D&D 5E 5th Edition and the "true exotic" races ...

[pukunui]

It doesn't really work, imo. It really hurts suspension of disbelief when you create a half-orc character, and you never meet any other half-orcs in published adventures. Or even worse, when you play a gnome. Granted, Tieflings and Dragonborn shouldn't be all over the place (given their origins) ... but half-elves and gnomes?

Since you mentioned Hoard of the Dragon Queen upthread, I'd just like to point out that that adventure contains both a half-orc (Bog Luck) and two gnomes (Radecere and Jamna). Its sequel, The Rise of Tiamat, includes two tieflings (Maccath and Rian). There are several half-elves in both books as well (including Leosin, one of the more prominent NPCs in Tyranny of Dragons). Leosin, Jamna, and Maccath are all important enough to get portraits in the books, as well.

One of the main bad guys in Princes of the Apocalypse is a tiefling (Vanifer), who is depicted in a number of the book's art pieces. There are also two half-orcs in the town of Red Larch (Feng and Grund), and numerous half-elves sprinkled throughout the book.

Can't seem to find any of the PHB exotic races in Out of the Abyss, though.

And you're right that there are no dragonborn NPCs in any of the official 5e adventures releases so far.

 

[TerraDave]

It makes them optional. Thats the point.

It may also make them rare. Be the worlds only half-orc, why not?

 

[TerraDave]

pg 282 of the DMG also has a table of racial traits that can be added to NPCs, so its easy to start converting things over the dragonborn and tieflings if you want to.

 

[Lanliss]

A tiefling is the head of the fire temple in elemental evil and I saw a picture of a named tiefling on page 28 of rise of Tiamat. Not sure of their role though. Most of the mobs are probably just human so that you don't have to worry about different abilities in combat. It's easier to have 6 soldiers being the same race so that you can use the same groups of stats for them, of course, you can say that the group is up against a mixed group of soldiers consisting of humans, elves, and dragonborn and still use the same stats but I think players might expect a dragonbreath or two.

Since the adventures are tied to the realms, they tend to have the standard human, elf, dwarf, and halfling as the more common races, dragonborn are quite new as they have only existed in the realms for around 100 years. Tieflings have always tended to be rare (at least until they were a standard race with 4e), I don't know much about gnomes in the realms, but I think in the realms that half-orcs would be uncommon rather than exotic.

Also, it should be pointed out that really, every race is optional. It could be that, far down the line, WotC puts out a new setting where dragonborn an genasi are the central races with humans, dwarves, and elves as rare or exotic.

Gnomes are basically the hobbits from LoTR. They value their privacy, and live in their own little settlements usually, but are friendly enough to a traveler that stumbles across their doorstep.

 

[Nellisir]

They're just returning to the old school D&D lore after trying something different.

By "something different" you mean 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th edition D&D? Because I'm pretty sure half-elves and gnomes are in all of those.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

These races are less important. The core races are assumed to be in every world, unless the DM explicitly removes them. These exotic races are assumed to not exist in any world, unless the DM explicitly adds them.

Dragonborn and Gnomes are less important to the game than Elves and Dwarves. That is by design. Be happy that you have rules for them at all.

Now, admittedly I am a huge dragonborn fan, but...doesn't this do a huge, huge disservice to the game?

We're assuming every fantasy world is perfectly cookie-cutter, UNLESS the DM decides to go kuh-raaaaaay-zee and fly straight off the rails with...GNOMES!

Seriously. These races are NOT less important. They're not MORE important, either. The fact that dwarves and elves are more frequently seen in fiction has diddly squat to do with the "importance" of these things--in part because I don't really believe there's such a thing as "importance" for these game elements. Throwing some options in the "exotic" ghetto was exactly what I worried would happen when this idea was broached.

We have the freedom to create ANY world we imagine--so of course every world we imagine is exactly the gorram same. How stultifyingly dull our hobby becomes! So much for awesome ideas like Iomandra!

It makes them optional. Thats the point.

It may also make them rare. Be the worlds only half-orc, why not?

But see, that's the problem. It makes certain things optional.

The actual, best situation is that everything is optional. Elves are optional. Dwarves are optional. Even Humans are optional. NOTHING is guaranteed.

But by having "common" and "exotic" races, that is thoroughly undermined. The books now give direct support to players who pitch a fit for not being able to play an elf because elves are common and how can a world not have elves, and to DMs who pitch a fit when the group is made up of two dragonborn siblings, a half-orc, a gnome, and a tiefling because she said she didn't have any specific house rules but she meant only common races could be played.

 

[DEFCON 1]

And you're right that there are no dragonborn NPCs in any of the official 5e adventures releases so far.

They use Half-Dragons instead, which are virtually the same thing. Langdedrosa Cyanwrath was the very first mini-boss you fought in the very first adventure path of 5E. And then Rezmir is another one you fight several chapters later.

If you want to split hairs that dragonborn aren't half-dragons, fine... but I'd be hard-pressed to tell you what the differences between them are.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

Now, admittedly I am a huge dragonborn fan, but...doesn't this do a huge, huge disservice to the game?

We're assuming every fantasy world is perfectly cookie-cutter, UNLESS the DM decides to go kuh-raaaaaay-zee and fly straight off the rails with...GNOMES!

It establishes a baseline, which is somewhat useful for reference. If anything, it might help DMs to realize that it's okay to make these sorts of decisions, and they're expected to actively make choices about what to bring in or throw out. That's a fairly significant part of the DMG, as well.

 

[NotActuallyTim]

They use Half-Dragons instead, which are virtually the same thing. Langdedrosa Cyanwrath was the very first mini-boss you fought in the very first adventure path of 5E. And then Rezmir is another one you fight several chapters later.

If you want to split hairs that dragonborn aren't half-dragons, fine... but I'd be hard-pressed to tell you what the differences between them are.

Branding and merchandising of course. GET YOUR HALF DRAGON MINIS RIGHT HERE! WE'LL THROW IN DRAGONBORN MINIS FOR HALF OFF!

 

[MechaPilot]

It establishes a baseline, which is somewhat useful for reference. If anything, it might help DMs to realize that it's okay to make these sorts of decisions, and they're expected to actively make choices about what to bring in or throw out. That's a fairly significant part of the DMG, as well.

The problem that I have with that concept is this: you are acknowledging that everything is optional and then placing an optional label on only certain pieces of content. There are no spells, classes, subclasses, skills, or feats in the PHB that are specifically called out as being more optional than the others, but some races are specifically called out as being extra-optional. A better system is to reiterate the optionality of all material and to suggest checking with one's DM to see what is and is not available.

Furthermore, the baseline that you mention actually belongs in the DMG, since it's the DM who creates the world and decides whether or not to deviate from what is standard, and by how much.