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."

 

[Mind of tempest]

And? Where is the D&D mechanics for the humors?

This makes no sense. Maybe reread what I said? Or maybe it’s just that your wording isn’t communicating what you want it to?

I didn’t describe intelligence as a form of reasoning. I described rational reasoning as part of intelligence, along with creativity and abstract thinking.

so what does wisdom mean then?

 

[doctorbadwolf]

so what does wisdom mean then?

Empathetic “intelligence”, situational awareness, and mostly, but in D&D it somehow inexplicably and absurdly grabs willpower, as well.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

so what does wisdom mean then?

To be clear, none of the dnd ability scores make sense unless you think of them fairly casually and abstractly, and understand that they overlap and underpin eachother a lot.

Dexterity and Strength are complete nonsense without the above understanding. The idea that you could do the things you can do with a 20 dex or str while having 10s in the other, and in con, is complete nonsense, on every imaginable level, unless you accept that they are abstract, constructed for mechanical symmetry and balance, and assume a certain degree of eachother in order to function.

That means, 10 Con doesn't actually mean that you're only as healthy and tough as the dead-average person, it means that those game elements directly governed by Con are things that you don't excel at. A 10 Strength doesn't mean you're "weak", even ignoring that 10 is average, it simply means that you aren't a great lifter, grappler, puncher, etc.

Doing acrobatic stunts well due to training and high Dex means you are also stronger than average, it just doesn't automatically raise your strength score because any system that forces that sort of specificity is going to be either annoyingly restrictive or prohibitively complex.

Likewise, Int, Wis, and Cha, are all measures of specific types of intelligence, awareness, etc, Cha assumes certain levels of willpower (and would be the better willpower related stat anyway), etc.

 

[Scribe]

Empathetic “intelligence”, situational awareness, and mostly, but in D&D it somehow inexplicably and absurdly grabs willpower, as

To be clear, none of the dnd ability scores make sense unless you think of them fairly casually and abstractly, and understand that they overlap and underpin eachother a lot.

Dexterity and Strength are complete nonsense without the above understanding. The idea that you could do the things you can do with a 20 dex or str while having 10s in the other, and in con, is complete nonsense, on every imaginable level, unless you accept that they are abstract, constructed for mechanical symmetry and balance, and assume a certain degree of eachother in order to function.

That means, 10 Con doesn't actually mean that you're only as healthy and tough as the dead-average person, it means that those game elements directly governed by Con are things that you don't excel at. A 10 Strength doesn't mean you're "weak", even ignoring that 10 is average, it simply means that you aren't a great lifter, grappler, puncher, etc.

Doing acrobatic stunts well due to training and high Dex means you are also stronger than average, it just doesn't automatically raise your strength score because any system that forces that sort of specificity is going to be either annoyingly restrictive or prohibitively complex.

Likewise, Int, Wis, and Cha, are all measures of specific types of intelligence, awareness, etc, Cha assumes certain levels of willpower (and would be the better willpower related stat anyway), etc.

Agreed on all of this. They are a balance mechanic, an abstraction, and a means of progression.

Looking too deeply, they break down.

 

[Iry]

now that is a good thematic build.

There's a whole other thread about Dhampir Barbarians, Path of the Beast. It's discussing both bites and how they stack.

 

[Aldarc]

And? Where is the D&D mechanics for the humors?

And the main point is that the apropos for the term "intelligence" has more to do with tradition than any notion of what sounds appropriate for fantasy.

This makes no sense. Maybe reread what I said? Or maybe it’s just that your wording isn’t communicating what you want it to?

I didn’t describe intelligence as a form of reasoning. I described rational reasoning as part of intelligence, along with creativity and abstract thinking.

You described intelligence with the word "reason" and as reasoning.

 

[Don Durito]

I really dislike that. Wits, I can get behind, but education? No thanks. To me, there absolutely should be an ability score that represents cleverness, wits, etc. Your ability to see patterns in events, make connections between complex ideas and various sources of data and draw rational conclusions, etc.

Something about the idea of making Education the same type of game element as strength and wisdom bothers me viscerally.

I think it’s that it reminds me of being discriminated against due to ADHD and memorization issues, and seeing my friends with dyslexia get even worse treatment, as if we were less intelligent than the kids for whom memorization was easy, even when those kids couldn’t problem solve their way out of a L-shaped maze, and had literally no idea why any of the things they’d memorized as true were true.

If anything, Intelligence should represent the ability to reason through complex problems, think creatively about a situation, imagine the world complexly, and have nothing to do with memorization.

Not to mention, an ability score should be a consistent type of thing, and Education is inherently a different type of thing from every other ability score.

Well it's a compromise with the fact that it's practically impossible to have an Intelligent Barbarian or Paladin, which in my opinion is just egregiously stupid.

 

[Arial Black]

Things I've learned about why it's not only important to have floating bonuses for those DM's that want them, but it's also important that DM's are NOT given the option of set racial bonuses for future published races:-

1.) It's totally not about min-maxing, it's just that it's impossible to play an effective character with a 15 instead of a 16....

2.) The Strength ability score doesn't measure strength....

3.) Any species being different from any other species in any way that can be reflected in ability scores is inherently racist....

 

[Crimson Longinus]

Well it's a compromise with the fact that it's practically impossible to have an Intelligent Barbarian or Paladin, which in my opinion is just egregiously stupid.

It really is not. You can get int to 14 without terrible sacrifices. Granted, one thing that I don't like in the current system, is how the higher scores costing more rather heavily disincentivises using any of those double cost points on the stats that are not absolutely vital. The standard human funnily enough is best for such concepts, as you can get any stat up to 14 without that double cost.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

And the main point is that the apropos for the term "intelligence" has more to do with tradition than any notion of what sounds appropriate for fantasy.

Your point maybe, but it's a silly point. The truth is, intelligence is the term because it makes sense. It's the most common term for the thing it represents.

You described intelligence with the word "reason" and as reasoning.

No. I described intelligence as including reason, among other things.

Well it's a compromise with the fact that it's practically impossible to have an Intelligent Barbarian or Paladin, which in my opinion is just egregiously stupid.

A very intelligent one, sure, but my point is that the problem with that is with those classes and with how tight the ability scores are with point buy.