I would say let them pick the races they want with in reason, like I mostly limited my players to those race that don't have say like the ability to fly as an example. Me personally I have always found ways to justify my PC's race choose in the world, case in point in one campaign one of my player wanted to be a warforge, so he is basically the first warforge build in the world like Data from Star Trek: TNG. Rolling to me just seems like taking the fun out of interesting story hooks you PC's could make up with their race but that is just me.
In general players hate for DM's to muck around with their choices so I would not recommend what you suggest.
If you are wanting to have a more 'standard' campaign without a party of bugbears or aarakocra then you will need to spell that out in the session 0. You might just say only PHB races allowed or no more that 1 non PHB race in the group. To further discourage odd ball race choices you might also empathize that NPC's will act appropriately to a character's race. So PC's like lizardmen or goblins may not be allowed in most towns and/or would be harassed by the city watch and shop keepers.
So I would not use a 'random' method to force players into specific races but rather discuss options during session 0. You will need to be able to defend your decision to limit race to your players as well. Whether it's the flavor of the campaign/game world or due to mechanics there will be likely be at least one player that will need some convincing.
i’ve been tasked with dm’ing my groups next campaign. given population percentages of any given world is asking to roll for race too much?
I would say let them pick the races they want with in reason, like I mostly limited my players to those race that don't have say like the ability to fly as an example. Me personally I have always found ways to justify my PC's race choose in the world, case in point in one campaign one of my player wanted to be a warforge, so he is basically the first warforge build in the world like Data from Star Trek: TNG. Rolling to me just seems like taking the fun out of interesting story hooks you PC's could make up with their race but that is just me.
In general players hate for DM's to muck around with their choices so I would not recommend what you suggest.
If you are wanting to have a more 'standard' campaign without a party of bugbears or aarakocra then you will need to spell that out in the session 0. You might just say only PHB races allowed or no more that 1 non PHB race in the group. To further discourage odd ball race choices you might also empathize that NPC's will act appropriately to a character's race. So PC's like lizardmen or goblins may not be allowed in most towns and/or would be harassed by the city watch and shop keepers.
So I would not use a 'random' method to force players into specific races but rather discuss options during session 0. You will need to be able to defend your decision to limit race to your players as well. Whether it's the flavor of the campaign/game world or due to mechanics there will be likely be at least one player that will need some convincing.
Current Characters I am playing: Dr Konstantin van Wulf | Taegen Willowrun | Mad Magnar
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