout, courageous, curmudgeonly warrior type that is typical of the race.
In 3.5, I really loved the Goliath. The mechanics behind them were really cool (and potentially outrageous) but the culture they created for them in Races of Stone is what truly grabbed my attention. I sure wish they were still around.
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Of the races, there are none I particularly dislike, per se, but I tend to stay away from Half-Orcs, mainly because I enjoy creating origin stories for my PCs, and it seemed to me that the origin for a half-orc are fairly limited...
Heh, that would be another big reason I prefer non-always-evil orcs: They don't force most half-orc players into having a certain origin.
If dislikes are asked for, well the only one that genuinely made me angry during 3.x...
They were a perfect storm of irksome elements.
They were portrayed with some of the worst "better than thou" elements many tend to hate in stereotypically poorly portrayed elves. But that was just at a glance.
Going deeper, their characterization smacks of tired and hateful gay stereotypes. From the 80's.
The roleplaying advice was actively destructive for groups as well, essentially recommending that the player never apologize for anything, including catching allies within the radius of a fireball. Basically, they came across as sociopaths with no impulse control.
Add all of it together and it presents a race which, if played as written, will grief the group. And that's before actual griefers get their hands on them.
Nothing against the other races, but I've never been able to feel comfortable with a character that wasn't a human. I've just never really been able to get into the mindset of any other race, unless it was for a one-shot. Add in the fact that the bonus feat & skill points help literally any kind of build, and you have a race that's good at everything. All of my most memorable characters have been humans, and it will likely stay that way.
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Strix and Changelings. I became the rogue of the party for my home game and I KICK ASS! The GM actually had to adjust the challenges because of it. Also, they're fun to play as. A race which all humans attack on sight gives me a great amount of stealth play.
I like doing Changelings for PFS. I have a Cleric of Calistria, and after taking Green Widow and Calistrian Courtesan, I am the social face for the party. It works well.
i like shorter races, mainly dwarves and halflings. im pretty tall irl and its nice to play someone who doesnt have to worry about smacking his head on a door frame,low hanging shelf, or ceiling fan.
plus alot of people seem to dislike halflings so maybe theres an underdog thing going on there.
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Core: Halflings, Dwarves, and Half-Orcs. Humans are good mechanically, but I try to avoid playing them because I'm tired of them, and someone else in the party is guaranteed to be one. Gnomes once in a blue moon. I dislike Elves.
Other PF: Kobold, Changeling, Duergar, Aasimar, Tiefling, any of the elemental Planetouched, Tengu, Strix, Samsarans.
3.5: Here I'll actually provide details.
Illumians: I LOVED Illumians back in 3.5. Still do. MASTER Multiclassers. Only way I'd go multiclass nowadays is if I have Illumian as an option. Plus the glyphs were just darn cool. Had an Illumian Paladin/Crusader going for Ruby Knight Vindicator of Wee Jas in our Age of Worms game; really sad I never got to finish that plot and play her more.
Killoren: Really fun to play fey race. One of my favorite PCs was a Killoren Archivist.
Raptoran: These guys were cool, though their delayed flight was slightly irritating. I like them slightly more than Strix now, and the birdlike race in my homebrew is somewhere halfway between the two.
Dragonborn: The 3.5, Bahamut-serving, transformation-based version, rather than 4E's rewrite. Loved the flavor behind them. Transformative/metamorphic creatures are an immense curiosity for me, I have always loved that kind of character.
Naga: The Rokugan/Oriental Adventures version, with the human torso with arms and snake tail instead of legs. Always thought they were cooler than the human-head-on-a-tail Naga. Added them to my homebrew world as well.
Yuan-Ti: Because snake people are darned cool, and Yuan-Ti make AWESOME schemey villains. I prefer 3.5's version where the lowest-caste Purebloods look mostly human (and even got a Disguise bonus) and the higher ranked they were as you went through the aberrant mutations the more freaky and less humanoid they became; that's my main turn-off of just using PF's Serpentfolk in their place. Also available in my homebrew.
Genasi: Liked them then. Prefer the various element-touched versions from PF now though.
Zenthyri: Law version of Aasimar and Tiefling. Wish PF had a counterpart for them and Chaond/Cansin/whatever variant Chaos-touched you were using.
Karsite: Magically-resistant, magic-inept descendants of a mortal who dared sleight a god? Absorb magic and heal when their SR stops a spell? Naturally good at being Binders? YES PLEASE!
Dvati: From Dragon Compendium. A pair of twins that share a soul. Squishy? Oh yes. Cool? Hell yes.
Lupin: Also from DC. Awesome wolf guys. Available in my homebrew with a rename and a few slight tweaks courtesy of APG.
Warforged: Never played one, but DMed for one. They're cool, and I like their concept. Haven't yet seen a PF construct race that I like enough to replace them with.
Think that's all, off the top of my head.
I think the game needs LESS races that are "human but with this or that minor oddity" and more "playable races that are distinctly inhuman, whether being animal-like, somehow truly alien in appearance and mannerism, or otherwise not just another mostly-humanoid creature".
Human, usually.
I thought it might be cool to play a Samsaran or Suli some time though.
Core: Humans and Gnomes
ARG: Fetchlings(!), Ratfolk, Svirfneblin.
Not a fan of Dwarves, or Halflings. Especially post-Krynn Halflings: everybody plays like a freakin' Kender (a race that needs a race-sized oubliet).
I find Elves to be tiresome. Half-elves are usually ok, but they lose out to humans mechanically (imo).
Pathfinder
Favorite Core Race is the Human, due to it's variety of Cultures and Flavors, my favorite nonplanetouched race in the advanced race guide is the Samsaran, but my favorite Races are the 8 Planetouched, the Aasimaar, Tiefling, Fetchling, Suli, Undine, Ifrit, Oread and Sylph
For the 8 planetouched, i prefer to give them mostly human appearances with maybe a fitting concealable appendage or exotic hair and eyecolor determined by their extraplanar heritage. i don't follow the official artwork at all or the official height/weight charts. i treat them as humans except where exceptions make sense.
i cannot stand the halfling and gnome. the halfling because Elijah Wood butchered the Role of Frodo Baggins in the Lord or the Ring's movies, and the gnome due to the negative steriotypes i had experienced about tinker gnomes. i also cannot stand kender because they are an excuse to get away with robbing the other PCs.
though i am not technically a fan of Legolass or Axebeard, i am fine with elves and dwarves on the following grounds. elves are not to brag about their inherent superiority unless they can prove it in means other than level, gear, or templates. Dwarves are allowed to wield axes without issue, just please don't talk in that fake scottish accent. if one can provide an interesting take on either race, such as a dwarven geomancer who speaks to the earth for example, it could be a fun concept.
though i am fine with Mary Sue characters, more so than your average roleplayer, i prefer characters with flaws. and i see bigger flaws as bigger interest, dwarven barbarians who have the worst of social skills due to their savage upbringing (5 Charisma), sickly, doll like, human nobles who cannot engage in much physical activity (7 strength and constitution), or even holy knights whom lack common sense (7 wisdom),
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Favorite Race (Mechanically): Half-Orc. Darkvision is just an all-around great ability, and the additional traits offer some of the most useful race abilities in the game. (+1 to all saves and I can still melee with a Greataxe? Yes, please.) Dwarves are also great mechanically for these reasons, but Half-Orcs eke out a win for versatility.
Favorite Race (Flavor-wise): Gnomes! I love gnomes. Love everything about them. I love that their underdogs, I love that of the core races they're the hardest to pin down, I love that they never quite fit in. And the only way to deal with it is with a great heaping helping of humor and mirth. I relate a lot to gnomes.
Least Favorite Race (Mechanically): Half-Elves. Most of their special abilities are things I'd never use, multiclassing is a less than stellar option in Pathfinder, and you won't use most of the other things. Unless you're a Summoner, there is almost never a reason to pick Half-Elf over another race.
Least Favorite Race (Flavor-wise): Toss-up between Dwarves and Dhampirs. Dwarves because it is almost impossible to picture a dwarf that doesn't conform to the Scottish, drinking stereotype (and harder yet to remember one who was played differently). To whit, I can only name three Dwarves that weren't played to type: "Fret" and Pikel, both from the Drizzt Do'Urden books, and Varric, from Dragon Age. All of them were considered unusual. There was no place for them in Dwarven society because all dwarven society is uniform. Unlike humans and even elves who vary from region and culture, dwarves are just . . . dwarves.
And Dhampirs because frankly I'm sick to death of vampires. Everything is vampires these days. And it's A-L-W-A-Y-S played as the chaotic rebel trying to fight his evil kin schtick. Not that I can blame them entirely . . . everything in the text about Dhampirs is incredibly wangsty. Dhampirs are the new Drow of pathetic copycat characters.
Wait, you mention Varric from Dragon Age 2 (*shudders*) and don't mention that he's not atypical for his race in that universe?
Oghren was your sterotypical beer swilling nasty berserker, but you may recall the rest of his race HATED AND WERE DISGUSTED by these tendencies.
Dwarves in the Dragon Age universe are scheming manipulative bastards as a whole and live their lives within a rigid caste system.
Core Races: Most often a Human, all that versatility and it's rare a human isn't suited for any particular region. Next out of the core races it'd be a tie between Half-Elf and Half-Orc, Truely enjoy them both. In 3rd place would be Dwarves. I tend to fall into a select few personalities when playing dwarves and it can get a bit samey-samey.
I don't ever play Elves, Halflings or Gnomes.
Featured Races in the ARG: Ratfolk, of which so far I seem to be their only fan. Sylphs and Tieflings. Ratfolk are infact the only small race I'd consider for PC and both the race archetypes for them seem interesting to me and worth trying.
Before using Golarion as a campaign setting I was fond of Half-Drow as well.
Core Races: Most often a Human, all that versatility and it's rare a human isn't suited for any particular region. Next out of the core races it'd be a tie between Half-Elf and Half-Orc, Truely enjoy them both. In 3rd place would be Dwarves. I tend to fall into a select few personalities when playing dwarves and it can get a bit samey-samey.
I don't ever play Elves, Halflings or Gnomes.
Featured Races in the ARG: Ratfolk, of which so far I seem to be their only fan. Sylphs and Tieflings. Ratfolk are infact the only small race I'd consider for PC and both the race archetypes for them seem interesting to me and worth trying.
Before using Golarion as a campaign setting I was fond of Half-Drow as well.
Scroll back, read carefully. >Hint< Look for my little icon pic. I liked the Ratfolk way back in the thread...
;)
I've been GMing exclusively for the last year-and-a-half, but when I play, my PC is almost always a human. My last seven PCs were human. Thats my favorite race to play. I'm a dude, but about half of my PCs have been female.
I did go through an elf phase when I was in college.
I've got a good concept for a dwarf wizard that I may trot out the next time I play, though.
I like the old core races with Human leading that pack. I dislike Gnomes, Aasimar, and Tieflings. Not sure why Gnomes bug me but the do.
As for non-pathfinder games, I have always liked the Zhodani. I like their culture etc.
Core book: Dwarves
I love the culture of dwarves, the stoicism and practicality. One favorite interpretation of dwarves is the Midnight setting, I'll always remember the dwarven burial practice. Dwarves (usually the person themselves) carve massive headstones that tell their life story. Since roughly half of all people who die become mindless undead a couple days after death, the dwarves make the stones big enough that a zombie can't lift it off themselves.
I played a dwarven barbarian, Trollbear Thundersnow, who got bored with dungeon crawling, so he invented the Dwarven Door Game.
Non-standard Race: Minotaur
We've had minotaurs playable as a PC race for probably 15 years in my group. I just love them. The culture changes and adapts to the game world, though there are usually touchstones we use, like calling humans monkeys. Normally we limit it to one or two minotaurs in a group, but I like the idea of playing a giantish thing, something oversized and extremely strong.
Typically though I play humans, probably a little over half the time. Humans usually represent the baseline of a game system and I like exploring it from that angle, whether it's shadowrun, D&D, or star wars. I like breaking that mold a lot, so often I'm asking to be something really strange, but then the next character is usually a human.
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In 1st and 2nd edition, I started with 'elf' and progressed to 'gray elf' and finally 'aquatic elf.' I love aquatic elves, although, mechanically, they occasionally suck (depending on the edition / system), and, narratively, they can be a pain (being the only member of the party able to venture somewhere, because of a swim speed or a fly spell or whatever, is a great way to encounter something that was meant for your entire party to face, and get eated...).
In funkier games, where everybody was playing Giff and Wemics and Krynn Minotaurs, like Spelljammer and Dark Sun, I went nuts with Thri-Kreen and Xixchil and 1/2 Ogre Magi and Tinker Gnome Giant Space Werehamster Clockwork Mages and whatever.
As of 3rd edition, it was all human all the time. I can't live without that bonus feat. I'm such a munchkin! I've also noticed, as I got older, that the shiny new stuff appealed to me much less than exploring the 'vanilla' options and making them not-so-vanilla. In Vampire, I watched hordes flock to the exotic options, 'can I play a Nagaraja? can I play a Kiasyd? can I play a Mokole? can I play a Highlander?' and I wanted to see what I could do with a Nosferatu or a Ventrue.
Rare exceptions have included a halfling, a gnoll (without racial HD), a killoren (best fey race ever!) and some Eberron races (a changeling and a daelkyr halfblood, both of which were very fun), but that was under 3.5 rules. I've yet to see a PF race that I was willing to give up that Human bonus feat for, although the Aasimar and the Suli come close.
Keith Baker is either a mad genius, or just happened to have been on my wavelength (or both), because it's really rare for me to like multiple non-standard races from a single setting. Dragonlance went in the completely other direction, with versions of dwarves, gnomes and halflings that made me all stabby.
A typical question, I know, but yet one that's always made me curious. Which race do you prefer to play in games (this is Pathfinder focused, but you can state your favorite race in general in RPGs that you've seen)? Why? What are its merits? Do you have any preferences because of stats, or because a fondness for the concept?
And on the opposite end of the spectrum, which races do you particularly dislike. Why do you dislike them? Have you ever tried playing as them before, or have stayed away?
Discuss.
Goblins. I love every detail about Golarion's goblins, it's like someone took them directly from a list of quirks i like in goblins.
Also they have awesome stats. Goblin AC is just as unreasonably good as kobold's and they have a stealth skill that's through the roof without even trying (4 racial + 4 size + 2 racial dex mod)
