D&D 5E Unearthed Arcana: Gothic Lineages & New Race/Culture Distinction

The latest Unearthed Arcana contains the Dhampir, Reborn, and Hexblood races. The Dhampir is a half-vampire; the Hexblood is a character which has made a pact with a hag; and the Reborn is somebody brought back to life.

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Perhaps the bigger news is this declaration on how race is to be handled in future D&D books as it joins other games by stating that:

"...the race options in this article and in future D&D books lack the Ability Score Increase trait, the Language trait, the Alignment trait, and any other trait that is purely cultural. Racial traits henceforth reflect only the physical or magical realities of being a player character who’s a member of a particular lineage. Such traits include things like darkvision, a breath weapon (as in the dragonborn), or innate magical ability (as in the forest gnome). Such traits don’t include cultural characteristics, like language or training with a weapon or a tool, and the traits also don’t include an alignment suggestion, since alignment is a choice for each individual, not a characteristic shared by a lineage."

 

[Kobold Avenger]

I found the infamous image of the "Vampyre" from the Ravenloft Monstrous Compendium I

https://www.mojobob.com/roleplay/monstrousmanual/images/vamypre.gif

It also had something where if you spelled something's name with a "Y" it's a new type of creature...

But Vampyres being blood sucking humanoids and not undead are something I feel would definitely go under Dhampirs...

 

[Argyle King]

You just defined 'player character'.

We don't play average people. We're not playing Mrs Miggins who owns the pie shop. We play awesome heroes who save the world and defeat the great dragon Antrobraxranthraxus, Tyrannic Emperor of the 15 Multiverses! We play those outliers. We play legendary halfling strongmen and ogre ballet prodigies. Why should the rules prevent us from doing that?

The rules shouldn't prevent it.

Though, I believe it's valid to observe that a mermaid and a wyvern have tangible differences.

Is it possible for the halfing strongman to exist? Yes.
Though, will a halfing face challenges to accomplishing that which something like a minotaur would not? I believe also yes.

I'm completely on board with removing +N bonuses. Though, in doing so, I believe it's still valid to represent the bonuses (and drawbacks) of a species. Perhaps a goliath rolls STR checks with advantage.

On the particular day that the halfling strongman won, he still won, but doing so meant overcoming the inherent advantage their goliath opponent had.

Personally, I think that's a more interesting story anyway. Heroes are often defined by the challenges they faced.

 

[Dire Bare]

I think proficiencies would serve that purpose better.

I wasn't advocating for racial ASI's to represent cultural values . . . the guy I was responding to was just flabbergasted that anyone could consider them so. I find it rather easy, but also problematic and I don't want it in my game.

 

[Minigiant]

To me
Player Characters are all weirdos and special cases. You are the Michael Phelps and Lebron James of halflings.
This is a big shift from the old school mindset of PCs being normal folk who survive.

So I am fine with lineages and races having starting ability score increase by freeform.


Hexblood is nice. More fey-like stuff.

 

[Morrus]

Is it possible for the halfing strongman to exist? Yes.
Though, will a halfing face challenges to accomplishing that which something like a minotaur would not? I believe also yes.

Your halfling, maybe. Not mine. Zidi, the Halfling Titan, laughs in the face of minotaurs over breakfast.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

"Needlessly complex"? You choose what community you were raised with and what job you used to have, and you get different features for both choices. That's really not complex.

Right, so two more top level char gen choices, just to get the same effect as choosing a race.

For no real benefit.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Right, so two more top level char gen choices, just to get the same effect as choosing a race.

For no real benefit.

Not really. IMO, it's a major benefit to just detach race and culture. Who you are genetically doesn't determine if you can use swords with proficiency.

And, it's not two more character generation options. It's one more. Background/Occupation would stay almost exactly the same. There'd just be a Culture option as well.

 

[Argyle King]

Your halfling, maybe. Not mine. Zidi, the Halfling Titan, laughs in the face of minotaurs over breakfast.

That's fine. Though, I feel I need to clarify my understanding of your position.

Do you believe there should be any difference between species found in the game world?

I'm not sure that I fully understand what role you believe the rules should play in defining things.

In my mind, if there's zero difference between options, I'm not sure why the options are necessary. It would be easier to do away with the numbers and simply use fluff.

My halfing is Zodi, and they are actually stronger than Zidi. They're also smarter than the gods and can run faster than a cheetah.

 

[Minigiant]

Yeah, it is. If/when this becomes official, if it still uses Con (it should, IMO), all 6 ability scores will be able to be used for attack/damage rolls with weapon attacks.

Anyone can use STR for weapons/unarmed strikes, anyone can use DEX with finesse/ranged weapons, Battle Smiths/Armorers can use INT for their weapon attacks, anyone with Shillelagh can use WIS for club/quarterstaff attacks, and Hexblades/Tomelocks can use Charisma for weapon attacks. So, if this is official, it will complete it, in a way. (STR still can't be used to cast spells, though.)

Well Con is your health. The healthier you are, the harder your teeth.. The harder your teeth the easier they penetrate skin and steel.

When I DM, attacks "off the top turnbuckle" are Con attacks. That's just weight and toughness. Yeah.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

But what you're saying is that you want the rules to support your world, not every world.

I think they’re saying that they want races to be built like the PHB, and the Tasha’s rules to remain both available and optional.

Which supports both.