D&D 5E What Races for the 5E PHB

[Lanefan]

Then right from the beginning, the reductionists, children, new players and Old Schoolers can have their simple Red Box of four races, four classes and few options; while the experienced players, teenagers, the 4thers and 3rders, and the lovers of variety can have some interesting options from the beginning without needing to wait six months for a Supplement. The Advanced Book can be 500 pages like Pathfinder, because people who only want a slim book can buy the 60 page Starter Book.

Offense mildly taken on behalf of old-school types who are experienced players who like variety of play rather than variety of mechanics...

That said, this does raise an interesting question: as 5e is supposed to be so very modular, how many modules will they try to cram into the initial PH? Or, will 5e perhaps be released as a whole bunch of smaller books simultaneously, one with the basic core game and the rest with modular tack-ons grouped in a sensible way - the Combat Module book, the Dungeoneers Module book, the Social Module book, the Class book, the Race book, etc.

Reason I say this is because if the initial PH is 500 pages of which a given DM might only use 200, how much would this impact sales?

Lan-"I can't believe that over 4% of the voters do not want Human as a core class"-efan

 

[avin]

I've played halflings. Others in my group occasionally do. Not as popular as elves or dwarves, but easily in fourth place and certainly deserving of inclusion.

Just out of curiosity (not for the sake of argument) : were other races allowed or you guys keep humans/dwarves/elves/halflings?

 

[Ahnehnois]

Just out of curiosity (not for the sake of argument) : were other races allowed or you guys keep humans/dwarves/elves/halflings?

Sure, I allow all kinds of things, see my recent post on Savage Species. I've had a number of fairly wild monstrous characters, as well as the occasional exotic PC race. I had a treant character, one character was reincarnated as a Satyr, we had some kind of man-cat character whose actual race I forget, a half-dragon fighter, and that's just the ones I remember from long-running campaigns. I played a goliath and an anthropomorphic owl (as well as all the races in the 3e PHB). As a DM, I really open up the options for NPCs; I've used all kinds of esoteric sources and made my own races on occasion. I've also thrown on bloodlines or extra racial rules to PCs, with or without the player's approval. But humans are still the default option, and a powerful one at that, and are clearly the most popular. My last campaign was two humans and an elf.

I like variety probably more than most; I just don't think the races chapter in the core book needs to devote a ton of space to what I think is a rather indulgent topic for advanced gamers. More races are a great topic for appendices and later supplements, a way of selling more books without seriously compromising the core.

 

[Kaodi]

If it would be informative at all, I think DDO started with Human, Dwarf, Elf, Halfling, Warforged, then expanded to Drow, and then to Half-Elf and Half-Orc.

I was just thinking though, if you wanted to expand on the " touched " feel of races, perhaps the way to associations would be...

Aasimar - Heaven-touched Human
Tiefling - Hell-touched Human
Eladrin - Fey-touched Elf
Gnome - Fey-touched Halfling
Earthen - Earth-touched Dwarf
Dragonborn - Dragon-touched Lizardfolk

 

[Ferrous]

I put other for Dwarf too.

 

[Thunderfoot]

Elf, Dwarf (other), Half-elf (other), Halfling, Gnome and Human.

Half-orc, while an awesome tip o the hat to 1eAD&D just doesn't fit as a core character race IMO. Especially if they are trying to build a simple rule set that can be expanded upon. I would even drop the gnomes to stay with this argument.

Tieflings, Dragonborn, Warforged and Celestials of any ilk are just NOT core material. Sorry, they are needlessly complicated for a basic race, as are drow. Now, the first supplement I would print would be a races expansion book and then I would lump as many races as possible in there, coming up with many optional races including the goblinoids, reptilians, anthropomorphs, giant-kin and core race variants.

5e is a chance to strip everything down to a base game and allow all the shiny bits to be bolted on like aftermarket armor. Let's hope they do it.

 

[drunkenmonk]

I am going to go off the wall and say Human only in the base, then modules for other races.

 

[Aeolius]

If 5e is supposed to be modular, then they need to start with a simple base of five races; Human, Elf, Halfling, Dwarf, and Orc. Keep it simple. Keep it simple.

Other popular races would be mentioned, but detailed in the Monster Manual. Yes, I am aware that everyone has their favorites. To be honest, in 30+ years of playing D&D I only played a dwarf PC once in a one-shot. "Core" races are not allowed at all, in my current game.

 

[Aloïsius]

Looking at the poll, catfolk are at the same level (roughly) of popularity than warforged or shifter... And they are above aasimar or goblin.

 

[Danzauker]

A thing I think many people IMHO seem to overlook that the fact that "5E is going to be modular" doesn't mean "every module will be in later supplements".

Some modules serve well in later books. But some should be in the base books. I expect for example from what I'm reading that a detailed skill system will be a module, but I sure hope it's going to be in the PHB.

So I guess there's there's going to be a page size constraint eventually, and I think, still IMHO, that a good selection of various fantasy races would be a need for old and new players. I expect around 10 of them, but who knows.