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

[Yaarel]

true but that means you get to innovate even more so the only downside is the set up of the community

Community is everything.

If one invents a new language that no one else can understand ... there is no language.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Characters that harp on how they don’t want to go on the adventure are one of them.

Players who harp on about something-anything are being obnoxious. It's enough to say in session one "my character complains endlessly", then not mention it again.

 

[Mind of tempest]

Community is everything.

If one invents a new language that no one else can understand ... there is no language.

then clear I am the least of all people.

but how does one do better and what seems to make things catch one?

why are wood and arcane elves so strong archetypes, why do dark elves persist at all?

 

[Scribe]

I am still surprised you do not see more DM's with pet race(you know your favourite to use yourself in setting) making them important a fourth big option seems strange to me.
hell I have been nursing an idea in my head for years because I think I can make a better option than most of the designers could, why are we not seeing something similar why hyper low copies generation copies of generic fantasy?

Because even if people continue to push against it, fight against the reality, people want the tropes. They want to 'play the hits'.

What one developer thinks is the coolest change ever, the masses look at and go 'but elves are supposed to be the hot ones'.

Western Fantasy is a thing, people can rail against it, but LotR and D&D have codified it.

 

[Yaarel]

but how does one do better and what seems to make things catch one?

why are wood and arcane elves so strong archetypes, why do dark elves persist at all?

Elves persist because they are deep paradigms within Britain − thus within English-speaking nations − thus within D&D. The actual belief in fairies is still within the memory of people alive today.

Notably, many D&D players have little or no awareness of what a Norse "alfr" actually is, and probably many still think as if the Norse term "dark elf" refers to skin color. (It refers to hair color, while connoting personality as well as habitat in darkness.)

D&D is English-speaking cultural archetypes. Even references to other cultures are almost strictly stereotypes formed by English-speaking nations.

Tolkien taps into much of it, whence the resonance and popularity of his works.

 

[FrozenNorth]

I think dwarves are super one note. They're gruff Norse-Scottish miner-warriors, and perhaps artisans. I think expanding that artisan bit to allow gnome style tinkering would broaden their concept. This is basically how it is in Warhammer.

No they really are just differently shaded clonestamps. The tolkein "dwarf" stereotypical tropes are so monolithic that they make the inevitable death of every character to ever utter words like "when we get through this ... my girl back home "is positively uncertain. Even when I've seen someone start out attempting to play a dwarf a little outside The Hobbit/LOTR Tolkein mold they inevitably give up & accept the pigeonholed role they keep getting pressured into. There's only so many ways you can skin the output of a plot armored subterranean mining crafting beer drinking civilization that trains a majority population of blacksmiths instead of farmers shepherds & so on.

Character 1 (“Hans Studemacher”) Fighter with a soldier background. His clan sent him to fight in a far-off battle. He returned home to learn that his wife and child were killed in an orc raid. The religious authorities bemoaned the loss to the clan, but treated his personal loss as unimportant. He forswore his clan and the dwarven gods, and has taken up adventuring. He gives off an unfriendly demeanour because he is still grieving the loss of his familly.

Recognizably a dwarf, but not Scottish nor Norse inspired, not a miner or an artisan.

Character 2 (Volomyra Halcyonova): Born into the ruling clan of dwarves. Doubly blessed as as she seemed to be favoured by the dwarven gods. Trained in the priesthood and groomed to become either a ruler or priest in her kingdom. She negotiated the possibility of leaving her kingdom for 5 years to better understand other peoples (her parents were against it, but she’s stubborn). Could be either a divine soul sorcerer or a cleric. Very traditional, but feeling immense pressure to conform and hold up standards of “dwarvenness”.

Recognizably a dwarf. Not Scottish or Norse or a miner or an artisan.

Clearly Hans and Volomyra are different notes of dwarves, despite being a fairly straightforward application of the themes described in the 5e PHB write-up of dwarves.

 

[FrozenNorth]

true but that means you get to innovate even more so the only downside is the set up of the community

Innovate enough, and you become the new standard. Seems like a win-win.

I don’t know who was the first person to depict changelings as genderfluid, but they enriched the lore.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Maybe some halflings become adventures moved by the necessity because they are the youngest son and the older brothers have inherited everything, or they have fled the town because of some skirt scandal, or they simply left the orphanage where they were raised because they came of age. Or because they are the "black sheep" of the family and then they aren't wellcome by the rest of brothers.

Maybe the key is to create a cool character like Harley Quinn, Tiny Tina(Botherlands), Arya Stark or Squirrel Girl (marvel comics).

Gnomes don't rule their own domains because they are better living among the dwarves and other people. Maybe they only need a village, or their own neighbourd in the capita city.

How to explain it with some example? Let's imagine some character from the comics, created decades ago, but forgotten until a new writter recover it, redesign it and then it becomes popular and cool, for example Mr Freeze in Batman animated.

Maybe thanks some feat and a single-use magic item the gnomes can spend the spell slot of "speak with animals" for another spell-like effect, for example "charm animals".

 

[Yaarel]

Here is a list of the top thirty species-class combinations. Out of over 680 possible combinations, these thirty combinations account for over half of all D&D characters ever created in DnDBeyond. Meanwhile there are numerous combinations that dont even have a character sheet for them. In this list we are looking at the pervasive tropes that define D&D experience. This minimization of D&D diversity is mainly because of the 2014 race ability score improvements. Hopefully 2024 that moves the ability bonuses to the background, will help include new possibilities alongside these traditional ones.

4%
Human Fighter

3% each
Elf Ranger
Elf Rogue

2% each
Elf Wizard
Human Rogue
Human Paladin
Human Wizard
Human Cleric
Elf Druid
Tiefling Warlock
Dwarf Cleric
Halfling Rogue
Half-Orc Barbarian
Half-Elf Bard
Human Ranger
Dwarf Fighter
Human Monk
Goliath Barbarian
Dragonborn Paladin

1% each
Half-Elf Rogue
Human Warlock
Human Bard
Dragonborn Fighter
Human Barbarian
Half-Elf Warlock
Dwarf Barbarian
Half-Elf Sorcerer
Gnome Wizard
Human Sorcerer
Elf Monk


If you are playing D&D, you likely have these same characters at your table.

 

[Jer]

If you are playing D&D, you likely have these same characters at your table.

Let's see - it covers my players' Human Fighter and Half-Elf Warlock.

It's missing their Changeling Bard, Kenku Druid, Elf Sorcerer, and Gnome Ranger.

So 2 out of 6. (Though I'm not terribly surprised that this particular group is an outlier.).