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Revision as of 20:32, 20 August 2016
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* He's a [[ranger]] and a bad motherfucker, two things that, in ''D&D'', have rarely blent well.
* He's a [[ranger]] and a bad motherfucker, two things that, in ''D&D'', have rarely blent well.
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...On a serious note, it's because people have always liked the idea of playing "monster" races. From [[goblins]] to [[orcs]] to [[
minotaurs
]], it's as old as ''D&D''. Literally; Gygax included notes expressing different opinions on the idea in different supplements over the years and reportedly once let someone bring a ''balrog'' to the table. Evil races are often kinda ''sweet''. Why else would [[Chaos]] have as many fans as it does? But bringing a monster attitude to a normal gaming table is often disruptive. Gygax pointed out that having a balrog in the party made it hard to adventure, since it kept trying to dominate or abuse the other party members into line.
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...On a serious note, it's because people have always liked the idea of playing "monster" races. From [[goblins]] to [[orcs]] to [[
minotaur
]]
s
, it's as old as ''D&D''. Literally; Gygax included notes expressing different opinions on the idea in different supplements over the years and reportedly once let someone bring a ''balrog'' to the table. Evil races are often kinda ''sweet''. Why else would [[Chaos]] have as many fans as it does? But bringing a monster attitude to a normal gaming table is often disruptive. Gygax pointed out that having a balrog in the party made it hard to adventure, since it kept trying to dominate or abuse the other party members into line.
So, to the kind of mind that likes coming up with "unconventional" PC choices, playing a non-evil version of a traditionally-evil race is a good way to try to create a character with an adventuring-party-friendly personality without fully sacrificing the cool-factor that made the traditionally-evil race popular in the first place. And it was pretty good roleplay fodder too before it got run into the ground: the player in question got to have angst while the party got to show how cool and not-racist they were for looking past the monster PC's race to see them for the good person they were inside.
So, to the kind of mind that likes coming up with "unconventional" PC choices, playing a non-evil version of a traditionally-evil race is a good way to try to create a character with an adventuring-party-friendly personality without fully sacrificing the cool-factor that made the traditionally-evil race popular in the first place. And it was pretty good roleplay fodder too before it got run into the ground: the player in question got to have angst while the party got to show how cool and not-racist they were for looking past the monster PC's race to see them for the good person they were inside.