D&D General 5E species with further choices and differences

[aco175]

The problem is that if you start gating important elements of a species behind feats (or something similar) then people will declare it a feat tax. Especially if it's something important like flight or large size or similar.

Could it just be a power that unlocks at a certain level? If all the races have something, then fine. But now I am powergamming creeping and I'm not a big fan in 5e since it is already rather creeped.

 

[Remathilis]

Could it just be a power that unlocks at a certain level? If all the races have something, then fine. But now I am powergamming creeping and I'm not a big fan in 5e since it is already rather creeped.

Some of the 5.24 species get that already, with spells or features that unlock at different levels (usually getting them all by 5th level).

 

[Tessarael]

Level Up from this site has improved on the races. They not only have abilities at 1st level, but gain others as they rise in level. It's really neat.

Agreed. A5E does a good job with a selection of paragon racial powers being available at character level 10.

 

[DrJawaPhD]

...of which, things like Elven Accuracy are so overpowered that they become must-buys for any character that might possibly use them.

Not "things" plural, just Elven Accuracy. That is the single most overpowered Feat in the game while the rest of the Racial Feats are all completely useless

 

[ProfessorDetective]

Not "things" plural, just Elven Accuracy. That is the single most overpowered Feat in the game while the rest of the Racial Feats are all completely useless

I mean, Infernal Constitution isn't too shabby. Resistance to Fire, Cold, and Poison at Level One is great, if you ask me.

 

[Corinnguard]

Level Up from this site has improved on the races. They not only have abilities at 1st level, but gain others as they rise in level. It's really neat.

Another thing that Level Up has done for race is splitting race up into Heritage (who your parents are) and Culture (the society you grew up in). Heritage covers any trait that your character was born with such as Age, Size, Speed, Senses and a signature trait such as a Dragonborn's breath weapon or an Elf's trance. Culture covers traits that your character learned from being a member of a particular culture such as weapon and armor proficiencies, and language. Some of the cultures in Level Up are heritage specific. For instance, if your character is of the Elven heritage, they could have grown up in one of four distinct elven cultures- High, Shadow, Wood or Eladrin. Other cultures in Level Up are not so specific towards a particular heritage such as Cosmopolitan or Imperial. And what's really neat about Level Up is you can mix and match heritage and culture. You could have a character with an Elven heritage who grew up in a Mountain Dwarf culture, for instance.

Back to heritages, Level Up has a very simple solution to creating mixed heritages such as Half-Elves. You just pick one heritage and then you pick another heritage's heritage gift (which are basically a 1st-level feat). So, you could pick the Human heritage and an Elven heritage gift, or you could pick the Elven heritage and a human heritage gift. The latter will get you a half-elf that pretty much resembles the half-elf in previous editions of D&D. The former will get you someone more like Aragorn in LoTR.

 

[GrimCo]

Circling back to Dawnforge. It had racial talents and racial transformations. Unlike racial feats in regular D&D, those don't eat up your feat slots. From lv1-10, every level you get either trait (and ASI) or transformation. We have used that setting quite a bit in 3.5 days, and it was fun, making 2 characters from same race with different racial abilities was pretty easy ( one dwarf might go for crafting talents, other may go for fighting talents). Humans also had 3 subsets (highlander, lowlander, saltblood), each with their unique set of racial traits, talents and transformations.

Out of all D&D stuff i read, that setting has most customization for races out of box.

 

[Morrus]

Is there a 5E product ( or DMsguild) that has more choices for species early and later on in the character's progression? (And please don't tell me to play PF2E. I am looking for some more flavor to add to my new world building.

Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition.

Each heritage has some common traits, and a choice of a 'heritage gift' which makes two members of the same heritage different to each other. Then, at 10th level, you choose a paragon gift. Plus, 'species' is split into heritage and culture, which allows for many more combinations.

 

[TodG]

I am looking to be more additive than taxing/limiting. And adding more flavor than power. In 5E a 3rd level elf fighter looks very similar to a 3rd level human fighter. I appreciate all the suggestions. I will be checking them out. I know that roleplaying and the story create differences in characters - but I am looking for a little help with baked in rules/options.