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<blockquote data-quote="Yaarel" data-source="post: 8440591" data-attributes="member: 58172">To stat a lineage as a player race is unlike to stat it as a nonplayer monster.The race doesnt include culture. The monster can and does include culture.For example. The human Bandit is an individual who happens to belong to a criminal subculture. The monster statblock of a human Bandit says little about what the human lineage is. The bullywug Knight is an individual who belongs to a royal military subculture. Most bullywugs arent Knights.Even when the race options are multiple and fluid, the assemblage of the prominent race options are together a statement about what a lineage is. The race describes the innate physical and magical traits of a creature, whether dormant or expressed. Altho new options can add on and old options can discontinue, thus the lineage evolves, the race options describe the &quot;nature&quot; of a lineage.&quot;Nurture&quot; is something else. Nurture is culture that derives from learning and training, including background and class, and their respective proficiencies and ability score improvements.Race ≠ CultureBut the opposite is true for a monster statblock. The nonplayer statblock can be more accurately called an &quot;encounter statblock&quot;. It is a mechanics of convenience to stat a specific instance that an adventurer might run into, but says nothing about lineage generalizations.If an adventurer has an encounter with a human Bandit, there might be little or no difference from an encounter with a bullywug Bandit, or any other lineage.Typically, a monster statblock makes no distinction between features that come from race (bite and claws) and features that come from culture (sword and bow).The harengon Brigand and Sniper statblocks are statements about various native harengon cultures, which may or may not represent many harengons, and is unrepresentative of the innate nature of the entire harengon lineage.Race stats are something, but monster stats are something else.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Yaarel, post: 8440591, member: 58172"] To stat a lineage as a player race is unlike to stat it as a nonplayer monster. The race doesnt include culture. The monster can and does include culture. For example. The human Bandit is an individual who happens to belong to a criminal subculture. The monster statblock of a human Bandit says little about what the human lineage is. The bullywug Knight is an individual who belongs to a royal military subculture. Most bullywugs arent Knights. Even when the race options are multiple and fluid, the assemblage of the prominent race options are together a statement about what a lineage is. The race describes the innate physical and magical traits of a creature, whether dormant or expressed. Altho new options can add on and old options can discontinue, thus the lineage evolves, the race options describe the "nature" of a lineage. "Nurture" is something else. Nurture is culture that derives from learning and training, including background and class, and their respective proficiencies and ability score improvements. Race ≠ Culture But the opposite is true for a monster statblock. The nonplayer statblock can be more accurately called an "encounter statblock". It is a mechanics of convenience to stat a specific instance that an adventurer might run into, but says nothing about lineage generalizations. If an adventurer has an encounter with a human Bandit, there might be little or no difference from an encounter with a bullywug Bandit, or any other lineage. Typically, a monster statblock makes no distinction between features that come from race (bite and claws) and features that come from culture (sword and bow). The harengon Brigand and Sniper statblocks are statements about various native harengon cultures, which may or may not represent many harengons, and is unrepresentative of the innate nature of the entire harengon lineage. Race stats are something, but monster stats are something else. [/QUOTE]

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