D&D 5E Witchlight publishes the new official format for player character races.

[Scribe]

For me, as DM, this format is flexible and highly useful guidance to my worldbuilding.

I'm glad you believe this provides you guidance which Variant Human and Tasha's did not already give you.

 

[Yaarel]

No misquote. I asked you this question:


... Giving you two choices, one of which was that there was an announcement. You answered:


You were the one who said an announcement had happened by saying that both of the options in my question were true.

Ok, I see the cause for the misunderstanding.

In context, I meant: Both this is "the new official format", and "an assumption" in the sense that my analysis measures the design space of the official racial traits to be 1½ feats.

I didnt make note of your word "announced" to mean something distinct from "new" and "official".

 

[Yaarel]

I'm glad you believe this provides you guidance which Variant Human and Tasha's did not already give you.

The race format officially provides more guidance.

For me, I care about official rules and as much as possible follow them carefully. I tend to shy away from optional rules.

Despite my worldbuilder DM style, I am pretty much by-the-book.

The only modifications to the offical rules that I consciously make is:
• I use the variant human as the standard, for human cultures. Individuals tend to be good at something special, hence a feat.
• For the Astral Plane setting, I reorganize its Alignment Wheel as various 4e-like astral domains for the ideals of each Material-Plane culture.
• Religion is always about one or more "cosmic forces", and each culture can visit their own version of it within some astral domain.
• I ignore the ranges of light sources, making the entire combat area one lighting or an other.
• For mind style, I generalize all distances to either 3 feet (adjacent), 10 feet (reach), 30 feet (move, throw), 100 feet (many spells), 300 feet (cityblock, bowshot), or "far".

The idea for the Tashas custom lineage is welcome, but its execution is unhelpful. The custom lineage cannot officially be a nonhumanoid creature type nor choose a Xanathars racial feat as its chosen feat. It is effectively identical to a variant human except for the possibility of Darkvision. Thus the custom lineage isnt meaningfully different from the human lineage. So far, Tashas remains unsatisfactory. However, the new race format that has more design space, can be a nonhuman creature type, and makes all official races more flexible, is excellent.

To the degree that an official rule is both mechanically balanced and narratively flexible, and maintains coherence between mechanic and narrative, I appreciate it.

The guidance of the new race format for the official races serves me well, by removing specific height-weight and skin color so I can decide the tendencies for each culture, and by making the official player lineages "Any Alignment" so I can decide each individual and factional tendency, and by floating the ASIs to make the classes that are relevant to a specific culture more competent. I need and appreciate this officially balanced and flexible guidance.

 

[Mind of tempest]

I moreorless agree.

I am ok with the new format. The default "typical" race is now:
• Type: Humanoid
• Size: Medium or Small
• Speed: 30
• Age: century lifespan
• Racial Traits: about 1½ feats (which can modify a default trait, such as a non-Humanoid creature type, Large or Tiny, etcetera)

Some settings grant a kind of setting feat, like Theros granting a Supernatural Gift, and presumably Darksun will grant a Psionic Talent.

So, including both the racial feat-and-half and the setting feat, each character starts off at level 1 with about 2½ feats.



With regard to the racial traits, I think the player should get a set of racial traits to choose from. For example, the elf character might choose Elven Accuracy, Fey Teleport, Lucky, Flight, faster speed, or so on, for a racial trait for the elf character. Thus there only needs to be one elf race without any elf subraces. Various elven cultures may or may not regard certain trait choices as "prestigious", but an elf player character can be any choice, whether in the majority or the minority of that culture.

maybe two universals and one modular option?

 

[Yaarel]

maybe two universals and one modular option?

Do you mean, each race has two default pregens, plus one freeform that chooses from a list of racial traits?

For example. The elf is something like either Fey high or Humanoid wood, plus a third option of do-it-yourself.

Meanwhile, each official setting can easily present its own pregen elf, based on the do-it-yourself option.

I could live with something like that.

 

[Scribe]

I need and appreciate this officially balanced and flexible guidance.

While I understand you desire it, your self imposed arbitrary rules don't exist outside your own sphere of influence.

It's the same as 'Typical' prefixed to Alignment. It changes nothing when the MM already made it explicitly clear, undeniably, that one can change things as they wish.

That said, I understand your desire for rules, it's simply the degree to which you wish the rules to bend to your personal interpretation which differs from mine.

If I had to guess, if Wizards already feels the push back from trying to remove Alignment, the 'core' races will have more definition than these newer more whimsical, less trope laden, designs.

An ideal world would have a Custom Lineage option robust enough for you, with the tradition 5e structure provide along side, so more people can be happy, instead of less.

 

[Remathilis]

Large and tiny creatures wouldn't be a problem if we got rid of the grid and used only TotM combat. But the grid will always force PCs to occupy 5 ft and threaten an additional 5 around it, making all other sizes react wonky.

 

[Scribe]

Large and tiny creatures wouldn't be a problem if we got rid of the grid and used only TotM combat. But the grid will always force PCs to occupy 5 ft and threaten an additional 5 around it, making all other sizes react wonky.

Has Wizards ever said anything about this in addition to the issue you mention here?

I am bothered more than I should be about this LOL.

 

[Yaarel]

While I understand you desire it, your self imposed arbitrary rules don't exist outside your own sphere of influence.

It's the same as 'Typical' prefixed to Alignment. It changes nothing when the MM already made it explicitly clear, undeniably, that one can change things as they wish.

Witchlight lists the harengon race as "Any Alignment". I infer from the wording of the designers, where: humanoids or creatures with the full gamut of human choices/desires/etc do not get an alignment.

I take this to mean, other PC races. like dwarf and elf, will now have monster statblocks that list "Any Alignment".

That said, I understand your desire for rules, it's simply the degree to which you wish the rules to bend to your personal interpretation which differs from mine.

Besides the lightsources ranges and making theater-of-the-mind more doable: everything else is a setting choice, not a rules choice.

If I want to use the official Forgotten Realms settings as-is, I prefer to purchase them separately, like have done for other settings, Eberron and Ravnica, and will do for Darksun.

Otherwise, I expect the official core rules to allow the DM flexibility.

If I had to guess, if Wizards already feels the push back from trying to remove Alignment, the 'core' races will have more definition than these newer more whimsical, less trope laden, designs.

I support the designers struggle to do the right thing while also supporting the wider gaming communities.

An ideal world would have a Custom Lineage option robust enough for you, with the tradition 5e structure provide along side, so more people can be happy, instead of less.

As long as the customization is the default in the core rules, I dont mind "ready-mades" to give meaningful examples and to simplify the game for those gamers whose style doesnt care about customization.

If there is more than one ready-made, and meaningful differences between them, it invites customization and helps avoid problematic generalizations.

 

[Mind of tempest]

The race format officially provides more guidance.

For me, I care about official rules and as much as possible follow them carefully. I tend to shy away from optional rules.

Despite my worldbuilder DM style, I am pretty much by-the-book.

The only modifications to the offical rules that I consciously make is:
• I use the variant human as the standard, for human cultures. Individuals tend to be good at something special, hence a feat.
• For the Astral Plane setting, I reorganize its Alignment Wheel as various 4e-like astral domains for the ideals of each Material-Plane culture.
• Religion is always about one or more "cosmic forces", and each culture can visit their own version of it within some astral domain.
• I ignore the ranges of light sources, making the entire combat area one lighting or an other.
• For mind style, I generalize all distances to either 3 feet (adjacent), 10 feet (reach), 30 feet (move, throw), 100 feet (many spells), 300 feet (cityblock, bowshot), or "far".

The idea for the Tashas custom lineage is welcome, but its execution is unhelpful. The custom lineage cannot officially be a nonhumanoid creature type nor choose a Xanathars racial feat as its chosen feat. It is effectively identical to a variant human except for the possibility of Darkvision. Thus the custom lineage isnt meaningfully different from the human lineage. So far, Tashas remains unsatisfactory. However, the new race format that has more design space, can be a nonhuman creature type, and makes all official races more flexible, is excellent.

To the degree that an official rule is both mechanically balanced and narratively flexible, and maintains coherence between mechanic and narrative, I appreciate it.

The guidance of the new race format for the official races serves me well, by removing specific height-weight and skin color so I can decide the tendencies for each culture, and by making the official player lineages "Any Alignment" so I can decide each individual and factional tendency, and by floating the ASIs to make the classes that are relevant to a specific culture more competent. I need and appreciate this officially balanced and flexible guidance.

what would a playable aberration made by you be like then?