D&D 5E DMG Excerpt: Creating a New Race

[jrowland]

How to make a new race:

1) Become a god (Vecna did it, so can you!)
2) Make your new race
3) Laugh maniacally

 

[Dire Bare]

I am very pleased with what I see here...though am sickened by their continuing attempts to ram elfier-elves down out throats and make them seem kewl. Better than using warforged or kenders as examples though, by far. So, it's a matter of degrees.

Y'know how some people get when kender are mentioned? Or warlords or "shout-healing"? Or "HP as Meat v. HP as stuff"? Any of those topics that seem to just elicit a visceral near blinding hatred for no apparent reason?

Good lord. I so hate it too when WotC uses concepts that others find interesting and cool but yet I don't care for. Grrrr. Just hate that.

No, wait, I don't. One of the things about our community I've never understood is the butthurt hyperbole of "THIS SUCKS! I HATE IT!" when it comes to things most of us like, but some don't. Not liking the eladrin or anything else is fine, just cool it with the overwrought language of pain, will ya?

WotC has never "stuffed" anything down anyone's throats. They provide options, some of which become popular and survive the test of time, others that don't. The eladrin-drow-elf trifecta of 4E didn't "force" yet another "elfier elf" on the unsuspecting D&D community, but rather SIMPLIFIED the elven subrace "issue". A lot of us REALLY dug it, some of us didn't.

Edition wars aren't really about differences in rules or cosmology or elfier elves, they are about people using aggressive and hyperbolic language to, purposely or incidentally, knock down other people's preferences.

 

[Eric V]

Don't like the excerpt very much at all, we don't need 320 pages of "Just make up your own stuff because we don't want to bother doing it.", I hope the how to construct encounters, classes, magic items, traps, towns, cities, and worlds sections are more helpful and you know give you tools to do the job, instead of advice that is pretty much common sense.

Have to agree, here. I would have preferred something in-between: a crunchier set of guidelines (though not as overwhelming as the PF mechanic) along with a reminder to use common sense. It's a new edition, with some interesting new mechanics such as bounded accuracy and decreased spellcasting, so some crunchier stuff to go along with it* would have been helpful, especially for those of us who have played every other edition and might need to "un-learn" some stuff.

*With the understanding it might still be present on as-yet-unseen pages.

 

[pemerton]

Gave them at will teleporting and OF COURSE people thought they were amazing in a mini's tactical game.

There seems to be some confusion. Eladrin in 4e don't have at-will teleport. And 4e is an RPG, not a tactical miniatures game.

 

[steeldragons]

...when it comes to things most of us like, but some don't...
...A lot of us REALLY dug it, some of us didn't...

Look, I have no desire to edition war or derail the thread with a "eladrin's is bad/good" debate. But I think you have little to no justification to use terms like "most" or "a lot" anymore than I do for hyperbolic language.

The eladrin-drow-elf trifecta of 4E didn't "force" yet another "elfier elf" on the unsuspecting D&D community,but rather SIMPLIFIED the elven subrace "issue"

What "issue" was that, exactly? For the 30 or so years preceding the "eladrin's" arrival, no one I ever met had any issue with elf subraces. *shrug* Guess we were just too dim to notice they needed "fixing."

Edition wars aren't really about differences in rules or cosmology or elfier elves, they are about people using aggressive and hyperbolic language to, purposely or incidentally, knock down other people's preferences.

Mmm, I'm pretty sure that those "differences" stuff have a liiittle do to with it. But this has nothing to do with editions as far as I'm concerned. I hate "the eladrin" for reasons I've already stated, whether they make sense to you or not. There ya go. Take it as "warring" or don't. I've nothing else to say about it that I haven't already.

 

[JesterOC]

The character options section is at most 5 pages. It starts on pg 285 and Appendix A starts on page 290. So there are 3-4 pages of guidelines more.

 

[Dire Bare]

But I think you have little to no justification to use terms like "most" or "a lot" anymore than I do for hyperbolic language.

Really? "Most" or "a lot" are anecdotal generalizations. "WotC forced elfier elves down our throats" is needlessly aggressive hyperbolic language that just fans those edition war flames. It may not be your intent, but it is your result.

What "issue" was that, exactly? For the 30 or so years preceding the "eladrin's" arrival, no one I ever met had any issue with elf subraces. *shrug* Guess we were just too dim to notice they needed "fixing."

Soooo not the point. You don't see an issue prior to 4E with elven subraces, I do, others do, WotC did. You don't care for eladrin, I love 'em! Lots of other folks did too. Doesn't really matter if it was "lots" of folks, or just seven of us. Having an opinion and sharing it is why we are here, so regardless how you view the issue, it's cool. It's HOW you express your dislike that gets to me, and others. Implying that WotC, or folks who like eladrin, think you are "dim" for not seeing the problem . . . well, there you go again, fanning the flames, intentionally or not.

Mmm, I'm pretty sure that those "differences" stuff have a liiittle do to with it.

Increasingly, in my opinion, I really don't think so. It isn't that 4E is such a different game in many ways from 3E and prior editions, it isn't WotC's marketing during the switchover, it's passionate but misguided gamers crapping on each other's preferences. That's all there is to an edition war. If one person prefers 3E and another prefers 4E, they can each go on happily playing their respective games without the need to argue and spew vitriol at each other. Why can't we just accept that we don't all like the same things, and respect those different preferences?

If you really dislike eladrin . . . great! Don't use them in your games! But why the need to so negatively crap on something that I like? Why the need to attack WotC for "forcing" things down your throat when they did no such thing? One of the races from 4E I didn't care much for was the vryloka. But I don't post about WotC "forcing" pseudo-emo-vampires down my throat! Because they haven't, and I know lots of gamers here LOVE the vryloka, and that makes me happy! Good for them!

Yeah, I'm done too. I know that railing against internet vitriol is like pissing into the wind. Welcome to the internet Dire Bare!

 

[Mr0wlington]

EDIT: I am a nooby noob.

 

[Mr0wlington]

What about them? That's a race that was introduced innnn...Dark Sun? [I don't really remember.] I expect a Dark Sun book will have them in there.

I wouldn't "make up" a half-giant PC race since I think it's a bs concept...or allow them in my game unless I were playing Dark Sun [or whatever world they were created to be in].

But as a counter to the point I made? I would say by the reading that you are supposed to compare the new race to the existing playable races, someone making a "half-giant" knows that are 1) steeping outside the boundaries of the existing playable races' power level and ability and 2) is OK with that in their game...and so knows that a half-giant PC is going to be overpowered if not "broken"...which, again, in their particular game/table might not be op or broken at all!

(durp, i didn't quote this in my last response.)

What if you were to raise the max STR of a race that's supposed to be really strong, at the expense of another ability, say DEX?

 

[Jester David]

WotC has never "stuffed" anything down anyone's throats. They provide options, some of which become popular and survive the test of time, others that don't. The eladrin-drow-elf trifecta of 4E didn't "force" yet another "elfier elf" on the unsuspecting D&D community, but rather SIMPLIFIED the elven subrace "issue". A lot of us REALLY dug it, some of us didn't.

They never forced it no. Unless you used Eberron or the Realms, in which case you were asked to accept a major retcon.

I'm not sure the elf subrace thing really needed to simplified. Warcraft managed to have elven subraces just fine, and no one got confused by how Legolas was different from Galadriel.
I like eladrin and the addition of a high fey race to D&D but the reason they did so was rather insulting to our intelligence.