D&D (2024) First playtest thread! One D&D Character Origins.

[Cadence]

That's why we at the HRAS request the reinstatement of the half elf and half orc to the PHB and the inclusion of the half dwarlf. And not by it's slave name, the mul, but as name that calls to its proud dwarven blood. Keep Half Races!

One of my favorite series (Glen Cook's Garrett stories) is full of lots of beings that are part one thing and part another, or have an ancestor back aways contributing some giant or gnome characteristics. Some rules for balancing choosing things from different races to make ones own (but not allowing for just picking all the really strong characteristics) feels like it would be neat.

 

[Ixal]

Personally, if they did this I would rather it just be built into the rules for generating ability scores instead of bonuses to the scores after you’ve generated them.

That would still leave us with races, some vastly different like dragonborn to halflings, which for game purposes are nearly identical, especially when they take the same background.

That not only stretches believability, several races have a lot of lore build on their racial ASI. Like elves being exceptional archers. That was backed up with their Dex bonus. Or the dwarven resistance to posion (including beer) with their con bonus.
That is all gone now.
And for what? So that people can always play a combat optimized character? Should D&D, which draws in a lot of new players into RPGs, really teach them that first and foremost they should optimize their character for combat and the character itself comes second?

Sadly I think thats one of the reasons for 5Es success. Do not overwhelm new players with nerdy pretending to be an elf. But making a combat character and killing things? Thats what new players did in video games, so it is a lot less strange to them.

 

[Charlaquin]

An elf who really wants to train at being graceful will be very good, and that would be represented by them putting their highest stat in Dex, making an "Acrobat" or "Dancer" background, and taking some Dex-based skills to support that. But average elf is probably not going to do that. Average elf is going to be doing whatever elves do all day, like frolicking in the woods, or painting murals.

Elves don’t really like to frolick in the woods. It makes the trees too jealous.

 

[Bill Zebub]

Sadly I think thats one of the reasons for 5Es success. Do not overwhelm new players with nerdy pretending to be an elf. But making a combat character and killing things? Thats why players do in video games, so it is a lot less strange to them.

I don’t know, I think it’s a pretty weak role player who can’t imagine they’re playing an elf just because other people, at other tables, might play elves with a +2 in something other than Dexterity.

 

[Ixal]

The same would happen with elves. An elf who really wants to train at being graceful will be very good, and that would be represented by them putting their highest stat in Dex, making an "Acrobat" or "Dancer" background, and taking some Dex-based skills to support that. But average elf is probably not going to do that. Average elf is going to be doing whatever elves do all day, like frolicking in the woods, or painting murals.

And would still end up more graceful than the average human farmer because Elf. Thats the point. That being an elf matters even when you do not max out Dex instead of all races being identical until you select a background or decide where the floating ASI is added to.

 

[HammerMan]

You probably didn’t intend for it to be, but this is just naked eugenicist rhetoric.

The problem is that eugenicist spring from the misunderstanding of nature vs nurture. It’s an easy trap for any non biologist to fall into (I myself am not one but one of my players is and she is a pain in the butt about these things)

 

[Bill Zebub]

Redacted.

I don’t know why I’m going down this sewer pipe of a debate yet again.

I’m going to go savor my yummy floating ASIs now.

 

[Cadence]

I’m going to go savor my yummy floating ASIs now.

So you'll be voting* to let them truly float and not be nailed down to a background?

* well returning feedback anyway

 

[Charlaquin]

Yeah. "Genetics" isn't part of fantasy but "Breeding" and "Bloodline" 100% is.

(goes to podium)

That's why we at the HRAS request the reinstatement of the half elf and half orc to the PHB and the inclusion of the half dwarlf. And not by it's slave name, the mul, but as name that calls to its proud dwarven blood. Keep Half Races!

Well, that’s… Kinda the thing, isn’t it? “Breeding” and “Bloodlines” are just other names for genetics. In fact, they’re more transparently eugenicist names for it. That’s exactly why WotC are (potentially) removing half-races alongside racial ASIs. Now, there’s a valid case to be made that half-races are important representation for mixed-race people. The problem with that is, having just half-elves and half-orcs privileges some… err… “breeding pairs” (shudder) over others. And it’s going to take up a loooooooot of page space, to say nothing of design space, to account for every possible combination. So, what’s a designer to do? Maybe a catch-all “mixed-race” race?

 

[SakanaSensei]

So you'll be voting* to let them truly float and not be nailed down to a background?

* well returning feedback anyway

I’ll be returning feedback that says, “Please bold, highlight, and underline that the default background is custom, and then keep the stat boost in background.”