Totally Been There the Whole Time

Christian Malleck
Aug 25, 2017 · 3 min read

When a new rulebook comes out with more character options, I’m always very happy. I love giving players more and more options, even if some of them are fairly limited in their scope. For example, in 3.5 there was the race called Goatfolk (or Ibixian). Their main racial abilitywas called Pack Fervor, and it gave them a +2 to attack and damage and +4 on saving throws versus fear effects whenever they were within 30 ft. of another Goatfolk. This was great, as long as two players both wanted to play the race and were both classes that would typically stay within range of each other. Funnily enough, what I saw them used for more often in my games was their native language; the party would all choose to speak Ibixian when choosing languages so that they would have a way to communicate in public without other people understanding!

Most content that comes out for players is in the form of classes, items, or spells. However, sometimes a pre-made adventure or monster manual will include a new race, like my example above. For me, new race player options are bittersweet because, while I like the idea of new content, I struggle with new races in a setting I’ve been using already. What I mean is, if I’ve been playing in Forgotten Realms for years, and then suddenly a new monkey-person race comes out, my first thought is “where have they been all this time?” Have they always been there, we just never heard even a whisper about them? It might seem like a minor thing, but it sits in my brain as an unanswered question about the story, and I don’t always like thinking that there are over a dozen races running around no one ever sees but are totally there.

So what do I usually do? Sometimes I feel bad that I can’t seem to remember to incorporate all these races in my games as NPCs, because this would make future players including them much easier. Even having a player be a kenku (which have been available to players for years) in my games today is hard because I forget to put them in my stories on a regular basis. For this reason, I almost always say that a new race is rare and unusual in the setting. They likely come from some small reclusive area, and people don’t know what they are, or they come from another plane of existence. In a world of monsters and magic, the general non-adventurer population will be familiar with the common races, but they may not know the difference between a rare race of sentient creature and an evil monster, so I warn my players when they take a strange race that they may experience some different treatment from NPCs.

That being said, I also don’t like to put anything in place that will hinder the experience of being something cool. Though a player might find that crowds gather to look at them curiously, or a shopkeep chooses to bargain with the dwarf instead, I keep the impact noticeable but minor and not too negative. I don’t want them being accused of crimes out of suspicion, barred entry from town, or attacked on sight. I do however like to include wizards who ask to study them, nobles who want to show them off at a fancy dinner, or thieves guilds who think they can get an edge with this mysterious being on their side. When you suddenly have to shove a previously non-existent race into your game, put your mind at ease by expressing your feelings of uncertainty through your NPCS.

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