D&D 5E Linage culture needs the culture part

[DnD Warlord]

Okay. I realize this may be more of a “this needs a ground up rewrite and 6e” idea but with the latest unearth arcana having new lineages with no tools or languages or alignment (and I like it) I think we really need something for culture...

a dwarf raised by humans might be dwarf linage but human culture.
Now that could also help the people who DON’T like it because they can just not let mixing and matching.
however that would require a rewrite of the races so far (meaning all PHB) and maybe remove the sub race.

but what I really want is a new book... one that has culture (or culture and backgrounds)

I would kill for a book that had say 10 pages per real world big civilizations (Roman, Celtic, Japanese,Chinese, sub Saharan Africa, Middle Africa, Egypt, Moors, Native American, Romani) mixed with say 2-3 elf, 1-2 dwarf, 1-3 gnome, a hafling based on hobbits a hafling based on kenders, 2 different dragon born and 3-5 mixed race fantasy...

At most that would be 28 cultures. I bet you could do most in only 5 pages (PHB does stats in 1ish) but we give them 10 on average that is 280 pages leaving 8 pages for index table of content and other stuff.

Cut 1/3 of those to 5-8 pages and the rest could be suggestions for mix and matching your own.

 

[ninjayeti]

I'm not sure it is all that complicated. I think you could just go with something along the lines of:

With the DM's permission you can forgo all of language, tool, weapon, and armor proficiencies granted by your race or subrace and choose one of the following:
Dwarf culture: Dwarvish; smith's, brewer's or mason's tools; Dwarf weapon training
Elf culture: Elvish; Elf or Drow weapon training
Hafling culture: Hafling, cook's or brewer's tools
Human culture: one skill of choice, one language of choice
Orc culture: Orcish, intimidation skill
Dragonborn culture: Draconic
Gnome (rock) culture: Gnomish, artisan's tools (tinker's tools), Artificer's Lore ability
Gnome (forest) culture: Gnomish, Natural Illusionist ability

Obviously you could do a bit more than this, but I am not sure it requires anywhere near a full book.

 

[Vaalingrade]

I wouldn't do racial mono cultures. I'd do regions sometimes with racial alternatives.

So you have South Albion, Northeast Albion, South Albion Dwarves, etc.

 

[cbwjm]

I'd use descriptors for culture, something like militaristic, seafarers, nomadic, mystical, enlightened etc, which can layer on top of any race/background. They could even be light enough that two can be chosen to describe a culture. A mystical-nomadic culture might wander over a large swath of land and have magic as a common part of their culture while a militaristic-mystical culture might have a requirement to train in simple weapons and light armour with some battle magic as part of growing up. Perhaps typical dwarf culture is militaristic-craftsmen to get that fighters who are skilled craftsmen feel to it. The basic building blocks could also be examples if you feel like you can't quite get that roman culture feel from the provided cultures.

It's a lot to create but the pay-off I think would be great once completed.

 

[Weiley31]

I could see Backgrounds being redone to achieve something like that. And then let the Lineages be the templates to overlay over on top of Races and their racial scores OR the free floating +2/+1 that WoTC gave players their blessing to use.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Modeling real world culture is tricky. For example, "native american" isn't a culture. There are dozens of cultures within the various native american people's, and they are different and unique

 

[MGibster]

Modeling real world culture is tricky. For example, "native american" isn't a culture. There are dozens of cultures within the various native american people's, and they are different and unique

No. But you could draw inspiration from the various horse cultures of the Plains Indians, the Algonquian peoples of the east coast and Canada, or the various tribes from the northwest including the Chinook or Coast Salish. Just about any fictional society I come up with will resemble a real life human culture in some way, shape, or form. If I want to come up with a culture that's known for their light cavalry I'm going to take a look at what made the Comanche, Mongols, and Scythians so successful.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

I agree that there needs to be something like this, but I would stay away from using real human cultures. That would raise a few red flags. However, I could definitely see a Mountain Dwarf culture, High Elf culture, Gnomish culture, Hunter Culture, Islander culture, and so on.

 

[Minigiant]

You mean something like

Dwarf Culture
Cultural Language: Dwarf
Cultural Tools: brewer's tools, mason's tools, smith's tools
Cultural Skills: Athletics
Cultural Weapons: battleaxe, handaxe, light hammer, war hammer

Horse Nomad Culture
Cultural Language: Any exotic
Cultural Tools: cartographer's tools, smith's tools, land vehicles
Cultural Skills: Animal Handling
Cultural Weapons: lance, longsword, short bow, spear

Then you can say a dwarf gets the langauge and 1 tool and 4 weapon proficencies of the culture they choose. Whereas a half orc only gets the language and skill?

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

OK, there is a difference between unborn/biological heredity and cultural legacy, for example subraces based in regional communities living in the coast, the hot dessert, a polar zone or a tropical colony.

I think the solution is easy, offering some "racial traits" to be replaced with others from an optional list. Maybe because they are from a special bloodline or their family is linked with some social status or certain job, for example merchants or craftmen.