I've talked at length about this before. It's fun for me to repeat, but I'll keep it brief for your sake.
A lot of the outrage online I find overblown.
I don't mind anthro enjoyers, I even don't mind full on furries most of the time. Though in my experience the cringe stereotypes people talk about online are limited to specific people and places. Furry meets, conventions, that weird guy in college, that kind of thing. They tend to be easy to spot. Long hair, rainbow bangle, and a bag with a paw print on it.
I like Dragonborn a lot personally. I say this as someone who play Argonion in Skyrim despite not being very good. I have a soft spot for beast races in general. Humans, Elves, and Hobbits are the vanilla and extra vanilla of DnD. Dragonborn and Warforged are the strawberry and mint chocolate. I think Dwarves are the only stock human-like race I enjoy.
I have a soft ban on short stacks. Goblins, Hobbits, etc. (dwarves dont count) I don't enforce it or even tell my players, but something feels off about them, especially if the game has some kind of adult theme. eg. If I pitch a game where we're playing Conan with ripped guys in loincloths and babes in chainmail bikinis, and someone brings a hobbit. They're out.
You and I have the exact same opinions, down to hating fantasy midgets. Good taste.
Also, hate to be that guy, but there's a few more beast races I was curious about. As stated, Tabaxi are pretty much ground zero for furfaggotry, Leonin are fairly alright, Dragonborn are undercooked, Aarakocra tend to be popular with flying enthusiasts more than anything, and Lizardfolk are... mixed. The other races I was curious about are:
- Minotaur: (Multiverse, Ravnica)
- Bearfolk (Ebon Tides)
- Harengon (Multiverse)
- Loxodon (Ravnica)
Anyone got any experience or horror stories with them? They feel fun or bad to use? How popular are they with furries?
The only one I've played is a minotaur barbarian in a campaign that sadly ended up on the back burner (and possibly shelved for good). I specifically used an older version because the MPMM version swaps out a choice of skill proficiency (Intimidation or Persuasion) for a situationally useful flavor ability (always know which way is north, and advantage on Survival checks for navigation or tracking). The horns and related attacks worked well for allowing me to move about the field and still get attacks in, though I probably would have used them less later on as I was playing Path of the Giant and would have been able to just fling my axe at things if I needed a ranged attack.
I hadn't even heard of bearfolk, which makes sense because it was from Kobold Press and not WotC. Looking them over, they have a rather large amount of traits that are best for strength-based melee but fine for most classes: +2 STR, bite as natural weapon, natural armor of 13+DEX AC, powerful build, and two skill proficiencies. On top of that, there's a shadowborn subrace that also adds +1 DEX, darkvision, and multiple stealth benefits while in dim light or darkness with no drawbacks. I don't know if they intended on including a second subrace or not, but as written, there is literally no reason not to go shadowborn. This seems a bit overpowered and I would not allow it, or at least I would pare back some of the excess traits.
Harengon get to add their proficiency bonus to their initiative rolls, Perception proficiency, can add a d4 to a failed DEX save as a reaction, and can jump a distance away without provoking opportunity attacks. Much like tabaxi, they're suited for moving quickly and staying out of harm's way, and they make a generally good choice for most classes. Squishy spellcasters in particular will like the initiative bonus and the ability to jump away from attackers.
Loxodon have +2 CON/+1 WIS, powerful build, advantage on charmed and frightened saves, natural armor of 12+CON AC, a prehensile trunk, and advantage on Perception, Survival, and Investigation checks that involve smell. The latter two are generally more flavor than useful, and your DM would really have to lean into creating situations where your enhanced sense of smell would be helpful. Unless you go with the Tasha's rule of swapping stats, the stat combo isn't great for most classes outside of cleric, druid, and maybe ranger. If you do allow stat swaps, then it can be a decent choice for typically squishier classes.
I don't think furries would gravitate towards any besides harengon, and maybe bearfolk. Typically, the more bestial a race is, the less your average furry wants to go for them. But as mentioned above, just because someone is a furry and wants to play an anthropomorphic race, doesn't necessarily mean they're going to get weird about it.
That's actually my problem with beast races. Even with the ones that have proper lore and aren't just ISO-80085 "generic furry-bait", the vast majority of players that aren't in it for the furry coom simply play them as humans with funny bits instead of leaning on the interesting parts of their lore and characterization. If you ask them, most don't know anything about the fluff, all they know is +2 Dexterity, +1 Charisma, darkvision, sprint, claws, perception and stealth,
You've got a creature that's (presumably) completely unrelated to humans, but you're playing it like Goofy in a Disney cartoon? If you're picking a race for minmaxing purposes, at least put in some effort into making your character more than just a pile of numbers.
Agreed, though you also have to take into consideration one's background as well. My minotaur I mentioned above had been captured by a cloud giant at a young age and more or less kept as a pet, but being around a being of higher culture influenced him to be somewhat more civilized as a result. While still prone to attacks of his natural rage (hence barbarian), he was otherwise rather well spoken and polite, albeit gruff, frequently surprising those he met.
Really, all I want is for people to get into their characters and actually play the role they've taken on. A good DM will encourage them to think about who they're playing and nudge them to that end, though some definitely need more prodding than others.
