Human race

[Xania]

Usually they are everywhere and seems to be most people's favorite option for everything, but what are they exactly?
Are they homo sapiens like you and me or some alien species wich happen to look like us?
Have they some real inspiration? Are they in a human only scenery?

[jjordan]

I view them as our connection with the fantasy world.

[the_david]

I think the humans in the Forgotten Realms are actually decendants of humans who have migrated from Earth, so that's a possibility. Another one you see often is that in the future magic returns to Earth, and other races evolve from humans. Or humans have spread across the universe long long ago. Something like that.

Another explanation is that the gods just aren't very original.

[Millstone85]

According to 4e Nentir Vale lore, Asmodeus was once an angel in the service of a benevolent god, whom he betrayed and slew. This dead power is now only known as He Who Was, for Asmodeus erased his name from all records and memories.

Though I can't find this in the books, I read online that 4e NV strongly implied He Who Was as the creator of humanity. In any case, that would be a pretty great backstory for humans as a fantasy race.

[Sam113097]

In one of my settings, Edom, humans came about after the gods: it is theorized that they were created by the inherent wild magic of the planet. They appeared long ago, soon after the First Giants had disappeared and the Four Gods had gone quiet, and they don’t really fit into the creation myth that the older mortals believe in. As the “godless” race, they are not as inherently magical as the other peoples. Rather, humans are set apart by their burning ambition and desire to control their own fate. Their passionate nature has made humans one of the most widespread races on Edom, as they have spread out in search of power and wealth and founded two of the three largest empires prior to the War of Ruin, Bashan and Telarus. Humans are a bit of a blank slate as a people, and their appearances and cultures vary from place to place. Perhaps because they emerged after the Four Gods stopped communicating with the mortal races, humans have a hard time believing that life has a grand purpose or that they are the part of some god’s designs. Faith in the Four doesn’t really offer them an explanation as to why they exist or where they came from, so they don’t really care for religion. As non-magical beings in an inherently magical world, humans have an unstable makeup and can be altered by the power of the Tempest, making genasi.

[redwizard007]

Men are the first attempt of the gods at crafting a humanoid race. They were too flawed to breath life into, so th he gods set them aside while they perfected the elves, dwarves, and other races. One god, of all the many powers of creation, saw something promising in men. He saw adaptability. He saw drive. Focus. Potential. So he breathed life into men.

We are both the oldest and the youngest race. Created by all the gods, but championed by only one. We lack the endurance of the dwarves, or the nimble fingers of the goblins, yet they hide in holes while we build great cities. We have not the lifespan of elves, nor the weapons of the dragon born, yet our empires persist while theirs are dust. We are the best at nothing, but can excel at everything. We are the children of destiny.

[Balyano]

Men are the first attempt of the gods at crafting a humanoid race. They were too flawed to breath life into, so th he gods set them aside while they perfected the elves, dwarves, and other races. One god, of all the many powers of creation, saw something promising in men. He saw adaptability. He saw drive. Focus. Potential. So he breathed life into men.

We are both the oldest and the youngest race. Created by all the gods, but championed by only one. We lack the endurance of the dwarves, or the nimble fingers of the goblins, yet they hide in holes while we build great cities. We have not the lifespan of elves, nor the weapons of the dragon born, yet our empires persist while theirs are dust. We are the best at nothing, but can excel at everything. We are the children of destiny.

Maybe instead the gods played with humanoid races like medabots. The humans were a kind of basic frame without the kits and upgrades and equipment added on. Due to a lack of specialized add-ons these basic humanoids tend to develop either a generic all-rounded-ness (all those +1s) or a specialized niche based on environment and early experiences (variant humans) filling in the emptiness.

Humans themselves were perhaps defective or surplus units that escaped the incinerator or trash-heap somehow.

OR

Maybe the gods created the other races to play against each-other in a sort of giant RTS game. Humans were created as generic NPC units to spawn on the map. Explains why they are everywhere and basic.

[Bohandas]

Usually they are everywhere and seems to be most people's favorite option for everything, but what are they exactly?
Are they homo sapiens like you and me or some alien species wich happen to look like us?
Have they some real inspiration? Are they in a human only scenery?

I see D&D's humans as phylogenically 50% normal human plus 50% miscellaneous (elf, orc, dragon, demon, celestial, giant, yeti, elemental, etc.) with the latter mix accounting for the extra feat and skill

[Xania]

Those are all perfectly valid reasons, personally i like the mixed humans, maybe mixed with the fall of Asmodeus.
They being created just to be there like Bohandas says is funny, could be some humans are like living automats for some unknown reason.

[brian 333]

Humans were created by the gods as the most efficient source of devotional energy. Humans are min/maxxed to provide more Devotion Units per Creation Unit than any other race.

[Draconi Redfir]

i generally just default "humans are just pretty easy to evolve in the grand scheme of things."

so while not related to those of us here on earth, they had a similar enough evolution path on their world to end up with basically the same phenotype and features. weather or not we'd be able to interbreed with them though is up for debate.

i suppose D&D humans can canonically breed with just about anything, so it's probably possible.

[Aniikinis]

I'm just gonna quote my post from the last time a thread similar to this popped up while I was browing.

In most settings where I have humans*, I have them be the "almost uncivilized race". But when I do have them, they're usually the race that the other "civilized" races view with disdain but with some respect along the vein of: If they weren't so good at building cities and coordinating massive wars, they'd be no better than those damn dirty orcs. They're also genetic cousins of orcs and the races of goblinoids, being the jack of all trades, master of none of that side of the genetic tree without having the goblinoid subtype from a long time of genetic drift and magic-based interbreeding with elves, gnomes, halflings, and dwarves. As well as some secretive eugenic campaigns from the elves and dwarves.


*I much prefer monstrous races and will gladly switch out humans for another barely-civilized race. EX: Gnolls, Lizardfolk of the tribal variety, lamia (both types), Lupin, etc.

[PhoenixPhyre]

Humans are a derived, engineered species. They were created in the 1st Interregnum, after the fall of the Aelvar empire and the rise of druidism. Made by the high elves by taking hobgoblins and fusing them with elven soul-energies. This stabilized the hobgoblins and gave them fertility, while also cutting them off from the tribal memory inherited by all goblinoids. They inherited some of the incredible flexibility and curiosity of their parent race, while gaining a bit of the extended life and arcane aptitude of the high elven race. They're best known, however, as the Devout Race. They were the ones to make the Third Wish, allowing mortals to gain a fragment of the divine power by faith (ie enabling clerics to exist). Before, the gods could grant specific powers to individuals or work miracles, but couldn't grant individuals a channel to the Great Mechanism. Each individual use had to be specifically granted. After the Third Wish, the human empires rose across the continent of Noefra, powered by faith.

As a note, orcs were created in a similar fashion at about the same time, but engineered by the wood elves from hobgoblins and a mix of animal soul-fragments. Until the Cataclysm about 200 years ago, they were constrained by their souls to be savages, servants of Chaos. Now, they're just as free as anyone else and have formed civilizations across Noefra.

Soefra, the south-eastern continent, only has a few humans or orcs, mainly in the north where they migrated during the 3rd Age, a thousand years or so after the continents split. Oelfra, the western supercontinent has virtually no humans or orcs--it split off at the beginning of the 2nd Age, when the reign of the Titans and Wyrm was broken by the First Wish, 10k years before humans were created. So humans aren't the dominant species of the whole world; they're common on one continent and rare elsewhere.

My setting doesn't have biochemistry (or atoms or molecules) as we know them, so the internal functioning of all living things is very different than homo sapiens on Earth. Outwardly and in the gross physical capabilities, however, the two are similar. This manifests in a lot of ways, including genetics, interbreeding, healing, etc.

[DuctTapeKatar]

Usually they are everywhere and seems to be most people's favorite option for everything, but what are they exactly?
Are they homo sapiens like you and me or some alien species wich happen to look like us?
Have they some real inspiration? Are they in a human only scenery?

Allow me to tell you about the Pathfinders.

Before the Dwarven clans were united to create their empire, further back when the Elves began to sail the Grasp Sea, there were humans known as Pathfinders. Not much is known about them, except that they were the first to create the roads and highways which spanned the continent. They were nomads, didn't keep that many artifacts around nor did they have written language until they began to settle down in the land known as Crescent.

Now, the funny thing is that, after the Dwarven Empire rose to power, they started to have dragon problems. Not that they couldn't handle it, but it got weirder, especially when one of these dragons somehow became immortal and organized its own army made out of an exiled dwarven clan. Nobody knows how it made itself unkillable, just that this jerk managed to start the Dwarven Empire's downfall, even if they managed to toss the guy into the Bottomless Pit (think of it as where things go if they are eaten by a Sphere of Anihilation).

Then, after the Dwarves were forced into their mountain homes and fortified themselves for a few hundred years, humans show up and settle the place. The elves were a bit freaked out by this, the dwarves are confused, and the catfolk down south don't really care much. Because at the end of the day, it really looks like the Pathfinders had a hand in making the dragons attack the dwarves and making that one big jerk immortal, even if there is no verifiable proof of it.

Basically, humans in my setting are the creepy mysterious ones.

[Aniikinis]

Another good way to look at it would be that, unbeknownst to other races and possibly even humans themselves, humans are a "multiplier" race. What that means is that, while most of the offspring between humans and other races will look decidedly similar to both, they will almost certainly also have additionally capabilities. Essentially, they are a race that causes just about every single instance of cross-species mating to be subject to hybrid vigor and only a few of them are sterile/mostly-infertile. There are two good examples in the player's handbook for 3.5: Half-Orcs and Half-Elves.

Half-Orcs are able to obtain a force of personality, innate knowledge of the world, and cultured civility that other races would think unreachable for orcs along with a definite tie to their heritage. Additionally, while they can see in the darkness like their ancestors, albeit with a shorter range, they are not harmed by the light of the sun. Yes they are slightly weaker than their ancestors in the strength department (+2 vs +4) they can still reach the heights of strength as them from ability boosting items. Additionally, their appearances aren't monstrous or too unsettling to the other races, taking more after their human parent in that regard, possibly allowing them to travel where their kin might not be allowed to go.

Half-Elves on the other hand seem weak on first glance. They have no ability modifiers and what appears to be a slightly lowered sensory ability compared to the elf. However, they're also extremely amicable with people of all types, count as both elvish and human, and still have the sharp eyesight and immunity to sleep of their elvish ancestors. This makes them fantastic diplomats and info brokers. Later additions played this up more, however, but in 3.5 is where I can really see it starting. Additionally, they tend to take after elves in the appearance category with a few additions from humans. In other words, a fairly beautiful person with a natural charisma and ability to talk to and get along with just about anyone, including people they've never met before in lands that are so far removed from their homeland that it's effectively a different world(let alone if they're on a different plane entirely).

Another good example would be the Mul from Dark Sun. Effectively a sterile half-dwarf/half-human that is the perfect work horse(explaining the name). They gain a +4 to strength, a +2 to constitution, and a -2 to charisma alongside a resistance to non-lethal damage, a racial bonus to the effects of long-work hours and fatigue/strain causing effects, including the ability to work for up to 12 hours straight before becoming fatigued. This is effectively a super-charging of dwarven abilities added onto by the enduring nature of humanity as a whole. In 4e, they could effectively work or be active for a full 66 hours before needing a 6-hour rest and being back up and moving again.

[sktarq]

Varies a lot by whatever homebrew I'm cooking up....
I mean really "What are elves?" is an equally valid question.

So in world where the races were pawns in a diety war? Humans may end up being the spawn of a goddess who did very well early on and was then ganged up on by LOTS of others gods who after her death each took some of her lands, troops, etc. Sure they no longer had triplets with each birth but they were still useful as builders and supports. After the retreat of the divine the humans were left scattered over the world and many groups shaped by their second divine leaders into various different cultures, skin tones, and even possible subraces.

[Xania]

DuctTapeKatar
I love it, never saw them as the "what are those" ones, much less a dragon recieving it's power from them, even if it's only a myth.

PhoenixPhyre
Mine are also rare outside some regions, they are thought to be created from ogres because i like them more human looking.

Aniikinis
Yes, humans are not my favorite race either, but seems to be from most people.
Making them like tielflings wouldn't never cross my mind.

sktarq
It's because i even found things like "sheeps and wolves are not really sheep and wolves but something with a real or imaginary resemblance to them"
But almost never saw such explanation for humans, they usually are just humans.

[sktarq]

sktarq
It's because i even found things like "sheeps and wolves are not really sheep and wolves but something with a real or imaginary resemblance to them"
But almost never saw such explanation for humans, they usually are just humans.

LOL,okay..aNd this is for DnD sheep and wolves?
Because outside of explaining metaphor that doesn't make sense.

What are humans in such an idea, if I can wrap my head around it...would still be variable...but mostly to be story elements and characters that have the easiest sympathetic conection for players. It gets very meta very quick.

[Mlmiii]

In my "a friend asked me to DM for their friend group, I have a week to prep" campaigns, humans are a convenient default that everyone has rough psychological/sociological data on and so won't turn heads if I make an entire city full of them.

In my "I actually had time to think this one out" setting, the titans who made the Wheel that serves as a reincarnation-engine fought enough that their spilled blood and torn flesh congealed into baryonic matter, which produced humans in a similar-but-faster path that such matter did in our world. While not the only intelligent race (there's at least Lizardfolk, probably also Small mousefolk, Tiny dragons, and Medium anthropomorphic cockroaches), they're still the same reasonably-intelligent apes optimized for endurance running that were such a big hit on our world.

[MoiMagnus]

Usually they are everywhere and seems to be most people's favorite option for everything, but what are they exactly?
Are they homo sapiens like you and me or some alien species wich happen to look like us?
Have they some real inspiration? Are they in a human only scenery?

Human in the default option. What is the goal of a default option? It reduces the number of things player have to learn. Anything a player think they know about humans should be correct, up to a small number of exceptions easy and short to explain (like "human are able to do magic").

It follows internal organs, sleep, food, life expectancy ... are almost the same as real world humans.

For their ancestry and history, it is "whatever works for your setting". My personal take is that humans are in the same group of species as changelings (which is why humans are very quick to adapt, can have child with almost every humanoid species, ...), but lost most shapeshifting capacities trough evolution (shapeshifting was no longer useful to survive, and was counterproductive for social interaction and trust).
This also explain why humans tend to be very susceptible to become werewolves, vampires, ...

[Xania]

LOL,okay..aNd this is for DnD sheep and wolves?
Because outside of explaining metaphor that doesn't make sense.

What are humans in such an idea, if I can wrap my head around it...would still be variable...but mostly to be story elements and characters that have the easiest sympathetic conection for players. It gets very meta very quick.

Yeah, it made somewhat more sense from inside though.

Oh, well, i'm fully aware this is not the best question imaginable but i was curious.

[Flyingbooks42]

My personal take is that humans are in the same group of species as changelings (which is why humans are very quick to adapt, can have child with almost every humanoid species, ...), but lost most shapeshifting capacities trough evolution (shapeshifting was no longer useful to survive, and was counterproductive for social interaction and trust).
This also explain why humans tend to be very susceptible to become werewolves, vampires, ...

That's a really interesting idea. Perhaps, due to their latent shapeshifitng abilities, humans in this world can substitute any spell slot for alter self?

[Bohandas]

Human in the default option. What is the goal of a default option? It reduces the number of things player have to learn. Anything a player think they know about humans should be correct, up to a small number of exceptions easy and short to explain (like "human are able to do magic").

It follows internal organs, sleep, food, life expectancy ... are almost the same as real world humans.

And from that, in turn, it follows that all the magic and elementals and alchemy and life forces running around in the D&D world must reduce to the ordinary rules of chemistry at low energies

[MoiMagnus]

And from that, in turn, it follows that all the magic and elementals and alchemy and life forces running around in the D&D world must reduce to the ordinary rules of chemistry at low energies

Only if you play with people that have a reasonable understanding of the rules of chemistry at low energies. When I play with people that have a master degree in physics, discussion about entropy, enthalpy, relativist physics, the way levitation works vs gravitation, and how the planar system work with that are frequent.

When I play with "normal" peoples, the DM can take whatever rules for magic he want without having any question or player saying "wait, that doesn't make sense, we should be dead trough atmospheric pressure by now".

Most peoples have some basic knowledge on how the human body works, and that's those knowledge you don't want to go against when you don't need to. Or course, since you want magic into your world, you have to change few stuffs. But saying stuff like "oh, no, cutting your foot is a very bad idea, in this universe the brain of humans is inside their feet, so it would kill you" is not a great idea, as it feels counter-intuitive.

[Quizatzhaderac]

What is a man? *flings brandy glass aside* A miserable little pile of secrets! But enough talk! Have at you!

</popCultureReference>

First the gods made the planes by splitting the aether, then they created the lands, the seas, and the skys.

Already the lands were different. Into each the gods put plants and animals suited to them.

In each biome they put one intelligent animal species: Gnolls in the warm desert, Humans in the savanna, Barycapa in the jungle, Orcs in the temperate mountains, Goblins in the scrub-lands, halfings in the grasslands, Elves in the temperate forests, Ogres in the cold mountains, Dwarfs under the mountains, et cetra.

Over the ages, many races spread. A few built great empires and dominated civilization for a time. Most recently it was the humans' time. Was.

[Bohandas]

In each biome they put one intelligent animal species: Gnrolls in the warm dessert

Like bananas foster?

[Wizard_Lizard]

Like bananas foster?

or sticky date pudding?

[noob]

Most peoples have some basic knowledge on how the human body works, and that's those knowledge you don't want to go against when you don't need to. Or course, since you want magic into your world, you have to change few stuffs. But saying stuff like "oh, no, cutting your foot is a very bad idea, in this universe the brain of humans is inside their feet, so it would kill you" is not a great idea, as it feels counter-intuitive.

It would clarify why it is possible to kill an human by biting their foot a bunch of times.

[Wizard_Lizard]

In my campaigns, human are the ase race from which all others evolved from.

[Quizatzhaderac]

Another good way to look at it would be that, unbeknownst to other races and possibly even humans themselves, humans are a "multiplier" race.

That gives me another good idea.

Humans are a mutt race. The gods create elves, dwarf, halflings, orcs, goblins, ogres, et cetra, but not humans. Eventually the races started interbreeding. The typical human is basically a small amount of all of the other races.

This could explain both their frequency and their average-ness.