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.

News Archive | Dungeons and Dragons

Read the full archives of Dungeons & Dragons news, Sage Advice, Unearthed Arcana, and D&D Studio Blogs.

dnd.wizards.com

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."

 

[Charlaquin]

Sorry add 'I want more, if they are dropping ASI racial mods'.

I think most of us on the anti-ASI side of the fence would agree with that.

 

[JiffyPopTart]

I'm all for caps, and negative modifiers, but I think that's not going to see traction.

I'd cap Halflings at 16.
I'd cap Goliath's at 18.

But that's just initial gut reaction.

ULTIMATELY I would prefer rules make it clear that a halfling isn't as strong as a goliath, in some capacity.

Again though, your line in the sand won't match mine, perhaps.

If I had a halfling would you grant me 3/4 cover against ranged attacks because i'm only 2' tall instead of the goliath standing next to me at 8'. Surely the much smaller surface area would account for a huge difference in AC, right?

 

[Crimson Longinus]

So couldn't you just build your NPCs using PC rules?

Yes, absolutely, and for important NPCs I would do that. It just is too much work and unnecessary detail for more minor ones.

 

[Charlaquin]

I think it’s more a Fey tiefling, if that helps. Hags are the most common creature to influence a hexblood, but any Fey could.

Man, I’d love to see Tieflings done up in this style.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

If I had a halfling would you grant me 3/4 cover against ranged attacks because i'm only 2' tall instead of the goliath standing next to me at 8'. Surely the much smaller surface area would account for a huge difference in AC, right?

I'm pretty sure 3e had something like that... IIRC bigger things were easier to hit.

 

[Greg K]

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.

And some classless games such as GURPS and Hero do take into account racial ability scores in their sample racial packages.

 

[TwoSix]

Yes, absolutely, and for important NPCs I would do that. It just is too much work and unnecessary detail for more minor ones.

So.....we cool?

 

[Charlaquin]

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.

T-rex’s level of energy is still hotly debated, and probably will continue to be for ever.

 

[Vaalingrade]

T-rex’s level of energy is still hotly debated, and probably will continue to be for ever.

Counterpoint: none of them ever pumped a single iron and they have the sad baby arms to prove it.

With that giant head and huge bite strength, they were clearly the nerds that Yutyrannus and Giganottasaurus wedgied into extinction.

Then again, they got more chicks than Carnotaurus, whose primary behavior was dipping their tiny drummies in butter and hot sauce in order to lure prey into its mouth.

 

[Mind of tempest]

Man, I’d love to see Tieflings done up in this style.

if they redo the phb we might see it.