So I just got into DnD last year and my last three characters have been v. humans. Every time I made a character, I'd look at that free feat and get sucked right back in! I want to try other races, but LOVE Feats. Is there anyone else who has been through this, how did you get past the addiction? How was it going with another race afterwards?
The abilities that the their races have are comparable to feats. Some are better and some are worse, but they’re comparable. Look at them that way and compare them to the feat that you like the most.
I have the opposite problem. The free feat has never been more appealing to me than the mountain of features other races could have.
Darkvision, a +2 in a core ability, resistance to a damage, advantage against a condition or spells, requiring less sleep, natural AC, extra movement types, innate spellcasting, a skill bonus that stacks with proficiency, the plethora of unique features that don't fall into other categories.
Not to mention nearly every other race has a skill proficiency and language, so it is only the feat you're losing to gain any combination of this stuff. And You can always get a feat later in addition to the race bonuses. And don't get me started on racial feats.
If you roll for stats (using a somewhat generous house rule that typically gives high scores) and have been playing low level (ending at or before level 8) I can see the draw of V Human. Getting that unique, hand picked feat for the first 4 levels is nice. But after 4th, and especially after 8th, the need to go with ASIs will balance the VH with other races that get solid starting stat bonuses. And that's just looking at pure stats and abilities. From an RP perspective, there is a lot you're missing out on by not playing something other than human. Although if your DMs don't really factor in player races, and treats every character as just "adventurer" this is less of a consideration.
Another thing you can try is a Warforged, from the Eberron setting fantastic fun playing think of it as a fantasy setting android. They are a blast to play I am getting ready to play a Warforged Envoy with the class of Artificer.
I also prefer the variant Human most of the time. Racial spells are cool but most of them are situational. I'd rather take Magic Initiate and get a spell and cantrips I really want, fit the concept of the character, key of the right spellcasting ability and that I can use regularly. Playing A Tiefling Wizard with a shitty Hellish rebuke due to your sub-par charisma is less useful than playing a human wizard with a free Shield or Mage Armor or even Goodberry a day. Not to mention that every specimen of your race has the exact same spells whereas you can customize your human (ok, Tieflings have a lot of variants now but the other races not so much).
Martial classes profit even more from feats like GWM, Sharpshooter etc than from a lot of racial abilities except for flying.
But most of all I don't like playing as a non-human from a roleplaying perspective. Either it's kind of irrelevant or you're pigeonholed into playing a certain type of character. A human can be however I want them to be.
The only races I feel really add new opportunities for me are Changeling and Warforged. Being able to blend in everywhere is cool and so is being a robot. They're also both great to explore gender and identity. But even the Changeling I made for the upcoming campaign I reskinned as a human with magical abilities.
But most of all I don't like playing as a non-human from a roleplaying perspective. Either it's kind of irrelevant or you're pigeonholed into playing a certain type of character. A human can be however I want them to be.
I disagree completely with this. Just because the average orc, for example, is a stupid brute, that doesn't mean your PC has to be the same. A lot of adventurers are adventurers because they're different than the people who they grew up with.
Yeah, that's why I said it's either irrelevant (you're just another person) or restricting (you're a stereotype). Being an orc or a dwarf or an elf doesn't offer me anything I couldn't do as a human. It's either the same as playing a human (when you're not using stereotypes), or worse (when you are). At that point the only reason to choose to be non-human are mechanics and aesthetics. Which are a valid reasons of course. I personally just happen to prefer humans, aesthetically and mechanically.
Yeah, that's why I said it's either irrelevant (you're just another person) or restricting (you're a stereotype). Being an orc or a dwarf or an elf doesn't offer me anything I couldn't do as a human. It's either the same as playing a human (when you're not using stereotypes), or worse (when you are). At that point the only reason to choose to be non-human are mechanics and aesthetics. Which are a valid reasons of course. I personally just happen to prefer humans, aesthetically and mechanically.
Have you not seen the racial feats? How about throwing 3 d20s when you get advantage? Think that would help with sharpshooter or great weapon master?
Yeah, that's why I said it's either irrelevant (you're just another person) or restricting (you're a stereotype). Being an orc or a dwarf or an elf doesn't offer me anything I couldn't do as a human. It's either the same as playing a human (when you're not using stereotypes), or worse (when you are). At that point the only reason to choose to be non-human are mechanics and aesthetics. Which are a valid reasons of course. I personally just happen to prefer humans, aesthetically and mechanically.
What you're saying is true if you don't have any input into 'what dwarves are like' in the world you're playing in. For example, you may have a DM who says "Dwarven society is exactly like LotR--or pretty much just Gimly from LotR". And then you seemingly have to play a character who fits into that.
But if you have some more freedom provided by your DM, playing a dwarf can give you an opportunity to create a dwarven society the way you would like to play it. Why not a dwarven character who comes from a village high in the mountains, where the dwarves have made peace with the local giants, and they spend their time herding sheep, composing poetry and ballads, and producing artwork? They live aboveground, because generations ago they were driven out of their caves by Insert Evil Force. And then have embraced this life and have not returned. Or this particular tribe left for political reasons generations ago and have adapted. They value family lineage and obeying parents, and so they stay put and 'keep on keeping on'. They are still tough and sturdy, they defend their homes from ogres/goblins/etc. But they see so few strangers that high up in the mountains that they are in no way suspicious of outsiders, and in fact welcome people into their homes. They don't mine for metals and gems, and aren't terribly 'greedy' either. They value craftwork, and arts, and they are masters at things like woodworking, stone carving, pottery, and the like.
I'd throw that place into my world as a DM, and you'd have an interesting non-trope character to play. You're only limited to tropes if you or your DM decide to limit you.
Sure but I can do that with a human too. Nothing I can play as a Dwarf, I can't also play as a human. Either all is open to reinterpretation, in which case it is just like playing a human. Or it isn't open, than they're worse. I'm not saying other races cannot be as open to interpretation as humans. I'm saying they cannot be more open. Humans can be anything. Other races cannot, logically, be more than anything.
If I wanted to play a non-traditional dwarf, I could also play a human. If I wanted to play a character like a traditional Dwarf, I could also do that as a human. There's no roleplaying incentive for playing another race. It's all about mechanics at that point.
There's no roleplaying incentive for playing another race... in campaigns you've played in/ran. I can definitely see both sides of the coin, because I've had DMs that don't include world building/lore that includes races, and I've had DMs that have read tons of D&D novels that include more lore than I even knew existed, and what race you chose (and how true to lore you played them) changed many interactions throughout their campaign.
Sure but I can do that with a human too. Nothing I can play as a Dwarf, I can't also play as a human. Either all is open to reinterpretation, in which case it is just like playing a human. Or it isn't open, than they're worse. I'm not saying other races cannot be as open to interpretation as humans. I'm saying they cannot be more open. Humans can be anything. Other races cannot, logically, be more than anything.
If I wanted to play a non-traditional dwarf, I could also play a human. If I wanted to play a character like a traditional Dwarf, I could also do that as a human. There's no roleplaying incentive for playing another race. It's all about mechanics at that point.
The roleplaying incentive is from the cultural differences that you build into each game and world. If you don't build in any differences, or if you make your humans just like your dwarves, of course there will be no roleplaying incentive. What you're saying is "I can have my human character act just like a character from any other race", while also complaining (justifiably) that you wouldn't want to be forced to act like a race stereotype. But you're ignoring the value of a given world using race as a different vehicle for constructing cultural differences. It's an entirely different dynamic to have two human cultures act in different ways, compared to having a human culture and a dwarven culture act differently. The question of racial interbreeding is just one example of those differences, but there are others.
If you don't want to take advantage of those in world-building, that's fine. But the fact that an individual character or individual culture could be constructed such that it/they acted like a culture or individual of a different race is beside the point.
So I just got into DnD last year and my last three characters have been v. humans. Every time I made a character, I'd look at that free feat and get sucked right back in! I want to try other races, but LOVE Feats. Is there anyone else who has been through this, how did you get past the addiction? How was it going with another race afterwards?
Maybe remind yourself that the racial traits of other races are a feat. Breath weapon? Feat. Racial spells? Feat. Flying? Feat.
The abilities that the their races have are comparable to feats. Some are better and some are worse, but they’re comparable. Look at them that way and compare them to the feat that you like the most.
Professional computer geek
Try and take Elven Accuracy as your free feat, then reroll your human for a full or half elf...
This 100%!
I've the same tendency (mainly for Resilient: Constitution, Magic Initiate & Ritual Caster), but using this approach does the trick for me.
I have the opposite problem. The free feat has never been more appealing to me than the mountain of features other races could have.
Darkvision, a +2 in a core ability, resistance to a damage, advantage against a condition or spells, requiring less sleep, natural AC, extra movement types, innate spellcasting, a skill bonus that stacks with proficiency, the plethora of unique features that don't fall into other categories.
Not to mention nearly every other race has a skill proficiency and language, so it is only the feat you're losing to gain any combination of this stuff. And You can always get a feat later in addition to the race bonuses. And don't get me started on racial feats.
If you roll for stats (using a somewhat generous house rule that typically gives high scores) and have been playing low level (ending at or before level 8) I can see the draw of V Human. Getting that unique, hand picked feat for the first 4 levels is nice. But after 4th, and especially after 8th, the need to go with ASIs will balance the VH with other races that get solid starting stat bonuses. And that's just looking at pure stats and abilities. From an RP perspective, there is a lot you're missing out on by not playing something other than human. Although if your DMs don't really factor in player races, and treats every character as just "adventurer" this is less of a consideration.
Another thing you can try is a Warforged, from the Eberron setting fantastic fun playing think of it as a fantasy setting android. They are a blast to play I am getting ready to play a Warforged Envoy with the class of Artificer.
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InsiderNothing wrong with enjoying playing as humans! Be the character that makes you happy.
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I also prefer the variant Human most of the time. Racial spells are cool but most of them are situational. I'd rather take Magic Initiate and get a spell and cantrips I really want, fit the concept of the character, key of the right spellcasting ability and that I can use regularly. Playing A Tiefling Wizard with a shitty Hellish rebuke due to your sub-par charisma is less useful than playing a human wizard with a free Shield or Mage Armor or even Goodberry a day. Not to mention that every specimen of your race has the exact same spells whereas you can customize your human (ok, Tieflings have a lot of variants now but the other races not so much).
Martial classes profit even more from feats like GWM, Sharpshooter etc than from a lot of racial abilities except for flying.
But most of all I don't like playing as a non-human from a roleplaying perspective. Either it's kind of irrelevant or you're pigeonholed into playing a certain type of character. A human can be however I want them to be.
The only races I feel really add new opportunities for me are Changeling and Warforged. Being able to blend in everywhere is cool and so is being a robot. They're also both great to explore gender and identity. But even the Changeling I made for the upcoming campaign I reskinned as a human with magical abilities.
I disagree completely with this. Just because the average orc, for example, is a stupid brute, that doesn't mean your PC has to be the same. A lot of adventurers are adventurers because they're different than the people who they grew up with.
Professional computer geek
Yeah, that's why I said it's either irrelevant (you're just another person) or restricting (you're a stereotype). Being an orc or a dwarf or an elf doesn't offer me anything I couldn't do as a human. It's either the same as playing a human (when you're not using stereotypes), or worse (when you are). At that point the only reason to choose to be non-human are mechanics and aesthetics. Which are a valid reasons of course. I personally just happen to prefer humans, aesthetically and mechanically.
Have you not seen the racial feats? How about throwing 3 d20s when you get advantage? Think that would help with sharpshooter or great weapon master?
What you're saying is true if you don't have any input into 'what dwarves are like' in the world you're playing in. For example, you may have a DM who says "Dwarven society is exactly like LotR--or pretty much just Gimly from LotR". And then you seemingly have to play a character who fits into that.
But if you have some more freedom provided by your DM, playing a dwarf can give you an opportunity to create a dwarven society the way you would like to play it. Why not a dwarven character who comes from a village high in the mountains, where the dwarves have made peace with the local giants, and they spend their time herding sheep, composing poetry and ballads, and producing artwork? They live aboveground, because generations ago they were driven out of their caves by Insert Evil Force. And then have embraced this life and have not returned. Or this particular tribe left for political reasons generations ago and have adapted. They value family lineage and obeying parents, and so they stay put and 'keep on keeping on'. They are still tough and sturdy, they defend their homes from ogres/goblins/etc. But they see so few strangers that high up in the mountains that they are in no way suspicious of outsiders, and in fact welcome people into their homes. They don't mine for metals and gems, and aren't terribly 'greedy' either. They value craftwork, and arts, and they are masters at things like woodworking, stone carving, pottery, and the like.
I'd throw that place into my world as a DM, and you'd have an interesting non-trope character to play. You're only limited to tropes if you or your DM decide to limit you.
Looking for new subclasses, spells, magic items, feats, and races? Opinions welcome :)
Sure but I can do that with a human too. Nothing I can play as a Dwarf, I can't also play as a human. Either all is open to reinterpretation, in which case it is just like playing a human. Or it isn't open, than they're worse. I'm not saying other races cannot be as open to interpretation as humans. I'm saying they cannot be more open. Humans can be anything. Other races cannot, logically, be more than anything.
If I wanted to play a non-traditional dwarf, I could also play a human. If I wanted to play a character like a traditional Dwarf, I could also do that as a human. There's no roleplaying incentive for playing another race. It's all about mechanics at that point.
There's no roleplaying incentive for playing another race... in campaigns you've played in/ran. I can definitely see both sides of the coin, because I've had DMs that don't include world building/lore that includes races, and I've had DMs that have read tons of D&D novels that include more lore than I even knew existed, and what race you chose (and how true to lore you played them) changed many interactions throughout their campaign.
The roleplaying incentive is from the cultural differences that you build into each game and world. If you don't build in any differences, or if you make your humans just like your dwarves, of course there will be no roleplaying incentive. What you're saying is "I can have my human character act just like a character from any other race", while also complaining (justifiably) that you wouldn't want to be forced to act like a race stereotype. But you're ignoring the value of a given world using race as a different vehicle for constructing cultural differences. It's an entirely different dynamic to have two human cultures act in different ways, compared to having a human culture and a dwarven culture act differently. The question of racial interbreeding is just one example of those differences, but there are others.
If you don't want to take advantage of those in world-building, that's fine. But the fact that an individual character or individual culture could be constructed such that it/they acted like a culture or individual of a different race is beside the point.
Looking for new subclasses, spells, magic items, feats, and races? Opinions welcome :)