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

[Sword of Spirit]

Where are Orogs as a playable race?

 

[gyor]

How did you know they didn't make the cut?

Again I curious how anyone knows they didn't make the cut?

 

[GreenTengu]

Kay.

So, they're "alien" for the sake of being alien. Like I said, I'll be ignoring that.

I dont know if that is a fair assessment. They would be alien because they are reptilian. We have a pretty good idea of how mammals work-- all derived from being live born, suckling at the mother's teet, living in a communal group and cooperating for survival. Reptiles generally hatch from eggs that are usually not particularly looked after (crocodiles being the exception to this) and then as soon as they hatch, the young are totally on their own and live the first several years of their life as prey even if they eventually grow up into large predators.

Granted-- since we are to understand that Lizardfolk live in groups and have communities meaning they shift a bit more towards being similar to mammals, it it seems only to reinforce their thematic concept to say that it is difficult to comprehend the way they see the world and not simply because they are "neutral". Honestly, it is an aspect that could have been-- almost certainly should have been-- applied to the Dragonborn and got entirely missed out on.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I dont know if that is a fair assessment. They would be alien because they are reptilian. We have a pretty good idea of how mammals work-- all derived from being live born, suckling at the mother's teet, living in a communal group and cooperating for survival. Reptiles generally hatch from eggs that are usually not particularly looked after (crocodiles being the exception to this) and then as soon as they hatch, the young are totally on their own and live the first several years of their life as prey even if they eventually grow up into large predators.

Granted-- since we are to understand that Lizardfolk live in groups and have communities meaning they shift a bit more towards being similar to mammals, it it seems only to reinforce their thematic concept to say that it is difficult to comprehend the way they see the world and not simply because they are "neutral". Honestly, it is an aspect that could have been-- almost certainly should have been-- applied to the Dragonborn and got entirely missed out on.

I think DB are mostly good as they are. I would have given them somewhat more draconic personalities, perhaps. Inclination toward pridefulness, territorial instincts, etc, but otherwise, I'm glad there is a draconic race that is social and family oriented.

For lizardfolk, of course they should be somewhat alien, but they are social, cooperative tool users that raise their young. That means, to me, that they need to emote, to communicate effectively, etc. not so that humans can from them, they can and should be confusing, but as an inescapable result of being family oriented, cooperative, tool using, social animals.

The idea of a heavy rp rp focus on them being emotionless sounds really dumb to me, next to that.

 

[Parmandur]

I think DB are mostly good as they are. I would have given them somewhat more draconic personalities, perhaps. Inclination toward pridefulness, territorial instincts, etc, but otherwise, I'm glad there is a draconic race that is social and family oriented.

For lizardfolk, of course they should be somewhat alien, but they are social, cooperative tool users that raise their young. That means, to me, that they need to emote, to communicate effectively, etc. not so that humans can from them, they can and should be confusing, but as an inescapable result of being family oriented, cooperative, tool using, social animals.

The idea of a heavy rp rp focus on them being emotionless sounds really dumb to me, next to that.

Worth noting that in D&D, Dragons are warm blooded specifically, so Dragonborn probably are, too. So, not exactly reptiles as such.

We know Lizardfolk are tribal; but if their lifecycle resembles lizards or crocodilians, their family life might be fairly alien even if they work as groups past childhood...

 

[Mecheon]

'Warm blood' and 'cold blood' aren't really a thing any more. Tunas and crocodiles are endothermic for example

 

[GreenTengu]

I think DB are mostly good as they are. I would have given them somewhat more draconic personalities, perhaps. Inclination toward pridefulness, territorial instincts, etc, but otherwise, I'm glad there is a draconic race that is social and family oriented.

For lizardfolk, of course they should be somewhat alien, but they are social, cooperative tool users that raise their young. That means, to me, that they need to emote, to communicate effectively, etc. not so that humans can from them, they can and should be confusing, but as an inescapable result of being family oriented, cooperative, tool using, social animals.

The idea of a heavy rp rp focus on them being emotionless sounds really dumb to me, next to that.

In D&D, I feel we have seen how dragons behave though. They are not pack animals, when you find an encounter with a dragon you generally do not find yourself against a whole clan of them. From various ways Dragons have been used, it seems like that after the eggs are laid, maybe the dragon mother does stay somewhat near them until they hatch-- but, after that, they seem entirely on their own. You get dragon whelplings running around, a lot of them, with no more intelligence than a typical animal, and those that manage to survive accumulate size and intelligence slowly as they age, if they can manage to survive for centuries only then do they end up being the size of a building with greater than human intelligence.

Generally they become more and more fiercely independent as they age.

The origin of Dragonborn seems to be some sort of weird, maleformed failed mutant dragon. But no aspect of them matches up with how dragons work. They are just big, ugly dwarfs with scaly skin.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

What game resource makes you think dragonborn are weird mutant experiments? I can't think of any 4e or 5e source that fits that. They are as related to dragons as we are to gorillas, more or less. They are draconic, they are not dragons.

but from the big ugly dwarves bit, I'm guessing you're one of those that just hates DB, and no amount of reason will affect your view, so...miss me with this whole discussion.

 

[Marandahir]

To be slightly fair (and this is coming from a 4e/5e Dragonborn-lover), both Draconians and Dray (both confirmed as sub-races of Dragonborn) are weird mutant experiments created by arcane casters of Krynn and Athas respectively.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Where are Orogs as a playable race?

I meant to say as for instead as are.

Orcs are going to be playable and Orgos are just tougher Orcs. No reason to make them playable.

In D&D, I feel we have seen how dragons behave though. They are not pack animals, when you find an encounter with a dragon you generally do not find yourself against a whole clan of them. From various ways Dragons have been used, it seems like that after the eggs are laid, maybe the dragon mother does stay somewhat near them until they hatch-- but, after that, they seem entirely on their own. You get dragon whelplings running around, a lot of them, with no more intelligence than a typical animal, and those that manage to survive accumulate size and intelligence slowly as they age, if they can manage to survive for centuries only then do they end up being the size of a building with greater than human intelligence.

Correction. Dragons from the moment they are born have average human intelligence. It's part of what makes them arrogant. While they do stick with their parents for a bit they generally go on their own pretty quickly.