D&D General What it means for a race to end up in the PHB, its has huge significance

[Undrave]

Interestingly, I've seen an alternate 5e human homebrew concept which I quite liked (this was before the 5.5e version was shown). Someone basically took the traits from both half-orc and half-elf which weren't part of elf or orc, and put them on one species instead.

The result being a human species which was way more interesting than the default PHB human.

Curious what that looks like. A cursory look shows : Intimidate proficiency, 2 extra skill proficiency, and Savage Attacks.

Bastards ain't much better.

But somehow funnier.

 

[Veltharis ap Rylix]

Do I want to know what a pumpkin leshy is?

Leshy's are a playable plant species in pathfinder, and they're insanely cute. There are subspecies for different plants.

Gourd leshy (pumpkin leshy) can use their head as a container.

For context:

 

[Belen]

Leshy's are a playable plant species in pathfinder, and they're insanely cute. There are subspecies for different plants.

Gourd leshy (pumpkin leshy) can use their head as a container.

I don't understand why dnd has no plant playable species option.

I agree on plant species like dryads.

 

[Parmandur]

your species should be more than just a bunch of fluff, this is something i believe regardless of if you're talking about them as their own species or as mixed offspring, if my species doesn't change anything about how my character plays then why bother offering it as an option.

Do you not at all see the issue with turning blood quantum and eugenics into a gameplay optimizing field might not be desirable for WotC or the community? Or that limiting the possibilities of hybridization into a rigid system might be a problem?

I do think we may see some suggestion for using Background Geats to play into heritage (Fey Touched Human bwing a hAlf-Elf, for example).

 

[Undrave]

My preferred terminology is 'hybrid', as that's the scientific term used when two different species reproduce.

Then when being more specific I prefer things like elf-human, or dwarf-orc.

Let's just follow the liger nomenclature format:

Human+Elf = Hulf (Or Elfan?)
Dwarf+Orc = Dworc
Orc+Human = Orman
Orc+Elf = Orf
Gnome+Halfling = Gnoling
Tabaxi+Human = Catgirl

 

[Belen]

Do you not at all see the issue with turning blood quantum and eugenics into a gameplay optimizing field might not be desirable for WotC or the community?

My brain does not work that way.

Or that limiting the possibilities of hybridization into a rigid system might be a problem?

I would prefer it to be defined but the new system is something I can easily ignore at this time.

 

[Undrave]

Thing is, I don't think they're likely to get that so long as they only exist in a sidebar about mixed-ancestry characters, particularly if any attempt to do so is shot down with complaints about special treatment and demands that all 900+ other possible parentage combinations also get their own unique terminology as well.

You could limit the number of possible hybrids by doing like Pokémon and giving every species a egg group or two and only allow mixed ancestry that share a egg group.

 

[CreamCloud0]

Do you not at all see the issue with turning blood quantum

turning blood quantum?

and eugenics into a gameplay optimizing field might not be desirable for WotC or the community?

players have always exploited species for gameplay optimisation, it happened with floating ASI, adding new ways to do that won't stop people from doing what they've always done

Or that limiting the possibilities of hybridization into a rigid system might be a problem?

better a rigid system with meaning than a totally flexible one devoid of it IMO, though i don't know where you're getting 'a rigid system' from or what you mean and you're imagining when you use that term

I do think we may see some suggestion for using Background Geats to play into heritage (Fey Touched Human bwing a hAlf-Elf, for example).

feat-taxes are not the way to go for basic character creation options

 

[Parmandur]

My brain does not work that way.

Then reality will often be surprising as companies navigate not being offensive, I suppose.

turning blood quantum?

Yes, making blood quantum (how much ancestry do you have of Species X?) is echoing very serious racial questions in real history in a rather clumsy way.

players have always exploited species for gameplay optimisation, it happened with floating ASI, adding new ways to do that won't stop people from doing what they've always done

But that's also a problem, hence why ASI has been removed to Background.

better a rigid system with meaning than a totally flexible one devoid of it IMO, though i don't know where you're getting 'a rigid system' from or what you mean and you're imagining when you use that term

Fluff is meaning, and more moldable than mechanics.

feat-taxes are not the way to go for basic character creation options

That is not what a Feat tax means, that is about Feat trees with useless Feats that are required for later cool Feats. A cool Feat that supplies, say, Elf powers is not a tax but just a Feat. That is the absolute maximum I could conceive hybrid Spwcies ever getting mechanical representation...because mechanics are too limited for the idea of hybridization.

 

[Veltharis ap Rylix]

Do you not at all see the issue with turning blood quantum and eugenics into a gameplay optimizing field might not be desirable for WotC or the community?

How is saying that your mixed-ancestry character can either be 100% parent A or 100% parent B - with no options in between - not "turning blood quantum"?

Optimizers are going to optimize regardless of what rules character ancestry adheres to. The only way to make them stop would be to eliminate species mechanics from the game entirely, and even then that will only serve to shift more of their focus to other elements of the game system.

Or that limiting the possibilities of hybridization into a rigid system might be a problem?

I want a range of options, spanning from fully parent A to fully parent B (i.e. "pick-a-parent") to differing packages of traits drawn from each (i.e. "mix-and-match").

I want a system that's even more flexible than both the one we currently have and the one being proposed.