Human race

[MossyMeow]

I like to have humans be just another race in whatever fantasy world I'm currently cooking up, whether it's gritty and realistic or mythical and grand. In the former, I just assume they evolved like all the other races; in the latter, I say the gods, or one god in particular, created humans alongside all the other races, and that they are all equal, just different.

[Wizard_Lizard]

I like to have humans be just another race in whatever fantasy world I'm currently cooking up, whether it's gritty and realistic or mythical and grand. In the former, I just assume they evolved like all the other races; in the latter, I say the gods, or one god in particular, created humans alongside all the other races, and that they are all equal, just different.

well said!

[Xania]

Oh, well, there are not wrong answers in this thread.

[Relonious]

What about this?

Humans made the gods in their image and their worship gave them power to create other worlds where they create humans in their image, and on, and on as the egg/chicken discussion.

[sktarq]

And also the starting post pointed out humans-as-favorite-for-everything idea....which I'm not sure if that is true...

Sure it is anecdotal but I remember during 2e humans big thing was that they didn't have level limits (other races had maxes-basically except for what became favored class in later editions) and very few people played them that I knew of...

3.0 on seemed to make humans a better choice in many ways. And before 2e humans were default, other races were classes in and of themselves.

So what are they at any given point is variable.

Since 3.0 I'd say they are what people use when they don't want to put in the work for adding the complexity of adding a racial culture the players/DM figures will be more work explaining than human one which are often quite alien enough.

[noob]

The fact humans in rpgs are often from a medieval world or a futuristic world or a world full of magic monsters and superstition should probably make them alien relatively to the humans we meet in real life.

[Xania]

And also the starting post pointed out humans-as-favorite-for-everything idea....which I'm not sure if that is true...

Sure it is anecdotal but I remember during 2e humans big thing was that they didn't have level limits (other races had maxes-basically except for what became favored class in later editions) and very few people played them that I knew of...

3.0 on seemed to make humans a better choice in many ways. And before 2e humans were default, other races were classes in and of themselves.

So what are they at any given point is variable.

Since 3.0 I'd say they are what people use when they don't want to put in the work for adding the complexity of adding a racial culture the players/DM figures will be more work explaining than human one which are often quite alien enough.

It's judged by what I saw, which remains fairly stable with what I read around the web, there is a "boring humans and their boring human things" variable, seems to be less common than the other one though.

[Tzardok]

I took my head canon on humanity's origin from this story, written by the local expert on all things planar, Afroakuma. It's told over a few posts and describes the events from the creation of the Material Plane to humanity's emergency, weaving planescape canon and conjecture together.

[Sizzlefoot]

In my current setting, humans are unique in that they've just always been there. Most races have a creation myth that seems more credible than the others, and is accepted by most. Not so with humans. They spring up everywhere, they can live off of most anything, they can interbreed with pretty much everything, and they (well, most of them, at least) can be trusted to do decently, but not exceptionally, at most tasks.

[Xania]

Half breed I don't have, just mutants like PC kobolds wich don't resemble any particular kind of dragon or goblins as good aligned hobgoblins for a change, maybe all three are human creation.

I was going to have my humans extint but they are finally kept there, although their presence is much smaller than what I usually give them.


@Relonious; @Tzardok
I like those ones, at least as myths.

[ReaderAt2046]

One idea I've played around with is making humans something other than the "average" race. For example, in one setting I've been working on, humans are the race specifically aligned with the element of Fire (dwarves are Earth, halflings Wood, elves Water, and gnomes Air). This makes them stereotypically passionate, charismatic, ambitious, and innovative. They're the shortest-lived of all the major races, but accomplish far more in their time than the other races feel should be possible.

[Xania]

Oh yes, the "average race" tag can be quite annoying as it sometimes can push them to the lower side for some mysterious reason, making them more like a race of commoners or perpetual victims.