D&D 5E criteria for new races to be added to the PHB

[doctorbadwolf]

Which is somewhat surprising to me since the players I've gamed with in recent years who were under 30 typically stick to the basic races. Plenty of dwarfs and elves but not so many Goliaths or some of the other options.

Different groups and areas are different. IME, a lot of older gamers also steer new gamers toward the “basic” options, as well, which will change the numbers of within a group or local community.

Regardless, the less “common” options are popular enough to create mountains of character art, social media traffic, actual play rep, and 3pp demand for them. That’s more than enough reason to keep them in the core books.

That's not been my experience either. And I'm not sure what type there is with half-orc these days given D&D has distances themselves from the unfortunately implications rooted all the way back in 1st edition.

Um...I’ve never in 20+ years seen a half-orc played in a way defined by how they were conceived. Like...”bastard child of violence” isn’t a personality type.

In my estimation humans and dwarfs in D&D really aren't all that different. But that's probably another thread.

I mean, it’s an experience thing, too. IME they’re very, very, different.

I can personally attest that the lack of druid and barbarian was one of the many reasons I avoided 4th edition.

Same for a lot of people. Folks like to be able to play the things they love playing.

 

[MGibster]

Different groups and areas are different. IME, a lot of older gamers also steer new gamers toward the “basic” options, as well, which will change the numbers of within a group or local community.

I've long since stopped trying to use my experience as a baseline for D&D. Especially when it comes to the 80s and early to mid 1990s.

Um...I’ve never in 20+ years seen a half-orc played in a way defined by how they were conceived. Like...”bastard child of violence” isn’t a personality type.

I was more thinking in terms of them being outsiders who didn't quite fit in with humans and didn't quite fit in with orcs.

 

[MGibster]

I would also say not wanting Dragonborn or Tieflings is very much a place by place thing. You talk to folks who got into D&D via Critical Role or things like that and tell them you don't think Tieflings should be in the PHB and, well, you're gonna get laughed out

I've come to accept the changes to D&D has made throughout the years. I miss alignment restrictions for paladins and I'm not fond of Dragonborn but I live with them and I actually like the Tiefling. I expect we'll see more changes in the future. Thanks to the influence of World of Warcraft and other sources, there might come a day where orcs and goblins are more than fodder for the blades of heroes in D&D and we see them take their place among humans and dwarfs as standard PC races. And I wouldn't balk at their inclusion in the standard PHB. The only changes made to the game that ever alienated me was the rules for 4th edition. I do think there's only so many pages in a book and we won't be able to incorporate everyone's favorite race easily though.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I've long since stopped trying to use my experience as a baseline for D&D. Especially when it comes to the 80s and early to mid 1990s.

I was more thinking in terms of them being outsiders who didn't quite fit in with humans and didn't quite fit in with orcs.

Right, okay, that’s still a thing IME regardless of the core flavor text, and regardless of the specific parentage circumstance of the half-orc. Especially outside the orc tribe.

And that simple fact of being mixed-race is an important thing for a lot of players.

 

[ccs]

I think you meant:
and declare your game "not D&D" faster than you can say svirfneblin 4e.

 

[ccs]

Cutting out Gnomes, Bards, Barbarians, Monks, Druids, Half-Orcs, Sorcerers and Monks from the 1st PHB is one of the many contributing factors for why 4e is looked down on. I know that every one of those did come back in PHB2 and PHB3, but by then the damage was done.

Well, that & the rules.
And what they did to the FR if that's important to you.

 

[Tallifer]

I can personally attest that the lack of druid and barbarian was one of the many reasons I avoided 4th edition.

4E was different because it assumed that players and dungeon masters would subscribe to DDI which gave access to the Rules Compendium and the Character Builder. No books required, and everything was considered part of the core rules for Adventurers' League. So every class, feat, power, skill, item, rule and race was available for a small fee to any subscriber. Many people loved that; many others disliked it. I for one miss it, but I do like the almost universal appeal which 5E's method seems to hold.

 

[Vael]

A couple of things:

1. Assume, for sake of the argument, that the length of the PHB is fixed. Due to the cost and logistics of printing a hardcover book, we can't just add pages to the PHB. What comes out?

2. If a Race is in the PHB, there's the assumption that it is playable in every campaign setting, and I don't think that's true of Goblins. Eberron had to make some tweaks in 4e and 5e to give space to Tieflings and Dragonborn. I don't see Goblin PCs in Forgotten Realms or Greyhawk.

3. Orcs were also reprinted, but were changed to accommodate Eberron and their history in Eberron. If they'd been in the PHB, that'd still be duplication, because now you're rewriting a core race.

 

[gyor]

Oh, hey, you're preaching to the converted. I have zero problem with including a shopping list of races in the PHB. Anything to break the Tolkien mold.

But, superficial or not, if it's not in Tolkien, you're battling WAY uphill to try to include it in the PHB. People still kvetch about tieflings and dragonborn in the PHB, despite one being part of the game for decades, and heck, even Dragonborn are 10 years old now. You want to put goblins or githyanki in the PHB? Good luck. The traditionalists will lose their freaking minds and declare your game "not D&D" faster than you can say svirfneblin.

The folks who complain about Tieflings and Dragonborn are a tiny minority who have been safely ignored, I have heard of no one who has said no to buying the 5e PHB because of Tieflings and Dragonborn. And since they are in it and will remain in future PHBs, then adding is few more races won't cause any new problems.

 

[jgsugden]

I like the idea of them releasing a "PHB 2" and having it count as the PHB for purposes of PHB +1. Add the artificer, the good races, spells, feats, etc...