Home > Race (fantasy)
Many fantasy stories and worlds call their main sapient humanoid species "races" rather than species. In most such worlds, these races are related, typically having evolved from one root species (most often either elves or humans) by magical or divine influence. The usage of the term in this context was popularized by J. R. R. Tolkien and was further adapted and spread by the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. Nowadays, many imaginary universes use the terms "race" and "species" interchangeably.In role-playing games, "race" typically refers to any species that can be played as a player character. In older editions of Dungeons & Dragons, the primary non-human player races ( dwarf, elf, gnome, halflingHalfling is another name for J. Tolkien's hobbit and is a fictional race sometimes found in fantasy novels and games. In many settings, they are similar to humans except about half the size. Dungeons & Dragons began using the name halfling as an alternati and half-elf) were called "demihumans".
See list of species in fantasy fictionFantasy fiction tends to draw upon a common set of creatures that are easily recognizable to fans of the fantastic genre and have some pre-determined traits. Most are based on mythology, legends, fairy tales, or classical literature. For such species, see for a listing of fictional fantastic races and species.
See also
- Character classA character class represents a character's archetype and career in many role-playing games. Usually, players choose their class when they create their character and may not completely part from that class during the life of that character. Dungeons & Drag
- Legendary creatureA legendary creature is a mythical or fantastic creature (often known as "fabulous creatures" in historical literature). Some such as the dragon, the griffin or the unicorn have their origin in traditional myth and have at one time been believed to be rea
- List of character classesA list of character classes in role-playing games: Dungeons & Dragons (including Advanced Dungeons & Dragons) Chainmail/First Edition/ Primitive D&D Basic (human) Classes Fighter Thief Cleric Magic-user " Demi-Human" character classes Elves Dwarves Halfli
- List of species in folklore and mythologyThese are legendary creatures that historically humans have thought were real. Alphabetical list A-B Abarimon Abatwa Ajatar Amphisbaena Aswang Aziza Baku Balaur Banshee Barghest Basilisk Beast of Bodmin Behemoth Bigfoot Bishop-fish Black Dog Boggart Bolla
- List of species in fantasy fictionFantasy fiction tends to draw upon a common set of creatures that are easily recognizable to fans of the fantastic genre and have some pre-determined traits. Most are based on mythology, legends, fairy tales, or classical literature. For such species, see
- MonsterThis article is about monsters as a kind of legendary creature. For other uses, see Monster (disambiguation). Monster (lat. monstrum) is a term for any number of legendary creatures that frequently appear in mythology, legend, and horror fiction. The word
Fantasy