D&D (2024) D&D species article

[mellored]

Yes they did but from what we have seen they also removed the language so you only get 1 tool proficiency and no language.

Ability Scores
2 skills
1 tool
1 feat, which could be more skills, tools, or languages.

I very rarely see languages used in games. And even then it's usually something like Abyssal.

It also doesn't make sense for a Acolyte in a dwarf village go know the same language as a Acolyte in an elf one.

 

[I'm A Banana]

4e powers had a LOT of very particular hangups and quirks and foibles and flaws.

Which are?

Happy to chat about that if you wanna start the thread.

 

[Remathilis]

That was not a problem. What they needed to do was to follow suit with A5E and added in the society where you were raised. If they would have just bumped the power level of the backgrounds a bit more to include let's say 3 tool, weapon, or armor proficiencies or hell, just give all players 2 of their choices to show how they were raised it would have been ok

That doesn't solve the problem completely though. A tiefling or dragonborn has no proficiencies to speak of, while a dwarf or elf had multiple weapons, skills or tools. In theory, a dragonborn raised by dwarves would speak dwarven, have proficiencies in hammers and artisans tools, etc. But it's not like the dragonborn would lose access to their breath weapon or energy resistance by doing so. So the idea that a dwarf has biological traits (darkvision, poison resist) and cultural ones (proficiencies) and can be swapped only works if the dragonborn is built under the same assumptions (ie: they can't have better biological traits that are balanced by a lack of proficiencies). You end up back where we left off: cultural elements (proficiencies) separated and the races need to balance on a biological or inmate level.

 

[Aldarc]

rather than proficiencies i think a better implemntation might've been more things like innate advantage or reliable talent, a halfling might have a -2 DEX but advantage still makes it so they'll consistently have a better chance at not totally whiffing their stealth rolls, it doesn't make a clumsy halfling a master at sneaking but it'll put them ahead of a human or a dwarf in the same position, an elf having reliable talent on INT checks makes sure they'll be more likely to have a passing knowledge on any topic, they've lived long lives, they've picked up some all around knowledge of things here and there.

I like what Dragonbane does with its kin. It reminds me a lot of 4e D&D. Kin do not get attribute bonuses. Instead, they usually get one ability that often costs Willpower points to use though sometimes it is passive.* Here are four example entries to get the idea:

HALFLING - Hard to Catch
✦ Willpower Points: 3
You can activate this ability when dodging an attack, getting a boon to the EVADE roll.

DWARF - Unforgiving
✦ Willpower Points: 3
You can activate this ability when attacking someone who harmed you in the past (at least 1 point of damage) and get a boon to the roll. It does not matter when the damage was inflicted. It may be wise to write down the names of everyone who harms you, so you do not forget them.

MALLARD - Ill-Tempered
✦ Willpower Points: 3
Mallards tend to have a choleric temper. You can activate this ability (no action) when making a skill roll and get a boon to the roll. You also
become Angry, if you’re not already. This ability cannot be used for rolls against INT or INT based skills.

MALLARD - Webbed Feet
✦ Willpower Points: —
As a mallard you also get a boon to all SWIMMING rolls. You always move at full speed in or under water.

ELF - Inner Peace
✦ Willpower Points: —
As an elf, you can meditate deeply during a stretch rest. You heal an additional D6 HP and a D6 extra WP, and can recover from an additional condition. You are completely unresponsive during your meditation and cannot be awakened.

Getting a "boon" to the roll is essentially getting Advantage, though boons can stack. So you can potentially roll 3d20 and take the lowest roll. The system is a roll under skill and critical success on a 1.

* FYI: Willpower points are also what wizards spend for their spells. So non-mages will get to use their kin and profession heroic ability more often than mages, whose profession ability are their spells.

 

[Minigiant]

Magical essentialism and Magical determinism

WOTC was not brave enough to stick with biological physical differences between species once mental and cultural differences were deem either offensive or unfun.

So they made every nonhuman magic.

The 7 ft tall 300 lb musculey humaniod with giant meaty hands and feet cannot be naturally good at climbing and swimming because he is 7 ft tall, muscular, and has giant meaty hands and feet.

No!

The 7 ft tall 300 lb musculey humaniod with giant meaty hands and feet is good at climbing and swimming because he was a farmer.

 

[I'm A Banana]

That doesn't solve the problem completely though. A tiefling or dragonborn has no proficiencies to speak of, while a dwarf or elf had multiple weapons, skills or tools. In theory, a dragonborn raised by dwarves would speak dwarven, have proficiencies in hammers and artisans tools, etc. But it's not like the dragonborn would lose access to their breath weapon or energy resistance by doing so. So the idea that a dwarf has biological traits (darkvision, poison resist) and cultural ones (proficiencies) and can be swapped only works if the dragonborn is built under the same assumptions (ie: they can't have better biological traits that are balanced by a lack of proficiencies). You end up back where we left off: cultural elements (proficiencies) separated and the races need to balance on a biological or inmate level.

If we were to list out the more intrinsic traits, we'd have something like...

• Size. Size should have a meaningful impact on the capabilities of the character (this is Difficult for Reasons, but this is a wish list).
• Locomotion. Walk speed (which should be more than 5' different if we want an impact), but also does it fly or swim or maybe even teleport or psychic hovering or whatever
• Body Shape. Do you have wings or a tail or are you centauroid or ooze or what, really? Does your shape give you natural weaponry, perhaps? Does it make some kind of locomotion hard for you, like walking on land?
• Senses. If you are especially perceptive or can see in the dark or have telepathy or whatever.
• Resistances. Are you resistant to poison or fire or sleep or whatever? That's intrinsic.
• Special Action. What can you do during a fight that lets you assert your identity for a round? This is not skill or training, but intrinsic. Dragonborn have dragon breath. Tieflings cast dark magic. What else? (this is your racial power equivalent)

Those are all big and impactful and aren't something you can learn. No halfling raised by dragonborn would learn how to breathe fire. Being raised by aarakocra doesn't give you wings. Maybe we say that we need certain requirements in order to be a PC and we just live with it (is it medium size, the ability to travel on land, the ability to assume a humanoid shape?), being OK with not having Tiny or Large PC's unless we opt into them the way we'd opt into merfolk or ceptu or flying?

And then you have more cultural elements. Bonus proficiencies. Groups you can influence. Places you have contacts. These are swappable, and everyone (even your bog standard human!) should get to choose this. This sounds like 2014 backgrounds by and large.

Maybe sometimes the difference between a full species and a subspecies is more culture than nature (hill dwarves and mountain dwarves share their size, locomotion, body shape, senses, resistances and their special action, but have different proficiencies and contacts?), other times it's more nature than culture (hill dwarves and mountain dwarves might be different sizes (one small one medium!) or maybe mountain dwarves have better darkvision or maybe they have completely different special actions because one of them is tough to kill and the other one is given Moradin's blessing which allows them to enhance armor during a fight).

This doesn't solve the problem so much as outline the shape of it, though. There's better and worse senses, better and worse resistances, better and worse sizes.

 

[Micah Sweet]

That was not a problem. What they needed to do was to follow suit with A5E and added in the society where you were raised. If they would have just bumped the power level of the backgrounds a bit more to include let's say 3 tool, weapon, or armor proficiencies or hell, just give all players 2 of their choices to show how they were raised it would have been ok

That was a good move on A5e's part, true, but you'll notice that Level Up also has no issue finding ways to make each heritage mechanically interesting and distinct.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Or it could be fair to see it as elegant.

That's right. It's all subjective. One person's elegant is another's lazy.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Ability Scores
2 skills
1 tool
1 feat, which could be more skills, tools, or languages.

I very rarely see languages used in games. And even then it's usually something like Abyssal.

It also doesn't make sense for a Acolyte in a dwarf village go know the same language as a Acolyte in an elf one.

This is where culture as a metric would be useful.

 

[Micah Sweet]

That doesn't solve the problem completely though. A tiefling or dragonborn has no proficiencies to speak of, while a dwarf or elf had multiple weapons, skills or tools. In theory, a dragonborn raised by dwarves would speak dwarven, have proficiencies in hammers and artisans tools, etc. But it's not like the dragonborn would lose access to their breath weapon or energy resistance by doing so. So the idea that a dwarf has biological traits (darkvision, poison resist) and cultural ones (proficiencies) and can be swapped only works if the dragonborn is built under the same assumptions (ie: they can't have better biological traits that are balanced by a lack of proficiencies). You end up back where we left off: cultural elements (proficiencies) separated and the races need to balance on a biological or inmate level.

WotC didn't separate cultural elements. They removed them.