D&D (2024) No Dwarf, Halfling, and Orc suborgins, lineages, and legacies

[Micah Sweet]

Humans are amazing in 3e onward. Free skill and free feat features are amazing. It's only in AD&D where their most common ability is "you don't qualify for anything better, you can be human".

Their most common ability was actually a lack of level limits. Not the best way to differentiate I admit, but better ways have been thought of since that don't require the game to have ASIs.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Whatever I want them to be. Maybe I want timeless Tolkien elves or maybe I want desert nomadic warrior elves on horseback. Why should the game force me into the former?

Because games have settings. Different setting, different elf.

 

[Corinnguard]

But what actually makes elves different from humans? What does "pretending to be an elf" actually entail? In a game with rules I feel the rules should be built such that different species actually played differently.

A 5e conversion of 2e's Complete Book of (insert race) here would make a nice first step. Then DMs could require mandatory reading of said book for any player wanting to be something other than human.

Really, the only way to make an elf feel different than a human is by getting into character. You don't need rules for that.

 

[Micah Sweet]

A 5e conversion of 2e's Complete Book of (insert race) here would make a nice first step. Then DMs could require mandatory reading of said book for any player wanting to be something other than human.

Really, the only way to make an elf feel different than a human is by getting into character. You don't need rules for that.

My like is actually for your first paragraph. I seriously think that would be a good idea, for every heritage.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

Really, the only way to make an elf feel different than a human is by getting into character. You don't need rules for that.

OK. So species is just aesthetics and fluff, and no mechanics are needed. Fair. Why we have mechanics for species then? Why doesn't the same apply to classes? Why we have any rules at all?

 

[Remathilis]

It doesn't need to. But "elf" is just a word. Certainly it must actually mean something, in context of D&D? Otherwise, "pretending to be an elf" is a meaningless sentence.

Fighter means something in the context of D&D, but I don't hear people arguing that fighter should only mean high strength, plate mail and shields. In fact, I hear the opposite as people want agile fighters, tactical fighters, inspiring fighters, etc. we want multiple different ways to play fighters, but only one way to play elves.

 

[Corinnguard]

OK. So species is just aesthetics and fluff, and no mechanics are needed. Fair. Why we have mechanics for species then? Why doesn't the same apply to classes? Why we have any rules at all?

So everyone could have a good time playing well thought out characters that have limits on what they can do?

 

[Crimson Longinus]

Because games have settings. Different setting, different elf.

I think this is a part of the issue with D&D. It exists in somewhat unusual state of having vague implied setting, but still being applicable to many different concrete settings. So it becomes hard to provide species rules that fit every setting. For example Darksun and Forgotten Realms elves seem pretty drastically different to me.

Personally I prefer the species rules to clearly define and limit things, but I think this also means that certain settings need to come with their own species and versions of existing species. This is why I rewrote the rules for species for my own setting.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

Fighter means something in the context of D&D, but I don't hear people arguing that fighter should only mean high strength, plate mail and shields. In fact, I hear the opposite as people want agile fighters, tactical fighters, inspiring fighters, etc. we want multiple different ways to play fighters, but only one way to play elves.

There are numerous ways to play elves. That elves have certain commonalities that define them as species doesn't mean they're all identical.

 

[Corinnguard]

My like is actually for your first paragraph. I seriously think that would be a good idea, for every heritage.

5e currently has over 46 races. So we would be looking at over 46+ racial splatbooks or one very large tome. The Complete Tome of Races. I could see WoTC creating the latter, if they were inclined to do so. I don't see them creating the individual splatbooks again.