D&D 5E Decoupling ancestry and culture

[Horacio]

Note I'm not trying to "FIX" D&D. I'm merely just toying with an idea that's appealing to me

I find it really GREAT!

 

[Haldrik]

Personally, I would rather decouple D&D from races/ancestry biological predeterminism.

The announcement yesterday, where D&D will allow players to customize their own ethnicity/folk/people/species resolves this.

If you want your ethnicity to only have learned traits, you can do that. If you want your ethnicity to only have instinctive traits, you can do that. If you want your ethnicity to be a blend of nature and nurture, you can do that.

Whatever your own concept of ethnicity is, you can do that.



The same fluidity allows DMs to populate the setting with ethnic groups that are more coherent with the themes of the setting.

 

[Haldrik]

I do think inflexible Backgrounds which don't allow Skill choices are unhelpful (there are a few) and should be revised.

Dont forget the overlooked rule. If the background has a skill that your character already gets from class, then you can pick whatever skill you want instead.

So, to open up the skill menu to customize your character, you (countertuitively) pick a redundant background.

 

[Minigiant]

I would decouple culture from ability adj completely.

Racial bonus should give the +2.
Then you get a floating +2 to 1 other stat, a feat, a setting based feature, or a second background.

So a you get the dwarven genetic stuff from picking Dwarf. Con +2, Darkvision 60' & Dwarven Resilience, Dwarven language.
Then you could choose Mountain Hold to get Armor Training, Stonecnning, and ToolProf
Then you pick the Guild Artisan background
Finally you choose Strong focus for +2 Str

 

[CubicsRube]

I've removed ability scores entirely from ancestry and put it into class.

I think it's fine to have generalisarions, but lost adventurers become adventurers because they're not the same as everyone else right?

Take a half-orc wizard. Most half-orc are intimidating and grow up brawling. Say our half-orc was sensitive and introverted. He never wrestled or fought but stayed inside and read books. Eventually he studied hard and necame a wizard. In that situation an 8 str 16 int half orc makes sense to me.

It personally gels with me much netter that ability scores are increased through your training to become that class, especially once you get to the mental stats.

But that's my personal preference.

 

[Minigiant]

I've removed ability scores entirely from ancestry and put it into class.

I think it's fine to have generalisarions, but lost adventurers become adventurers because they're not the same as everyone else right?

Take a half-orc wizard. Most half-orc are intimidating and grow up brawling. Say our half-orc was sensitive and introverted. He never wrestled or fought but stayed inside and read books. Eventually he studied hard and necame a wizard. In that situation an 8 str 16 int half orc makes sense to me.

It personally gels with me much netter that ability scores are increased through your training to become that class, especially once you get to the mental stats.

But that's my personal preference.

Perhaps traits like Powerful build should be more common?

Perhaps we give small ancestries more traits instead of spamming +2 Dexterity?

 

[Kinematics]

Racial bonus should give the +2.
Then you get a floating +2 to 1 other stat, a feat, a setting based feature, or a second background.

I'd disagree. Racial bonuses should not be more than +1. While not related to the current issue, part of the problem with the racial +2 is that it so heavily favors picking that race for a given class. If you want a bard, you'll take a half elf, and skip the half orc. While it's possible to choose the non-optimal path, the game really works against you in that.

Personally, I'd allow the +2 to be used to raise either of the two attributes a class has proficiency in, while only providing a +1 (with some options in which way to go) for the race.

 

[Haldrik]

I've removed ability scores entirely from ancestry and put it into class.

I think it's fine to have generalisarions, but lost adventurers become adventurers because they're not the same as everyone else right?

Take a half-orc wizard. Most half-orc are intimidating and grow up brawling. Say our half-orc was sensitive and introverted. He never wrestled or fought but stayed inside and read books. Eventually he studied hard and necame a wizard. In that situation an 8 str 16 int half orc makes sense to me.

It personally gels with me much netter that ability scores are increased through your training to become that class, especially once you get to the mental stats.

But that's my personal preference.

Actually if that is the case, it might be worth mentioning my response about ability scores from an other thread.



Maybe a different way to generate ability scores, besides pointbuy or 4d6.

Start with an array that is solid +0s (scores of 10).

Then add abilities depending on how you build your character − including how you customize ones race/ethnicity.

Examples:

Wizard: +1 Intelligence

Barbarian: +1 Strength, Constitution, or Charisma

Resistance to Poison (Dwarven Resilience): +1 Constitution

Heavyweight (Giant Build): +1 Constitution or +1 Strength

Wizard Cantrips: +1 Intelligence

etcetera.



So, the resulting abilties of an Orc Wizard, actually, come from what the Orc learned and did growing up, even if most of the other Orcs grew up acquiring Barbarian abilities.

 

[CubicsRube]

@Kinematics Ultimately that's why i went the route above removing ability score increases from ancestry and put it into class. I think it's more interesting because for ability scores there'll be no difference between a half elf bard and a half orc bard.

What would be different is the racial features. A half orc bard might still be more inclined to make a melee college of swords bard, but can be just as viable mechanically if they don't go that route.

 

[CubicsRube]

Actually if that is the case, it might be worth mentioning my response about ability scores from an other thread.



I think I would like to see a different way to generate ability scores, besides pointbuy or 4d6.

Start with an array that is solid +0s (scores of 10).

Then add abilities depending on how you build your character − including how you customize your race/ethnicity.

Examples:

Wizard: +1 Intelligence
Barbarian: +1 Strength, Constitution, or Charisma


Resistance to Poison (Dwarven Resilience): +1 Constitution

Heavyweight (Giant Build): +1 Constitution

Wizard Cantrips: +1 Intelligence

etcetera.



So, the resulting abilties of an Orc Wizard, actually, come from what the Orc learned and did growing up, even if most of the other Orcs grew up acquiring Barbarian abilities.

My main goal is to note deviate too much from the core. I don't want to reinvent the wheel and that may be too much change for me.