♬~Everyone's a little bit racist~♫

[Durvayas]

An insight thread. What race do you most like to play, and why?


I'll start.

I like playing drow.

Why? Elves are cool, but they have no ambition. They never do anything brash, they never seem to be anything but that silent bad-azz chilling in the treeline. The aesthetic is great, but the RP is stale for my tastes.
And I like playing evil characters. Playing a villain is a lot more about initiating things than reacting to them. Villains raid, villains take prisoners, slaves, hostages. They kick butt and take names, and the heroes come after them.

Its a match made in heaven. Evil elves, with a great deal of fun potential for villainous RP with ~just~ a hint of xenophobia and 12th century catholic zealotry. Fun times.

[grip]

Humans. I am too dimwitted to play anything else. Also, I don't think I could play a demi-human up to the standards I would set for myself. All the others are too alien for me.

[Urch]

Gnomes. Their nature of being slightly insane appeals to me, that and their fascination for tinkering and developing of strange and somewhat self destructive inventions.

Also humans, purely because of the race's flexibility. That and it's another race that deals with madness and insanity quite proficiently.

[msterswrdsmn]

Humans. Mostly because FR cultural lore is the really racist bits of a real life culture mixed in with some fantasy elements. It makes it easier to come up with a general concept for a character.

[P Three]

Elves. Because they're pretty!

[Emotionaloverload]

:/ I can only do this backwards.

Half-orcs and dwarves I haven't played/can't manage it properly because they are just too different for me.

-S

[Stath]

Elves/Drow are quite hard (for me) to get into the shoes of because they're just so complex and alien, so hats off to people who can pull it off. Used to like playing the more out there races when I was younger (foolish), but ever since taking part in the drudgery of errerryday life all i can muster is generic humans.

[Arther Goodmane]

(Disclaimer: This is all just my opinion, if you don't agree with any of this then...err...have a cookie instead)

Elves are like the supermodels of the fantasy world, fair and exotic. An example of what Humanity can be if we embraced our more diplomatic and social aspects. Elves thrive culturally and have unrivaled martial prowess...reminds me of the Samurai and ninjas. I like to play Elves who still need to discover their own nature and their place within Elvin society.

Dwarves are hard working, tough as nails, comically short with a Napoleonic complex. They represent what Humanity can become if it decided to be more industrialist and materialistic. Dwarves are masters of stone work and steel. I like playing the stoic, friendly, yet hard to win over Dwarven Defender, who has trust issues.

Half-Orcs represents brute savagery...that's pretty much it . They're the ultimate barbarian IMO. I like to play a typical, brutish half orc who can't help but be savage most of the time, with fleeting glimpes of Humanity.

Halflings, to me at least (it may be because I prefer the Tolkien version), are humble and down to Earth people who value fun, family and the simpler things in life. They represent the part of our Humanity who want to live stable, pleasant lives but still adventurous and interesting. I like to play Halflings who are stoic defenders of their people, much like my Dwarfy guy.

Gnomes are...err...interesting. They are inquisitive, curious, practical and experimentive. They represent our need to know and understand everything around us. I like to play an inventor Gnome who's inventions range from the truly mundane, to the truly incredible...but they all have one thing in common: They ultimately fail, quite spectacularly and humorously.

Half Elves are the 'misunderstood teens' of the fantasy world, belonging to neither culture of man or Elf. They are driven to be even more individualistic than Humans, since their identity is in question often. I like to play the slightly dark, but well meaning Half Elf who is hard to befriend and has more than a few skeletons in the closet.

Humans are...well, us . Dynamic and everywhere, I prefer to play Either the Heroic Paladin or the sneaky Rogue when playing a Human.

[Ozzy.nl]

*points up*

The best description of the races ever.
Well put.

As for my favorite class, definitely elven and half elves .

The half elf because of how well it is already said in the above post.

The elven because I love the beauty of the race there culture and outlook on life.
Even though I try to create a elf that can be a bit different from the norm.
Still holding to the culture, but life's experience good or bad has changed them in a way and straying a little from the norm.

[Cortex]

Humans because they are mechanically optimal.

Jokes aside.

Human for versatility.

Elf for IC racial superiority and aloofness.

Half-orc for being a mean warrior archetype.

Other races like gnome, dwarf, half-elf are lesser creatures not worth of my time.

[Arther Goodmane]

No Cortex, Halflings are lesser creatures...get it? "Lesser" creatures? Oh I'm so funny.

[Serendipitous]

Gnolls- they are strong, bestial, fearsome, and have no qualms about cowardly behavior, making it fairly easy to instigate tense RP that "usually" doesn't have to end in pvp roflstomping

They making cleaning up the numerous corpses in the ud easy to RP because they do not mind eating a fallen sentient being and they aren't averse to scavenging for their food.

They are the underplayed underdogs who might rise into power one day given they become popular to play, Cordor in chains to a gnoll tribe anyone?

[Lorkas]

I love halflings when they are played as a people with a distinct culture and mindset instead of as human children. They are probably my favorite race to play even though in a lot of ways I'm not much like them in real life.

I like dwarves as well, because there's something appealing to me about working out the mentality of a once-great people who now have only a shadow of their former civilizations.

[Dalenger]

The most fun I ever had was on a gnoll.

Why?
Because no one ever expects anything of you, being a wild animal. You can do literally anything (and I have) and it will still be in character. Often I would walk up to random people and sniff them, just to see how they respond.

Other races? I love elves, mainly because they are so obliviously racist to other races (or at least that's how I play mine). Kobolds are great simply because the player model is so damn cute.

[Gnolls] are the underplayed underdogs who might rise into power one day given they become popular to play, Cordor in chains to a gnoll tribe anyone?

And this, so much. I love playing gnolls, only reason I'm playing a svirf right now is I needed a change in scenery and wanted to see the surface a bit.

[Griefmaker]

I love playing dwarves and elves because of their rich cultures and lore. I do tend to enjoy playing more "classical" if not almost stereotypical characters of those races (being very "elfy" or very "dwarvfy"). It is fun to dive into such, especially with other characters who embrace it as well. Those two races and humans have been my favorite races to play in the past 8 years.

If Poppy were about, she would still be agreeing with me that dwarves are the best though...mostly because of so much beard and chest hair.

As far as humans go, there is one subset I would never play, and that is known as the "Scrub", also known as a Stath (jk buddy! )

[Kuma]

Humans, so I can keep playing Germans.

[Dalenger]

Humans, so I can keep playing Germans.

I feel like gnomes would make good germans.

[Kuma]

Humans, so I can keep playing Germans.

I feel like gnomes would make good germans.

Gnome in a pickelhaube...

Perfect.

[Black Wendigo]

I am the kind of player who loves playing monster races. I loved playing my gnolls and would do so more often if I could get them into a gnoll community. I had a lot of fun with my kobols too many years ago, I'd play things like a minotaur of a centaur if it was supported >

My general preference though is actually half orcs. I am most familiar with them and the fact that they are the square peg in a round hole makes them interesting for me. I like trying to make chars that are outside the box, so not all of my half orcs are dumb brutes. Some of them are even lawful. that is for a half orc anyways.

[Flameborn]

Im flameborn, I play the freakiest of the freaks, and everyone knows it.

Drow, kobold, gnoll or dragon, you can count on me to break the character.

In all honestly, I'll play any animal character, and refuse to ever play any regular humanoid. I just hate them.

And screw you Kuma! Nobody can take a bloody joke around here...

[Dalenger]

I'd play things like a minotaur of a centaur if it was supported >
.

I'd play a imp if it was supported. Surfacers have the fey as a non-major award race, imp doesn't seem too long of a shot for UD.

[Stath]

Often I would walk up to random people and sniff them, just to see how they respond.

You can do this on a human slave too! Just...don't expect them to live very long.

[CragOrion]

I like playing Humans, but with the speed that arelith moves through time, they grow old so fast, so if I want to play a long lasting character, I might sacrifice that extra feat and play a halfelf

Drow aren't really my thing, but I think I'm less likely to play a dwarf. I actually have a drow in my vault, but I've never tried making a dwarf character in all the 10 years since I came to Arelith.

Elves can be fun, if I'm willing to put in a bit of effort. They were intimidating to play at first, but once I did some research, I think I found my comfortable spot with them.

Halforcs to me are good for a laugh. You can have a serious halforc, sure, but I've never made one. All my halforc chars were joke characters, or an homage to something else

Hin do have a certain appeal to play, but I don't think I've ever just been in the right mood to play one.

[nobs3]

At the start I played human and elves - you can play the standard fantasy heroes (like I did) or something else...

Then I played a goblin and stuck in goblin rp for years now... getting several extreme bad and acceptable builds up to lvl 30 (or close to).

I just like the idea of playing one of those small anonym creatures that are smashed one after one in fantasy films and books. Because:
- I like the tribal aspect (living in caves, shamans, chieftains, rituals, self-made weapons, own and different culture etc.)
- the "horde" / collective aspect (brutal childhood, but also sticking together, thinking about a "we", survival of the tribe comes first, harsh line of command, but also chaotic and dynamic, go with the masses, extreme ecstasy when on the winning side and panic when not (or when unsure), there is always a home cave and a "we"...)
- the small/ lesser one: always underestimated, always a great chance to get out of every mess by whimpering, pleading and shameless pretending and swearing, and when on the top: backstabbing, dirty fighting, tricks all of that... sticking together and trying to survive, stay out of open conflict, work behind the curtain, grab all you can....
- the bad guy: it’s great to play the one that builds up or takes part in the intrigues, scheming, thinking about stories, being hunted and all of that...
- "monster": the cultural aspect is important for my rp. I imagine being a goblin for which his cultural identity is important. Most of the good races really threaten the culture of the monster races. If there would be something like peace they would expect them to adopt the "civilized" culture. There is no chance to maintain the culture of the monster races without being "evil". That helps me much playing a "monster".

There is much more but I stop here

And since years I want to play an orog

[Marshmellow Knight]

I really wish I had a preference to hold onto but, at best, I'd say I've played more as human throughout the years.