D&D (2024) One D&D Permanently Removes The Term 'Race'

In line with many other tabletop roleplaying games, such as Pathfinder or Level Up, One D&D is removing the term 'race'. Where Pathfinder uses 'Ancestry' and Level Up uses 'Heritage', One D&D will be using 'Species'.

Moving On From 'Race' in the 2024 Core Rulebooks

We understand "race" is a problematic term that has had prejudiced links between real world people and the fantasy peoples of D&D worlds.

www.dndbeyond.com

In a blog post, WotC announced that "We have made the decision to move on from using the term "race" everywhere in One D&D, and we do not intend to return to that term."

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Try "What kind of folk are you?" instead.

I think folk is not bad but ummm it's obviously derived the Germanic volk and er... that doesn't have the best associations.

 

[Cadence]

Sure, language matters. I think what makes this hard for some people is that in many other contexts the word race isn't a problem. I use it professionally on a fairly regular basis. (I can't talk about Title VII of the Civil Rights Act without mentioning race.) I say many, but really, other than D&D, it doesn't appear to be a problem in any other context. So I really don't get the reason why a change is necessary, and admittedly, I find it kind of silly. Not that it's a hill I'm willing to die on. A rose by any other name.

Context feels kind of huge to me. I'm guessing that IRL seriously musing about "Which race (e.g. white, black, etc...) is better at <physical or mental skill>?" to try and start a debate on it at work would not go well for a lot of us . On the other hand, as you note, there are many clinical/legal ways the word race to refer to IRL group is used which are required by law.

It feels to me like how quickly IRL discussions involving a term become problematic outside the clinical/legal setting the more a game company might seek to avoid using that term if there is a good alternative. (As someone noted above, every classifier in this arena is constructed by humans, some seem abundantly less pseudo-science based and less charged than others).

Tangentially, this also makes me think that using ethnicity or it's synonyms, instead of lived experience descriptors, to give any type of bonuses is also eventually destined for the scrap heap.

 

[jasper]

No. That is 10 times worse than "race".

Why?

 

[jasper]

True.

But there is a concept from theatre that I think applies to fantastic fiction and gaming . . . suspension of disbelief . . . for an audience member to "suspend" their disbelief and BELIEVE in the reality of the play, most of the play's elements are grounded in as much reality as possible, with only some elements pushing past those bounds. In a fantasy setting, if humans exist and behave much the same way humans do in the real world, it makes it easier to believe in the fantastical, like dragons, while engaging with the story.

It's why, whether we use the word "species" or not, we tend to view the various fantasy races as species . . . because it jives with our understanding of the real world, and makes the more fantastical elements of the game "believable" while we play (or read novels).

D&D races don't have to follow the "rules" of real world biology, but tracking generally with that understanding is already a thing, regardless of the words we use.

Very well said. Much better than my blunt approach.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Why?

If you seriously have to ask that question, I doubt your ability to engage in this discussion in a productive way.

"Breed" has been used in the real world in ways equally as icky as "race" has. Calling different categories of sentient, playable D&D creatures different breeds has the same negative connotations, if not worse ones, than "race" does. There are few people that are actually offended by the term "race" being used. There are a lot of people that think it's a bad term and evokes bad themes, and a small part of the community that is actually offended, but most of the people that object to the use of the term aren't actually personally offended by its use. There are, however, a lot of people that would be genuinely offended by "breed" due to bigots using the term to denigrate them in real life, and it's even less accurate than "race" was.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

I'm fairly sure most (if not all) gamers I know IRL will keep using the term race reflexively forever, just out of habit. But that's probably also because, in my non-english native language, race is no longer used to differentiate between human beings. There's only one race, the human race. Nowadays, the term race is only used for animals and plants, and "ethnicity" is used to describe human variety.

So, I guess that gamers of my nationality won't care much for this shifting of terms, which seems to be more of a big deal for native english speakers.

I agree, but I fear what the translators would do. Species isn't better, it can even be worse but I doubt the translator will keep the original term. He might translate species the easiest way, and it will sound very strange.

Also, it establishes elfs and humans are different species. When we described them as race, it made distinction between orcs, elves and humans unacceptable, by analogy with the real world term. I am not sure I like the implication of having them being different species.

 

[Cadence]

Why Race Is Still A Problem In Dungeons & Dragons

From the article:
"Decoupling all skills from all races may seem like an extreme solution, but it’s how designers can begin to remove the bioessentialism from character creation. It will also open up possibilities for the fantasy of D&D to truly become fantastic. Why shouldn’t a dragonborn trance? Why can’t some orcs be naturally stealthy? Why don’t we have tieflings fly as a bonus action?"

Heck, folks keep returning to real-world biology for how these things should work, but really, it doesn't have to. It is a fantasy world, after all. It can be that breeding is achieved via combination of spiritual essence, and all birth is basically a natural magic.

That gives us the ability to make the rules of interbreeding as arbitrary as any of the other rules of magic.

If everything in a world can commonly have any trait and regularly interbreed with everything, then why even have the descriptors Elf or Orc except to describe either a particularly siloed group that has for some reason not been mixing with others or to describe a particularly stereotypical rubber mask?

 

[jasper]

I don't understand how this gets to 15 pages. Everyone pretty much agrees that "race" has become an unfortunate term, some of us like "species," some of us dislike it, but pretty much everyone understands what it means. Pragmatically speaking it works, there won't be any word that is perfect for everyone...and it affects gameplay in no way whatsoever. So I am left with the question: who cares? Why are folks worked up about this? As long as we get away from accidentally offensive terms, then the actual choice doesn't matter.

I am reminded of a work meeting where people just keep arguing for the sake of arguing.

Maybe WotC should just make up a word that means "your chosen creature type in a D&D setting." Then the word would have only one meaning with no possible miscommunication and we could move on.

I choose race as a game term. And not Everyone agrees about the change, which is why it now 19 pages. Everyone off line I have spoken to are laughing at the change. Some those who commented if they commented here would get banned from the thread.
I am reminded of a work meeting too. We were working on the data dictionary. AKA What in house jargon do when use to talking to each other.
If a customers sends us money to their 401K is that a transaction with us? Yes.
But Companys bundle the money & send us a list of the customers and their payments, is that a transaction with us? Yes
We had 25+ college degreed people arguing of which was correct for 35+ minutes. And ended the meeting in a tie.

 

[jasper]

Kind and Kindred!

I agree with @Alphastream and Richard.

View attachment 268562

What Kind of Kind bar would you eat or buy? And is made of real Kind? Okay I can maybe get behind kind. K.I.N.D and no space. So elfkind would be quicker to type than Elf race. You save me Mr. Richard Baker.

 

[Cadence]

I think it is good to move away from "race". Even without the racist problematic usage of that term it is just wrong. Humans and Elves are not different races. There is no race in any scientific way outside of breeding stock (like dog races). It is an outdated concept that never was used correctly and in the majority of cases to discriminate. But also it is not a medieval term. It started to get usage in the 15th century. It is quite a modern word and thus not fitting for a medieval based fantasy setting.

Was the spyglass (in the 5e equipment list) invented the same year as the first OED quote using species in the modern sense?

Different species usally can't create offspring with each other.

This is patently untrue IRL. It is quite common among species in the same genus. Numerous examples are provided upthread.

I would propose the term Folk. The Goblin folk, elve folk and so on. And the subcategory could be tribe. The Elven folk from the woodland tribe (woodelves). Folk is a medieval term. It feels medieval. It fits directly in a fantasy setting and is not immersion breaking.

This is growing on me (in spite of some IRL connotations in the related German word).