D&D General Dragonborn as Kobolds: Yea or Nay?

[CreamCloud0]

i wouldn't see dragonborn as mutant kobolds or anything, but i can very much see them as very closely related species, enough to form a fully intermixed society between the two.

 

[Charlaquin]

Man, we really need to bring those guys back, with a specific name for them. Maybe they're some sort of undead bugbear or something.

I strongly suspect these guys in Elden Ring were inspired by the pumpkin-headed bugbear:

 

[Charlaquin]

What's truly astonishing to me is that D&D still doesn't have a dog-person or wolf-person race. Like, at all. We've got multiple brands of cat-person and bird person, arguably two brands of cow-person, countless other anthro races, but no playable dog/wolf-people? I'm not objecting here - it's not something I personally need but like, it just seems really peculiar to me given that they're not uncommon in broader fantasy. No fox-people either in most editions.

I will say that interesting Daggerheart, which is anthro-AF, like literally a third of the species are anthro or something also doesn't have dog/wolf-people. Are they just too Furry a concept?

Yeah, the lack of a catch-all anthro race in D&D seems like a glaring omission to me. And they kind of tried to make one for the 2024 PHB but for some reason insisted on tying them to a celestial origin and couldn’t get enough support in the surveys to clear the approval requirement because the concept was too confused. I’m probably reading too much into it, but it feels like someone at WotC recognized that a catch-all anthro race was a good idea to have in the core rules, but they were too afraid of it seeming furry-ish that they didn’t commit.

 

[Corinnguard]

Yeah, the lack of a catch-all anthro race in D&D seems like a glaring omission to me. And they kind of tried to make one for the 2024 PHB but for some reason insisted on tying them to a celestial origin and couldn’t get enough support in the surveys to clear the approval requirement because the concept was too confused. I’m probably reading too much into it, but it feels like someone at WotC recognized that a catch-all anthro race was a good idea to have in the core rules, but they were too afraid of it seeming furry-ish that they didn’t commit.

They could have just brought in an official 5e version of the Guardinals and Guardinal-descended Aasimar for the job. I would have been for this.

 

[Charlaquin]

They could have just brought in an official 5e version of the Guardinals and Guardinal-descended Aasimar for the job. I would have been for this.

The race I was talking about (Ardlings, I think they were called?) were descended from Guardinals. It was still a confused mess. Probably doesn’t help that the average 5e player has never heard of a Guardinal.

 

[CreamCloud0]

Yeah, the lack of a catch-all anthro race in D&D seems like a glaring omission to me. And they kind of tried to make one for the 2024 PHB but for some reason insisted on tying them to a celestial origin and couldn’t get enough support in the surveys to clear the approval requirement because the concept was too confused. I’m probably reading too much into it, but it feels like someone at WotC recognized that a catch-all anthro race was a good idea to have in the core rules, but they were too afraid of it seeming furry-ish that they didn’t commit.

don't shifters function as a bit of a catch all anthro species?

edit, eh, just read their description, it's a bit of a stretch, but i feel it would be easy for wizards to tweak their description to fit that role better.

 

[Corinnguard]

The race I was talking about (Ardlings, I think they were called?) were descended from Guardinals. It was still a confused mess. Probably doesn’t help that the average 5e player has never heard of a Guardinal.

Ardlings, from what I can remember about them, hailed from the Beastlands. The Guardinals hailed from Elysium and they were present in both 2e and 3e. But you are right, their intro was something of a confused mess. They were supposed to be the opposites of the Tieflings, even though the latter already had an opposite in the Aasimar...

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Yeah, the lack of a catch-all anthro race in D&D seems like a glaring omission to me. And they kind of tried to make one for the 2024 PHB but for some reason insisted on tying them to a celestial origin and couldn’t get enough support in the surveys to clear the approval requirement because the concept was too confused. I’m probably reading too much into it, but it feels like someone at WotC recognized that a catch-all anthro race was a good idea to have in the core rules, but they were too afraid of it seeming furry-ish that they didn’t commit.

I always assumed that they got the anthro idea shot down and then came back with the cockamamie idea of making them a counterpart to tieflings and suddenly we had wings and the celestial type muddying the waters.

 

[Charlaquin]

don't shifters function as a bit of a catch all anthro species?

edit, eh, just read their description, it's a bit of a stretch, but i feel it would be easy for wizards to tweak their description to fit that role better.

It’s the closest we really have, and only thanks to Kieth Baker being awesome. But, yeah, they’re pretty far to the anthropic side of anthropomorphic animals, with lycanthropy-specific details that might not work if you just want to be a dogboy or whatever and not a werewolf.

 

[Charlaquin]

I always assumed that they got the anthro idea shot down and then came back with the cockamamie idea of making them a counterpart to tieflings and suddenly we had wings and the celestial type muddying the waters.

Yeah, that seems very likely to me. And even after the first round of feedback saying “why are these celestials? Just give us anthros,” the second pass… well, they lost the spectral wings but still vaguely tried to pay lip service to the celestial idea no one wanted. And then they got cut.