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

[Remathilis]

Forgotten Realms. I thought that was quite obvious. Given, y'know, a third or more of all the books really are about the FR and only incidentally about anywhere else. And the fact that the vast majority of adventure paths and such published by WotC are specifically set in the Forgotten Realms.

2014 I can see, but WotC didn't use that because they were still trying to push the multiverse. The elf section doesn't talk about sun and moon elf culture, or strongheart and lightfoot cultures for halflings. We get some human ethnicities but they are divorced from the lands they dwell in, the enemies and allies thru live with, the Gods they worship and the languages they speak. If you want to make that stuff matter mechanically, you have to intertwine them with the PHB so that Rashimi has the context to be understood without the Forgotten Realms duology of supplements.

And 2024? They put a freaking Greyhawk gazetteer in the middle of the DMG. Maybe if that that been the Sword Coast, they could have sprinkled culture elements throughout the rest of the Core and tied it all together. Alas!

 

[Horwath]

maybe backgrounds need to be more expanded and be more open to customization, with a few guidelines if needed.
take 2 skills from 1st level class bonus and move them to background.

then you can have:

4 skills of your choice to describe what you learned before getting your 1st level.
3 options of tools, languages or weapons, any combination
2 options out of: light armor+shields(or +1 category of your 1st level class), skill expertise, weapon mastery, 2 cantrips, fighting style
1 origin feat(or 4th level feat without ASI bonus if you want to expand options for players)

 

[Remathilis]

maybe backgrounds need to be more expanded and be more open to customization, with a few guidelines if needed.
take 2 skills from 1st level class bonus and move them to background.

then you can have:

4 skills of your choice to describe what you learned before getting your 1st level.
3 options of tools, languages or weapons, any combination
2 options out of: light armor+shields(or +1 category of your 1st level class), skill expertise, weapon mastery, 2 cantrips, fighting style
1 origin feat(or 4th level feat without ASI bonus if you want to expand options for players)

Sounds like power creep. Unless you are removing those extra proficiency from classes.

 

[Horwath]

Sounds like power creep. Unless you are removing those extra proficiency from classes.

A little yes,
skills are removed from classes(2 of them)
tools, languages, weapons are flavor mostly
only real boost is 2 options from the 3rd row, but it's all what you can get at 1st level anyway.

 

[Corinnguard]

2014 I can see, but WotC didn't use that because they were still trying to push the multiverse.

You can push the idea of a multiverse with just a single world. It's been done before in various TV series, comic books, films, etc. Since the Forgotten Realms is pretty much the default setting nowadays, we're seeing multiple Torils being debuted every time an RPG group plays 5e D&D.

 

[Remathilis]

You can push the idea of a multiverse with just a single world. It's been done before in various TV series, comic books, films, etc. Since the Forgotten Realms is pretty much the default setting nowadays, we're seeing multiple Torils being debuted every time an RPG group plays 5e D&D.

No, I'm talking about how the D&D core books are left "setting neutral" because they are trying to sell you seven different settings and they are all covered an inch deep. The PHB can't explain elven culture on Faerun because it's trying to hard to create an elf that works in Faerun, Oerth, Krynn, Eberron, etc. They're is no room for nuance so they ignore nuance and rather than fill that space with stereotype, they just leave it blank. Which is why you get dumb generic stuff like "the gods of the dwarves gives every dwarf magically the ability to craft stuff" rather than explain how "shield dwarves of the North have a centuries long dedication to crafting due to their origins from Moradin and a mercantile relationship with their neighbors, trading metalwork for foodstuffs."

 

[Corinnguard]

No, I'm talking about how the D&D core books are left "setting neutral" because they are trying to sell you seven different settings and they are all covered an inch deep. The PHB can't explain elven culture on Faerun because it's trying to hard to create an elf that works in Faerun, Oerth, Krynn, Eberron, etc. They're is no room for nuance so they ignore nuance and rather than fill that space with stereotype, they just leave it blank. Which is why you get dumb generic stuff like "the gods of the dwarves gives every dwarf magically the ability to craft stuff" rather than explain how "shield dwarves of the North have a centuries long dedication to crafting due to their origins from Moradin and a mercantile relationship with their neighbors, trading metalwork for foodstuffs."

Are you suggesting that WoTC should do what Paizo did in PF1 by coming up with its' own take of the Elves of Golarion splatbook? That would be a rather neat way to cover elven culture in each of D&D settings.

 

[Remathilis]

Are you suggesting that WoTC should do what Paizo did in PF1 by coming up with its' own take of the Elves of Golarion splatbook? That would be a rather neat way to cover elven culture in each of D&D settings.

Essentially. I'm suggesting that some setting (most likely Forgotten Realms) is the explicit setting of D&D and the supplements and adventures all use Faerun as the default lore. So you can have a book like Tome of Foes that talks about elf culture using Faerun as the touchstone rather than try to create some generic useless fluff that doesn't align to any setting while trying to align to them all. Faerun becomes D&D's Golarion.

Yes that would mean one setting would get preferred treatment and other settings getting limited or no support. It's a trade off. But the alternative is you create a bunch of generic cultures for the PHB that don't actually match any of the cultures of their worlds OR you fill the PHB with cultures for valley elves, silvanesti, moon elves, valenar elves, silt-runner elves, dusk elves, etc etc.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

In the end, there is always an implied setting the moment they put in Elves and Dwarves, basically. Especially if they describe the Elves as pointy eared and medium sized and dwarves as typically bearded. And D&D usually also adds gods (and that you can have Clerics of gods) and stuff like that.
3E used mostly Greyhawk IIRC, 4E created the Points of Light implied setting, 5E seemed to use Forgotten Realms. But you can't escape it.

 

[Corinnguard]

Yes that would mean one setting would get preferred treatment and other settings getting limited or no support. It's a trade off. But the alternative is you create a bunch of generic cultures for the PHB that don't actually match any of the cultures of their worlds OR you fill the PHB with cultures for valley elves, silvanesti, moon elves, valenar elves, silt-runner elves, dusk elves, etc etc.

That setting probably would be the Forgotten Realms. It's been around since 1e and has appeared in nearly every edition of D&D. The other settings haven't received the same amount of support as FR has.