D&D 5E why has none of the wisdom races caught on?

[Scars Unseen]

Tieflings are cool and edgy (and can out-cool and out-edgy half-elves and drow) and have been playable since 2e

Worth noting that 2E tieflings were nothing like the theme park devils with quirky names that 4E/5E present. A 2E tiefling was just a human with some fiendish ancestry, and every one was unique and often passable as human with varying degrees of effort. You could have a tiefling that didn't cast a shadow, one that wilted plants at a touch, another that had a horse tail, etc. It was possible to have something resembling the 5E tiefling, but that was far from the norm.

 

[Mad_Jack]

is azure bonds a FR thing as I do not read the setting fiction only manuals?

Azure Bonds was a FR novel published in 1988 (the first book in the Finder's Stone trilogy by Jeff Grub and Kate Novak), which later spawned an adventure module, Curse of the Azure Bonds, and then a video game by that name as well.
A sellsword named Alias wakes up with magical blue tattoos on her arm and no idea how they got there. She teams up with a saurial paladin named Dragonbait who doesn't speak, a halfling bard, and a mage to figure out what's going on.

If you were playing back in the late '80's, it was a pretty big thing. Alias and Dragonbait are some of the iconic characters of the Forgotten Realms.

 

[Scars Unseen]

what does make something inspiring for character when it comes to dnd fantasy races?

Honestly, I think it takes either good fiction or at least well thought out world building that incorporates a race. Or it takes something as simple as "dragons are cool." But just releasing a book with a bunch of races with short write ups isn't going to do it for me, which is why I never got the appeal of races like the goliath.

It should be noted that I do think githzerai are cool as hell, and played one as a psion/monk in my 3.5E days.

 

[cbwjm]

what does make something inspiring for character when it comes to dnd fantasy races?

Not really sure what it is for others, but for me, it's when I look at a race and can see a character I'd like to play. Normally this is the artwork and lore of a race more than race powers or stat increases.

 

[Kurotowa]

I see your point but why did no wisdom race ever catch on?

Because it's a weak hook for a race. It's easy to imagine a character as naturally smart or strong or fast or tough, but what even is Wisdom? Good common sense? A natural inclination to divine magic? Those are a weak sell, and more in line with personal traits or class flavor. So the races have to rely on other hooks to sell them, and most of the lot aren't too great. Shifters are diluted enough they don't make anyone happy, Kalashtar are super specialized, Githzerai are weird, and Furbolg are very niche.

Of course, the question will soon be null and void, and good riddance.

 

[Mad_Jack]

Honestly, I think it takes either good fiction or at least well thought out world building that incorporates a race. Or it takes something as simple as "dragons are cool." But just releasing a book with a bunch of races with short write ups isn't going to do it for me, which is why I never got the appeal of races like the goliath.

It should be noted that I do think githzerai are cool as hell, and played one as a psion/monk in my 3.5E days.

If a race doesn't have some sort of cultural touchstone outside of D&D, it either needs to be very iconic within its campaign setting and very interesting concept-wise...
...Or it needs to look damn cool.

Preferably some combination of all three.

Warforged, Dragonborn, Tieflings, Drow, even the Thri-kreen to a certain extent... They all hit those criteria - they're cool-looking, have interesting lore, and are mechanically interesting.

Shifters, Gith, FIrbolg, not so much. They just don't "pop" as much, for various reasons.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

what does make something inspiring for character when it comes to dnd fantasy races?

wood elves are more or less ranger the race.
who is the cleric, druid or monk the race?

Human, human, and human. Honestly non-human monks make little sense to me.

Clerics are so generic, the only way to make them special is to come up with some really unusual abilities, such as the kuo-tua's lightning blast... which simply becomes part of a domain. The cleric's extra spell-like abilities for clerics became domain spells. I'm not sure what abilities (other than high Wisdom) would make a drow cleric unique. Sure, due to not being tough they tend to go with a casting rather than bashing build, but you could totally build a human cleric that way too.

Druids are somewhere between humans and elves. Given how close elves are to nature you would expect more elven druids, but that conflicts with the "elves make better wizards" vibe as well. Furthermore the only benefit wood elves get to being druids is +1 Wisdom. That is pretty weak. Elves already have the "being close to nature thing" and there's really nothing distinguishing elven druids from non-elven druids.

Of the Wisdom-boosting races, many would not make good monks, often for flavor reasons. Elves are too weak and fragile, thri-kreen have natural weapons that aren't compatible with being a monk (scratching isn't punching, thri-kreen multiple attacks are not compatible with Flurry of Blows nor should they be, GMs will freak out if thri-kreen are doing a lot of damage per attack, etc), shifters have the same issues as thri-kreen only less so, dwarves are slow and have short limbs... kalashtar would, IMO, make good monks but outside of Eberron you don't see them.

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

Two words: Shard. Mind.

The pinnacle of all +Wis races. A wonderful race, remembered fondly by billions of players, now crying in agony due to the lack of Sharminds in 5e.

 

[tomBitonti]

Really depends on the character and the setting, of course.


Inherently edgy races? I dunno. I'm not that good with edginess anymore; I think I'm too old now. But a race literally spawned from dreams and nightmares, perhaps. More like the way beholders are spawned (but humanoid in form) rather than the quori/kalashtar blend. This would also be a new race.

...I think I'll have to work on a Level Up version of this.

Other new races: a dog-folk and a rat-folk. As much as I am a cat-lover, I am shocked that neither dogs nor rats have been a common PC race. (Yes, I know about the lupin in Mystara and the nezumi in the 3e Oriental Adventures, but those aren't common and they haven't been updated for 5e.)

Races that should be in the PHB? Goblinoids. At least one of the three types.

While none too common, hound archons are very cool - IMHO.
TomB

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Two words: Shard. Mind.

The pinnacle of all +Wis races. A wonderful race, remembered fondly by billions of players, now crying in agony due to the lack of Sharminds in 5e.

They sound cool, and psionic. Good for campaigns with psionics, not so good for those without (and there's no PC rules for psionicists yet that I'm aware of).