D&D General Words which replaced "race" in fantasy games

[Mannahnin]

That is the rub - we don't have a non-loaded term for major biological differences, because humans don't have major biological differences.

Race is loaded. Species would be good but creates silly arguments. Speaking for myself, I don't really have a preference beyond not liking either of those.

I agree that "species" has a tendency to prompt silly debates (like the oversimplified myth a lot of us carry around in our heads about the dividing line being whether two creatures can breed, or have fertile offspring).

But for me I think the bigger strike is aesthetic- as a directly Latin-derived word it "feels" scientific and modern. It's a word which fits perfectly in a sci-fi game or fictional work but not as well in fantasy of a quasi-medieval/pre-modern world.

As opposed to People which comes from Middle English, and before that Anglo-Norman, Old French, then back to Latin. Or Folk (Middle English from Old English from proto-West Germanic). Or Kindred (Middle English from Old English).

Words that have been in the language longer feel "older" and more poetic. Words English got directly from Latin and/or more recently almost always sound and feel more modern and scientific.

 

[Aldarc]

The current iteration of Drakar och Demoner (now Dragonbane) uses "kin". The earlier iterations (from different publishers than the current) used "race".

I originally had Dragonbane on my list; however, I was not well enough informed to know if they moved away from the equivalent of "race" in the older Swedish editions. Now I know.

 

[The Soloist]

Fantasy AGE used Race in 1e and now uses Ancestry for 2e.

The old Swedish version of Dragonbane (Dakar Och Demoner) used Race. Now both in English and Swedish use Kin.

Shadow of the Demon Lord used Race. Shadow of the Wierd Wizard uses Ancestry.

 

[jasper]

The current iteration of Drakar och Demoner (now Dragonbane) uses "kin". The earlier iterations (from different publishers than the current) used "race".

Like kin. One letter less that race. Of course you folk don't like kin we can go with bob. Of course all the real world bobs will have to change their names. But not my problem.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I'm fine with 'species' myself. After all, if the game is sticking with the scientific term 'psionics', then using 'species' too is no different.

 

[Nikosandros]

I was initially perplexed by the choice of "species" in 5e.24 since it felt to me that it was bit too modern, but in practice I've realized that I'm fine with it and I actually prefer it to ancestry and heritage because the former sounds (to me) more about an individual and the latter seems more cultural than biological. However, at the end of the day, it's not really a big deal to me and I'm likely to use whatever a specific game that I'm playing is using.

 

[jayoungr]

I'm fine with 'species' myself. After all, if the game is sticking with the scientific term 'psionics', then using 'species' too is no different.

It is weird that "psionics" as a term doesn't get as much pushback as "species." Maybe because it's just a subsystem that doesn't affect every single character.

 

[Cadence]

It is weird that "psionics" as a term doesn't get as much pushback as "species." Maybe because it's just a subsystem that doesn't affect every single character.

RE: Modern words in DnD (if making the thread today I might use 1561 instead of 1608 based on one of the other OED quotes). As mentioned above, Psionic is more recent, as is humanoid.

D&D General - Which D&D Words and Things are Post 1608?

Going from another thread... Heh heh, yeah... and a whole host of people still want 'Psionics' in the game, with 'Psions' as the main class for it. And that's even more sci-fi than Humanoid or Species. So, which words and objects in D&D are of modern origin. Take modern to be after 1608...

www.enworld.org

 

[occam]

I'm mainly referring to games which removed the word 'race' rather than those descended from systems which never used that word in the first place.

Pathfinder 2E - Ancestry (2019)
Level Up (A5E) - Heritage (2021)
Shadowdark - Ancestry (2023)
Black Flag/ToV - Lineage (2024)
D&D - Species (2024)
13th Age 2E - Kin (2024)

Any others I'm missing?

Both Adventures in Middle-earth (5e adaptation of TOR 1e) and The Lord of the Rings Roleplaying (5e adapation of TOR 2e) use the term Culture. Examples include Dwarf of the Blue Mountains or Dwarf of the Iron Hills, Harfoot or Stoor Hobbit of the Shire, Barding or Beorning or Man of Bree. Culture takes the mechanical space of D&D race/species, but includes both a species and cultural identification.

You could argue that this is a continuation of The One Ring usage rather than a change to D&D usage.

 

[Oofta]

I see species (broadly shared physical features based on genetics) as completely different from culture. Dwarves and goliaths could share the same culture, but from a taxonomic standpoint they would be considered different species. Ancestry is at an individual level and is confusing to me.

As far as species and who can have viable offspring with whom, coyotes and wolves are one such example. That, and magic can override real world genetic compatibility so I don't get too hung up on it. After all, how do you think we got minotaurs?