D&D General What are your Core races?

[Mind of tempest]

It looks like the UA Dragonborn is an upgrade of the Players Handbook Dragonborn.

The Breathweapon damage bumps up from 2d6 damage to 2d8, and its frequency changes from per-rest to proficiency-per-long-rest. The change is probably a wash at low levels, but more frequent at high levels with ability to "nova" (to use up all uses in one encounter). Plus there is an additional new trait at level 3.

Generally, the upgrade seems to fill out the Tashas Custom Lineage design space in a beefier way. Its equivalent slot-1 spell is more satisfying − and uses the missing Darkvision space for an additional trait at level 3. But the additional trait varies in value, according to the kind of Dragon.

The Chromatic Dragonborn (black, blue, green, red, white) Chromatic Warding trait is meh: Damage Resistance becomes immunity temporarily per-long-rest.

The Metallic Dragonborn (brass, bronze, copper, gold, silver) Metallic Breathweapon trait is good: a choice between push or incapacitate per-long-rest.

Going beyond the Players Handbook, now the Gem Dragonborn (amethyst, crystal, emerald, sapphire, topaz) is available. It has two extra traits. One-way telepathy which is meh ... even annoying. But the main Gem Flight is amazing. The flight is for 1 minute per long rest, at walking speed. Altho Gem Flight is slower than the slot-3 Fly spell (generally speed 30 versus speed 60), it requires no Concentration, so can be even better than the slot-3 spell.

I suspect the Gem Flight trait evidences the designers rethinking the role of flight, and what tier it fits in. It looks like low tier access to flight has become more acceptable. This means, low level adventures will take flight into account with regard to hostiles with missile weapons, the kinds of traps, and so on. Probably, flight is more acceptable because of the 5e Concentration mechanic, which prevents layering too many powerful spells (including flight) simultaneously. Apparently flight plus one powerful spell is balanced enough.

Relatively speaking, the most powerful Dragonborn is probably the Amethyst Dragonborn, whose force damage Breathweapon finds less resistance, and who has flight. Depending on how much use one gets out of flight, this lineage is either solid or the best compared to the Players Handbook lineages.

The Copper Dragonborn is also competitive, whose acid damage Breathweapon is decent and whose Metallic Breathweapon incapacitation can be effective to help take down a boss, or whose push can be situationally useful.



I consider the Metallic Dragonborn an excellent example of the Tashas Custom Lineage.

The Gem Dragonborn is beyond it and the flight is a wild card.

secondly, can you give like a template structure, organisation makes manufacture easier and I have heard of no new templates for races commoning out?

 

[Bitbrain]

that is the problem I want something more than human plus feat I live only to try to build an icon something worth playing, I am presently interested in the ua Dragonborn as they likely show the direction we will be moving in on base stock lineages.

Say hello to Detect Greater Balance. Everything Tasha’s tried to do, Detect Greater Balance did first and does better.

At least, in my opinion.

 

[Yaarel]

secondly, can you give like a template structure, organisation makes manufacture easier and I have heard of no new templates for races commoning out?

Custom Lineage (Tashas)
• Medium size
• Humanoid creature type
• Ability Score +2
• Speed 30
• Feat [≈ 8 proficiencies]
• Trait [≈ 2 proficiencies]
• Common language
• Other language

My Evaluation
4 proficiencies ≈ ½ feat or ability score +1
2 proficiencies ≈ darkvision or cantrip or Perception skill or shield or light armor
1½ proficiencies ≈ martial weapon or major tool or major skill (like Arcana or Athletics or Survival or Stealth)
1 proficiency ≈ standard tool or standard skill (like History or Animal Handling or Sleight of Hand)
½ proficiency ≈ simple weapon or language or minor tool or minor skill (like Religion or Performance)



Amethyst Dragonborn
• Medium size
• Humanoid
• Ability Score +2
• Speed 30
• Dragonborn Feat
• Amethyst Dragonborn Trait
• Common language
• Draconic language

Dragonborn Feat [should be 8 proficiencies but is slightly underpowered albeit acceptable at 7½ proficiencies]
• [4 proficiencies]: Ability Score +1
• [2½ proficiencies]: Force Dragonbreath (slot-1 spell per-proficiency-per-long-rest)
• [1 proficiency]: Draconic Resistance

Amethyst Dragonborn Trait [should be 2 proficiencies but way overpowered, perhaps worth 7 proficiencies, a feat!]
• [7 proficiencies]: Gem Flight (slot-3 ! spell per-long-rest)

 

[Mercurius]

Hmm, so many ways to go with this - and it really depends upon what sort of themes I'd like to play with. Rather than adapt my current homebrew to those criteria, I'd probably start afresh and build a new world. For my default setting and style, elves, dwarves, and halflings are intrinsic to the "classic" feel. If I didn't have them, I'd either: A) recreate them with similar races, if I wanted classic D&D (e.g. sidhe instead of elves, delvers instead of dwarves, etc); or B) go for something more heavily themed, that was different enough from classic D&D to not need those races.

For instance, I might start with the genasi as the core race. Maybe humans colonized a war with strong elemental energies and, over millenia, gradually mutated into genasi, depending upon their lived. So genasi would essentially be the descendents of humans.

Other races could be variants on elemental/primal themes - maybe an elfy/gnomy forest people, a stony/dwarfy/gianty mountain people. Etc.

I love aasimar, especially the "amnesiac wanderer" trope of 4E, so I'd put them in.

I'm always a fan of the gith, so maybe in relatively recent history, the -zerai and -yanki's war extended to this world, so now the other races are trying to survive underneath the githyanki empire, perhaps working with the githzerai in rebellion.

So for the above, I'm going with: genasi, aasimar, forest people, mountain people, githzerai, githyanki.

 

[Umbran]

You seem like somebody with a rather closed mind.
...
OMG! Somebody on the internet disagrees with you, MUST insult the very core of their being to assuage your bruised ego! /sarcasm
Seriously, dude, chill. Your opinion is just that, one of many opinions, and one that I disagree with. Deal with it.

Mod Note:
There is a fundamental inconsistency with calling out someone else for being insulting after just doing so yourself.

Maybe you, also, need to chill out, hm? Please do so.

 

[Wulffolk]

Mod Note:
There is a fundamental inconsistency with calling out someone else for being insulting after just doing so yourself.

Maybe you, also, need to chill out, hm? Please do so.

When somebody else says "You CANNOT tell me . . . (whatever)", it is not really an insult to observe that they seem closed-minded. I would agree with you if I had come out and said something along the lines of "You really are a closed-minded A.$.$.", but I intentionally chose otherwise.

There is a fundamental inconsistency with calling me out for being insulting without actually warning the person that I originally quoted. Maybe you should moderate him, hm? Please do so.

It is usually more efficient to start with the root of the problem rather than trying to trim a branch. Actually, that is a fair analogy for the difference of opinion that lead to this.

 

[CleverNickName]

I know that gnomes go waaay back, but it's hard for me to consider them "core races." In BECM, they were cousins of dwarves, but they weren't a playable race (they were in the Monsters section, along with goblins.) That initial bias is pretty strong.

 

[theCourier]

The DCC campaign I'm preparing is a setting with primarily humans, a few thousand aliens from a militaristic empire that were left behind when the invasion failed, and sinister, eldritch-touched fungoid people acting as a single organism.

 

[Wulffolk]

I know that gnomes go waaay back, but it's hard for me to consider them "core races." In BECM, they were cousins of dwarves, but they weren't a playable race (they were in the Monsters section, along with goblins.) That initial bias is pretty strong.

I can't get over my dislike of Gnomes either. I just can't take them seriously.

 

[Redwizard007]

I can't get over my dislike of Gnomes either. I just can't take them seriously.

I suppose they aren't awful if you eliminate dwarves or halflings, or play steampunk. Outside of Dragon Lance they just seem like a mish mash without much substance.