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."

 

[Umbran]

If I accept that then next step for me is tossing the rules in the trash bin. I have no use for rules that do not represent anything.

So... what in-world thing do XP represent?

It seems to me that a whole lot of the rules don't make sense if taking as literal simulation. They are concessions to the fact that we are playing a game. That game has some aspects of simulation, but sometimes, we have to give priority to people at the table having a good time.

The character generation rules (and indeed, the entire notion of "classes") are such. They are ways for players to get about the business of getting into the role as a particular entity, not a simulation of how, in the fictional universe, ability to do things comes in weird package deals.

 

[TwoSix]

Mechanics? Again, what have I been saying over and over.

I let characters of both genders be mechanics. Or nurses, or flight attendants. No gender bias in my settings.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

Somehow the difference between PCs and NPCs doesn't seem to matter to those who prefer racial ASIs. I don't understand why, but that line of reasoning seems to fall on deaf ears every time.

Because the PCs and NPCs are just people in the setting, belong to the same species, are made of the same stuff. I understand that some people want the PCs to be some sort of unique superheroes that are not bound by normal limitations, but not everyone wants to play like that.

 

[Scribe]

I let characters of both genders be mechanics. Or nurses, or flight attendants. No gender bias in my settings.

About as good a place to step out as we will find.

 

[jmartkdr2]

Really? I'll admit that I'm not expert on classical cultures, but my impression was that the Spartans emphasized military training more than the other city states, and had fewer philosophers and artists. So if you actually measured the strength of each member of each society, by whatever measure you choose (how far you can throw a rock?), I would expect the Athenian average to be lower.

But, again, maybe my scant knowledge of Hellenic society is more myth than reality.

Pulling this bit out:

One thing to consider here is: "Athenians" usually refers to all non-immigrants living in Athens. "Spartans" often ends up excluding the Helots (slaves) - who make up 90% of the population of the kingdom and were specifically targeted by execution squads if they showed any particular talent at anything. If a helot looked at a weapon for a few too many seconds where a Spartan could see they'd be killed on the spot.

Comparing the Spartans elite soldiers, from their noble class, to the average of Athenian citizens (and occasional part-time citizen-soldiers) is going to get skewed results.

 

[Dire Bare]

Funny, I don't hear ANYBODY arguing that the absence of gender modifiers to physical attributes destroys their sense of immersion and suspension of disbelief. And, yet, if we want to model the real world....

I suspect we're more in agreement here than disagreement, but your wording has me confused.

Adding ASI's based on gender would not more accurately model the real world. Not for the human species at least.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

So... what in-world thing do XP represent?

The hint is in the name. Experience. People tend to get better at things by doing stuff. Not that I actually bother using XP.

It seems to me that a whole lot of the rules don't make sense if taking as literal simulation. They are concessions to the fact that we are playing a game. That game has some aspects of simulation, but sometimes, we have to give priority to people at the table having a good time.

It is not exact simulation of course and there is a lot of abstraction. But that's not the same than the rules not representing anything.

The character generation rules (and indeed, the entire notion of "classes") are such. They are ways for players to get about the business of getting into the role as a particular entity, not a simulation of how, in the fictional universe, ability to do things comes in weird package deals.

A lot of the classes are actual in universe things and I prefer them to be that way. If I divorce them from the lore, then I would much rather just play a classless game.

 

[JiffyPopTart]

Good point. But to voluntarily ignore the fact that a giant do not collapse is very different to voluntarily ignore that two creatures with enormous difference in size and complexion have exactly the same chance to be very strong. At least for me. It is obviously a matter of shades from easy to suspend to impossible to suspend the disbelief and I agree that this could be a matter of individual sensibility and knowledge.

If I were to ask you the question "Which animal is stronger, an ant or a human?", what would your answer be? Can you think of a fair definition of "stonger" that would allow ant to be correct? How about is there a definition that would allow human to be correct?

 

[TwoSix]

Because the PCs and NPCs are just people in the setting, belong to the same species, are made of the same stuff. I understand that some people want the PCs to be some sort of unique superheroes that are not bound by normal limitations, but not everyone wants to play like that.

So couldn't you just build your NPCs using PC rules? NPC creation is pretty much freeform in 5e, so whatever system you want to use for their creation is fine.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Tyrannosaurus has strength 25.

See, the real thing we should be upset about is how PCs are capped at 20, but the laziest theropod gets 25 because they got the awesome name before all the better dinos were discovered.