D&D 5E Clickbait we didn't fall for: "Wizards is copying Critical Role"

[Micah Sweet]

I don't know if you are meaning to, but you are giving a lot of badwrongfun vibes in this thread.

People can like what they like, and so can I. I have no interest in post-Planescape tieflings, but if you like them, I have no objection.

 

[Zardnaar]

They've

Actually when Tieflings, Aasimar.
, and Genasi began to be normalized, it was in the Forgotten Realms during the 3e era, when Tieflings and Aasimar, first they appeared in the MM as a playable race (with level adjusement) and later more playable level adjustment free humaniod versions of Aasimar, Tieflings, and Genasi, appeared in 3.5e for the Forgotten Realms and in races of Faerun. This lead to Tieflings and Aasimar and in cases Genasi appearing in Icewind Dale 1&2, Planescape Torment, Baldur's Gate 2, Neverwinter Nights 2 (not sure about NWN1), BG3, Warriors of Waterdeep, Neverwinter MMO, etc...

And that is on top of greatly increased in Importance for Tieflings, Genasi, and Aasimar/Devas in 4e.

Also Aasimar and Tieflings have appeared in a whole bunch of third party settings (both are part of the 3e/3.5e SRD).

Some examples are Midguard/Southland setting, Pathfinders Golarion, maybe Starfinder?

They appear in Kingmaker and Wrath of the Righteous.

Also in Pathfinder TTRPG 1st & 2nd edition.

Undoubtly others.

They've been around sure. I'm talking about normalizing them though which is 4E or 5E vs splatbooks or video games.

I've basically allowed them since 2001. 2E no but I didn't own planescape. I would have allowed them in that other 2E games idk.

 

[Zardnaar]

Tieflings are more popular than dwarves, half-orcs, gnomes, and halflings in Baldur's Gate 3. Tieflings have been around since the 1990s, they've been in the PHB since 4th edition, and they seem to be race well liked. At this point I'm more likely to see a tiefling at my table than I am a dwarf.

Gnomes i have seen 3 in 30 years. 1 in 2E, 3E,5E.

 

[Scribe]

The tieflings of 2e are hardly the same species as WotC's designed-for-copyright version.

Good luck copyrighting 'Horned Female with a Devil tail and purple/blue/red skin'. Thats about the depth of Wizards 4e/5e standard Tiefling.

 

[Kurotowa]

4e Dragonborn were awesome and their history tied in with the history of 4e Tieflings in a way that elevated them both. 5e, in its typical fashion, copied the aesthetics of 4e Dragonborn and 4e Tieflings, without preserving the real substance. But, hey, it worked out, they’re both as popular as ever if not even more popular.

How popular are dragonborn? I've never been in a campaign where someone played one, but my play group skews older and anecdotes are not data. So honestly curious, do we have any data? Have WotC or D&D Beyond released any play stats for the 5e PHB races?

I tried googling and got some reddit posts with numbers yanked from D&D Beyond's public data. The quality of which is always a bit iffy, both in filtering and presentation. But they do seem to show that Dragonborn are solidly a B-tier popularity race; behind the A-tier of Humans, Elves, and Dwarves but well ahead of Halflings and Half-Orcs.

So probably this is one of those points where I have to realize that I'm the old man yelling at clouds, and that as much as I don't feel like Dragonborn fit my idea of D&D there's plenty of people who have embraced them. That, or it's people using fixed racial ASI who just want that sweet +2 Strength and don't vibe with half-orcs.

 

[Micah Sweet]

They

Good luck copyrighting 'Horned Female with a Devil tail and purple/blue/red skin'. Thats about the depth of Wizards 4e/5e standard Tiefling.

Have a product identity name and a signature look. That's all you need.

 

[Scribe]

Have a product identity name and a signature look. That's all you need.

Their name is SRD (PF1/2 as well), and the 'signature look' has been rejected.

The image generator proves how absolutely basic Tieflings are now, and within the consciousness of the playerbase.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

The tieflings of 2e are hardly the same species as WotC's designed-for-copyright version.

Designed for minis and the PHB. Tieflings are in the 5e SRD and and 3e SRD, and even now other none WotC SRDs. WotC wants 3rd parties to use their version of Tieflings.

 

[Incenjucar]

How popular are dragonborn? I've never been in a campaign where someone played one, but my play group skews older and anecdotes are not data. So honestly curious, do we have any data? Have WotC or D&D Beyond released any play stats for the 5e PHB races?

I tried googling and got some reddit posts with numbers yanked from D&D Beyond's public data. The quality of which is always a bit iffy, both in filtering and presentation. But they do seem to show that Dragonborn are solidly a B-tier popularity race; behind the A-tier of Humans, Elves, and Dwarves but well ahead of Halflings and Half-Orcs.

So probably this is one of those points where I have to realize that I'm the old man yelling at clouds, and the as much as I don't feel like Dragonborn fit my idea of D&D there's plenty of people who have embraced them. That, or it's people using fixed racial ASI who just want that sweet +2 Strength and don't vibe with half-orcs.

Dragon people have been playable since at least 2E and just get more and more popular unlike elven cybernetics which few people even know about anymore.

 

[Charlaquin]

How popular are dragonborn? I've never been in a campaign where someone played one, but my play group skews older and anecdotes are not data. So honestly curious, do we have any data? Have WotC or D&D Beyond released any play stats for the 5e PHB races?

I tried googling and got some reddit posts with numbers yanked from D&D Beyond's public data. The quality of which is always a bit iffy, both in filtering and presentation. But they do seem to show that Dragonborn are solidly a B-tier popularity race; behind the A-tier of Humans, Elves, and Dwarves but well ahead of Halflings and Half-Orcs.

So probably this is one of those points where I have to realize that I'm the old man yelling at clouds, and the as much as I don't feel like Dragonborn fit my idea of D&D there's plenty of people who have embraced them. That, or it's people using fixed racial ASI who just want that sweet +2 Strength and don't vibe with half-orcs.

I think the D&D Beyond data is the best available, so yeah, as far as we can tell dragonborn are, like, middlingly popular.