D&D (2024) D&D species article

[Minigiant]

I think I would be a lot less annoyed if they had any kind of consistency. Just looking over the last several books with species options (they couldnt even get a name consistently...) is just an exercise in reading tea leaves. There is no commitment, no plan, no consistency, no conviction. Its 'what way is the wind blowing' design, and its just poor.

Because they don't themselves care about the new stuff.

Again not trying to be ageist. A person at any age can be traditional or an oldhead.

But a lot of the later products of EVERY EDITION often screams of an oldhead knowing they need to create something new or appeal to new demos but either personally not liking it or not getting it.

So it ends up sloppy, half-butted, missing bits, uninspired, and full of mechanical or lore flaws.
"How do you do, Fellow Kids?" design.

Hence the constant Hype and Disappointment cycle.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I don’t disagree, but like… it is what it is, at this point. You’re either onboard for the world 5e D&D’s system implies or you’re not, and while it’s lame of WotC to try to pretend the system is more general and adaptable than it is, it’s not like there’s any incentive for them to do otherwise.

Just decency and honesty about their own product. But no financial incentive, no.

 

[Neonchameleon]

The point that makes me want to riot is the apparent lack of half elves. The children of two worlds who are a distinct group all of their own and not either of their ancestors are an important thing in their own right. It covers things like second generation immigrants.

And I think that @Ruin Explorer is completely missing why background ASIs won't be seen as a problem in the way race based ASIs are. They don't reflect why you have the background but what you gained from it; although many would object to "because I am strong I became a labourer" few would "I became strong because as a labourer I was lifting heavy things all day". Even the most seemingly bizarre one works this way. It's not "I am smart because I am a noble"; it's "mommy and daddy could afford the best tutors for me so I have more book learning".

 

[Micah Sweet]

I haven't caught up on the thread yet, but there is a really simple reason why the dragonborn wings are spectral and made out of energy.

Because DnD players are pendants who can never let a small detail pass without making a huge deal about it.

The immediate thing that would happen as soon as a Dragonborn Fighter attempted to grow their wings? "Well, what about your armor?" So then every single dragonborn would need to have specialized armor built to allow for their wings, which would mean that any armor not modified would lock their flight ability, or if an enemy tied them up with ropes they wouldn't be able to sprout their wings, or if they... and on and on it would go.

So, the wings are made of energy. They allow the dragonborn to fly while ignoring things like clothes and armor. Because to do otherwise, DnD players would make a mountain out of the inconsistent little molehill.

Or the PC could have real wings and deal with the logical consequences of such.

 

[Micah Sweet]

At least they fixed the issue with every single thing having Darkvision.

They don't see it as an issue. It's just one more "simplification" to "get to the action".

 

[Micah Sweet]

Haven't seen anyone addressing this point. And I have to say.... not really?

In Fizban's you had to pick if you were Chromatic, Metallic, or Gemstone. If we compare Chromatic to the 2024 Red Dragonborn... the only difference is Chromatic warding for immunity to elemental damage for 1 minute vs flight. That's potentially a wash.

The Fizban dragonborn that had flight were only the Gemstones, that means that your damage resistance was limited to uncommon or rare types, Force, Radiant, Psychic, Thunder or Necrotic damage, instead of the common ones like poison, lightning, fire, or cold. The flight time (compared to the playtest) is ten times shorter, but they do gain a minor telepathy. Again.... at worst I would call this a wash.

The Fizban dragonborn were slightly more flexible, in that chromatics and metallics had different abilities, but less flexible in that their breath weapon shapes were static (only Chromatic got lines, everyone else got cones), their resistances were limited by type (can't have the flight and resistance to fire damage). So... I don't really see an argument that the Fizban design is universally better.

It was certainly more varied and interesting.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

So, what happens to a Goliath Paladin's Aura when they turn Large via Large Form?

Remember, one of the reasons why they didn't fiddle with Large Size races was, aside from all the other stuff they didn't feel like dealing with, was that they wanted to avoid the interaction between a Paladin's Aura and the increased range granted to it via a larger size.

Better yet what happens to it when they use large form then someone casts enlarge upon then? They will be huge.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

And I think that @Ruin Explorer is completely missing why background ASIs won't be seen as a problem in the way race based ASIs are. They don't reflect why you have the background but what you gained from it; although many would object to "because I am strong I became a labourer" few would "I became strong because as a labourer I was lifting heavy things all day". Even the most seemingly bizarre one works this way. It's not "I am smart because I am a noble"; it's "mommy and daddy could afford the best tutors for me so I have more book learning".

I'm not missing anything, you're expressing a completely normal American opinion on class (regardless of whether you are American or not), that isn't one shared worldwide, and it spits on classic fantasy tropes, like "the genius of the streets". In D&D 2024, that character doesn't exist - they're always, permanently (or at least until, like, level 8 to 12, depending on how WotC do it) more stupid than a similar character from a noble background or the like. It's particularly bizarre with stuff like CHA or WIS which clearly has no basis in background, because extremely charming people exist in literally every background, as do extremely wise ones.

Just as racial bonuses replicate systems of oppression/oppressive thinking, this replicates another system of oppression, just one you're apparently less familiar with.

Further, all of the ones we've seen are trivially easy to think of counter-examples for! Often including classic fantasy characters who are direct counter-examples - i.e. they possess exceptional scores in the areas you can't have pluses in by the background rules.

Further still, If they'd just stuck to the Playtest and what got 70% approval in that (according to them), we'd be able to change these freely. But someone WotC wonk decided he "knew better" and that we weren't allowed to do that.

 

[Guest 7031328]

I'm still not quite happy on the decision on removing half-elves as their own distinct thing, but maybe I'm looking at it the wrong way. Maybe a bit weird on my part, but I always thought it was pretty cool as a mixed race kid when I was younger and with Tanis Half-Elven in Dragonlance.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I'm still not quite happy on the decision on removing half-elves as their own distinct thing, but maybe I'm looking at it the wrong way. Maybe a bit weird on my part, but I always thought it was pretty cool as a mixed race kid when I was younger and with Tanis Half-Elven in Dragonlance.

It's not at all weird or looking at it wrong. It's erasing one type of minority-analogue that a lot of people connected to on a pretty deep level, to please people concerned about a different social justice goal (bioessentialism). This happens quite a lot in our society, though I hesitate to provide examples because they might be considered "political" (even though none really align with US or UK political party lines).

Worse, the way they did the replacement in the UA was absolutely awful from a social justice perspective, replicating a particularly nasty and kind of wild racism that mixed-race people have been subjected to for centuries - i.e. "You might look like Y on the outside, but you're really X on the inside!". If you're going to change stuff for social justice reasons (which is fine, imho), at least don't just walk straight into another social justice problem! I don't think that's even hard for most people to do - I do think it gets progressively hard for people as they get older though, and I think that's part of the issue we've seen with WotC walking into a bunch of this stuff.