Our humans are different.

[Tentreto]

In one setting I helped make, the humans were mostly the strange warlike invaders who had a strange habit of training animals for warfare.

Its not too much of a hat, as the setting was based around a group of loosely allied cities and towns with various races with no real humanesque races around.. The training animals for warfare was mostly due to horses only being native to their lands. If I remember, the main races were kobolds, goblins, gnomes, various centaurs and with lizardpeople often being aristocracy (as well as the workhorses)

The main difference for humans was their unity under a single banner (which absolutely none of the races had) and their hatred for magic. As it was mostly a setting to explore seeing humans from the other side, humans weren't too different, but they were strange for the standards of the setting, which was enough.

[Eladrinblade]

I like humans as either in-betweener merchant hubs or the LE warrior race (I don't use hobgoblins).

I'm working on a small setting right now, where humans have to choose from:

Cydonian Ethnicity
+1 to any class-suggested score, -1 to any non class-suggested score
bonus skill-related or melee-combat feat
bonus skill-points (must be spent on craft, knowledge, or cha-skills)
speak common

Kalashari Ethnicity
+1 to any two class-suggested scores (not intelligence), -2 to any non class-suggested score
bonus archery, mounted-combat, or animal-related feat
bonus skill-points (must be spent on handle animal, ride, listen, spot, survival, or knowledge [nature])
speak kalashari

The cydonians are your generic medieval europeans, while the kalashari are like plains native americans and mongols.

[Sizzlefoot]

Maybe no other race can truly experience a full range of emotion- for elves, they can only experience very deep, passionate emotions. They can't be content, so they wander, engaging in hedonism and suchlike. For dwarves, happiness and contentment are dulled. That's why a dwarf is so obsessed with their craft- they can literally never see it as perfect.

[jqavins]

[E]lves... can't be content... For dwarves, happiness and contentment are dulled.

Is this theme continued? That is, are humans the only ones capable of feeling real contentment? Goblins are always a little bit nervous, so can't fully relax. Orcs must either be conquering or thinking about the next conquest, never content with what they have. And so on.

It's also noteworthy that your two examples and my two are all behaviors that can be found in individual real world humans.

[Sizzlefoot]

Is this theme continued? That is, are humans the only ones capable of feeling real contentment? Goblins are always a little bit nervous, so can't fully relax. Orcs must either be conquering or thinking about the next conquest, never content with what they have. And so on.

It's also noteworthy that your two examples and my two are all behaviors that can be found in individual real world humans.

Neat. I do like the idea of humans being the only ones really capable of settling down. Maybe that's another reason why only humans build cities, as stated earlier in the thread.

[Anymage]

I'm tempted to someday run something that steals a bit from Dresden Files (and a bit of Tolkien), but even more exaggerated: humans are spiritually unique.

Meaning that they are the only mortal creature.
Humans have souls, that move on after they die. All other creatures either vanish or have some kind of reincarnation/reformation.
Humans can break even the most solemn vow casually, without losing their power, or being immediately struck dead by whatever they swore by. Scary stuff. Some humans even lie.
Humans enter homes uninvited.
Humans don't have a defined fate or nature. They can just change.

Maybe no other race can truly experience a full range of emotion- for elves, they can only experience very deep, passionate emotions. They can't be content, so they wander, engaging in hedonism and suchlike. For dwarves, happiness and contentment are dulled. That's why a dwarf is so obsessed with their craft- they can literally never see it as perfect.

While I like these ideas for certain settings, they require a human-centric setting and usually work best with a modern one. It'd be interesting trying to make nonhumans feel different by giving them some restrictions more meaningful than a -2 to a stat, but if you expect them to be playable you're going to really annoy the players if you force them to be so strictly limited by their natures.

I'm generally pro human, because I and my fellow players are all humans so that's what we're most familiar with. Making them feel meaningfully different in play (as opposed to backstory) sounds like more buildaround than I care for.

[Grim Portent]

Dunno how different it really is, but in the city at world's edge setting I had a brief thread on here humans are the rarest species and have strong religious connotations to the people of the city due to the first practitioner of 'holy' magics being a human woman who also encouraged the ruler of the city to reach out to the destitute with charitable measures.

As with the other races they aren't native to the city, arriving in sealed coffins that bump up into the docks or are caught in nets, with little if any memory of where they came from.

They're associated with grace, beauty and purity and managing to adopt one or be one's patron is a massive boost to social prestige for the other races. The more a non-human resembles a human the more prestigious and glamorous they're considered to be. Most humans that are born in or arrive in the city are swept up by the clergy to be raised in a cloistered environment and attached to the households of powerful benefactors of the church as they come of age, others are usually adopted into powerful merchant houses or noble families as prized sons and daughters of the family head, but some are instead sequestered away by the more... culty members of the lower classes, a bit like locking a saint in your cupboard.

Compared to the other races humans are more dexterous, usually run faster, are less physically varied and are on the shorter side.

[GaelofDarkness]

I once had an idea for humans to not just be less gifted with supernatural skills than other fantasy races, but that they have built in anti-magic properties. So humanity was a threat to the ancient magics of elves, runesmiths of dwarves or shamanism of the orcs. I wasn't sure how to balance that, but taking a cue from Gnome Cunning maybe they take get advantage on one saving throw from Con, Dex or Wis against magic and one saving throw from Cha, Str, Int? The general idea was that they are able to resist magical effects and stand against the sophisticated spells of the elder races even as relatively barbaric younger race.

Another thought was that humans (or at least some humans) might be actively toxic to certain creature types. Maybe different creature types for different individuals based on heritage, or star sign or just random chance? So if the touch of silver burns fey maybe so too does the touch of some people. Maybe there was a huge war or incursion of undead, shapechangers, fiends, aberrations, etc. who would gladly have gone around eating all the intelligent humanoids in a giant bloodbath except they were stopped by human warriors - not because the humans were better fighters or better armed but because when they spilled their blood or consumed their flesh they started taking huge casualties among their own ranks. I haven't the foggiest how that would be implemented in a balanced way mechanically, but I think it's an interesting way of explaining humanity's place in the world.

[SirKazum]

In the "main" setting I'm working on, the Heplion Contingency setting (see sig), which is basically D&D reskinned as sci-fi... In the world most focused on (Bhadrapada VI), humans are essentially an invader alien race that conquered large swaths of territory, having arrived together with other, allied races from the budding interstellar community they've been building up. They're not necessarily the most advanced race, but they've got a really large population (they breed quickly), and they've got a huge hunger for territory that led them to occupy most of each planet they've been to. As for what sets them apart from other races... well, one notable characteristic is their penchant for genetic experiments that led to modified strains of humans (known as transhumans) that are barely recognizable as such (corresponding to D&D's Outsiders), which comprise the upper strata of human society. Another important trait is their ideological fractiousness and tendency to extremism, which has gotten to the point of not only altering the core psychic structure of most humans, but actually altered the psychic matrix of the very planets they live on (corresponding to 3E D&D's planar Alignment effects, since the main human homeworlds roughly correspond to D&D's Outer Planes).

[jqavins]

I'm tempted to someday run something that steals a bit from Dresden Files (and a bit of Tolkien), but even more exaggerated: humans are spiritually unique.

Meaning that they are the only mortal creature.
Humans have souls, that move on after they die. All other creatures either vanish or have some kind of reincarnation/reformation.
Humans can break even the most solemn vow casually, without losing their power, or being immediately struck dead by whatever they swore by. Scary stuff. Some humans even lie.
Humans enter homes uninvited.
Humans don't have a defined fate or nature. They can just change.

While I like these ideas for certain settings, they require a human-centric setting and usually work best with a modern one. It'd be interesting trying to make nonhumans feel different by giving them some restrictions more meaningful than a -2 to a stat, but if you expect them to be playable you're going to really annoy the players if you force them to be so strictly limited by their natures.

That depends a lot on the players. I could get into playing non-human characters with the level of restrictions implied by Eldan's post, and I'm pretty sure several of my friends could as well. I can see a setting where humans, with this extraordinary ability to act freely, are mostly used as enemies, with only a rare few being allied with the party. Rather like drow are often used. (Of course, nothing in Eldan's stuff requires humans to be "usually evil," but it makes them scary, and in narrative it's common to use the scary creatures as the enemies. And it would make them the one of the few races inclined to chaotic alignments.

[TheGrimPeddler]

. (doting) to come back and pick up some inspiration later. I was going to talk about the humans in my setting, but uh... I realized they're kind of what the topic is trying to get away from while at the same time not entirely. The world's gone through several iterations of apocalypse, some of which have turned it into space dust (I've got it plotted from universe formation, all the way through about 11 "rebirths"). The only thing I think that makes them unique is they don't serve as "patterns" for other races to be built off of, since the other sentient species on the planet are technically inter-dimensional invasive species seeded there by circumstances or by gods wanting to get in on a piece of the planet. I took great pains to try and keep each species unique and alien rather than just another flavor of human... Until the current 'final' iteration where the TTRPG takes place anyway... Because sales matter.

[Xania]

Too much settings where humans were the 90% of the world for me, the only way they are any different is that they are most likely extint, if not, they will be only a few outside of the population in a couple of towns.

[Sam113097]

In the setting that I'm working on right now, humans are the progenitors of the other sentient races (with one exception) and the only creation in which all Four of the major gods had a part. As such, humans have a unique relationship with the gods, and are the only people to have seers that receive directions through visions from the gods. The other races were created when gods or powerful mages interfered and made servants or slaves. Humans see themselves as the "original" race, and tend to look down on the other races as just copies. The main human nation is a Puritan-like theocracy that is ruled by its seers, and treats the other races as outcasts.

[Warrior Birdy]

I had one setting idea I was gnawing on where humans were sort of a mongrelfolk replacement; an answer to 'what happens when an elf and dwarf have a kid?' that didn't involve templates. All the main humanoid races could interbreed, with the result being humans (with the option to use half-elf or half-orc stats if you really wanted to show a human taking strongly after their elf/orc parent).

I had another (also unused in play) where humans were the center of an elf-orc continuum, where humanity, orcishness, and elvishness were matters of degrees. I think I was inspired by the idea of uruk-hai as 'super-orcs' and stuck them on the far orcish end of the continuum, with 'super-elves' (more over-the-top Tolkienian than the elves D&D usually goes with) on the other end, and humans as the middle. (There was a dwarf-halfling-gnome continuum too, but I've already wandered off pretty far from the topic already )

[rlc]

There's always the different human subraces/variants (neanderthal, vasharan, buomman*, etc) that you can use to flavor humans differently. Or, you could just look at the real world and take inspiration from the different cultures.

*at least, I think they're descended from humans

[the_david]

I had another (also unused in play) where humans were the center of an elf-orc continuum, where humanity, orcishness, and elvishness were matters of degrees. I think I was inspired by the idea of uruk-hai as 'super-orcs' and stuck them on the far orcish end of the continuum, with 'super-elves' (more over-the-top Tolkienian than the elves D&D usually goes with) on the other end, and humans as the middle. (There was a dwarf-halfling-gnome continuum too, but I've already wandered off pretty far from the topic already )

Wait, there's a name for that. Is it ring species? Elves and orcs can't produce offspring together, but humans can create offspring with elves and orcs.

[jqavins]

I think I was inspired by the idea of uruk-hai as 'super-orcs'...

I always thought uruk-hai were half-orcs. Magic-aided cross breeding gives orcish strength and obedience with human intelligence.

[Xania]

I always thought uruk-hai were half-orcs. Magic-aided cross breeding gives orcish strength and obedience with human intelligence.

That's true for most of them, i think.
There were another half-orc kind looking like very short persons with orc eyes.

[Relonious]

Wait, there's a name for that. Is it ring species? Elves and orcs can't produce offspring together, but humans can create offspring with elves and orcs.

I allways found wierd that humans could breed with elfs and orcs, but not orcs and elfs. I guess that the_david's answer explains a lot. (and i also managed to learn something new)

Ps: I could not find how to quote from another. Maybe I'm not doing something?

[SirKazum]

I allways found wierd that humans could breed with elfs and orcs, but not orcs and elfs. I guess that the_david's answer explains a lot. (and i also managed to learn something new)

Ps: I could not find how to quote from another. Maybe I'm not doing something?

I've always understood that, while "half-elf" = elf + human, "half orc" is actually orc + whatever, including humans, half-elves and elves at least, possibly even stuff like dwarves. Though that may be influenced by their 2nd edition description, since that's when I started playing.

[PhoenixPhyre]

I allways found wierd that humans could breed with elfs and orcs, but not orcs and elfs. I guess that the_david's answer explains a lot. (and i also managed to learn something new)

Ps: I could not find how to quote from another. Maybe I'm not doing something?

My answer to that is that humans are hobgoblins + elf hybrids (way back when) and orcs are hobgoblins + porcine-esque hybrids. The first lets humans and elves interbreed, while the common ancestry lets humans and orcs interbreed.

My goblinoids are descended from the beings that served Change personified, so they're very mutable. This makes them a nice "base" species for cross-breeding and magical experimentation.

Although in practice, half-orcs are really really rare. I use the half-orc stat blocks for civilized full orcs, who make up 99% of all the orcs anyone would ever see.

To quote someone, click on the quotation mark buttons at the bottom right of their post. The 2nd one from the right will quote only that person; the other will let you mark a few and reply to a bunch of people at once.

[jqavins]

I've always understood half-orc and half-elf as implying human as the other half only because the published material is so human centric. I don't recall ever seeing an explicit statement that there can't be an elf-orc hybrid, it's just not written up in the books. There are other part human races (dragonborn, tiefling, etc.) and as far as I know only one humanless hybrid in the books, the ogrilon. But the existence of even one suggests that others should not be ruled out out of hand.

[DuctTapeKatar]

I have started to think about this recently, and have managed to concoct a way to ascribe "natures" to the races of the world I am working on. The idea comes from that, as the origins of the races are obscure and gods do not interfere much in the mortal realm (if they exist at all), they could have origins and ties to the world they inhabit, with two primary "natures" that define their people and the cultures they create.

This way of thinking has led me to see the humans of my world as "people of wind and fire," contrast to halflings (water and plains) or goblins (mud and ash). Humans are seen by most other sentient species as ephemeral, with their short lives in comparison to dwarves and elves, but they are widespread and where one village falls, it seems that another springs out on the opposite frontier.