D&D 5E (2024) Preferences in a New Official 5.5e Specific Setting

[Paul Farquhar]

Well, mostly because we've got about a century worth of fantasy that isn't shackled to the corpses of dead authors.

Moorcock ain’t dead.

 

[TwoSix]

We'll have to wait and see. 5e has never really embraced anything new school, at least not very much. Endless recycling or re imagining adventures, recycling classes and whatnot. Recycling settings. WotC has not exactly embraced anything new, and understandably so. We are getting the D&D that fans demanded. The fandom has shown absolutely no interest in anything other than very well trodden paths.

To be fair, recycling the last generation's IP instead of coming up with novel concepts isn't limited to TTRPGs. It's kinda <gestures broadly at everything>.

 

[tetrasodium]

Tieflings were weak in 5.0. Better in 5.5. Cha and int werent a great combo.

Tiefling wasn't the part that broke warlock multiclass grab bag builds giving it resistance with maxed starting cha was enough for their popularity. They were 5e's version of the 3.x choose the right elf for everything.

 

[tetrasodium]

Tieflings were weak in 5.0. Better in 5.5. Cha and int werent a great combo.

Tiefling wasn't the part that broke warlock multiclass grab bag builds giving it resistance with maxed starting cha was enough for their popularity. They were 5e's CharOp version of the 3.x choose the right elf for everything CharOp.

 

[Zardnaar]

Tiefling wasn't the part that broke warlock multiclass grab bag builds giving it resistance with maxed starting cha was enough for their popularity. They were 5e's CharOp version of the 3.x choose the right elf for everything CharOp.

Or you could be a half elf instead. And suck less.

 

[tetrasodium]

Or you could be a half elf instead. And suck less.

Cross reference tiefling and warlock compared to tiefling and the other charisma glasses
2018 data (couldn't find the original ddb post)

https://*****.com/a/iRI9EMh

Maybe two 202/2024 analysis of the same 2023 dataset maybe two different datasets

Class/Race archetypes in 1.2 million D&DBeyond characters

tl;dr: giant dataset from D&DBeyond shows us that over half of characters created are the same few (30) race/class combos. dice-scroller.co...

seedofworlds.blogspot.com

Most popular D&D Classes and Races - Dice Scroller

Find out what the most popular D&D Classes and Races are! Use our interactive tool to find out if your faverite class is up there

dice-scroller.com

It's not a "RoLePlAyInG" choice. The difference is that warlock is the gateway for op tier multiclass bingo on all of those other charisma based classes. I'm sure there is some fraction who chose tiefling wizard or whatever purely for "roleplay" reasons related to their lore, but the vast majority of the time it's nakedly shameless spreadsheet level CharOp choices and my AL experience∆ with hundreds of players over the years backs that up

∆twice weekly at a local flgs for tears in a dense megalopolis known for tourism and medium term spring breaker/holiday with grandparents/snowbird type stays. I could dig up a couple old posts about it if there is intertbut not going to now

 

[Zardnaar]

Cross reference tiefling and warlock compared to tiefling and the other charisma glasses
2018 data (couldn't find the original ddb post)

https://*****.com/a/iRI9EMh

Maybe two 202/2024 analysis of the same 2023 dataset maybe two different datasets

Class/Race archetypes in 1.2 million D&DBeyond characters

tl;dr: giant dataset from D&DBeyond shows us that over half of characters created are the same few (30) race/class combos. dice-scroller.co...

seedofworlds.blogspot.com

Most popular D&D Classes and Races - Dice Scroller

Find out what the most popular D&D Classes and Races are! Use our interactive tool to find out if your faverite class is up there

dice-scroller.com

It's not a "RoLePlAyInG" choice. The difference is that warlock is the gateway for op tier multiclass bingo on all of those other charisma based classes. I'm sure there is some fraction who chose tiefling wizard or whatever purely for "roleplay" reasons related to their lore, but the vast majority of the time it's nakedly shameless spreadsheet level CharOp choices and my AL experience∆ with hundreds of players over the years backs that up

∆twice weekly at a local flgs for tears in a dense megalopolis known for tourism and medium term spring breaker/holiday with grandparents/snowbird type stays. I could dig up a couple old posts about it if there is intertbut not going to now

That's a warlock problem. Not a tiefling problem. Any charisma based race thats half decent and the charisma classes MCing togather a bit to well is the real issue.

Tiefling got better in Mordenkainens iirc and when floating ability scores were allowed in Tasha's.

Int + charisma boosts are fairly crap in 5E.

 

[tetrasodium]

That's a warlock problem. Not a tiefling problem. Any charisma based race thats half decent and the charisma classes MCing togather a bit to well is the real issue.

Tiefling got better in Mordenkainens iirc and when floating ability scores were allowed in Tasha's.

Int + charisma boosts are fairly crap in 5E.

Yes.... And? That was my original point before you jumped in. You picked a bone over the idea that tiefling popularity was due to lore choices. PCs don't get "roleplay" credit for lore when the players chose the most optimal combos like that. At best it's a neutral choice that deserves no special consideration because there is no opportunity cost to the resulting spreadsheet to weigh that consideration against. I'm so tired of 5e and wotc themselves demanding that any and all claims of roleplay/lore rooted build choices be treated like the choices mas by some kind of transcendent elevated species of stormwind empowered gamer no matter how thin the lore and how nakedly mechanistic the choice

 

[Zardnaar]

Yes.... And? That was my original point before you jumped in. You picked a bone over the idea that tiefling popularity was due to lore choices. PCs don't get "roleplay" credit for lore when the players chose the most optimal combos like that. At best it's a neutral choice that deserves no special consideration because there is no opportunity cost to the resulting spreadsheet to weigh that consideration against. I'm so tired of 5e and wotc themselves demanding that any and all claims of roleplay/lore rooted build choices be treated like the choices mas by some kind of transcendent elevated species of stormwind empowered gamer no matter how thin the lore and how nakedly mechanistic the choice

You were going on about how OP tieflings are. They weren't a great race originally.

They're popular because theyre the new Drow.

 

[tetrasodium]

You were going on about how OP tieflings are. They weren't a great race originally.

They're popular because theyre the new Drow.

This is silly. Playable drow had innate SR, it was a huge mechanical boon almost impossible for most builds to gain mechanically not some selfless roleplay choice. Any claims to the contrast wer "RoLePlAyInG" at best and undeserving of extra consideration because they were already mechanically compensated just as tiefling is with charisma based attribute bonus a cantrip and resistance to a common energy type. Statistically nobody was playing tiefling out of some sacrificial roleplay choice that wasn't already mechanically compensated for and it's ridiculous to suggest that they are popular because of "lore".