D&D 5E (2014) Companion thread to 5E Survivor: Species

[EzekielRaiden]

It would be nice if they actually had the Dragon type, instead of the Humanoid type.

Unfortunately, in many ways that would be a major power-up. Dragons can't be targeted by spells that only target humanoids, for example. It wouldn't be as big a power-up as it was back in 3.5e, but it would still be a power-up.

Functionally, dragonborn are humanoids. They fill the same ecological niche, have the same overall spectrum of experiences, and fall within the same ranges of physical and mental measurements as most other ordinary sapients. While their physiology is dragon-derived, their impact in the world is pretty clearly closer to humans and other ordinary mortals.

 

[Corinnguard]

Pathfinder 1st Edition has only one Dragon type PC race, the Wyvaran . Wyvaran (17 RP) – d20PFSRD .

 

[Tonguez]

Joke's on you, I'm a dragonborn IRL!

More seriously, I mostly targeted humans because of that very thing. Well, not so much "loyalty to the species" as....human is by definition the most relatable option on the list, because everyone voting is human (or a bot, but that doesn't really count.) Humans always win "what race is best?" polls, usually by a substantial margin. They're popular AND basic/bland, making them the top threat for anyone who might want to see some other option take the crown.

I guess what I'm saying is, human is the favorite of something like 40% of the playerbase. But that means something like 60% has some other favorite...and most of us know that if human is allowed to linger, it will essentially guaranteed become the consensus option. And because all the options in the poll have so few points, just 3 people over the course of two days (or a few hours, if two of them vote just before and then just after midnight) can kill any given option. Finally, there's always been a temptation to hold onto a vote so you can kill an option that's dangling at the edge of survival--I know a number of posters take some degree of pride in getting the "kill shot" as it were.

Between those three elements, it's little wonder the two PHB human options got blasted away immediately. But, if you've noticed, the Dragonmark ones have lingered a lot longer! I suspect that's because they aren't perceived as a threat anymore, and people have turned to taking on the front-runners that have appeared in the time since (or killing off ones they hate.)

That actually makes a lot of sense, and does make me feel a little better for the early strategic removal of humans, in order to let the rest of the pack compete.

 

[CreamCloud0]

while i appreciate that the separate entries of the tiefling give it more chance of making it through i feel it probably could of been narrowed down to just three, all the 'bloodline of X' and the devil's tounge tieflings only differ on the specific spells they recieve so i feel they could've been lumped together imo, with winged tiefling and abyssal tiefling as the second and third choices, feral tiefling is kind of redundant with floating ASI.

 

[Scribe]

while i appreciate that the separate entries of the tiefling give it more chance of making it through i feel it probably could of been narrowed down to just three, all the 'bloodline of X' and the devil's tounge tieflings only differ on the specific spells they recieve so i feel they could've been lumped together imo, with winged tiefling and abyssal tiefling as the second and third choices, feral tiefling is kind of redundant with floating ASI.

Yeah, all the Devil ones could have been consolidated and it wouldnt have bothered me. The Variant version is the real one, and I'll forever see it that way.

Its a change that I appreciate out of the 1D&D version previewed as well, just going back to 'its a being with a heritage touched by the lower planes'. As it should be.

 

[Maxperson]

And add onto that the number of people who are blocking/ignoring other people, and we're already elbow-deep in chaos.

Some people on these boards have very strong opinions about the various ancestries in D&D. Their opinions are so strong that they ignore/block (and get ignored/blocked by) other members just for having a different points of view. Both of them are more likely to post in this thread, because this is a passionate topic for them and obviously Their Favorite Must Win To Prove They Are Right...but unfortunately they can't see each other's votes. So I predict epic levels of cross-posting.

That's why I saved this one for last.

Well, I'm blocked by a number of those people, but I draw the line at a voting game where there are so many choices they fill my screen and I have to scroll down a fair amount to get to the bottom. I'm staying out of it until it fits on one screen, so I'm doing my part to mitigate the chaos.

 

[CleverNickName]

Well, I'm blocked by a number of those people, but I draw the line at a voting game where there are so many choices they fill my screen and I have to scroll down a fair amount to get to the bottom. I'm staying out of it until it fits on one screen, so I'm doing my part to mitigate the chaos.

I totally get it. Unfortunately, the "wait until the list is smaller" only makes it take longer for the list to become smaller...it's sort of self-defeating.

The largest "group" of species at the moment is still that unnecessarily large group of human-animal hybrids...followed by a ton of tieflings and a half-dozen elves. I think that once we've got those three groups whittled down to a respectable size (with only one or two of each), the list will become a lot more manageable.

For my part: the two elves I'd be content to keep are the High Elf and the Wood Elf--they're the more iconic options in the game, IMO. The two animal-heads I've decided to spare are the Minotaur and the Satyr, because they're so well-established in both the game history and Greek mythology. And we really don't need more than one tiefling, so I'll spare the variant. That would remove two dozen options from the list, and leave us with a more interesting assortment. THEN the contest can truly begin, in my opinion.

 

[Tonguez]

. The two animal-heads I've decided to spare are the Minotaur and the Satyr, because they're so well-established in both the game history and Greek mythology.

really? I’m just curious (not being beligerent) but outside of Greek-inspired supplements where has the Satyr been well established in the game? I honestly cant think of anything
(I agree Minotaur has a solid presence)

 

[CleverNickName]

really? I’m just curious (not being beligerent) but outside of Greek-inspired supplements where has the Satyr been well established in the game? I honestly cant think of anything
(I agree Minotaur has a solid presence)

Oh completely! The satyr has been around since the Expert Rules Boxed Set, and they're in a couple of classic adventure modules from back in the day (UK1, "Beyond the Crystal Cave" and C5, "The Bane of Llywelyn" come to mind, but I'm sure there were others.) The Internet says there was a Spelljammer adventure module that featured satyrs as well, but I never played SJ so I wouldn't know.

They weren't a playable race species until the newer Theros campaign setting came out, though.

 

[el-remmen]

well the warforged was dismantled into scrap overnight, for anyone who voted against it might i ask why it was your choice of downvote?

They are fine for Eberron. And I'd even potentially allow one as one-off weirdo in another setting, but as a species that there are multiple of in another setting? I am just not down with it.