So I'm a new father, and with nothing to do now but stay home and chill, I decided it's the perfect time to start making my dream homebrew. I have a very detailed home brew world, however, I'm not AS interested in home brewing races or classes. I want my world to offer players something new without sacrificing their favorite races and classes. I'm currently working on lore explanations to place them in my world and I'm curious how common or expected this is? Do players go into home brews expecting to be able to play teiflings? I'm working on ways to accommodate player home brew races as well. Thoughts?
Yes, there are a few exceptions, but players usually expect most official racial options to be available to them in homebrew settings. That being said, you don't need to explain how each race fits into your world, you can just tell your players that each race fits into your world fine and explain how the races your players picked fits into your world later, should the need for explaining arrive. Also, it's okay to ban D&D races in your game/world, as long as you warn your players in advance.
Totally agree with BoringBard. Most players expect that all options are on the table for a homebrew world. While you as the DM see it as a chance to create a living world, they see it as an opportunity to let their imaginations run wild. That's a great thing.
If you have a very strict idea of what the world should be like, both in tone and demographics, that's okay. But understand that players might be disappointed if it isn't the tone they were looking for, or excludes what they wanted to play. So those things are very important to communicate clearly beforehand.
It's often great for both you, and the players, to let them help build the world. Create the lands that you want to, but let them fill in their specific place in it too. If someone wants to play a tortle, for example, and you haven't really thought about those yet, ask them what they imagine their home culture and environment to be like. Find a place on your map and stick them there. Let the player name it. They will love it.
If they want to play a noble knight of an ancient order, or an assassin from a secretive guild, let them tell you what their organization is like. If it fits with something you already have, try to blend your ideas together. If it isn't something you've considered, find a place for it. Players can have great ideas you hadn't thought of. And they can help flesh out the corners of your world.
People's expectations of a homebrew world are that it will be what it advertises itself to be -- i.e. if tieflings are unavailable, you'd say so up front.
Now, restrictions like that may cause some players to reject your game, but some settings just don't work right with all options being open, and most players will be okay with that.
My experience is that players want to play whatever race they want to play. IMO it's not that hard to find an explanation for at least one of any race to exist in your homebrew world, or you retheme a race. In my world, there are no hells or infernal plane, so I rethemed a tiefling player as the offspring of an extramarital affair with a capricorn (sea goat).
Homebrew races being unbalanced is exactly why I want to stick with established ones. If a PC wants to home brew their own race I'm fine letting them I just don't want to have to do all that homework to make sure it plays well unless I have to for my table
Oh yeah for sure, homebrew races are a whole different can of worms. I would stick with the 50 or so official options. There's a ton to choose from.
If they really want something specific that isn't there, start with trying to reskin what already exists.
If that doesn't work, maybe let then swap a few features between existing races. Most homebrew are very strangely 'balanced'.... At least trading existing features keeps them in line with conventional rules
Yea I was already thinking of reskins. I have one set player who is helping me/waiting for me to build the world and they are more interested in a home brew races for the role play rather than the gameplay, and they want their race to be a part of the world that is constant night. I told them they can make whatever lore they want and just use the stats for drow and they seemed pretty happy with that.
The important thing to remember is that in your game and your world, you may have to instill limitations to keep things how they need to be.
For example, if you are running a very low-magic humans-are-the-norm sort of world where it's very similar to Middle Earth in theme, then there is nothing wrong with limiting people to the humanesque races and removing the monstrous races from their options - in a game where the main variation in playable race is height and longevity, being an ooze or a dragonborn or a thri-kreen is going to stick out and make the game much more difficult to run - the DM will either have to ignore their appearance to speed things along, or start each and every encounter with the NPCs varying from terrified to outright hostile, because the players are playing monsters.
Now, if you are simply concerned with finding a palce for each race in your world, and having them all is not so much an issue of breaking the theme as it is seeming like a lot of work, then I would build it organically - if you have a party with 2 dragonborn, an elf, and a satyr, then you need only consider where these 3 races would normally live. In a lot of cases, they simply mix together in a melting-pot of people in cities and towns, I find. Obviously, your world will need to fit your vision.
If you are thinking about "when I publish a homebrew world, will people want to use any race?", then the answer is Yes, and they probably will regardless, unless the whole limitation thing is intrinsic to your world (ref. middle earth, again). Exotic races can simply "have been dumped through a portal and stranded", making them strange to the eyes of most but perhaps accepted in a group.
The important thing to remember is that in your game and your world, you may have to instill limitations to keep things how they need to be.
For example, if you are running a very low-magic humans-are-the-norm sort of world where it's very similar to Middle Earth in theme, then there is nothing wrong with limiting people to the humanesque races and removing the monstrous races from their options - in a game where the main variation in playable race is height and longevity, being an ooze or a dragonborn or a thri-kreen is going to stick out and make the game much more difficult to run - the DM will either have to ignore their appearance to speed things along, or start each and every encounter with the NPCs varying from terrified to outright hostile, because the players are playing monsters.
This👆 In my semi-homebrewed version of Mystara, certain races simply don’t exist in certain regions for in-world reasons. The people of Karameikos are deathly antagonistic against “beast people,” so races like Tabaxi, Dragonborn, Minotaurs, etc just don’t live there for fear of being killed by the inhabitants. Meanwhile Goblins, Hobgoblins, and even Orcs are all generally accepted because “at least they’re people.” However, half a continent away in the highly magical realm of Glantri, even a few Tieflings can be found walking the streets. And in between those nations, in the Broken Lands, Dragonborn are a common sight since, in my world they are related to Kobolds. They all exist, they just don’t all exist everywhere. Make sense? So the races available to the players are dependent on where the campaign starts.
I love this conversation! And I think that you shouldn't be afraid to establish some unpleasant sides to your societies... Even give these reasons to believe them. A town routinely beset by Orc raiders would likely need some convincing to accept a half orc. A society of orc raiders who view others as natural prey would not welcome an "inferior" human in their ranks.
It is definitely something I struggle with in modern DND implementations of Player races... There is talk of the beauty of "going against (stereo)type", but then the game seems to be also dead set at removing all stereotypes.
I think that might work for existing players or fans of the genre, in general, but that's just because that group already has the stereotypes in their minds.
I was trying to explain to my wife (not a prior fantasy lover, but now into DND after watching some Viva la dirt league DnD) why a dwarven wizard would be an exceptional individual. But I couldn't without falling back on the magic-mistrusting tropes.
This is all great. I definitely think my world is on the right track, I do however have a LOT of work to build what I imagined, but u have a lot of time on my hands. Races are definitely region blocked (to a certain degree). There are a few stereotypes I love and a few I don't. Personally I'm slightly bored of orc villains, I imagine them as nomadic circus performer types. Teiflings being outcast just kind of makes sense to me. I have a region on my map that I plan on having a teifling stronghold/hideout oasis type society, surrounded by dead lands. It's also far more magic heavy, and humans are the least populated species. So while u won't see every species getting along in every town, I don't imagine anyone being too shocked to see a dragonborn. I'm still playing with ideas of where to start the campaign, but I can see multiple campaigns playing out in this world so I think I'll wait for my first session 0 to get a feel of the tone my players want and go from there. I love drama and dark fantasy and anti hero shit but I want to leave room for slice of life "let's build a farm" moments too.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
So I'm a new father, and with nothing to do now but stay home and chill, I decided it's the perfect time to start making my dream homebrew. I have a very detailed home brew world, however, I'm not AS interested in home brewing races or classes. I want my world to offer players something new without sacrificing their favorite races and classes. I'm currently working on lore explanations to place them in my world and I'm curious how common or expected this is? Do players go into home brews expecting to be able to play teiflings? I'm working on ways to accommodate player home brew races as well. Thoughts?
Yes, there are a few exceptions, but players usually expect most official racial options to be available to them in homebrew settings. That being said, you don't need to explain how each race fits into your world, you can just tell your players that each race fits into your world fine and explain how the races your players picked fits into your world later, should the need for explaining arrive. Also, it's okay to ban D&D races in your game/world, as long as you warn your players in advance.
BoringBard's long and tedious posts somehow manage to enrapture audiences. How? Because he used Charm Person, the #1 bard spell!
He/him pronouns. Call me Bard. PROUD NERD!
Ever wanted to talk about your parties' worst mistakes? Do so HERE. What's your favorite class, why? Share & explain
HERE.Totally agree with BoringBard. Most players expect that all options are on the table for a homebrew world. While you as the DM see it as a chance to create a living world, they see it as an opportunity to let their imaginations run wild. That's a great thing.
If you have a very strict idea of what the world should be like, both in tone and demographics, that's okay. But understand that players might be disappointed if it isn't the tone they were looking for, or excludes what they wanted to play. So those things are very important to communicate clearly beforehand.
It's often great for both you, and the players, to let them help build the world. Create the lands that you want to, but let them fill in their specific place in it too. If someone wants to play a tortle, for example, and you haven't really thought about those yet, ask them what they imagine their home culture and environment to be like. Find a place on your map and stick them there. Let the player name it. They will love it.
If they want to play a noble knight of an ancient order, or an assassin from a secretive guild, let them tell you what their organization is like. If it fits with something you already have, try to blend your ideas together. If it isn't something you've considered, find a place for it. Players can have great ideas you hadn't thought of. And they can help flesh out the corners of your world.
Good luck and have fun!
That's awesome thx. This is all exactly what I'm hoping to do so I'll keep at it!
People's expectations of a homebrew world are that it will be what it advertises itself to be -- i.e. if tieflings are unavailable, you'd say so up front.
Now, restrictions like that may cause some players to reject your game, but some settings just don't work right with all options being open, and most players will be okay with that.
My experience is that players want to play whatever race they want to play. IMO it's not that hard to find an explanation for at least one of any race to exist in your homebrew world, or you retheme a race. In my world, there are no hells or infernal plane, so I rethemed a tiefling player as the offspring of an extramarital affair with a capricorn (sea goat).
You can set whatever restrictions you want for your homebrew campaign. If you don't like certain races then don't have them in your world.
If you have world reasons for certain races not to be present, then list them up-front before players even start thinking about races.
The problem with folks using homebrew races is that you have no idea how well balanced, or unbalanced, they might be.
Homebrew races being unbalanced is exactly why I want to stick with established ones. If a PC wants to home brew their own race I'm fine letting them I just don't want to have to do all that homework to make sure it plays well unless I have to for my table
Oh yeah for sure, homebrew races are a whole different can of worms. I would stick with the 50 or so official options. There's a ton to choose from.
If they really want something specific that isn't there, start with trying to reskin what already exists.
If that doesn't work, maybe let then swap a few features between existing races. Most homebrew are very strangely 'balanced'.... At least trading existing features keeps them in line with conventional rules
Yea I was already thinking of reskins. I have one set player who is helping me/waiting for me to build the world and they are more interested in a home brew races for the role play rather than the gameplay, and they want their race to be a part of the world that is constant night. I told them they can make whatever lore they want and just use the stats for drow and they seemed pretty happy with that.
The important thing to remember is that in your game and your world, you may have to instill limitations to keep things how they need to be.
For example, if you are running a very low-magic humans-are-the-norm sort of world where it's very similar to Middle Earth in theme, then there is nothing wrong with limiting people to the humanesque races and removing the monstrous races from their options - in a game where the main variation in playable race is height and longevity, being an ooze or a dragonborn or a thri-kreen is going to stick out and make the game much more difficult to run - the DM will either have to ignore their appearance to speed things along, or start each and every encounter with the NPCs varying from terrified to outright hostile, because the players are playing monsters.
Now, if you are simply concerned with finding a palce for each race in your world, and having them all is not so much an issue of breaking the theme as it is seeming like a lot of work, then I would build it organically - if you have a party with 2 dragonborn, an elf, and a satyr, then you need only consider where these 3 races would normally live. In a lot of cases, they simply mix together in a melting-pot of people in cities and towns, I find. Obviously, your world will need to fit your vision.
If you are thinking about "when I publish a homebrew world, will people want to use any race?", then the answer is Yes, and they probably will regardless, unless the whole limitation thing is intrinsic to your world (ref. middle earth, again). Exotic races can simply "have been dumped through a portal and stranded", making them strange to the eyes of most but perhaps accepted in a group.
Make your Artificer work with any other class with 174 Multiclassing Feats for your Artificer Multiclass Character!
DM's Guild Releases on This Thread Or check them all out on DMs Guild!
DrivethruRPG Releases on This Thread - latest release: My Character is a Werewolf: balanced rules for Lycanthropy!
I have started discussing/reviewing 3rd party D&D content on Substack - stay tuned for semi-regular posts!
This👆 In my semi-homebrewed version of Mystara, certain races simply don’t exist in certain regions for in-world reasons. The people of Karameikos are deathly antagonistic against “beast people,” so races like Tabaxi, Dragonborn, Minotaurs, etc just don’t live there for fear of being killed by the inhabitants. Meanwhile Goblins, Hobgoblins, and even Orcs are all generally accepted because “at least they’re people.” However, half a continent away in the highly magical realm of Glantri, even a few Tieflings can be found walking the streets. And in between those nations, in the Broken Lands, Dragonborn are a common sight since, in my world they are related to Kobolds. They all exist, they just don’t all exist everywhere. Make sense? So the races available to the players are dependent on where the campaign starts.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
I love this conversation! And I think that you shouldn't be afraid to establish some unpleasant sides to your societies... Even give these reasons to believe them. A town routinely beset by Orc raiders would likely need some convincing to accept a half orc. A society of orc raiders who view others as natural prey would not welcome an "inferior" human in their ranks.
It is definitely something I struggle with in modern DND implementations of Player races... There is talk of the beauty of "going against (stereo)type", but then the game seems to be also dead set at removing all stereotypes.
I think that might work for existing players or fans of the genre, in general, but that's just because that group already has the stereotypes in their minds.
I was trying to explain to my wife (not a prior fantasy lover, but now into DND after watching some Viva la dirt league DnD) why a dwarven wizard would be an exceptional individual. But I couldn't without falling back on the magic-mistrusting tropes.
This is all great. I definitely think my world is on the right track, I do however have a LOT of work to build what I imagined, but u have a lot of time on my hands. Races are definitely region blocked (to a certain degree). There are a few stereotypes I love and a few I don't. Personally I'm slightly bored of orc villains, I imagine them as nomadic circus performer types. Teiflings being outcast just kind of makes sense to me. I have a region on my map that I plan on having a teifling stronghold/hideout oasis type society, surrounded by dead lands. It's also far more magic heavy, and humans are the least populated species. So while u won't see every species getting along in every town, I don't imagine anyone being too shocked to see a dragonborn. I'm still playing with ideas of where to start the campaign, but I can see multiple campaigns playing out in this world so I think I'll wait for my first session 0 to get a feel of the tone my players want and go from there. I love drama and dark fantasy and anti hero shit but I want to leave room for slice of life "let's build a farm" moments too.