What races are left for D&D to do?

[Jester David]

Honestly, WotC hasn't even proposed how they would do them, yet. Based on the MM block, though, being masters of two-weapon fighting seems legit, and being able to dual wield while using a shield doesn't seem overpowered compared to being a high dexterity Tortle dual-wielding with 20-22 AC naked.

If four arms were the main and coolest ability, sure. But thri-kreen usually had poison spitting and a standing jump ability as well.
Keeping the extra arms a little weaker leaves more room for other features.

 

[Yunru]

Standing Jump's almost ribbon, but the poison spitting...
IDK, iirc 5e Thri-Kreen don't have it (or 4e Thri-Kreen which I based mine on), so it could just be excluded.

 

[Parmandur]

If four arms were the main and coolest ability, sure. But thri-kreen usually had poison spitting and a standing jump ability as well.
Keeping the extra arms a little weaker leaves more room for other features.

Well, if I was designing the Thri'kreen, I would give them a bunch of racial feats for more advanced powers (acid spit, psychic stuff).

 

[Parmandur]

Standing Jump's almost ribbon, but the poison spitting...
IDK, iirc 5e Thri-Kreen don't have it (or 4e Thri-Kreen which I based mine on), so it could just be excluded.

5E's MO is to bring in classic stuff, but I think based on the Gith that a recognizable version of the MM will probably be the basis.

 

[Coroc]

I riddled about the four arm dilemma until I decided I would just ignore it. I simply ignore it like with halfgiants would should rightfully have possible str and con stats above 20. Just accept with 5e mechanics both things are not necessary.

The Thrikreen in my homebrew might have four arms but this does give him only 1 natural attack which does 1d4 on a hit. This is the culminated effort of its 4 claws.
For every option with it wielding a weapon I just rule it does not give any advantage (nor disadvantage). No two polearm or 4 short sword munchkinism at my table, this does just not scale in the 5E.

It is hard enough to imagine two weapon fighting other than with rapier dagger, or at least one weapon for attacks one for defense (parry) four weapons or two polearms would unerringly come into conflict with each other so it just does not happen in my world.

 

[Yunru]

I riddled about the four arm dilemma until I decided I would just ignore it. I simply ignore it like with halfgiants would should rightfully have possible str and con stats above 20. Just accept with 5e mechanics both things are not necessary.

The Thrikreen in my homebrew might have four arms but this does give him only 1 natural attack which does 1d4 on a hit. This is the culminated effort of its 4 claws.
For every option with it wielding a weapon I just rule it does not give any advantage (nor disadvantage). No two polearm or 4 short sword munchkinism at my table, this does just not scale in the 5E.

It is hard enough to imagine two weapon fighting other than with rapier dagger, or at least one weapon for attacks one for defense (parry) four weapons or two polearms would unerringly come into conflict with each other so it just does not happen in my world.

Maaaan you must hate the 5e Monster Manual then, given that they dual wield polearms.

(Okay they are variants, but it's there!)

 

[Aldarc]

The Three-Legged Father-Son Race

 

[Coroc]

I did not note that yet, since a 5e monster is not at all an ideal baseline to create rules for PCs I did not look them up yet, but if they munchkinise like this, it becomes an instant houserule that it is different. I do not hate them because of that, I just use rule 0 and pray for them RAW purists since they do not know better

 

[Mecheon]

Saurials.

Speaking of races that need a revamp...

I love dinosaurs so much and the utter blandness of Saurials angers me

 

[Paul Farquhar]

It's not as powerful as it might seem at first, though I understand that initial reaction. First, you cannot dual wield two handed weapons as the rules require them to be one handed regardless of your number of arms. Second, yes it allows for a shield while dual wielding or while wielding a single weapon two-handed, and that's OK if it is their major "bonus" ability like a human getting a feat or Yuan-Ti Pureblood getting advantage on saves vs magic or any of the many bonus features different races get. Seems fine to me actually and not overpowered at all once you dig down into the details and compare them to other races.

Now if you add a lot more abilities, like darkvision and faster speed or something like that, then we have some issues with being overpowered. But if their major thing is just the four arms, it should be fine.

I agree with you completely. I was using hyperbole to try and make the point that in needs to be considered the key feature of the race, and so it needs to be in the crunch, a passing mention in the fluff text isn't adequate. It's not necessarily overpowered, but it is very strong, and needs to be considered the key trait of the race and balanced accordingly (can't wear armour is a useful drawback).


Or nerfed with restrictions - but either way it needs to be properly addressed.