D&D (2024) Do you think they will add more races to PHB2024 to make up for dropping other stuff?

[Parmandur]

Here's a couple more Background Feats:

Orcish Heritage

Prerequisite: Not an Orc

• Darkvision up to 60 feet.
• Powerful Build. You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.
• Relentless Endurance. When you are reduced to 0 hit points but not killed outright, you can drop to 1 hit point instead. Once you use this trait, you can’t do so again until you finish a long rest.
• Adrenaline Boost. As a bonus action, you can move up to your speed toward an enemy of your choice that you can see or hear. You must end this move closer to the enemy than you started.

Halfling Heritage

Prerequisite: Not a Halfling

• Halfling Nimbleness. You can move through the space of any creature larger than you, but you may not stop there.
• Naturally Stealthy. Proficient in Stealth.

 

[Veltharis ap Rylix]

There are just too many DMs who don't like tinkering with the rules. D&D is like cars or computers, for every enthusiast who likes to get under the hood and tinker with their kits, there are at least two who don't ever want to look under the hood and just want a car to drive or a computer to do work on. And for those DMs, if a half-elf has species traits and a half-dwarf does not, a half-elf exists and a half-dwarf does not.

Which means that under the proposed rules, neither exist unless you're homebrewing.

And my expectation is that it will actually result in fewer mixed-ancestry characters in both official lore and actual play.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Legacy is fine, but it shouldn't get in the way of innovation. Legacy was shouted when it was suggested dwarves could be wizards. Legacy was shouted when paladins no longer had to be Lawful Good. The game has survived those and more. It will survive half-elf moving from a dedicated race with a specific traits to an aesthetic choice used to foster roleplay.

Those things expanded options. Removing dedicated material contracts them from a practical standpoint.

 

[Remathilis]

Which means that under the proposed rules, neither exist unless you're homebrewing.

And my expectation is that it will actually result in fewer mixed-ancestry characters in both official lore and actual play.

They exist as an aesthetic choice. Like Jacen from Ahsoka (whose twilek mother contributed to his appearance but not his stats) half-elves and half-orcs will be a role-playing choice, not a mechanical one. And if the number of human/elves decline but the number of human/dwarves, gnome/halflings, and dragonborn/tieflings increase, I'll consider that a win.

 

[Remathilis]

Those things expanded options. Removing dedicated material contracts them from a practical standpoint.

The were changes to the LORE. They affected world-building and setting expectations. We are not removing half-elves from existence; we are only making the choice an aesthetic rather than mechanical one. I see trivial difference between making half-elf a story origin and making assassin or illusionist a subclass.

 

[QuentinGeorge]

Legacy is fine, but it shouldn't get in the way of innovation. Legacy was shouted when it was suggested dwarves could be wizards. Legacy was shouted when paladins no longer had to be Lawful Good. The game has survived those and more. It will survive half-elf moving from a dedicated race with a specific traits to an aesthetic choice used to foster roleplay.

People, for the most part, were on board with that changes. And it was adding options, not taking wizards or dwarfs away. There's a big difference.

Based on surveys there is not a base of players wanting them to take away half-elf as a separate race.

 

[QuentinGeorge]

The were changes to the LORE. They affected world-building and setting expectations. We are not removing half-elves from existence; we are only making the choice an aesthetic rather than mechanical one. I see trivial difference between making half-elf a story origin and making assassin or illusionist a subclass.

You might not see a difference. Ok. But based on the evidence, most players disagreee.

 

[Scribe]

As an interesting aside: Ahsoka had an appearance by Jacen Syndulla; a half-human/half-twilek child, who looks and acts completely human aside from green hair. There is no hybridization aside from minor physical coloration elements, and if he were to be statted out I'd wager he would use the human species trait and not the twilek ones.

Make of that what you will.

Boring, trivializing of any kind of fantastical biological differences, and 'funny hat' personified?

 

[QuentinGeorge]

They exist as an aesthetic choice. Like Jacen from Ahsoka (whose twilek mother contributed to his appearance but not his stats) half-elves and half-orcs will be a role-playing choice, not a mechanical one. And if the number of human/elves decline but the number of human/dwarves, gnome/halflings, and dragonborn/tieflings increase, I'll consider that a win.

You can convince yourself of whatever you want, but there is not a huge player base clamouring for human/dwarf or gnome/halfling etc options. A handful, maybe. Even if the rules changed as you want I can assure the hybrids people played would still overwhelmingly be half-elves. The others don't have the cultural cachet. (Not to mention tieflings already ARE hybrids!)

 

[Neonchameleon]

So?

Why should a human/elf or human/orc be a special case compared human/dwarf or human/tiefling? The only reason is legacy.

On the other hand there should be one or two prioritised children of two worlds for reasons I have already given. Including that a "child of two worlds" hybrid culture is a thing. And if it's valuable to have some in that role (and having all possibles actually doesn't fit the same niche, as it doesn't) then legacy is a perfectly good reason to select which to prioritise.