D&D (2024) No Dwarf, Halfling, and Orc suborgins, lineages, and legacies

[Mind of tempest]

If you real the current DMG, the focus is on encouraging DMs to create their own settings.

true but most dms are lazy or have no idea what a workable setting idea is also homebrew makes no money for wotc and hazbro.
doing it right makes money and means you have more reason to put out more books thus more money.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

true but most dms are lazy or have no idea what a workable setting idea is also homebrew makes no money for wotc and hazbro.
doing it right makes money and means you have more reason to put out more books thus more money.

I don't think anyone who agrees to be DM can be lazy. Pressed for time maybe. But there is a tendency from some people to vastly overstate how much setting detail is needed in order to play a game of D&D, and published settings reinforce this perception.

 

[Remathilis]

this would all be so much easer to deal with if wotc just made properly designed new settings

People keep saying this like it's a surefire cure. First, people will still demand Dragonlance, Greyhawk etc be supported. Second, if the setting is a generic/kitchen sink, it will be viewed as a "yet another" but if it has a twist people will dislike it for being too different. Lastly, to make it successful, WotC will need to put energy into it which will be viewed as that setting "taking away" from the stable of successful settings.

I was there when Eberron came into being and I can recall the number of people who wondered why we were getting a steampunk setting of robots and choo choos instead of a new version of Dark Sun. Or how in 4e Nerath cannibalized Greyhawk and other settings rather than support them directly. Even the first 5 years of 5e were "Forgotten Realms is absorbing every setting" because they used it for the original span of adventures. A new setting will not fix these problems. It just adds another to the pile.

 

[Yaarel]

But not every elf can natively, biologically, breath water.

That would be what Sea Elves can do.

What does "natively" "biologically" mean in the context of Elves?

If an Elf casts the Gills cantrip innately at birth, then it is native, and the biology features gills.

 

[Remathilis]

What does "natively" "biologically" mean in the context of Elves?

If an Elf casts the Gills cantrip innately at birth, then it is native, and the biology features gills.

There is no gills cantrip. It doesn't exist. It's not implied to exist. You might as well make reference to the Swing Weapon cantrip or the Long Rest cantrip.

 

[Yaarel]

@Scribe, @Remathilis

There is a kind of compromise, sotospeak. The "mythal".

The mythal is a powerful collective magic ritual that an entire elven community participates in. A mythal can be for any magical purpose.

Plausibly, the elven community performed a mythal to magically grant waterbreathing and swim speed to every member of the community. The Sea Elves ancestors performed this mythal to inhabit the underwater.

Therefore.

A cultural background feat (at level 0) can grant mythal features, such as the Gills cantrip and swim speed.

Something like.


SEA ELF MYTHAL
Background Feat

Prerequisite: None

You were born in a Sea Elf community, or became a citizen of one. The collective magic of a mythal there transforms you for life underwater.

Child of the Sea. You gain the Gills cantrip and can cast it innately without a slot. You can do so again after a Long Rest. You are immune to harsh frigid environments, and exhibit Resistance against magical Cold damage.


GILLS
Transmutation Cantrip

Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Self
Components: S
Duration: 24 hours

You transmogrify your body to adapt to life underwater, sprouting gills and undulating body. You can breathe air and water. You gain a Swim Speed equal to your Speed.

 

[Hussar]

There is no gills cantrip. It doesn't exist. It's not implied to exist. You might as well make reference to the Swing Weapon cantrip or the Long Rest cantrip.

Heh, even I'm not interested in taking the "everything needs to be spells" schtick that far.

 

[Yaarel]

Waterbreathing and Darkvision are so ubiquitous at level 1, they need to be cantrips.

Moreover, when Darkvision is a cantrip, it means the Elf DOESNT automatically have Darkvision.

Too many species have Darkvsion.

 

[CreamCloud0]

What does "natively" "biologically" mean in the context of Elves?

it means they can do it at all times without ever needing to ever cast anything in their lives because the capacity to breathe water is part of their fundamental body structure and capabilities

If an Elf casts the Gills cantrip innately at birth, then it is native, and the biology features gills.

but they don't, they have never been implied to be actively using magic to breathe water or change their body to be able to, also the idea of a baby needing the first thing they have to do upon being born is casting a spell that allows them to continue surviving the next minute underwater is a completely ludicrous concept to me.

 

[Hussar]

Too many species have Darkvsion.

Now this I agree with. I kinda hope that Darkvision goes away in the 2024 revision, but, I'm pretty sure it won't.