D&D 5E D&D Studio Blog - Sage Advice - Creature Evolutions

There's a new D&D Studio Blog - Jeremy's posted about "Creature Evolutions": Creature Evolutions | Dungeons & Dragons

Some quick takeaways:

• Some creatures that were formerly humanoids will, going forward, be monstrosities, fey, or something else. ("Humanoid" is reserved for creatures with similar "moral and cultural range" to humans.)
• Alignment got put in a "time out".
• They've started using class tags so that DMs know that a particular NPC can attune to magic items limited to a particular class.
• Bonus actions get their own section in the stat block now.
• They've merged the Innate Spellcasting and Spellcasting traits and have gotten rid of spell slots.

Also some stuff we've already guessed based on the stat blocks and playable races in Wild Beyond the Witchlight.

There's also some Sage Advice on "rabbit hops" for harengon PCs.

 

[Krachek]

Am I the only one who banned Counterspell years ago and thus doesn't really care whether it's been nerfed now?

The YouTuber DungeonDudes place it on their top 10 list of commonly banned spells. So I guess you’re not alone!

 

[ad_hoc]

I'm on board with removing height and weight restrictions.

The variety of human body types is vast.

Now I just wish we had some hero minis from WizKids with different body types.

 

[Dire Bare]

My take: Non-humanoids can more be seen as alien or other.

Bingo. I'm cautiously optimistic. Devils in the details.

 

[Dire Bare]

I'm cool with most of these changes, but there are a few that rub me the wrong way:

• A PC races' Age and Size. Did a suggested age range need or height/weight range really need to be dropped?

Sooooo . . . . what exactly did those overly complicated random age, height, and weight tables actually bring to the game? At every table I've ever played at, we've never used them, never even looked at them. The vast majority of PC races already are pretty close to human in height and weight, and age for the classic fantasy races hasn't been consistent over the decades.

This is not a change I'll miss, or likely even notice much really.

 

[Remathilis]

I'm on board with removing height and weight restrictions.

The variety of human body types is vast.

Now I just wish we had some hero minis from WizKids with different body types.

I'm looking forward to 3'5" goliaths myself. Should end the "how can a halfling have the same strength score as a Goliath?" arguments.

 

[clearstream]

Sooooo . . . . what exactly did those overly complicated random age, height, and weight tables actually bring to the game? At every table I've ever played at, we've never used them, never even looked at them. The vast majority of PC races already are pretty close to human in height and weight, and age for the classic fantasy races hasn't been consistent over the decades.

This is not a change I'll miss, or likely even notice much really.

I've used them a few times in connection with climbing and falling. A fully laden adventurer can be quite heavy, all told.

You're not wrong though.

 

[Tonguez]

I'm looking forward to 3'5" goliaths myself. Should end the "how can a halfling have the same strength score as a Goliath?" arguments.

Yeah who said My Halfling cant be 7ft tall weigh 400 lbs and have Str +1 and Dex +2! I guess he just got Lucky…

 

[J.Quondam]

Sooooo . . . . what exactly did those overly complicated random age, height, and weight tables actually bring to the game? At every table I've ever played at, we've never used them, never even looked at them. The vast majority of PC races already are pretty close to human in height and weight, and age for the classic fantasy races hasn't been consistent over the decades.

This is not a change I'll miss, or likely even notice much really.

I don't recall using the height/weight stuff much, but as a GM I did reference the age tables for NPCs. (Heck, I'd like to have age ranges for monsters, too.)

 

[Charlaquin]

Is it only me who cares about the proficiency bonus being spelled out?

I’ve wanted it for a long time, but since monster skills are still written with the proficiency bonus and a specific ability mod, it’s a bit superfluous. Would have preferred if tit was written more like

Proficiencies (+2): (insert proficiencies here)

 

[Scribe]

Yeah who said My Halfling cant be 7ft tall weigh 400 lbs and have Str +1 and Dex +2! I guess he just got Lucky…

All makes sense now, clearly someone was just keeping Halflings down all these years, they just needed permission to grow.

Someone errata the PHB!