Ranking Races in Order of Preference

I was just stereotyping, which is handy for ranking the races in general. But yeah you can play a character anyway you want, which changes peoples' perceptions of a given race if they really like the character. After playing Arcanum quite a bit over my last Summer break, I'll still say that half-ogres are my favourite race.

 

Ah, yes, that's a fair point... but also explains better than I did the reason why I didn't want to rank my favorite races ^_^

 

Hmm...favorite races?

My list goes by races I haven't played to ones I enjoy, obviously. On second thought, I'll just list the one's I've played;

6. Half-Elf: Nothing too interesting about this race, to me. Not too intriguing from a role-play perspective. Never finished the game, couldn't really feel the character.

5. Half-Orc: The hate speech was interesting at first and really made me feel for the person I represented in-game, but I must confess that it eventually turned me bitter and I decided to kill many of those unfortunate enough to speak harshly to me to my face. I like playing good characters, but by the time I got to Donn Throgg I practically said out loud "Hell yes you should fight back...I'll help you kill the bastards!"

4. Half-Ogre: I really enjoyed these guys. Normally I would spend one point in intelligence to prevent dumb dialogue but still essentially maintain the brute aspect, other times I would play more of a battle-mage, and once I even made a technologist. The couple times I decided to buckle down and go for the big, dumb brute archetype (once good, once evil) I really enjoyed the experience. I'd find myself laughing at the dialogue of my own character and the responses given by NPC's.

3. Human: There seemed to be more creative opportunities with humans, as far as RP goes, and I liked the ability to excel in both magick and tech. The bonus of being able to do that and not be racially discriminated was a big plus to me, but I did enjoy two races more...

2. Elf: I played unstoppable mages and uncannily accurate bowmen, as well as fierce battle mages and even a gun-slinging magickal thief. The RP was very fun for me, though when I wanted to do evil I wanted a D&D based stereotype, i.e. black skin and white hair. Still, it was very fun no matter what. My actions at the Bedokaan swamp would depend on alignment, with a nearly neutral character enjoying a coin toss.

1. Dwarf: Kinda surprised no one else picked them. I sheepishly admit that I feel a relation more to dwarves than to humans, despite no lust for bearded women. I enjoyed the conversation choices and the sense of pride behind the words, given a particular NPC response. I also felt the dwarves looked pretty cool in any given sprite. I almost always played some form of technologist with a dwarf, and I played this race most of the time. The only thing that bugged me was when I found out dwarves had an innately slower maximum speed compared to the other races I played, but it wasn't too much of a big deal; most of my combat was at a distance, either by grenade or gun. When things got too close I would normally prepare myself with a feather-weight axe. I thought the pyro was really cool, but combat as over too slowly. When I fight something in this game, I want it to be drawn out in some way, either by challenge or a handicap.

 

I guess this is no surprise given your pipe crafting fetish! I do agree mostly with the sprites, with the exception of a dwarf in robes - I always thought it made them look like a tubby child molester trying to be inconspicuous.

How did the magickal gun-slinger work out or were you just constantly hamstringing yourself due to critical failures? Also this image is what will forever solidify drow coolness in my mind:



Loved having a hardass drow melee warrior as part of my team in Icewind Dale 2.

 

It was interesting, to say the least. I mean, I didn't learn many spells, but with everything where I wanted it I was at 10 MA, so basically neutral. I wanted him more on the tech side of the coin, and I focused on the mental college.

 

I have a tendency to play games in a manner in which it is reflective of my real life, so my tendencies toward race choice is deeply influenced by that fact.

1. Dwarves - This is so because they look the most like me. Although, they do have aptitudes that I don't share, I still am able to morph them into an entity that is more like me.

2/3: Gnomes/Halfings: They share my height but not my constitution. I'm also not a fan of their blatant materialism.

4/5. Orcs/Half-Ogres: They probably have my favorite storyline of the bunch, and I'm always a fan of someone trying to damn the man.

6/7/8: Elves/Half-Elves/Humans: They simply don't match how I view myself in any way. Their most damning quality is their height. I also have a disdain for an arrogance they all possess.

 

While reading the post above, I imagined it being sung in Danny DeVito's voice to this melody.

 

I think it depends on my character really, I like all of the races to some extent.

But, having said that, I nearly always avoid:
- Half-elves
- Gnomes

Halflings make great tricksy hobbit thieves, and it's always amusing when pint-sized fellows take out great big enemies - except gnomes, gnomes disappoint me for some reason.

Dwarves:
tl;dr version: Alcohol. Epic beards. Gauntlets. Rocks everywhere.

Elves I'm not the hugest fan of but they make great mages, and they make robes look the best.

Humans: Mostly so I can play a posh Welsh victorian aristocrat, who is a sheep-shagging booze-loving murderer in his free time. Don't ask.

Half-ogres and half-orcs just feel like the hench muscular races to me, and I love playing either with just hand to hand combat, it makes things real interesting.

 

I've always preferred Humans/Elves/Half-Elves as my first pick due to my preference for magick and mid-sized races. I feel it's easier to get into the game when my player character is nondescript. After that it's Dwarves, followed by Half-Orcs and Half-Ogres. Finally, Gnome. Never really liked Gnomes.

 

I like the concept of great power in a little body ever since I first saw Freeza.