D&D 5E Player Races in Upcoming Volo's Guide to Monsters

[Parmandur]

the whole orc thing is weird, because it's always seemed to me that the half-orc exists to let us play orcs without making orcs not evil, but now it's more normal to want to play an actual orc, bc Warcraft and Elder Scrolls. And orcs aren't auto evil anymore, which I like. But unlike the halfelf, orcs and half orcs aren't all that distinct.

Then again, I'm 100% fine with niche overlap in races. I just don't see why they had to take up a full race writeup worth of page space for Orcs, when there are other races that ppl want that aren't basically the same thing as what is already there.

Like, take another crack at the concepts behind the Wilden, guys? I want a being that is made of nature, without all the weird baggage of a dryad.

Or, Satyrs, Centaurs, Pixies, Quicklings, etc.

Don't care about hobgoblins at all, but do we know if the book includes bugbears? Bugbears are cool. In my homebrew dnd setting, they are the naturey tree dwelling race, while elves take the place normally held by humans. (ie, they have a ton of different cultures, are present in most nations, and are the most prevalent race in many regions. Humans kinda stand alongside elves, though, and half-elves are common enough
that many ppl don't make a distinction between the three)

I just hope that flinds make it in, so I don't have to homebrew gnolls. I got enough work to do, especially since so much of the stuff I hadn't developed beyond forum discussions is gone now.

5E is very much led by lore and player desires (in the aggragete). I eager that the R&D team set themselves the task of making Orcs different from Half-Orcs because of the common desire to play them.

The "baggage" of any particular race, like the Dryad, is why people want to play them usually: I don't have to explain to new folks what a Dryad is, like with a new made up race.

 

[Demetrios1453]

I only know what 2 of the creatures from the preview are with Kirin and Flail Snail being the ones I can identify. One of the previewed creatures might be some type of beholder kin like the Observer but I don't think it's that one. The 4th I don't know what it could be, maybe a Mongrelfolk.

It's a Death Kiss beholderkin. Took me a couple of minutes to sort through the beholderkin before I figured that one out.

Has anyone figured out what Mr Snakearms is yet? I assume some sort of yuan-ti variant, although I'm not sure exactly which one....

 

[Demetrios1453]

People really need to start differentiating between "races" and "playable" races. Because many on that list of yours have been confirmed as being IN the guide as races, but NOT as playable races.

The OP is correct - all the creatures on that list have been officially confirmed by WotC as playable creatures through some outlet or other.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

5E is very much led by lore and player desires (in the aggragete). I eager that the R&D team set themselves the task of making Orcs different from Half-Orcs because of the common desire to play them.

The "baggage" of any particular race, like the Dryad, is why people want to play them usually: I don't have to explain to new folks what a Dryad is, like with a new made up race.

I wasn't speaking, in any way, on what other people want, or even on whether dryads are a good race option.

I was commenting on why a race like the Wilden are a nice addition to the game.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Can you guys tell me where to find these pictures? My Google-fu is weak today and I'm having no luck

 

[Leatherhead]

Can you guys tell me where to find these pictures? My Google-fu is weak today and I'm having no luck

http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/news/extralife2016

 

[Mercule]

They really should've just called it "Fiend Folio"...

All the better because it lacks FR references, but is strongly anchored to the D&D brand.

 

[aarduini]

Well, the Orc, Goblin, Firbolg, Triton, Kenku and Tabaxi are confirmed playable; while it is true the Aasamir was only confirmed to be in the book, I'll bet on them being playable.

The Aasamir were in SCAG to, but AL still said a cert was required. I wonder if they will do the same with the races here?

 

[Chaosmancer]

http://dnd.wizards.com/articles/news/extralife2016

Thank you very much

 

[Mercule]

Then again, I'm 100% fine with niche overlap in races. I just don't see why they had to take up a full race writeup worth of page space for Orcs, when there are other races that ppl want that aren't basically the same thing as what is already there.

I'm not really opposed to race overlap, but I do prefer the humanocentric position that there should be a reason to add races beyond human. Each race should be somehow alien, if only slightly. Dwarves and elves get a pass because of Tolkien, even though Tolkien elves and dwarves really were somewhat alien if you got into the mythology. I've never dealt with the Warcraft universe, but I could see the orcs getting a similar bye because of it (and I'd rather deal with full orcs than half-orcs; I'm not a huge fan of half-humans).

Basically, I don't want to end up with Star Trek, where 90% of "aliens" were pretty much just humans with random forehead (or ear) prosthetics. Sometimes, they acted as caricatures of certain human traits, but they were more often just as varied. I find that kind of "meh". YMMV, but that could be where some of the resistance to overlap comes in.

And, yes, I get that looking alien can qualify. If you end up with goliath, firbolg, and half-ogre having stats that are 90% identical, then there really isn't a good reason to have them all. Being "ridiculously large and strong without being restricted from normal buildings and adventures" only goes so far before you realize that they could all be one race with the goliath being a world-specific variation that lives in the mountains and tends towards honor, the firbolg is a different world-specific variant that happens to live in the frozen north (or whatever they do with them), and the half-ogre is another variant that happens to have a more primitive culture. Those three might be no different than the Medieval Japanese, Estonians, and Congolese (not checking for historic accurate names), all of which are human.