More races to play as?

Osteos · September 2015

There are 10 races and only 8 character slots. There's already more then enough to chose from.

josh5813 · September 2015

I wish all the races had their own personal style of story to match their race in the alliance campaign instead of the 3 races per alliance doing the same story.

Paazhahdrimaak · September 2015

TheShadowScout wrote: »

Something I once posted on the matter, reposted and updated:

Added races? Would be neat, buuuuuut... most would create lore ouchies, and I really wouldn't want that.

Dremora? They are more or less "demons" and would technically create a lot of problems running around tamriel - vendors will scream for the guard instead of trading with you, which would attack you to keep the citizens safe... it would be playing with a permanent "kill on sight" bounty unless they throw the lore away... No good.

Sload? Another antagonist race that got their behinds kicked out of these lands long ago... they might show up in an maritime-themed DLC as enemies someday, but wouldn't make a good player race... No good.

Dwemer? All gone except a single one... who could show up in some future DLC to talk to (pre-corprus), and there could be some "time travel" visit to the days when they were still around to interact with... but that's it. No good.

Lilmothiit? Have been extinct for a while now... remember that prison in Shadowfen? That was their main settlement... turned prison after their extinction... and clearly has been a prison for quite a while, enough time for there to be little justification for any "last survivors" of that race to be around. No good.

Chimer? All turned into dunmer except the tribunal (sorta) shortly after the dissappearance of the dwemer... No good.

Nagas and such? Weeeelllll... might be possible lorewise, but have huge problems game-wise. Not in the least, inability to wear boots and leg armor; also a bit of difficulty with some questlines in coldharbour, and generally being seen as "monsters" in many societies of tamriel, thus living with an "kill on sight" status... all together, I don't see hem happening. No good.

Giants, Ogres, etc.? Are often depicted as only borderline sentient, and too darn big, they'd clip through many places player characters would have to go. No good.

Nedes? The original nedes... are about as valid as babylonains in our time, though some of their blood is mixed in the bretons and nords, possibly even the redguards, they are no longer existing as distinct people in the time of ESO. No good.

Aldmer? Again, a gone ancestor race, their descendants the Altmer are still around, and in all likelyhoon not different enough to make any differenye... No good.

Atmorans? Same problem as with the nedes, not even sure if the two were not closely related anyhow... in any case, they are the ancestory of the nords, but don't exist as distinct culture in this time period and place. No good.

Youkudans? Again, an ancestor race whose descendants are today running around calling themselves redguards. Can't really see them as a viable player race on their own... No good.

Sinistral mer? Wiped out by the ra garda, though some lore points to their survivors having been assimilated by the sea elves... in any case, their own culture is gone, so... No good.

Ayleid? They too are gone and done, we see the last one in coldharbour, but what few may have survived the fall of their empire were not enough to sustain a viable culture - at best, there may be a few "lone leftovers" wandering around, but... let's call it a questionable "maybe"?

Kothringi? We meet some of them in Shadowfen, and they are all dead, sorta. Not really a good option for a player race... though it might be possible to have one as "last survivor" type of character... call it a weak "maybe".

Falmer? The old snow elves are mostly gone, their blind, mutated descendants live in the depths of dwemer realms and do really bad things to anyone they can grab, thus not really viable as player race. But a rare "last of their kind" type snow elf might perhaps even be a valid option for player characters... again, call it "maybe".

Akaviri races? Not really all that viable either, the last time any of these races came to these shores... was 10 years ago and the cause that formed the ebonheart pact. Their fate? Remember "Blood for the Pact"? Yup, that's how they went... though it might be possible to have some escape the vengeful pact forces and make their escape only to end up in coldharbour as player character... another "maybe".

Imga? Those might actually be possible... valenwood apemen trying to emulate the elves... I see no real reason against this...

Maormer? A very viable option, they are still around, still going strong. So maybe there might be some iffyness in AD questlines, but... no more so then for those people who have the "any race, any alliance" unlock and play out-of-faction races...

Goblins? Another completely valid option for player characters. Yes, they are a little on the barbaric side, but they talk, they are intelligent enough to craft and cast magic, and they are "usable" as slaves for the dunmer, though that often ends in revolting goblins...

Reachmen? Yet another completely valid option for player characters, just take the breton template and tweak it a little...

There we have it as far as I can see. Four possible racial options they might sell in the crown store someday... and a few more in the "maybe" category...

Well put.

No more human races.
More elves and beasts.

josh5813 · September 2015

Other than the Daedric Princes, Dremora or Daedra in general are just semi-intelligent beings or just wild creatures. Not really able to think for themselves with the exception of just a small handful. They are normally just bound to one of the Daedric Lords and will only communicate with mortals or carry out something solely on their Daedric Lords command.

Not really good as a playable race.

MamaDruid · September 2015

Theoretically, you could play as a Maormer, or hybrid Maormer, using an Altmer or a Dunmer.

Put an end to the min/maxing with hybrids of current races and their own racials. I'm using an Imperial to play as a Nord/Redguard... I suppose the Imperial racials fit with that combination.

AngryNord · September 2015

MamaDruid wrote: »

Theoretically, you could play as a Maormer, or hybrid Maormer, using an Altmer or a Dunmer.

Put an end to the min/maxing with hybrids of current races and their own racials. I'm using an Imperial to play as a Nord/Redguard... I suppose the Imperial racials fit with that combination.

Except that there's no concept of mixed races in TES.

TheShadowScout · September 2015

josh5813 wrote: »

Other than the Daedric Princes, Dremora or Daedra in general are just semi-intelligent beings or just wild creatures. Not really able to think for themselves with the exception of just a small handful. They are normally just bound to one of the Daedric Lords and will only communicate with mortals or carry out something solely on their Daedric Lords command.

Not really good as a playable race.

You haven't been paying attention to all the dialouge, have you? Sure, there are a lot of bestial daedra... but the dremora are as sentient as any race, if somewhat... uhm... "morally challenged". And often encountered when "on duty" as footsoldiers to some daedric prince...
And that is the problem for them.
While the city guard may stay their hand wioth, say, a goblin long enough for them to speak and explain they are civilized, or spoin a story how they work for some mage or something, any dremora would be seen as such threat the'd have to go "kill it quick, before it curses us all to oblivion!"

AngryNord wrote: »

Except that there's no concept of mixed races in TES.

Well... not quite, but... close.
In ESO, those usually go as "mothers race, with some fathers features" IIRC - like dunmer with black hair and non-red eyes, or nord with bronze "beach tan" skin, or stuff like that.
The bretons themselves are basically a "mixed race" that bred true over the centuries, of men and mer stock...
And there are a few, very few, notable people with mixed ancstry... Jagar Tharn for example, from TES:Arena fame... or Lyris Titanborn, with her bit of giant blood...
But basically, that's how it goes in the TES universe - racial stats from one race, appereance shifted a bit towards the other race, but no cherry-picking racials with a "halfbreed" explenation...

JuarezLT · September 2015

When i need to choose between new class, race and lore... I realy dont care lore. Having fun playing new races its all i need.

Darkeus · September 2015

everybody wants to play as dremora/xyvkin!

newtinmpls · September 2015

TheShadowScout wrote: »

Maormer? A very viable option, they are still around, still going strong. So maybe there might be some iffyness in AD questlines, but... no more so then for those people who have the "any race, any alliance" unlock and play out-of-faction races...

Saw someone mention this idea, and I liked it so much I decided to try it, using a dunmer template. I did her as a sorc, and plan on focusing on lightning spells/skills/staff

I'm in the process of upgrading her armor; I'll post more after that.

TheShadowScout wrote: »

Goblins? Another completely valid option for player characters. Yes, they are a little on the barbaric side, but they talk, they are intelligent enough to craft and cast magic, and they are "usable" as slaves for the dunmer, though that often ends in revolting goblins...

Loved Toothmaul Gully so much that I decided to make a "goblin", so meet Broken Branch Toothmaul (bosmer template):

LuuTg7f.png?1

And with an armor upgrade:

TheShadowScout wrote: »

Reachmen? Yet another completely valid option for player characters, just take the breton template and tweak it a little...

All you have to do is dress her/him in barbaric. Had a friend do that - don't have a pic.
Yet.

Digiman · September 2015

Artemisshrikes wrote: »

More like more classes to play as

They can't even balance the 4 they have? No thanks fix others before adding more to the pot.

Gidorick · September 2015

TheShadowScout wrote: »

So, I say, not that much more of an issue then the "any race, any alliance" players... people may look twice, and reach for their swords... but when the gobbo talks like a person instead of glibbering like, well, a goblin, they may remember the rumours they kept hearing of that one exceptional goblin hero who saved the king of daggerfall/foiled the invasion of davon's watch/exposed a plot against the queens life in vukhel guard...

It would be interesting to have some sort of NPC reaction to non-standard races though... even if it was just charging them 50% extra on all transactions...

Oh, I have issues with the lack of racism in ESO. Narratively, all the races are exactly the same! I would love it if the game played differently based on your race... but that will never EVER happen.

Starshadw · September 2015

This game already offers plenty of racial options (ten of them), in my opinion.

Gidorick · September 2015

AngryNord wrote: »

MamaDruid wrote: »

Theoretically, you could play as a Maormer, or hybrid Maormer, using an Altmer or a Dunmer.

Put an end to the min/maxing with hybrids of current races and their own racials. I'm using an Imperial to play as a Nord/Redguard... I suppose the Imperial racials fit with that combination.

Except that there's no concept of mixed races in TES.

There certainly is @AngryNord!

According to the lore “Notes on Racial Phylogeny and Biology”

"Generally the offspring bear the racial traits of the mother, though some traces of the father's race may also be present."
http://www.imperial-library.info/content/notes-racial-phylogeny-and-biology

I assume that mixed race offspring are (generally) infertile and cannot produce offspring of their own.

I wrote a concept up a while ago that would include the addition mixed race offspring characters to ESO

http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/153977/eso-character-offspring-a-phylogenetics-concept/p1

ArrerBoy · September 2015

Gidorick wrote: »

According to the lore “Notes on Racial Phylogeny and Biology”

"Generally the offspring bear the racial traits of the mother, though some traces of the father's race may also be present."
http://www.imperial-library.info/content/notes-racial-phylogeny-and-biology

Yeah but it requires generations of breeding before you create a new race beyond just the same race with a few quirks.

Bretons didn't come in a single generation. The Manmer race took a while before they became more than just magic sensitive Nedes.

TheShadowScout · September 2015

Gidorick wrote: »

Oh, I have issues with the lack of racism in ESO. Narratively, all the races are exactly the same! I would love it if the game played differently based on your race... but that will never EVER happen.

Agreed, I would have loved it if the choices one made in character generation actually made a difference in the game, made for different reactions with in-game encounters...
Same with character gender...
Heck, even vampirism and werewolfiness are generally not taken into account by the game...

Different NPC reactions/dialouge would have been a good start, different quest paths would have been even better! Like, say, some of the slaves in EP questlines being loath to trust a dunmer, and requiring an extra quest step that other, non-slaver races would just skip... like the Thalmor in the AD questlines being a lot more trusting with an altmer character then a "lesser race"... like redguard characters getting an additional assassination attempt during the alcaire castle questline due to the backstory of that madness... like vampires being able to skip the "find some vampire blood to save the skald king" quest part by nicking their wrist... like female characters getting diofferent dialouge from male ones on several occasions, full of suggestive comments they have to rebuke... like orsimer being treated like unwashed barbarians by breton nobles... like all cross-faction characters being treated with suspiscion at first meeting...

But its not something most games even think of.

Gidorick · September 2015

ArrerBoy wrote: »

Gidorick wrote: »

According to the lore “Notes on Racial Phylogeny and Biology”

"Generally the offspring bear the racial traits of the mother, though some traces of the father's race may also be present."
http://www.imperial-library.info/content/notes-racial-phylogeny-and-biology

Yeah but it requires generations of breeding before you create a new race beyond just the same race with a few quirks.

Bretons didn't come in a single generation. The Manmer race took a while before they became more than just magic sensitive Nedes.

I think the half-breeds in The Elder Scrolls universe are more like the half breeds we find on earth. They're one-offs. They're not a race but a mix of two races. Usually infertile. Not a new race. A one time mix that could not reproduce and could not be the forbearers of an entire race. They would be sterile... just like Zeborids are sterile.

I find it curious how you snipped off the rest of my post that explains this:

Gidorick wrote: »

I assume that mixed race offspring are (generally) infertile and cannot produce offspring of their own.

I wrote a concept up a while ago that would include the addition mixed race offspring characters to ESO

http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/153977/eso-character-offspring-a-phylogenetics-concept/p1

I suggest you check out my thread right above to see my full concept of how hybrid races could work in ESO.

Robo_Hobo · September 2015

I think adding races that wouldnt make sense is really pushing it, suspension of disbelief is a nice thing for the questionable crown store things, Ive got no problem with that, but being an ayleid or chimer or dwemer or dremora is...too much, in my opinion. Thats not to say I think new races shouldnt happen, but should be respectful to the game world's lore.

jade0black · September 2015

GreyHound501 wrote: »

I wish there was a deadra class worshipper class in which you picked one of the deadric princes and got skill lines based off of that princes power or were you could choose a certain deadric prince or one of the eight or the three tribunals and get a single skill line from that like for example Azura's skill line could give buffs at dusk or dawn give you more dammage with the filling soul gems stuff like that

Literally conjuration.

jade0black · September 2015

ArrerBoy wrote: »

nimander99 wrote: »

The community has been clamoring for Daedra playable race for over a decade now. Morrowind and Oblivion had mods that made Daedra playable... not sure if Skyrim had one or not. That's the only other playable race I could ever see being added and I doubt ESO would be the first to so... we will see that in Elder Scrolls 6 maybe, if there is a lore reason for it.

There is none. There is a reason why they are modded only. Because Daedra are totally different from the other races on Nirn. They aren't born in the conventional sense, they don't die(just return to the Void), they can't suddenly come to Nirn unless summoned, and they need a lot of power to just stay on Nirn(barring very exceptional circumstances). You're more likely to see Akavir than official playable daedra.

Daedra have negative reasons to do quests for NPC's, to work with others, to be on nirn, etc.

ArrerBoy · September 2015

Gidorick wrote: »

I find it curious how you snipped off the rest of my post that explains this:

I snipped it to save space. Just as I am now to keep your points and my counter points organized.

Gidorick wrote: »

I assume that mixed race offspring are (generally) infertile and cannot produce offspring of their own.

They can. That's how Bretons came about. Generations of Direnni blood getting more and more mixed into the Nedic genepool in High Rock led the the Breton race.

Gidorick wrote: »

I wrote a concept up a while ago that would include the addition mixed race offspring characters to ESO

http://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/153977/eso-character-offspring-a-phylogenetics-concept/p1

I suggest you check out my thread right above to see my full concept of how hybrid races could work in ESO.

A lot of what you have is really speculation, especially when it involves the beast races. Theoretically anyone can become Saxhleel just by consuming raw Hist Sap, and the Khajiit follow the Lunar Lattice to determine what their offspring will become. This throws a wrench in the whole hybrid system with them because magic gets in the way. One generation you are going to see very, VERY little difference at all. Like 1.1% of the father's power is in them but beyond that not much. It takes a long time for anything prominent to show.

Even in the single players games, the few examples of mixed race offspring where more or less just your average <X> of the mother's race. The most prominent I can think of being the Orc gladiator in Oblivion who was sired by a vampire. He has none of his father's traits beyond some a little more power augmenting his orcish strength.

Gidorick · September 2015

Once a species diversifies enough from a related species, the mix of their species no longer produces a viable and reproductive offspring. Eventually the two species cannot produce offspring at all. Sure, the Aldmer and the Atmorans/Nedes were similar enough to produce an entire Manmer race in the Bretons, but we don't know if the offspring of a Breton and an Altmer would be able to reproduce. We just don't have enough informaiton to make an informed assumption about that.

Now, after saying that @ArrerBoy, I admit that they probably would produce fertile children. I wouldn't be surprised if in actuality Tamriel is full of mixed blood people. Just as in our world though, mixed-race offspring would generally identify with one race over another another. The Men and Mer seem similar enough to intermix, but that's where the mechanics of an MMO come into play.

If ZOS were to include mixed races in ESO they would need to make a system that would be all inclusive. They COULD just say "men/mer races can mix but not beast races"... but I'd imagine there would be quite the uproar about that decison. MMOs have to be "inclusive" after all!

Here is a quote from my ESO Character Offspring: A Phylogenetics Concept thread discussing the logistics of beast-race mix-breeds. With the lore we have it's not alltogether impossible using the "logic" of TES.

Gidorick wrote: »

Just a few 'lore-thoughts' on how this could be allowed.
Khajiit are mammalian and some even suggest that they are actually descendants of Mer, so there's a reason right there they might be able to interbreed with Men/Mer.

Argonian interbreeding could be linked to the Hist. there are all sorts of weird things that could be made up here. Perhaps the Men/Mer has to be high on Hist sap when copulation occurs and that does something to allow for there to be a genetic offspring. Maybe Argonians are able to asexually reproduce the Men/Mer has to mix their blood with the Hist sap on Naming Day to have the baby Argonian take on their traits and be their offspring. Similarly, maybe if enough Hist sap is ingested Men/Mer women can have fatherless children... then the Hist sap/Father's blood thing an occur then with that child.

The whole view that they are sterile is simply to protect the seperation of the races in future games and to prevent players from making mixed races of mixed races of mixed races of... you get the idea.

But you're right. Most of what I have said is pure conjecture and is, as of right now, a fan-fic level idea. But man... I really want to play as a character with a Khajiit mother and a Bosmer father.

Treasure_Goblin · September 2015

dwemer sphere the dream

Gidorick · September 2015

Treasure_Goblin wrote: »

dwemer sphere the dream

Saw this last week:

http://www.pcgamer.com/build-of-the-week-animunculus-from-the-elder-scrolls-v-skyrim/

milesrodneymcneely2_ESO · September 2015

Gidorick wrote: »

Just as in our world though, mixed-race offspring would generally identify with one race over another another. The Men and Mer seem similar enough to intermix, but that's where the mechanics of an MMO come into play.

Not to put too fine a point on it, but race doesn't really exist in our species.

Getting back to the lore, though, I like the current racial set-up. One thing I'm slightly dissatisfied with, though, is the way racial passives have been implemented. While I don't think removing soft caps was necessarily all bad, it DID unbalance the races in a way they weren't before.

I kind of miss the way racial abilities were implemented in previous ES titles, particularly Oblivion. Maybe it's nostalgia, but the races in earlier titles felt REALLY distinct from one another. If I had any input on the matter, I'd ditch racial passives that had any effect on attributes or the recovery values. Not sure what I'd replace them with, but I think skill lines and gear are more than adequate for resource management.

What I DO think would be neat would be to give each race a non-combat-related active ability, just for flavor and/or quality of life. I really liked the Khajiits' "Night Eye" ability, the Imperials' "Speechcraft-thingy", and so forth.

Okay, I just realized I'm rambling and veering WAY off topic, so I'll just let myself out...

Anhedonie · September 2015

I vote for sload necromancer.

Gidorick · September 2015

milesrodneymcneely2_ESO wrote: »

Not to put too fine a point on it, but race doesn't really exist in our species.

Lol. You do have a point there.

The fact that we call the variations in humans "race" does more harm than good. It makes us seem like we are more different than we actually are. This is actually kind of how the different Men and Mer "Races" are considered to be different races when they are simply variations of the same race. The distinctions between them are based on physiological differences and cultural bias, just as the races are separated in our cultures.

milesrodneymcneely2_ESO wrote: »

What I DO think would be neat would be to give each race a non-combat-related active ability, just for flavor and/or quality of life. I really liked the Khajiits' "Night Eye" ability, the Imperials' "Speechcraft-thingy", and so forth.

UGH. YES!!! Khajiit NOT having night-eye is irksome.