D&D 5E Jeremy Crawford Discusses Details on Custom Origins

[Helldritch]

You think that's confusing: their is literally no difference between an orc and half-orcs racial traits!

And the more reasons I don't allow orcs as a player race save in Eberron.

If there are no differences between two races. Why have the second one in the first place?
And this uniformity lead us to... Movable ASI and Interchangeable racial fluff. So no race will differ from the others...
We did lose a lot in this trade off. Quite a lot.

 

[Remathilis]

And the more reasons I don't allow orcs as a player race save in Eberron.

If there are no differences between two races. Why have the second one in the first place?
And this uniformity lead us to... Movable ASI and Interchangeable racial fluff. So no race will differ from the others...
We did lose a lot in this trade off. Quite a lot.

Well, aside from aggressive, primal intuition, and powerful build vs relentless endurance, menacing and savage attacks, but Max said that those aren't racial traits, so...

 

[Helldritch]

Well, aside from aggressive, primal intuition, and powerful build vs relentless endurance, menacing and savage attacks, but Max said that those aren't racial traits, so...

Although I do not agree with that statement. Max is perfectly entitled not to use non-PHB for his argumentation.
But again, remove the ASI and move around the racial shenanigans and all races are the same. Yet, two will stand out. Mountain Dwarf and Half-Elves.

 

[jasper]

.. . Could Corellon Larethian not have made all elves proficient with bows, regardless of their training with them? Could being able to speak elven not be some sort of "racial memory"?....
I just got a short You Tube video appear in my mind.

The Elf played by Jerry Lewis / Rick Moranis (Ghostbuster 1) / your favorite clumsy nerd is running from a bully. Stumbles into a camp and trips over the ranger’s bow. While trying to give it back to the ranger, the clumsy accidently shoots it and downs a bald Harpy, then drops the bow, picks up again and drills the bully through the elf at 100 paces.

…Magic is real, gods are real, genetics as we understand them may or may not exist……Gene Neck Itches don’t exist! Otherwise there be less elfs every where ! Elves are the pointed ear Star Trek race in bad face makeup.

 

[Remathilis]

Although I do not agree with that statement. Max is perfectly entitled not to use non-PHB for his argumentation.
But again, remove the ASI and move around the racial shenanigans and all races are the same. Yet, two will stand out. Mountain Dwarf and Half-Elves.

I'm not so sure. Part of the issue is that people feel penalized for picking unoptimized race class combos over optimized ones. I doubt that now that any race can be optimal, they will opt for only the two extreme cases.

Put another way: right now half-elves are optimized for charisma classes (sorcerer, bard, warlock, paladin). If your theory is true, no other charisma race (tiefling, aasimar, changeling or any of the +1 races) would see any play when half-elf is an option. I don't think that's very true. I guess you could pull dndbeyond stats to track that, or do polling of some type to figure that out, but my hunch is that they aren't overrepresented in the Cha races as we speak. I suspect that the same is true of mountain dwarves and Str/con races.

The players who don't care what race they are in hopes of optimizing benefits were already picking the best race and those who picked races because "it's a half-demon man" are happy they can play a fighter or rogue with a 16. I think the idea people will automatically go to the min max option is a bit overrated.

 

[Oofta]

I'm not so sure. Part of the issue is that people feel penalized for picking unoptimized race class combos over optimized ones. I doubt that now that any race can be optimal, they will opt for only the two extreme cases.

Put another way: right now half-elves are optimized for charisma classes (sorcerer, bard, warlock, paladin). If your theory is true, no other charisma race (tiefling, aasimar, changeling or any of the +1 races) would see any play when half-elf is an option. I don't think that's very true. I guess you could pull dndbeyond stats to track that, or do polling of some type to figure that out, but my hunch is that they aren't overrepresented in the Cha races as we speak. I suspect that the same is true of mountain dwarves and Str/con races.

The players who don't care what race they are in hopes of optimizing benefits were already picking the best race and those who picked races because "it's a half-demon man" are happy they can play a fighter or rogue with a 16. I think the idea people will automatically go to the min max option is a bit overrated.

Which is obviously why you see so many dwarven archers, because people don't pick the race that's optimal for the class. Oh ... wait ... they do. Every archer type PC I've ever seen has either been human (to get sharpshooter at 1st level) or an elf for the plus to dex. Virtually every wizard has been a high elf for the +2 to intelligence with the occasional gnome. Every barbarian is a half-orc and so on. It's not because of lore, it's because of the ability score adjustment.

Some people don't care. I know I don't always. But a lot of people? A lot of players wouldn't know the difference between a half-elf and a half-orc if they met one on the street. They'll figure out the best numerical option available and go with that because most people don't really care all that much about what race they are in the first place. What percentage of players that is will vary by campaign and sample population. I just predict that when I do finally get back to playing AL that I'll see a whole lot of half-elves.

Time will tell. Care to place any bets?

 

[Remathilis]

Which is obviously why you see so many dwarven archers, because people don't pick the race that's optimal for the class. Oh ... wait ... they do. Every archer type PC I've ever seen has either been human (to get sharpshooter at 1st level) or an elf for the plus to dex. Virtually every wizard has been a high elf for the +2 to intelligence with the occasional gnome. Every barbarian is a half-orc and so on. It's not because of lore, it's because of the ability score adjustment.

Some people don't care. I know I don't always. But a lot of people? A lot of players wouldn't know the difference between a half-elf and a half-orc if they met one on the street. They'll figure out the best numerical option available and go with that because most people don't really care all that much about what race they are in the first place. What percentage of players that is will vary by campaign and sample population. I just predict that when I do finally get back to playing AL that I'll see a whole lot of half-elves.

Time will tell. Care to place any bets?

I'll ask you my hypothesis: how many half-elves vs other Cha races (tiefling, aasimar, lightfoot, drow, etc) do you see playing the Cha caster classes. If you are correct, currently half elves should dominate all charisma classes and the other races should barely be touched.

Well, how many non half elf paladins, sorcerers, bards and warlocks do you see?

 

[Oofta]

I'll ask you my hypothesis: how many half-elves vs other Cha races (tiefling, aasimar, lightfoot, drow, etc) do you see playing the Cha caster classes. If you are correct, currently half elves should dominate all charisma classes and the other races should barely be touched.

Well, how many non half elf paladins, sorcerers, bards and warlocks do you see?

All I'm saying is that I wouldn't be surprised if we see a ton of half-elves at tables of casual players with this rule.

Unless you want to start making wagers, I don't see a reason to discuss further since it's all just speculation and opinion at this point.

 

[Remathilis]

All I'm saying is that I wouldn't be surprised if we see a ton of half-elves at tables of casual players with this rule.

Unless you want to start making wagers, I don't see a reason to discuss further since it's all just speculation and opinion at this point.

Since there is no way to reliably measure this, I'll decline to wager anything of substance, but I'll live in the comfortable ignorance that half-elves haven't destroyed play of the other Charisma races, it won't overpower the rest of the races.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

I mean not everyone cares about optimisation. But those people were fine with playing dwarf wizards with int 15 etc.