D&D (2024) D&D species article

[mamba]

That's my main criticism with modern D&D species. It's adding all of these freaks of nature and then forgetting that these freaks of natur could do in place of blatant magic.

It's assumes humans in funny hats.

oh, I absolutely agree with that, even if I am not convinced of the particular example. I understand why they all are essentially humans dressed up as something else from a gameplay perspective, I would go the other way and remove some of the weird magical stuff to set them apart however.

Not everyone but humans should have darkvision, dragonborn should have real wings, goliaths do not need to increase in size, make them exceptionally strong, done, etc.

 

[mamba]

It would just be an insane amount of work, need an entire dedicated book (unless you want to leave out the other 50+ options in the game) and would make them completely incompatible with the existing materials.

yeah, I'd leave out the other 50+ options, this is a replacement for the PHB, not for 20+ books. Have a rule in a sidebar and get on with it

There is no good reason to do something that drastic. Not when other, less drastic, options exist.

not sure everyone agrees with that...

 

[Micah Sweet]

Valor Bard, Dance Bard
Barbarians
Protector Clerics
Warden Druids
Fighters
Monks
Paladins
Rangers
Rogues
Blade Pact Warlocks

Is this list supposed to mean something to me? The post I responded to was talking about dwarves.

 

[Minigiant]

Have you noticed that most extremely good human climbers are actually quite short? There are some people 6'+ but it's a lot rarer than being well into "below average" male height for male climbers (I haven't checked female climbers).

So this is not a good or safe assumption, that being taller, much heavier, but longer-limbed and with much larger hands and feet (and thus much harder to fit into hand-holds etc.) would make you a good climber.

Halfings are incredibly strong for their size, and could fit their hands and feet into much smaller gaps than humans - they couldn't take the same climbing routes as humans, but I daresay they'd be significantly better climbers overall. And Goliaths probably worse than humans at sheer face climbing.

But those are human.

Goliaths and Orcs are Goliaths and Orcs. They are not humans. They hare feet taller than humans and gain zero clumsiness due to it.

They are races of human Olympians. A whole species of Lebron Jameses, Damian Warners, and Michael Phelpses.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

lol, yeah, the odds are 1 divided by the result, so flip the two around

Yes, there are 20 combinations, you see that in the 5*4 as well, but that still implies that 1,2,3 is different from 1,3,2, which it is not as you can assign the +1/+2 at will. So some of these 20 unique combinations collapse further down into the same effective combination

Uh, no, the 20 does not collapse further, and it does not imply 1,2,3 is distinct from 1,3,2. This is the full list. Each set of three is genuinely unique. I have manually confirmed that each and every one of these is, in fact, unique, and is exactly what the 6 choose 3 formula would produce.

Spoiler: Stat Combos

Str, Con, Dex
Str, Con, Int
Str, Con, Wis
Str, Con, Cha
Str, Dex, Int
Str, Dex, Wis
Str, Dex, Cha
Str, Int, Wis
Str, Int, Cha
Str, Wis, Cha

Con, Dex, Int
Con, Dex, Wis
Con, Dex, Cha
Con, Int, Wis
Con, Int, Cha
Con, Wis, Cha

Dex, Int, Wis
Dex, Int, Cha
Dex, Wis, Cha

Int, Wis, Cha

 

[EzekielRaiden]

If anything we're in one of the less elf-centric eras of D&D's history (though they remain favoured).

And this only because two newcomers have actually managed to threaten the elf hegemony: dragonborn and tiefling.

You know, the two races so, so, so many people love to poop on because players are being "edgy" or "power gaming" even though dragonborn were the weakest PHB race.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

But those are human.

Goliaths and Orcs are Goliaths and Orcs. They are not humans. They hare feet taller than humans and gain zero clumsiness due to it.

They are races of human Olympians. A whole species of Lebron Jameses, Damian Warners, and Michael Phelpses.

Do LeBron James, Damian Warner, or Michael Phelps do difficult rock climbing regularly? If not, their example does not exactly demonstrate your point. Much as, for example, jockeys and baseball players tend to be quite compact, while gridiron players and body builders tend to be closer to the average frame shown in art for orcs and goliaths, and dragonborn for that matter.

Children are notorious for (semi-literally) "bouncing off the walls" and for climbing up and around damn near anything, so long as they don't get scared. A halfling's physical reach might be a minor liability, but their small size would otherwise be a major asset for a climber. Less weight to leverage, less weight to carry, and yet fully comparable physical strength. Pound for pound, a halfling Fighter or Barbarian is simply stronger than their goliath colleagues.

 

[Minigiant]

Do LeBron James, Damian Warner, or Michael Phelps do difficult rock climbing regularly? If not, their example does not exactly demonstrate your point. Much as, for example, jockeys and baseball players tend to be quite compact, while gridiron players and body builders tend to be closer to the average frame shown in art for orcs and goliaths, and dragonborn for that matter.

Children are notorious for (semi-literally) "bouncing off the walls" and for climbing up and around damn near anything, so long as they don't get scared. A halfling's physical reach might be a minor liability, but their small size would otherwise be a major asset for a climber. Less weight to leverage, less weight to carry, and yet fully comparable physical strength. Pound for pound, a halfling Fighter or Barbarian is simply stronger than their goliath colleagues.

Y'all are stuck on climbing.

I'm saying Goliaths would have a natural bonus to athletics which includes climbing jumping and swimming due to their larger frames large muscle mass bigger hands and feet and the fact that they are not hindered by these in dexterity or agility.

The same way a smaller race such as a halfling would naturally have a bonus to acrobatics because they have the ability to balance tumble and flip without a penalty to strength.

They took out AC bonus/penalty
They took out ASI
They took out some skills for magical or mystical features
They took out heavy penalties to size

So now a 3ft gnome and a 8ft orc each with 18 strength and 18 dexterity have no physical mechanical differences.

That's dumb.
And it makes me sound like a grognard.
And I don't even think the community even wants there be no difference between small and medium creatures.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Uh, no, the 20 does not collapse further, and it does not imply 1,2,3 is distinct from 1,3,2. This is the full list. Each set of three is genuinely unique. I have manually confirmed that each and every one of these is, in fact, unique, and is exactly what the 6 choose 3 formula would produce.

Spoiler: Stat Combos

Str, Con, Dex
Str, Con, Int
Str, Con, Wis
Str, Con, Cha
Str, Dex, Int
Str, Dex, Wis
Str, Dex, Cha
Str, Int, Wis
Str, Int, Cha
Str, Wis, Cha

Con, Dex, Int
Con, Dex, Wis
Con, Dex, Cha
Con, Int, Wis
Con, Int, Cha
Con, Wis, Cha

Dex, Int, Wis
Dex, Int, Cha
Dex, Wis, Cha

Int, Wis, Cha

Nice that you did.

But it is just N = 6!/(3!*3!)

Just a bit of "basic" math. Nothing fancy.

I really wonder why you have to explain so much.

Thank heaven's I can't see the post you responded to. The only way I could deal with that was casting invisible on those kind of posts.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Nice that you did.

But it is just N = 6!/(3!*3!)

Just a bit of "basic" math. Nothing fancy.

I really wonder why you have to explain so much.

Thank heaven's I can't see the post you responded to. The only way I could deal with that was casting invisible on those kind of posts.

I was doing the by-hand work so that it was not, in any way, remotely possible to argue that I had miscalculated or otherwise erred in reasoning or process. The explicit results are visible for all to see (unless they've blocked me, of course.)

With 20 stat combinations, it is physically not possible for every option to be covered. In all likelihood, the 16 backgrounds provided don't even all cover distinct sets.