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."

 

[Mind of tempest]

I don't think anyone who actually plays characters like Halfling Fighters cares about "overcoming disadvantages" or "being special" in the sense you're using it. That sounds like the sort of retro-fitted messageboard logic people apply when they can't actually understand why people pick certain combos.

I have heard of few halfling mains and they tend to not be playing for specialness, some do play divination wizard with the luck feat to be horrible.

 

[Chaosmancer]

I'd have to dig it up, but Vampire was the big one I remember.

Lich?

I mean hexblood still doesn't fit in my mind, I guess I'm not familiar with the tropes, but this seems like a lower impact way to implement what in the 3.5 world was pretty strong.

I'd say between Reborn and Dhampir we have plenty of ground covered for Lich. Dhampir seems like it would fit better, for me, since a big part of Lich's is the soul eating.


Could maybe do a "Born under a Fell Star" trope this way. That could be interesting. I definitely want some aberration concepts under this model.

 

[Scribe]

I'd say between Reborn and Dhampir we have plenty of ground covered for Lich. Dhampir seems like it would fit better, for me, since a big part of Lich's is the soul eating.


Could maybe do a "Born under a Fell Star" trope this way. That could be interesting. I definitely want some aberration concepts under this model.

That's a good idea. I love Far Realm/Weird stuff.

 

[Mind of tempest]

third for aberration stuff, did we ever get a pc sized aberration before?

 

[Chaosmancer]

I disagree. You see something nefarious that is somehow telling people what they cannot be. I see a system that allows them to be anything eventually.

There is no CAP on a lineage. There is no hard limit 'you will never get above 16 Charisma', and they have removed negative modifiers as well.

There is no limit on ones potential as a character, outside of the system max of 20 (without specific class features).

You can be any lineage, any class, and sex is meaningless to your ultimate expression of performance and goal within the game.

Not that I want to engage too much into this, but you also have said that it is a complete farce and a joke to consider that a halfling maybe as strong as a goliath.

Yes, you may allow that mid to high level PCs (a portion of the game that most people don't play) can break those rules, by also being behind mechanically in the number of feats or other scores they may increase, but that actually falls back into the debate over when you get to declare your PC "special".

You could have a halfling soldier who is a decorated war hero and a level 1 fighter. Per the rules. Why should we declare that that Halfling soldier must be the poorer choice for a heavily armored strength based fighter? Sure, eventually the scores may even out, but if it takes until after the campaign has ended, that doesn't help any body, does it?

 

[Umbran]

Here are a couple of problems/tensions I see going unmentioned in this debate:

• There is no mechanic that can ever resolve the tension between gaming groups who want D&D player characters to be mechanically "special" vs. groups who want D&D characters to be mechanically "ordinary" and only special because of what they do.

Yes, there is no mechanical remedy, because this is actually a world building issue. The PCs are built by some set of rules - this tension arises based on how the rest of the world is built.

This is a meta issue that depends almost entirely on how each group flavors what it means to be a player character or adventurer. "Anything goes because player characters are always outliers" is not a circle that can ever be squared with "elves have traits A, B, and C, while halflings have traits X, Y, and Z."

In a game of "rulings, not rules" this is not a circle you have to square in the rules themselves. If traditional examples of a given race can be built using the character generation rules, the GM can restrict players to that race build. It will still be mechanically sound and balanced. Nothing will break.

• Does anybody else find it vaguely ridiculous that there's so much digital ink being spilled over a +2 adjustment to an ability score

Yep. But, we are dedicated hobbyists. Gaming nerds. Fiber arts nerds wrangle over how knitting patterns are best written. Car nerds argue over carbureator differences that have little impact on car performance. It is a fact of nerdlife.

 

[Scribe]

Not that I want to engage too much into this, but you also have said that it is a complete farce and a joke to consider that a halfling maybe as strong as a goliath

To me? In my game world? Yes.

Thankfully, Tasha's exists so that others have a ready made solution to this if they wish.

 

[Iry]

I'd say between Reborn and Dhampir we have plenty of ground covered for Lich. Dhampir seems like it would fit better, for me, since a big part of Lich's is the soul eating.

Dhampir seems like a great way to play a Ghoul, or even just a Zombie. Most people go for Vampires and Liches, but those middle ground undead need love too!

 

[Chaosmancer]

This.

It is also the part I feel the other side does not understand. Your halfling can have a 20 strength. Your elf can have a 20 con. Your half-orc can have a 20 int. They sacrifice a +1 for 8 levels, and in return GAIN other benefits.

So the people who complain they are not min/maxing seem delusional to me. How can you argue so vehemently against having a +2 instead of a +3 (when you GAIN other things) unless your sole expression is to min/max? If you want to play a dwarf wizard, and can't because you only start with a 15 int instead of 16, then that is literally the definition of min/maxing. The fact that you can't take the dwarf's strengths, like higher con and extra hit points, and use that instead. The only focus is a single solitary number - +1. And all this in a ROLE-PLAYING game. A game where heroes are supposed to have trials and tribulations.

But here it comes. The argument: we want to role play the dwarf, it's just unfair they don't start with a 16 in intelligence. And then:

• the gods could have blessed him/her
• he could be a freak, an outlier, why can't you understand that?
• why should elves get a bonus and not dwarves?

All of those are good reasons. Which is why your dwarf starts with a 15, and not a 10, which is the average. What if the elves are smarter than dwarves, and then the gods bless the elf too?

And then the argument will come again. And it only boils to one thing:
- I want it now. Give me my extra +.

In the end, it is make it easier.

It is good that now you can do just that.

I know you think we are delusional, but really, we aren't. Maybe you've never noticed it, but I have. Twice.

Twice I have seen it, once with my own Gnome Cleric, and once while DMing for a guy playing a Dragonborn Cleric. That +1 made a huge difference. It was 1 fewer spells. It was more spells missing. It was less healing.

Neither one of us could use our highest bonus. What use is intelligence for a cleric focusing on being a doctor? What use was that Charisma bonus when they were playing a jungle survival and exploration game. Do you know why I picked a Gnome? I wanted that Gnomish Resistance, advantage on all mental saves sounded amazing. It came up once. The Dragonborn's breath weapon was based on Constitution, that wasn't a better action for them than casting a spell with their wisdom, which often missed.

Sure, my Rock Gnome had a slightly higher Con, that was useful. But I needed strength to play a heavily armored cleric using simple weapons. I had no use for my clockwork toys. Artificer's Lore never came up. So what did I get in exchange for lowering my potential as a cleric? Darkvision and a slower walking speed?

Oh, that was right. The story.

The story of a farm boy whose leg had been crushed, and grew up with a lame leg. Who a traveling priestess for a cult dedicated to the Gnomish Goddesses healed, then took him in and trained him in healing arts. A doctor who left his home on a religious quest, traveling and looking for goddesses who might not have even existed.

Am I truly delusional for looking at everything I sacrificed for that story, one that ended with my character leaving a party of murderhobos who murdered an innocent in front of my eyes multiple times to bait Strahd in a side-quest and having regrets? He did discover a story about those Goddesses. Me and the DM worked to create their lore and it is something I took with me into my own games. I also was forced to watch as our god-hating paladin destroyed the only remaining shrine to those goddesses in front of my character, because that was what they would do.

Hey, maybe I'm projecting a few non-mechanical problems onto this. Maybe if I'd had a good experience with the story I really wanted I could have overlooked the fact that I neutered my character on the altar of that story. Maybe I wouldn't look and say, "Well, if I'd played a Hill Dwarf I would have had a better Wisdom, same con, better hp, more useful resistance, better weapons, better tools, and more useful abilities." Because Stonecunning would have actually been incredibly useful in that game, compared to clockwork toys and artificer's lore.


But, that's just me being delusional. Clearly those abilities I never used balanced out the fact that I was a far worse cleric than if I had gone the optimal route.

 

[Chaosmancer]

third for aberration stuff, did we ever get a pc sized aberration before?

... In terms of "medium sized" there are a few.

In terms of PC options... I can't think of any