D&D (2024) 2024 PHB Race discussion

[Horwath]

why does dwarf has 30ft move speed?
and gnome too?

That should have been some penalty countered by more positive features.

I get the halfling 30ft as they are really nimble.

Also we have Squat nimbleness feat that corrects that issue and give proficiency and advantage vs grapple. Very good for a half feat.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

I want the 2024 Players Handbook to only list the human race, with a note to consult with the DM for other races that exist in the setting.

The Players Handbook should be as setting neutral as possible, except for popular notions about "medieval-esque" plus the existence of magic.

All worldbuilding needs to be in the 2024 DMs Guide, relating to possible cosmologies, worlds, races, and cultures. Especially the Cleric class in the Players Handbook must not lock these assumptions in.

i mean at that point should not all classes be in the DMG 'ask your DM what classes exist in this world'

 

[Yaarel]

the idea of having rules to cross any 2 races is amazing (and leads to nothing but joy) but taking the 2 cross races we had that HAD there own identity and abilities in 5e is annoying... half orcs are not orcs, and are losing there endurance.

I am ok with removing the half-elf.

Mechanically the race was merely Charisma and ability versatility, plus skills.

Now, ability score improvements are obsolete.

If a player wants the magical aspects of the elf, then use the elf stats.

If one wants the skill versatility then use the human stats.

There is little or no loss of information by deleting the half elf.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

why does dwarf has 30ft move speed?
and gnome too?

That should have been some penalty countered by more positive features.

I get the halfling 30ft as they are really nimble.

Also we have Squat nimbleness feat that corrects that issue and give proficiency and advantage vs grapple. Very good for a half feat.

I think we should just assume 1d&D will not put any negative on a playable race... so 30 is the lowest move you will see

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

I think the reason behind the Ardling is to let players play their favorite anthropomorphic animals without needing to populate every campaign with large numbers of animal people. By making them half-celestials it makes sense that there's a huge variety of Ardlings even when they are few in numbers.

 

[Yaarel]

i mean at that point should not all classes be in the DMG 'ask your DM what classes exist in this world'

It is a thought. But the human can be any of these classes. So it is reasonable to include them in the 2024 Players Handbook.

Note, a separate setting adventurers guide might correlate certain class options with certain cultures of other races. For example, the high elves might especially be famous for their Bladesinger Wizards. Perhaps Gnomes or Dwarves are famous Artificers. But in these cases, the adventurers guide itself, will rewrite the flavors from the ground up according to the themes and tropes that are true for the particular setting.

In any case, minimizing race content for more page space for class content would be excellent.

 

[Willie the Duck]

I will start: So they still seem to be calling them "races".

I just.... like... how?! Wasn't that, it being so hard to play against type, and some super-specifics like 90% of the problem we've been trying to address with the whole 'change how we do 'races' in D&D' thing?

As seemingly the only person who liked the standard, non-variant human (basically if I rolled more than 4 odd numbers I played one) I miss that. I think 1st level feats are a really great idea for intermediate or advanced players. For brand new players making them delve straight into the whole complicated feat system just to play a human is... unfortunate.

In the survey, I will advocate for a lot of language on how to deal with feat choices for beginning players.

I've been hoping for the removal of Half-Elf and Half-Orc for quite a while now, because quite frankly my experiences with them have been people taking these races purely for the game mechanics and the players couldn't give a rat's ass about the narrative and story about being a mixed race person.

I suspect this might be a 5e-ism. 5e half-elves, with the 4 pluses (including a Cha boost) and universally-useful extra skills really lead them into great synergy with Cha-based classes (the other suddenly-really-good thing in 5e). Half-elves in 4e, 3e, and AD&D ranged from ho-hum to sub-par to 'good only because, like humans, they can be most classes.' Also back in the TSR days when elves were sometimes coded closer to what Eladrin are today, half-elves had more role to fill as having a foot in the mysterious world of the enigmatic and retreating elves, but still having a more relatable mindset. Since the mystery of elves has been significantly diluted, this might be less so. Still, I have a great fondness for half-elves, although I don't have a problem with the way they are done here.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

It is a thought. But the human can be any of these classes. So it is reasonable to include them in the 2024 Players Handbook.

Note, a separate setting adventurers guide might correlate certain class options with certain cultures of other races. For example, the high elves might especially be famous for their Bladesinger Wizards. Perhaps Gnomes or Dwarves are famous Artificers. But in these cases, the adventurers guide itself, will rewrite the flavors from the ground up according to the themes and tropes that are true for the particular setting.

In any case, minimizing race content for more page space for class content would be excellent.

I much prefer the PHB have all the main rules, including as many races and classes as can fit and just label them all building blocks for the DM

 

[Yaarel]

I think the reason behind the Ardling is to let players play their favorite anthropomorphic animals without needing to populate every campaign with large numbers of animal people. By making them half-celestials it makes sense that there's a huge variety of Ardlings even when they are few in numbers.

I think it is both. A counterpart to the tiefling, the video mentions awsimar, but also accommodates the flavor of many different kinds of "humanimals", like tabaxi, loxodon, kenku, leonel, aarakokra, yuan-ti, harengon, etcetera, even gnoll.

 

[Charles Rampant]

As someone who habitually plays Half-Orcs (without ever having a conscious reason to do so - I just generally enjoy the race and like the opportunity to refer to both fantasy archetypes) I'm disappointed to see them disappear into a murky 'just reskin' approach. Half-Elves are in the same boat - admittedly a 5e powerpick, but also undeniably a long and storied race and one that fits with Tieflings into the sexy-cool-ones category that is always popular with players. I'm really not sure they'll make that removal stick.