D&D (2024) How did I miss this about the Half races/ancestries

[Bedrockgames]

IMHO, they can drop all races from PHB except Humans, Elves and Dwarves.
Maybe halflings, but with real penalties and bonuses for being small. Not just you cant use 2Handed Heavy weapons.

the "heavy" trait also needs to get lost. Just make "small" weapons do a damage die step or two lower damage.


Then PHB2 or whatever can come with half-elves, orcs, half-orcs, gnomes, aasimars, tieflings, dragonborn, shifters, warforged, genasies, etc...

I don't think people like races being spread over two PHBs (I am not even a fan of having two or more PHBs and DMGs). One PHB is plenty IMO. I do get you want there to be a selection that isn't overwhelming and satisfying everyone. My criteria would be keep the classic races people expect and include the ones that have resonated with people (I would include Half Elves and Tieflings in there, maybe some other new ones but don't know how popular stuff like Dragonborn are now). Even the ones not in the PHB, for example if they didn't think war forged should be a default option, I would say put in the DMG as optional races and classes depending on the campaign).

 

[Remathilis]

IMHO, they can drop all races from PHB except Humans, Elves and Dwarves.
Maybe halflings, but with real penalties and bonuses for being small. Not just you cant use 2Handed Heavy weapons.

the "heavy" trait also needs to get lost. Just make "small" weapons do a damage die step or two lower damage.


Then PHB2 or whatever can come with half-elves, orcs, half-orcs, gnomes, aasimars, tieflings, dragonborn, shifters, warforged, genasies, etc...

Yes. Why play $60 for a complete PHB when you can pay $110.00 for two separate books?

 

[Horwath]

Yes. Why play $60 for a complete PHB when you can pay $110.00 for two separate books?

I would rather have more space for classes(artificer/warlord/swordmage) and more feats than more races.

or if the print 650-700 page PHB, then it can be both.

 

[Frozen_Heart]

I would rather have more space for classes(artificer/warlord/swordmage) and more feats than more races.

or if the print 650-700 page PHB, then it can be both.

Hoping we get an additional expert, warrior, priest, and mage later down the line.

 

[Horwath]

Hoping we get an additional expert, warrior, priest, and mage later down the line.

We only need a warrior, expert, mage and gish(half-caster) and truckload of feats for them.

 

[AnotherGuy]

D&D 5e was still doing lore like 1974 in 2014.

Separate thread topic but this is true. You cannot be dungeoneering with cantrips, easy refresh rates and everyone having darkvision. There's definite tweaking that was required which was not necessarily explicit enough within the DMG.

i.e. you want this experience - we recommend abc optional rules and perhaps consider using xyz.

EDIT: Then they go and break the system and create the Twilight cleric with 120 foot darkvision.

 

[Frozen_Heart]

We only need a warrior, expert, mage and gish(half-caster) and truckload of feats for them.

I'd probably put a gish in the mage group.

Warlord could work as a warrior, and artificer has been confirmed as an expert.

No clue what else could go in the priest group.

 

[MGibster]

How so? Language is the convenience of ideas. Animals do that. Sure, there are things we communicate that we do not seem to see them communicating in the same ways, but we are not the same species.

Because we have language, we're able to communicate abstract thoughts as well as past, present, and future events. A baboon sitting in a tree who spots a lion stalking through the grass can call out to his pals to warn them of the danger, but that same baboon can't warn his pals that he saw a lion yesterday so they should be extra cautious today.

Recursion, linguistic recursion, is a unique feature of language. I can start a sentence with "Chaosmancer is..." and finish it in a variety of ways.

• Chaosmancer is awesome.
• Chaosmancer is going to the Piggly Wiggly to pick up some Otter Pops.
• Chaosmancer is not a fan of Casu martzu.

This isn't possible with the way animals communicate. Another neat thing I can do with language is communicate things that may not exist or you have never seen before. Are you familiar with Casu martzu? It's a cheese from Sardinia known for it's soft texture, excellent flavor, and for being riddled with live maggots.

 

[AnotherGuy]

Well, I don't think you need to worry quite as much as to the size of the PHB. The Level Up Adventure's Guide is over 650 pages, and of course pdfs can be nearly any size without worry. Of course, it's unlikely that WotC would print a book to that size...

If you mean "racial variants" like wood elf versus high elf... personally, I wouldn't include them. I like how LU makes those as cultures, and even before LU, they never really made a lot of sense to me. And I don't see a reason to worry about a default setting, although I could see having a few sentences on how each species is treated in each world.

But for actual descriptions of the species? I said it before: in as neutral terminology as possible. Or at least come up with examples that show each species in as many lights as possible. Orcs don't have to be evil and warlike. They still could be the type who prefer to settle conflicts physically and for some, this involves contests of strength and stamina; for others, violent retribution. They can be proud of their physical prowess and never hesitate to show it off. They can enjoy combat, but might like "counting coup" as much as actual battle, or they may simply be willing to fight for any cause they deem interesting enough, giving them a reputation as mercenaries rather than savages. Or maybe they simply like anything that involves a lot of physicality and so orcball is a popular sport.

I wasn't clear.
So your issue with orcs is that you consider their current write up as 1 dimensional with the possibility of encouraging racism - which to be fair is basing it off how they are depicted within FG, 5e's setting of choice.
Would the PHB, or if not a playable race, would the MM reflect a number of flipped scripts along with the Standard above? That is what I meant with variants.
How do you imagine it being depicted?

EDIT: Cause you could do the same with the script for elves, less civilised, less magically adept - more cunningly savage, horror of the woods, heavily ritualistic...etc. How does one reflect these variants, separate supplement? in new settings?

 

[Maxperson]

Tieflings, dragonborn, goliaths... tradition doesn't really concern me much. If they give is a nice chunky Complete Guide to Humanoids featuring orcs, that's fine, but I'm not in a rush to wait the five years it would take for them to even consider that.

How about 0 years? They are already released in 5e and 5.5 is supposedly backwards compatible.