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Sordak Offline OP
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Actually just one race. But since we havent seen the model of a few of the players handbook races, id like to add in something, hopefully before they get made and look awfull.
So i got a contention with two races specifically:

Dragonborn are slowly becoming a staple of DnD, and quite a few people have a problem with them, some take offense at their dreadlocks, some dont like that they dont have tails. I personally dont care about either, but somehow ive got one issue with them that annoys me so much i actually have to make a thread about it: proportions.

Their design got shifted around a bit since their inception in early 4e and evolved a bit. With 5e generally switching to much lower production values there seem to be two competing artstyles:
the official one and the inofficial critical role one. The latter beeing basically lizardfolk with horns, but im gonna speak more on the former:
[Linked Image from cpng.pikpng.com]
[Linked Image from i.imgur.com]

For the love of whatever antedeluvian troglodyte you worship, theres only one race that ought to look like a Dwarf and thats a Dwarf.
i dont know why i feel the need to make a thread about this, but seriously do not do this.
Theres a reason the canon look for this race isnt popular and its not their dreadlocks, its not the lack of a tail.

These are just symptoms, symptoms because, as usual, people dont know what they want, they can only vagueley identify that they dont like something and then come up with a plausible justification.
Thats my theory anyway.
I think people are put off by the absurd proportions, having a character that is much taller than a Human, but then have a Squat body shape and a comically oversized cranium looks ridiculous. You cannot take a character like that seriously.
Thankfully there is official art that remedies that, people only forgot about it.

[Linked Image from dtrpg-public-files.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com]

Id have simmilar thoughts about Warforged but im pretty sure they wont actually get added.
Halforcs, heres an unpopular opinion: Pathfinder is right about them.
"Ugly people" is a pretty poor choice of aesthetic for a race thats still at least 50% human.

Pretty much any dnd game did this, from baldurs gate to NWN2
[Linked Image from mobygames.com]
IIRC this is the last time they got portrayed in an official dnd game.
Do not do this.
Especialy: do not give halforcs human skin colours, at least not limit it to that. Pathfinder got it figured out. DnD orcs arent your average big green dude orcs. Then let halforcs be that, dont just make em look like fetal alcohol syndrome Oblivion characters.


had to get that one out.


TL;DR:

Give large races intimidating proportions suited for large races and dont make any race look like a deformed human but give them their own identity

Last edited by Sordak; 21/02/21 03:21 PM.
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I am not even sure if those are upcoming races. Larian only said they want to implement them, not that they will. And from the Panel of Hell it looked like they vastly underestimated the workload and are now scrambling to catch up. Not a good sign for features that were not promised.

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Honestly, the game does not need to many more races. I'd be nice to have fairy/fae and gnome. I'd rather the development focus on more content, especially more towns, itemization, and class development. At the point iv played the game through on every class except cleric. the thing i am wanting the most is another 5-10 weapon smith traders. Need more variation in weapons and armor.

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Half-Orcs don't get a charisma malus in 5e, so they will not be ugly in their stats at least. No idea what the design aesthetic will be. I suppose you can change appearance with mods if you don't like the way half-orcs look in BG3 though.

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Greenskinned half-orcs is literally the most boring half-orcs.

What is special about Pathfinder half-orcs?


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Man, folks wanting their monsters to be pretty is so wild to me.

Half Orc should not be handsome.

Dragonkin SHOULD have inhuman proportion.

Tiefling? Well 4e ruined them by making them into Monster Girl fan service.

Honestly the 5e Goliath is what I picture as the 'larger than human, but fit/proportion correct' humanoid.

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Originally Posted by Dexai
Greenskinned half-orcs is literally the most boring half-orcs.

What is special about Pathfinder half-orcs?

nothing is "special" about pathfinder half-orcs. Its just they lets you choose the skinn colour as it depends on how was the Human part colored and how much they Orc is in his veins.

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Sordak Offline OP
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An oversized dwarf is not intimidating
Neither is fetal alcohol syndrome.

I dont want them to be pretty, i want them to have a defined artstyle and not look like something the developers havent thought about.
This is very evident with the halforcs from previous dnd games where they went "ah just make ugly people".
With the dragonborn its just a wild case of artists playing telephone and ending up with an unsatisfactory result.

I dont realy see your argument for them beeing monstrous

>the game doenst need more races

If Githyanki are in we better get halforcs, they might not be well liked but they are one of the staple races and have been for a long ass time.

>understimating the workload
idk, just because they havent shown more stuff than the druid?
I think youve been listening too much to people hoping for anohter TORtanic.

Last edited by Sordak; 22/02/21 11:28 AM.
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Ideally we'll get body types eventually which would likely alleviate the issue with Dragonborn being overly stocky. There's plenty of official dragonborn art that doesn't have them built like that second image so I am not too concerned about it.

My biggest issue with dragonborn design has always been the lack of tails. Reptilian humanoids just look... Off without them. The tail pulls the entire look together. Without them they look like humans wearing big lizard masks. Especially when wearing clothing or armor. The tail poking out from behind confirms in my mind that their body matches the head even if I can't see the body under the armor. It also creates a sense of balance as that long snout feels like it should throw the human body type off balance without some kind of counterweight to it.

All in all tailless dragonborn just feel unnatural and I don't like it.

Alas, that is the canon of Forgotten Realms. So until Wizards of the Coast add tailed dragonborn to the world we're pretty much out of luck.

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Truth be told, I would much rather see lizardfolk than dragonborn, since the dragonborn in D&D are currently a silly and incoherent race. And in 4e and 5e the name itself doesn't make sense. Since the concept originated in 3rd edition and referred originally to human servitors of Bahamut that were reincarnated into a draconic humanoid form, thus "dragonborn". But all the dragonborn of 4e/5e are seemingly an original race of draconic people from another world who were transplanted into Faerun. So... they should really be called dragonkin or something similar. And also I would prefer a less "powerful" look about them, i.e. they shouldn't have heads that resemble powerful and majestic true dragons, rather heads that resemble the less powerful and significant dragonkind, i.e. drakes, behirs, wyvern, etc.

This vaguely spindly look from Kobold Press' Midgard setting is the look I'd personally like the most for a draconic humanoid race. Kind of a bit like a human-sized and shaped kobold. Essentially, they could be for kobolds what hobgoblins are to goblins.

[Linked Image from 64.media.tumblr.com]

But yes, would be better if the lizardfolk became the standard "reptilian humanoid" race for D&D. Lizardfolk are also one of those few monstrous looking races that have been a part of D&D for ages and are not inclined towards evil either (most are Neutral-aligned nomads and survivalists), so there's no real reason for antagonistic attitudes against them from the classic races, to the point of being prohibited from visiting human cities/villages like goblins, orcs, gnolls, etc. would.

Last edited by deserk; 23/02/21 11:56 AM.
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Lizardfolk race if will be present in the game, will be easy and fast to add them beacause they can use the skeleton of the Lizards from DOS 2 as a base, and model the new body over. I mean 3D models have a skeleton which is necessary for animation, Lizardfolk have digitigrade legs and a long tail just like the Lizards from DOS2 universe, so they can add easily the Lizardfolks as a playable race using the same skeleton and animation from Lizards in DOS2. Also for lip sync they can use what they have used for the Red Prince intro in DOS 2.

Last edited by Il_Rettile; 02/03/21 10:27 PM.
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I would also prefer Lizardfolk to Dragonborn, personally. They're mechanically more unique due to their racials (you don't need armor at all if you'd normally wear light or medium armor) and more thematic (they can make javelins and shields out of defeated enemies) and come with more unique roleplay opportunities (they don't experience empathy the way warmbloods do).

Dragonborn really just have their breath weapon, but that is kind of underwhelming and you'll out-scale its damage fast.

That said Dragonborn are a core PHB race and should be added before any monster races out of fairness.

Originally Posted by Il_Rettile
Lizardfolk race if will be present in the game, will be easy and fast to add them beacause they can use the skeleton of the Lizards from DOS 2 as a base, and model the new body over. I mean 3D models have a skeleton which is necessary for animation, Lizardfolk have digitigrade legs and a long tail just like the Lizards from DOS2 universe, so they can add easily the Lizardfolks as a playable race using the same skeleton and animation from Lizards in DOS2. Also for lip sync they can use what they have used for the Red Prince intro in DOS 2.

I don't think this is quite true. Divinity lizards are substantially different in body plan from DnD lizardfolk. Primarily in the legs as while both are digitigrade the Divinity lizards' legs bend significantly more than any lizardfolk in Faerun.

[Linked Image from i.pinimg.com]

[Linked Image from cdn.discordapp.com]

The proportions are a fair bit different. Lizardfolk are also a fair bit bulkier which should probably reflect in their animations.

Last edited by SaurianDruid; 02/03/21 11:23 PM.

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