Some of these I'm okay with, most... eye rolling. And usually for the same reasons already given.

Centaur, Pixie: No one has ever asked, too many inherent problems.

Drow: Sure, I enjoyed the Drizzt books too. But he's a special one-of-a-kind character that doesn't need a mob of clones following him.

Tiefling: if you want to play evil, don't openly advertise it. If you don't want to play evil, why choose a tiefling?

Half-Vampire: Agree, doesn't make sense. Are you or aren't you?

Aquatic Race: Meh, I'm just not sea-centric. Cute idea but more trouble than they are worth.

Amnesiac: I hate the idea of amnesia and say it is far too over used in literature and TV shows/movies. I'll most likely say NO to it. That said, this past week I've been watching the show Dark Matter and it works there. If the whole group was amnesiac that can be an interesting game.

Brooding Loner: Agree, it's a team game. I've been in a campaign where a PC was in constant "Don't F--- with me!" mode. It got old fast. And yes, he did end up betraying the party.

Clinically Insane: 90% No. If the right player I knew and trusted picked the right condition... maybe.

I'm okay with Cat people, dispossessed nobles, paladins, druids, monks and cross-sex characters.

Quote from: Simlasa;874185Half-vampire is just a stupid concept, IMO. I wouldn't have them as PC, NPCs or furniture in any game I run. The rest all have their time and place.

Dhampire have folkloric roots and played correctly are pretty interesting. I'm of course the 20% of gamers who don't mind them so go figure,

Most of those are just kind of cliche.  The brooding loner guy is an active pain in my ass.

I haven't voted in the poll as I don't mind what my players roll up.

Regarding centaurs, I spent a few happy years playing Shergar Sunhoof, Centaur Extraordinaire. He was fine outside, struggled a bit with stairs and carried a block and tackle system for climbing up and down cliffs etc. He worked really well, as he was a tank in combat, so other PCs helped him with climbing in return for his ability to take on and devastate 5 minions at a time.

Quote from: Chainsaw;874197Pretty much all of that stuff except druid makes me cringe because it reeks of special snowflakeness, but it's never really been an issue in any of my groups. I don't really run a game that attracts that kind of player, I guess.

Paladins, too?

Quote from: nDervish;874258I could see using half-vampires as furniture.  As in "cut a vampire in half, then make furniture out of the halves."

Wouldn't those vampires just turn into dust:)? Other than that, I can see such furniture getting fashionable in some settings.

Quote from: Chainsaw;874277In my O/AD&D games, we run druids as sorcerous pagan priests drawing on ancestral, animistic and elemental powers. They perform human sacrifices and other macabre rituals.

Isn't that what they are anyway?
(I don't talk about "druids in D&D", mind).

Quote from: Ravenswing;874307Cross-gender.  Eh, people have done it.  I'm unsure what's considered so out of line with playing something you're not.  Isn't that what we play this game to do in the first place?

Quote from: Simlasa;874317Yeah, I don't know why this one is comparatively forbidden. As long as it's not some Pythonesqe falsetto and ridiculous stereotypes I'd have no issues with it.

Well, some people just suck so badly at it - even when they can convincingly represent someone who is different in other aspects - so I roll my eyes. But at least it's not an automatic "no". Some people aren't bad at it, at all (those seem to be just the more skilled players).
Maybe it was just my luck with the players that did request cross-dressing characters. Over half of my players have never even considered it, as far as I know;).

I don't really care what other people play, as long as it fits the collective tone of the game. I'm opposed to anything that actively harms the fun at the table, or immersion if that's what we're going for, but in my experience that tends to be people rather than character types.

For example, Earthdawn had pixies (windlings) -- I encountered some players who made them fit into the group and others who would make me roll my eyes and think "fuck, not again".

So, while certain options do lend themselves to people who want to be a special snowflake (*looks at drow*), people can play whatever they like as long as they contribute to the fun. But some people are dicks and I'll roll my eyes at whatever they choose. That probably makes me a dick.  

Quote from: AsenRG;874661Paladins, too?

Yeah, though I did allow one in my last AD&D campaign. As I suspect may be the case with many or most or possibly all of the others, I find that people want all of the benefits without any material drawbacks. So, when someone picks a paladin, I kind of groan a little, but I don't forbid it.

Quote from: AsenRG;874661Isn't that what they are anyway?
(I don't talk about "druids in D&D", mind).

Oh I agree, but in talking about D&Dish games online, I feel like I need to explicitly differentiate it from the modern militant environmentalist or eco-terrorist concept that often pops up these days. In my home game the distinction's well known, so when someone wants to play a druid, it doesn't raise any eyebrows. I should have been clearer.

I'm pretty open-minded about letting players play whatever they want, provided the race/class is of the sort that actually exists in my campaign, and is comparable in powers and abilities to the other PCs.

So 1st-level parties could include non-standard creatures like lizard men, goblins -maybe even a young ogre. Whatever benefits might come with the higher HD will be offset by penalties, the most common of which is fear, distrust and hatred from the overwhelmingly human population.

What usually happens over the course of an adventure is that a monster joins the group for one reason or another, and a player who has lost his or her main PC is allowed to take over one of the NPCs or monsters. The rebel bugbear in Keep on the Borderlands comes to mind, as well as dissident dark elves and half-breeds in Vault of the Drow.

As a DM, I save myself a lot of time and headache by simply taking one of these oddball selections, finding something fairly close in the game, and making a nip here and a tuck there.

Want to be a ninja? Fine, you have the thief class and you're free to wear a stupid black jumpsuit and mask while using retarded weapons. Knock yourself out. Monks and samurai are covered under fighter.

The last eight items on the list are almost purely role-playing choices, and I leave those up to the players. If a PC is being more trouble than they're worth, the other PCs can deal with it.

I ref OD&D: * In all cases where the creature is more than 1st level I would scale it to first level and that is where the player would start. If it is pretty odd, I hope you are entertaining.

centaur: Sure *

Pixie: Sure

Cat humanoid: Sure  *

Drow: Don't exist in my world, but why not, just be prepared for the other players to kill your evil character.  *

Tiefling: Don't know what this is - See drow  *

Half-vampire: Sure *

Aquatic race: Sure *

Amnesiac: Sure

Brooding loner: Sure

Dispossessed noble: Sure
 
Paladin: Make me proud - play him like Solomon Kane

Druid: Sure

Monk, samurai or ninja in a non-Asian setting: Sure  *

Man/woman (opposite of their own gender): Sorry I don't play with perverts

Clinically insane person: Sure

Quote from: Crimhthan;874891Man/woman (opposite of their own gender):  Sorry I don't play with perverts

What exactly is perverted about it?

I didn't check any of these (though I came close to checking "clinically insane"), because none of these character types bother me in-and-of themselves.

What drives me nuts is when players pick a character type that's wildly out of whack with the rest of the setting. Our GM once ran a gothic horror-style campaign in his homebrew, high-fantasy world. Despite knowing this, two of the players decided that they wanted to play a pair of luchador wrestlers, one of whom used faux-Spanish and the other of whom talked like Hulk Hogan.

The GM was a nice guy, and didn't disallow their characters, which was considerably more lenient than I would have been.

Quote from: Elfdart;874893What exactly is perverted about it?

Do you really need someone to explain that?:banghead:

Quote from: Crimhthan;874901Do you really need someone to explain that?:banghead:

"I'm a misogynistic assbucket but can't get away with saying that any man who wants to play a woman is automatically a pansy so I'll distract the conversation by pretending the point is obvious."

Elfdart, don't take the bait.

Quote from: Gronan of Simmerya;874916"I'm a misogynistic assbucket but can't get away with saying that any man who wants to play a woman is automatically a pansy so I'll distract the conversation by pretending the point is obvious."

* Orson Welles slow clap  *

:hatsoff:

I went for drow, but only if they are attempting to be Drizzit clone, or a Drizzit variety.  Same deal goes for Victoria.

Look just show me a drow that is a fucking drow.  Show me a smirking bastard that doesn't give a shit about alignment.  Show me exotic primal elf that never had to take other races shit.  Show me a Lolth priestess in their most chaotic element.