D&D (2024) All about Ardlings

[Yaarel]

The top four races (as of 2019) are:

1: Human
2: Elf / Half-Elf
3: Tiefling
4: Dragonborn

So, a "comfort food" setting should at least mention the above four.



A top seven would extend to:

5 Dwarf
6 Orc / Half Orc
7 Goliath

And a top ten would extend to:

8 Halfling
9 Genasi
10 Gnome

And a top thirteen are : aasimar, aarakockra, and changeling. The fourteenth is tabaxi. If ardling merges with aasimar, it should prove popular enough.

 

[jmartkdr2]

I would throw in orcs as well; they may not have been a race as long as the ones you've mentioned, but they've been a core part of D&D at least as long. Then I'd put out a race book - call it "Beings of Myth and Legend" or something - and that's where I'd lay out races like dragonborn, the planar races, etc.

I'd do it like that for two reasons. First, while I'm not on board with Yaarel's idea of a bare bones stripped down core book, I do think that a "classic D&D" approach to the core is a good idea. The difference is that I think that the core should be less bare bones, and more like a good soup stock: flavorful, but not too exotic. It shouldn't just be "hey, here are the rules of D&D," but "hey, this is D&D." Now, arguably dragonborn at least, and possibly tieflings as well have become part of what younger players consider the core of the D&D races, but that brings me to my second reason.

Races like dragonborn, and definitely the planar races are varied enough in possible origin and configuration that I feel they really need more room than the PHB can afford to do them justice. If I had my way, there would be a revisiting of the "Complete" series concept from 2E, giving every major race their own book filled with potential lore, adventure ideas and player options. Alas, it's not an idea that would sell well enough for today's WotC. But I still think that at least having a race specific book could give enough real estate in the book for the more exotic races to get the kind of options and imagination fuel they need. I'd give multiple potential origins for groups to consider, each with at least as much text as the race would get as a whole if it were in the PHB. I'd take the barebones approach the playtest is suggesting will be the status quo and give multiple advancement paths for players that want their character's race to play a bigger role mechanically. In the case of races with varying potential appearances like the planetouched, I'd dedicate a page to ideas for players to use to imagine how their character would look, potentially with tables for those that want a little help in that department.

Basically, I'd give let the PHB be D&D comfort food, and then put out a recipe book for those that want more.

I think if you want to save page count you’d get more from removing subraces, especially from dwarves and halflings and such. Dragonborn got popular on the 2014 phb version, which just has you pick a damage type, so that’s fine for a core version.

I agree tieflings call for more variety and they (or maybe planetouched generally) should get an expanding supplement early on - but a template of when they get spells plus a sidebar saying “or pick different spells to customize your character” is enough to get started.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Yup. The book that has all the rules, only stats humans.

At the same time, the Forgotten Realms setting guide is also one of the core books and goes into more detail about a specific setting, including which races the setting has.

Not every setting will have halflings. Not every setting will have ardlings. Not every setting will have dragonborns. Not every setting will have elves.

The Forgotten Realms setting has many races. So this setting specifically needs to go into detail about which races, their features, and the various cultures, relating to them. There will be elf culture backgrounds in Forgotten Realms that wont exist in Eberron. And so on.

The existence of any race depends 100% on the setting.

The only default that one can assume is that most settings will have the human race. Even if a setting lacks the human race, the rulebook needs to have a human so that players can relate to the human, and get a sense of how the rules work. The human race is the measuring unit by which to measure and compare other races.

This is honestly one of the single worst ideas I've ever read. The day DnD does this, the game is dead.

Sure, maybe Toril doesn't have every race. But most games are homebrew. Most games aren't playing in Toril. Taking away every single option then demanding we buy setting books to get things as basic as elves and dwarves?

Utter madness.

 

[ersatzphil]

I agree tieflings call for more variety and they (or maybe planetouched generally) should get an expanding supplement early on - but a template of when they get spells plus a sidebar saying “or pick different spells to customize your character” is enough to get started.

I’d be perfectly happy seeing tieflings, aasimar, and genasi covered as racial options in the rerelease of Planescape. At least in my mind, they kind of make more sense there anyway.

 

[jmartkdr2]

I’d be perfectly happy seeing tieflings, aasimar, and genasi covered as racial options in the rerelease of Planescape. At least in my mind, they kind of make more sense there anyway.

I was thinking there or a new Manual of the Planes, since planetouched give that book a lot of player-facing content (something that drives sales and that such a book would otherwise lack). You could easily write 30 pages on planetouched.

Though I still say tieflings and aasimar should be present in the PHB, even if they don’t get the full treatment until a little later.

 

[Temporalgod]

Which human stats do you propose the players should be using? The core rulebook for 5e provides two sets of stats for humans- the bland version which I have heard no one really wants to play, or the variant human who starts the game with a 1st level bonus feat?

In other words, a world-neutral PHB that provides the right amount of crunch and fluff for the players and the DM. Something like the PHB back in 3.0/3.5 and PF1. And then each setting gets their own campaign setting book that covers the stuff not found in the first PHB. 3.0/3.5 did that too.

Metric humans? No such thing. We're all different. Each and every one of us.

Right like nobody would make human characters if Variant humans weren't a thing, take away variant humans with their bonus feat and humans would end up as the least played race.

 

[Temporalgod]

The top four races (as of 2019) are:

1: Human
2: Elf / Half-Elf
3: Tiefling
4: Dragonborn

So, a "comfort food" setting should at least mention the above four.



A top seven would extend to:

5 Dwarf
6 Orc / Half Orc
7 Goliath

And a top ten would extend to:

8 Halfling
9 Genasi
10 Gnome

And a top thirteen are : aasimar, aarakockra, and changeling. The fourteenth is tabaxi. If ardling merges with aasimar, it should prove popular enough.

2 Elves, 3 Tielfings, 4 Dragonborns & 6 Orcs/Half-Orcs are usually the races I pick to play as, 11 Aasimar is something I play occasionally just not as often as the first four and I'm kind of interested in playing 9 Genasi & 13 Changeling, only way I'll ever play a Dwarf aka number 5 is if I can be a Duergar, also besides Goblins not really a fan of small races.

 

[Mind of tempest]

Right like nobody would make human characters if Variant humans weren't a thing, take away variant humans with their bonus feat and humans would end up as the least played race.

people will play human because they like humans you have less faith than I do and I trust nothing.

 

[ersatzphil]

people will play human because they like humans you have less faith than I do and I trust nothing.

3 of the 4 5e PCs I've played have been nonvariant humans - we're out here.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

If people have played the PHB Dragonborn this much, clearly mechanical advantages aren't the determining factor in race choice.