D&D 5E D&D Peoples/Species change ideas

[GreenTengu]

Lots of good stuff, @GreenTengu , but man I would remove darkvision from over half the races, it is much too common IMO.

It certainly is far too common of an ability, but it is because so many of these things are rooted in folklore that says they are things that hide away in caves and/or only come out at night and that's why none of us has seen them.

I suppose if there were something distinctly different like "Night Vision" then Elves and Tieflings would have that-- maybe Hobgoblins and Goblins could too, if it were retconned so that subterranean ones were Orcs and Kobolds-- and maybe Gnomes as they have magic and technology to light up their homes.

 

[DND_Reborn]

It certainly is far too common of an ability, but it is because so many of these things are rooted in folklore that says they are things that hide away in caves and/or only come out at night and that's why none of us has seen them.

I suppose if there were something distinctly different like "Night Vision" then Elves and Tieflings would have that-- maybe Hobgoblins and Goblins could too, if it were retconned so that subterranean ones were Orcs and Kobolds-- and maybe Gnomes as they have magic and technology to light up their homes.

We have another vision, Shadowsight, which turns dim light (such as moonlight, etc.) into bright light, but it doesn't help in complete darkness at all. Most of the darkvision races in our game have shadowsight instead.

 

[Lylandra]

Not a complete concept by far, but I could totally live with the following:

• No racial ASI (these can either be relegated to class or given as free +x buff, player's choice)
• biological stuff stays biological and is tied to race. BUT it souldn't be a dealbreaker for any class. Stuff that's fine but needs finetuning imo would be: regeneration, greater height (+ to throwing range), special senses, more narrow build (lower DC for squeezing and escape artist stuff), energy resistance, + to certain saves (i.e. poison, petrification, stun), multiple limbs
• stuff that's usually learned is cultural and should be interchangable if a player wishes. That's for abilities like + vs. giants/kobolds/orcs, + skills, bonus proficiencies, feats, magic, tactics

As an anecdote, I always found humans to be boring because they are sooo generic and loved the way the Warcraft 3.5 rulebook modified them because Azerothian humans were different. How? They got boni vs. orcs and were skilled with handling mithril. Both are cultural and tied to the setting, which is astounding as the orcs and their invasion were a very recent thing.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Heh... I don't even know why people keep saying we need to give floating bonuses to all the ancestries AT ALL. A "floating +2 and +1"? What's the point? If you want higher scores for your characters... just give more points to players during Point Buy. That's all you need to do. Then they can get that DEX score as higher as they need. Or on the off-chance you're a table that rolls for your stats... if you need higher stats for the PCs than just roll more or different dice (like roll 5d6 keep 3.)

If we aren't giving out specific bonuses for specific reasons (whether it's ancestry, class, background, or whatever)... there's absolutely no point in just giving out bonus points that the player can just put in anything.

Don't count the rollers out. It's still the first option listed in the PH, and I suspect there's a silent majority among non-forum people who use this method both because they learned the game from rollers and because rolling stats is a very D&D thing to do.

 

[Bagpuss]

But which stat? You don't think there wouldn't be an issue if 'Fantasy Africans' get +1 to Wis and 'Fantasy Europeans' get +1 to Int?

Heaven forbid Fantasy Asia gets +1 Comeliness Charisma.

 

[WayOfTheFourElements]

I'm fine with removing racial stat bonuses as a universal principle, but I would like to see something limiting the Strength of small characters.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

I'm fine with removing racial stat bonuses as a universal principle, but I would like to see something limiting the Strength of small characters.

I guess that would be an acceptable compromise option. Still feels wrong for Minotaurs, Goliaths and other 'should really be large' species.

 

[WayOfTheFourElements]

I guess that would be an acceptable compromise option. Still feels wrong for Minotaurs, Goliaths and other 'should really be large' species.

I think we're on the same page: Not all races need stat bonuses/penalties, but in some cases they are warranted.

 

[jmartkdr2]

I guess that would be an acceptable compromise option. Still feels wrong for Minotaurs, Goliaths and other 'should really be large' species.

I feel like the better answer here is to make weapon size a thing again. It's super-fiddly, but it did a better job than ability scores ever did making halflings feel small.

Because for some reason going down a die size feels more significant than getting a -1 (or, really, +1 less).

 

[Chaosmancer]

That'd be my vote. Adds sone flavour to why a person is the way they are. A barbarian is tough from their training and exposure to the wild, but they were also a tribal sage, so they're a little more intelligent for it.

That is far more interesting to me than because they were a dragonborn, or a Gnome, or whatever.

Honestly, the more I hear this solution, the more I like it.

Races are far more defined by their abilities (fire resistance, relentless endurance, lucky) than by their stat mods anyways.

It does. And when seven feet tall orcs and three feet tall halflings are equally strong there is a verisimilitude deficiency.

Which is already they case.

Both races max out at 20 STR, so they have the same upper limit. A halfling that puts a 15 in strength is stronger than an Orc that puts a 8 in strength and raises it to a 10.

If any halfling being as strong or stronger than any orc is a problem, it is one you already have to deal with. The real truth is, most players won't take an Orc and put an 8 in strength, or a halfling and put a 15 in strength, because they are far better served playing into the races bonuses than fighting against them.