D&D General Do players expect to use any/all WotC options in campaigns?

[Minigiant]

LOL. I give. You're justifying needing a "big guy" species because you have to have a "big guy" species. Circular arguments aren't particularly convincing.

No.

When Jeremy Crawford spoke about species, he spoke about having various racial archetypes. Most RPG settings have a set of them


Humans
Big Guys
Small Guys
Otherworldly Guys
Warrior Guys
Mage Guys
Evil or Ugly Guys

This is why when they removed Half Orc and humanized Orc, they added Golaith.


Middle Earth lacks a Big Guy. No Halforc, Minotairs, Kljngons, Cookies, or Krogans.

 

[Maxperson]

No.

When Jeremy Crawford spoke about species, he spoke about having various racial archetypes. Most RPG settings have a set of them


Humans
Big Guys
Small Guys
Otherworldly Guys
Warrior Guys
Mage Guys
Evil or Ugly Guys

This is why when they removed Half Orc and humanized Orc, they added Golaith.


Middle Earth lacks a Big Guy. No Halforc, Minotairs, Kljngons, Cookies, or Krogans.

Middle Earth 100% has half-orcs. They call them uruk-hai.

 

[Minigiant]

It sounds very much like you are getting close to why you think this extra race is needed, but you are still being very careful to avoid actually saying it and using fluff/lore to fill the gaps . This kind of "I want +2 strength/size large on my PC" desire getting cloaked behind a stated bit of fluff like "I want to play a big guy" only leads to GM's being justified in reflexively saying no if there's even a hint of the player using this kind of ROLEplay vrs ROLLplay obfuscation to shield their goals.

5e gives you +2 to any race.

I want bonus carry cap, reach, better unarmed.

Something.

 

[mamba]

That's true, but big guy races are much farther off than the other races in my opinion.

I don’t know, I agree with the +6 Strength for them, and to me the same would be true for small races but in the other direction. The whole attribute range is not wide enough, and feats could be more distinctive too imo

 

[CreamCloud0]

It's not one or the other, though. Advantage on stealth AND +2 dex is what they should get, along with those others. Big guy races should be able carry/lift more AND have a strength bonus.

While i want species to be distinct and have unique strengths I just think species (or background) stats lead into ‘optimum combination’ territory too badly and that’s something i very much want to avoid in a system.

 

[Maxperson]

I don’t know, I agree with the +6 Strength for them, and to me the same would be true for small races but in the other direction. The whole attribute range is not wide enough, and feats could be more distinctive too imo

I did say +4 or +6. A goliath would have more of a bonus than a half-orc. Balance reasons limit bonuses to +2, +1, but that was a design choice on the part of WotC that I don't really agree with.

 

[Minigiant]

Middle Earth 100% has half-orcs. They call them uruk-hai.

You cant play them.

And the giant barbarian humans were evil tooo.

 

[AlViking]

All species mechanics in DnD are a bit half-assed IMO.

I miss being able to play against type. I remember playing with a guy who had a dwarven sorcerer back in 3.5 when dwarves had a -2 to charisma, they had a lot of fun with it. I had a dwarven wizard around the same time because most people would pick a race that complemented the class. But some people (a vocal minority?) hated the idea that they had to make any kind of compromise and so now we have the generification of species where it doesn't really matter what species you are*.

Meanwhile we have people who apparently can only play a big guy if the rules state that they are 7-8 foot tall, can carry a lot and can make themselves large after a certain point. After reading the description again I'm tempted to play a goliath wizard as a gaunt giant scarecrow with an 8 strength descended from cloud giants so they get free misty step multiple times a day.

*obligatory rant - Unless of course you're playing an elf because that PC with an 8 wisdom that grew up in a city of course knows how to cast pass without trace because of ... reasons.

 

[Maxperson]

While i want species to be distinct and have unique strengths I just think species (or background) stats lead into ‘optimum combination’ territory too badly and that’s something i very much want to avoid in a system.

I don't care about optimum combinations, because that's not my thing, so I shouldn't care about it. It should only be cared about by those who play that way, and why shouldn't they be able to play that way?

The stat bonuses are more realistic and avoid the contradiction of, "I'm a lot stronger than a halfing(I can carry a ton more), but I'm not any stronger than a halfling(same stat bonuses). They also allow players to better be able to play against type.

 

[Maxperson]

You cant play them.

And the giant barbarian humans were evil tooo.

Who says? That's a DM choice, not a system choice.