D&D (2024) Racial options without built in spells

[Tales and Chronicles]

I really liked it! 4E blindsided me by not just giving me Forgotten Realms Saga.

I think there's still a market for a Setting X Saga, using the various D&D settings with the system and its skill-tree and all that, for those missing 4e or the relative complexity of 3e.

In a box set, much like the Dragonlance Mass combat game, it would provably sells not too badly.

 

[Tonguez]

If you want them in a low-magic setting, that's cool, but maybe not a thing you should expect to be handed in a core ruleset.

This, in a couple of my low magic homebrews Elfs are NPC only but non magical half-elfs take there place for the Elf loving player.

 

[cbwjm]

At the time, I honest to God was expecting Star Wars Saga was just 4E. I'm not sure tonthis day whybit wasn't.

After looking through star wars saga, I admit I was kind of disappointed with how 4e turned out. It wasn't a bad game, but I was kind of amped for the DnD version of SWsaga.

 

[Charlaquin]

This sounds like a RAW vs RAI Issue then. 4e being more RAW than RAI, and 5e being just the opposite.

I do like the idea of certain racial abilities having their uses tied to the proficiency bonus.

How can a book be more rules as intended than rules as written or vice-versa? Theoretically, in a perfectly-written book, RAW and RAI would be identical, but since language is an imperfect mode of communication, there is always the potential for some discrepancies between RAW and RAI. Still, RAW being different from RAI is, basically, just an error.

 

[Corinnguard]

How can a book be more rules as intended than rules as written or vice-versa? Theoretically, in a perfectly-written book, RAW and RAI would be identical, but since language is an imperfect mode of communication, there is always the potential for some discrepancies between RAW and RAI. Still, RAW being different from RAI is, basically, just an error.

RAI= Rules as Interpreted. What I meant in my earlier post was that a lot of rules in 5e seemed to be left more open to interpretation by the DM and the players.

 

[Charlaquin]

RAI= Rules as Interpreted. What I meant in my earlier post was that a lot of rules in 5e seemed to be left more open to interpretation by the DM and the players.

RAI is rules as intended, friend.

 

[Corinnguard]

RAI is rules as intended, friend.

Well this is awkward, I have been thinking of RAI as Rules as Interpreted since I began hearing the two acronyms mentioned.

 

[Parmandur]

Well this is awkward, I have been thinking of RAI as Rules as Interpreted since I began hearing the two acronyms mentioned.

That's RAF, which the Sage Advice Compendium also speaks of: "Rules as Fun." All rules are, in the end, just suggestions to help have fun.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

One problem 5e has is the oversaturation of magic, it makes playing in low magic settings difficult without a lot of house rules. Dark Sun or the Hollow World makes arcane magic difficult. Mystara has societal implications in the magiocracies like Glantri and Alphatia. But for races like elves and gnomes they start with spells and getting spells through feats isn't hard at all.

So why not a non-magical elf or similar as an option? It makes low magic settings playable without the dm rewriting the rules and makes for a race that's not just dark vision, spells and some proficiencies like most races have turned into

more and more I am finding they just hide behind magic...

 

[Tonguez]

You want less magic? Turn a set selection of a class's 1st level spells into a handful of class features that can only be used 4 times per long rest and don't require components (not that most of us use components anyway). Then just refluff the the game mechanic so that its narrative isn't supernatural. Expeditious Retreat? It's the same mechanic as the Rogue's Cunning Action. So it's only a spell and magical if you run it that way.

yeah very much this, I for one would much rather have a Ranger where things like Hunters Mark, Detect poison and even Beast Bond were based on Wisdom Skills (Survival, Animal handling etc) rather than magic.

even things like Jump could be pure athletics rather than magic