D&D (2024) The 10 Species in "Your Ideal 2024 PHB"

[Marandahir]

Human

Dwarf
Elf
Halfling

Aasimar
Dragonborn
Goliath
Gnome
Orc
Tiefling

 

[Marandahir]

Ardling to me makes more sense as the 3 alignment upper planes parallel to Tiefling.

Archons / Guardianals / Bariaur are all well emulated with Ardling. Aasimar is instead about Angels, which could be any of the upper plane alignments.

 

[Remathilis]

Based on some past discussions, some would consider this a feature and not a flaw. FWIW, I do think it is worth asking whether the lore, story, and style for these species is strong enough on their own. For some people, just like other people with the half-elf and half-orc, these species options aren't strong enough on their own so they deem that little is lost by combining them.

Yeah, that seems to be the reason: people don't like or understand the option so they want it removed or hidden in some corner niche that they can safely ignore. "I don't like furries, so one generic beastfolk race I can ignore or ban is better rather than a dozen races to deal with."

Why do people want to combine the gnome and halfling? Because people who don't have strong opinions on either want them to take as little space in the book as possible. Same thing with planar races or goblinoids or whatever. Shrink the species list down to the size it can be drowned in the bathtub.

Regardless, there are plenty enough "PHB-only GMs" to make that allergy an inconvenience that the whole table has to deal with.

I don't care about them. They intentionally want a small game and hiding 25 options into 10 is only going to result in that DM banning those mega options and you have 8 options instead. If the whole table wants more than the DM is offering, find a new DM.

 

[Aldarc]

Yeah, that seems to be the reason: people don't like or understand the option so they want it removed or hidden in some corner niche that they can safely ignore. "I don't like furries, so one generic beastfolk race I can ignore or ban is better rather than a dozen races to deal with."

Why do people want to combine the gnome and halfling? Because people who don't have strong opinions on either want them to take as little space in the book as possible. Same thing with planar races or goblinoids or whatever. Shrink the species list down to the size it can be drowned in the bathtub.

I think that you are being a little too reductionistic of reasons why people may want to combine races. I likewise do think that there are some who may want to combine races in order to strengthen the lore, story, or niche of that option.

 

[Remathilis]

I think that you are being a little too reductionistic of reasons why people may want to combine races. I likewise do think that there are some who may want to combine races in order to strengthen the lore, story, or niche of that option.

I've never seen anyone say "halflings are my favorite race, but I think they would be better if they were combined with gnomes to make a generic 'small folk' race." If anyone here wants to admit they want their favorite race combined with a bunch of others with similarities, I'd love to hear why.

 

[Voadam]

Fairly Classic

Human (full, tiefling, aasimar, shifter)
Elf
Dwarf
Halfling
Gnome
Orc
Warforged
Dragonborn
Tabaxi
Goliath

 

[Pedantic]

I've never seen anyone say "halflings are my favorite race, but I think they would be better if they were combined with gnomes to make a generic 'small folk' race." If anyone here wants to admit they want their favorite race combined with a bunch of others with similarities, I'd love to hear why.

I think my proposed "combining" methodology is getting sold a little short here. Consider the FC species I'm discussing in the gnome/halfling situation. Here's the base "Pech" smallfolk:

Common Personality Traits: Creative, charming, easygoing, persistent, spirited
Common Physical Traits: Hairy feet, fast hands, childlike appearance, expressive features, surprisingly quick
Example Names: Andol, April, Autumn, Banin, Bradoc, Jasmine, Jordo, Malin, May, Rose, Silvertea, Tondol
Splinter Race Feats: Farstride Folk (hairfoot), Quick-Finger Folk (gnome). Unless you choose one of these, you’re a ‘lightfoot.’
Type: Small biped folk with a Reach of 1. Your maximum wounds equal your Constitution score × 2/3 (rounded up).
• Attributes: +3 Dexterity
• Base Speed: 30 ft.
• Enlightened Resolve: Your maximum Resolve rank increases to your Career Level + 5. Only the highest bonus from any single enlightened ability may apply to each skill.
• Hearty Appetite: You benefit from the first 2 food and 2 drink you consume in each day.
• Hurled Proficiency: You gain the Hurled proficiency.

And here's the feat that make you a gnome:

QUICK-FINGER FOLK
Smaller than their fellow pech, the Quick-Fingers have a knack for machinery that makes them welcome in almost any town.
Prerequisites: Pech, Level 1 only
Benefit: Your Intelligence score rises by 2 but your Strength score drops by 2. You gain 1 additional Crafting focus and when taking the Basic Skill Mastery feat you have access to a new skill pair: Tinker (Crafting & Prestidigitation).

Pechs have some of the least transformative species feats in the game, but it's still a significant additional set of abilities (setting aside the question of what exactly a gnome should be) on top of the basic chassis. Something like lizardfolk have a far more varied aquatic crocodile, wall sticking gecko, desert basilisk, snakeperson and so on set of options. You can get a ton of customization and specific definition by adding in additional power budget via feats.

 

[Voadam]

In the last campaign I was in halflings, gnomes, and goblins were all the same species, differentiated by whether people liked them (halfling) or not (goblin) or whether they were atypically clever professionals (gnome).

 

[Voadam]

I've never seen anyone say "halflings are my favorite race, but I think they would be better if they were combined with gnomes to make a generic 'small folk' race." If anyone here wants to admit they want their favorite race combined with a bunch of others with similarities, I'd love to hear why.

Humans are generally my favorite but I think all the x-blood types (planetouched, dhampir, shifter, etc.) could be done as subrace options mechanically and be fine.

In 3e terms I always thought they should be type humanoids and affected by things that affect subtype humans as well as things that affect their special thing (subtype native outsider, undead, animal, or whatever).

 

[Aldarc]

I've never seen anyone say "halflings are my favorite race, but I think they would be better if they were combined with gnomes to make a generic 'small folk' race." If anyone here wants to admit they want their favorite race combined with a bunch of others with similarities, I'd love to hear why.

You don't strike me as the sort of person who would be persuaded from your prejudices on this matter regardless of what anyone would tell you, though I would love to be proven wrong. My general impression is that you seem pretty fixed in your opinions.

I will say that this is what Monte Cook did in his Arcana Evolved game, though I believe he also did it much earlier for his Ptolus campaign setting for testing 3e. You will need to consult the Ptolus sage @Whizbang Dustyboots on that. He created a race called the Faen. The Faen had two subtypes - Quickling and Loresong - which correspond approximately to the Halfling and Gnome. There was also no elf race in AU/AE, so the Faen filled that niche too in the setting. Moreover, both the Quickling and Loresong Faen could choose to undergo a magic ritual to become a tiny Spryte.

I would personally not mind combining races or subtypes of some of my favorites. For example, I would potentially combine Drow and Shadar-Kai to represent the Shadowfell equivalent of the Unseelie, and then combine the High Elves with the Eladrin to be the Feywild's Seelie, with Wild Elves representing the Prime Material plane. I say this as someone who enjoys playing these indiviual subtypes. Obviously this is just with elf subtypes, but I have most definitely combined some of my favorite races in the past in many of my past games.

In the last campaign I was in halflings, gnomes, and goblins were all the same species, differentiated by whether people liked them (halfling) or not (goblin) or whether they were atypically clever professionals (gnome).

I did something similar in one of my old games. Halfling and goblins were cousin species. When humans migrated into the continent, humans thought halflings were little humans, and halflings were all too happy to propagate this belief as it came with preferential treatment from humans. Likewise, elves and gnomes were the basically the same. It was just a matter of whether they were small-fey or medium-fey.