D&D 5E Is Tasha's Broken?

[GMforPowergamers]

You miss the point. The next time WotC makes a new race, there will be no racial bonuses attached. Those are gone. The new PHB will not have them in it. How am I supposed to know what bonuses the new races get? How the hell are new players supposed to know to add those things back in? WotC is not changing PCs of the race. They are changing the entire race.

so lets say WotC in 2025 makes a race the new way. THey have +2 to one stat and +1 to another... you choose. what is it you need for you to continue? flavor text? "Ugabugas are smart and fast"

 

[Vaalingrade]

What does that mean for Florida?

+Alligator

 

[Maxperson]

so lets say WotC in 2025 makes a race the new way. THey have +2 to one stat and +1 to another... you choose. what is it you need for you to continue? flavor text? "Ugabugas are smart and fast"

If they type that into the description and fail to give a set bonus, they have created a disconnect where the mechanics and fluff don't match. It's like writing up the Medusa fluff and saying that they have a gaze that turns people to stone, and then writing mechanics for a gaze that tickles victims and causes hideous laughter.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

If they type that into the description and fail to give a set bonus, they have created a disconnect where the mechanics and fluff don't match. It's like writing up the Medusa fluff and saying that they have a gaze that turns people to stone, and then writing mechanics for a gaze that tickles victims and causes hideous laughter.

i don't understand... if the fluff is strong or smart or wise or charsmatic it is just fluff... it is a general tendancy.

in general men have more upper body strength then women. in general woman have more emotional intelligence then men... I personally am not as strong as my fiancé, and she can out lift me. Her (as 1 woman) being stronger then me (as 1 man) doesn't invalidate that 'men have more upper body strength then women' it just is the micro/macro looks

 

[Bill Zebub]

Then I don’t understand why we have bespoke rules for species at all. If the PC are “unique and different” why doesn’t this apply to the traits as well? Why not just have a pool of traits you can choose from and fluff it like you wish. If a halfling PC can be an unique individual who is as strong as a half-orc, why a half-orc PC cannot be an unique individual who’s as brave as a halfling?

Maybe because it's a game, and the way this game is designed is to bundle traits and call them a race? (Ok, it happened in reverse, but that's the idea.)

What you are describing is also a valid way to design a game. This particular game just hasn't been designed that way.

Choose some consistent logic on which the design principles are based, this sort of incoherence is just infuriating.

Here's a thought experiment:

A way to distinguish races would be to restrict weapon proficiencies to certain races. Halflings get proficiency in slings, elves get bows, dwarves get crossbows, etc. That would contribute to the sense of racial identity.

But the game doesn't do that. Do you find that incoherent?

Does the idea that "different races are different" need to be extended to every aspect of the game to have coherence?

 

[Vaalingrade]

If they type that into the description and fail to give a set bonus, they have created a disconnect where the mechanics and fluff don't match. It's like writing up the Medusa fluff and saying that they have a gaze that turns people to stone, and then writing mechanics for a gaze that tickles victims and causes hideous laughter.

The game doesn't give mechanics for skin, hair or eye color, height (in fact, everyone, even giant-ass goliaths fit neatly into a 5ft cube), weight, body type, or any other superficial descriptors of species.

 

[Bill Zebub]

Elves and halflings both getting +2 Dex is not differentiating.

Elves getting "Elven Accuracy" and Halflings getting "Second Chance" as base race features would be differentiating, while still conveying flavor similar to +2 Dex. And would be more fun to use.

(Yes, I know: Elven Accuracy still has class synergy. But not nearly as much as +2 Dex.)

 

[Maxperson]

The game doesn't give mechanics for skin, hair or eye color, height (in fact, everyone, even giant-ass goliaths fit neatly into a 5ft cube), weight, body type, or any other superficial descriptors of species.

No mechanics should be attached to skin, hair or eye color, height, weight or other superficial descriptors. Body type is not superficial. It has an impact on how fast, strong, weak, slow, etc. someone is.

 

[Vaalingrade]

No mechanics should be attached to skin, hair or eye color, height, weight or other superficial descriptors. Body type is not superficial. It has an impact on how fast, strong, weak, slow, etc. someone is.

As a big, fat guy who routinely watches big fat powerlifters, I say thee nay.

On top of that, a flat bonus to a generic stat isn't the only way to represent or differentiate such differences, it's just How It's Always Been Done.

And now, hopefully, it's not how it's done anymore.

 

[Maxperson]

Elves and halflings both getting +2 Dex is not differentiating.

Yes it is. It makes them different from slower races that don't get the bonus. +2 strength makes goliaths different from races that don't get a strength bonus. Different = differentiating.

Elves getting "Elven Accuracy" and Halflings getting "Second Chance" as base race features would be differentiating, while still conveying flavor similar to +2 Dex. And would be more fun to use.

Either it does not convey similar flavor to +2 dex, such as elven accuracy being a magical elven racial ability to be more accurate and has nothing to do with dexterity, or it does convey similar flavor, such as elven accuracy being because elves are more nimble and dexterous. If it's the latter you've now created a large disconnect where elves are both more dexterous(elven accuracy) than other races and simultaneously not more dexterous(no dex bonus) than other races. The inherent contradiction there is pretty big.