D&D General Pick your PHB (Ancestries)

[DammitVictor]

In response to this thread, and a little bit of the Evolution thread.

D&D24 has ten ancestries, including tiefling and aasimar. D&D14 has nine, including half-elf and half-orc. Level Up has eight, not including any of the above as separate races.

So... you're writing the next PHB. It's your job to pick out between seven and twelve Ancestries to put in the core rules, and make the major players in the implied setting of the core rules. Your job isn't to appeal to the fans of prior editions, or to the widest possible audience-- your job is to pick the ancestries that you think will make the game most fun and interesting.

Rules:

• No fewer than 7; no more than 12.
• All races have to come from D&D (any) or Pathfinder (any) material, but 3PP is allowed.
• Something has to count as "human" in the core rules.
• Subraces are free; bonus points if you include them in your summary.
• Half-races are similarly free. Just indicate which ancestries can produce them.
• If you want to take a couple of paragraphs to describe what your "implied setting" looks like and how your picks reinforce it... please, be my guest.

My Picks:

You know I'm going to use all 12 slots, because I put the baroque in the broken.

1. Human - just plain human. However the human bonuses are defined in this edition, they improve with level.
2. Dwarf - dwarves are miniature space giants. Hill, Frost, Fire, Stone, Cloud, Storm.
3. Elf - dual axis-- per elemental school and terrain type. REAL ELFS GOTS TAILS.
4. Gnome - no subraces, no smurfnibblers. Telepathic.
5. Dromite - no notes.
6. Gith - Githyanki, Githzerai, Gith'vyrik.
7. Kreen - includes Thri-Kreen, Tohr-Kreen, and Xixchil.
8. Goblin
9. Hobgoblin
10. Bugbear
11. Kobold - subrace by dragon type, all the dragons
12. CHEAT! - Warforged/Android. Subrace by chassis/plating.

Humans can intermingle with any of the mammals.

I would probably be forced to include fewer ancestries if I had my wish and could implement race-as-class.

Cut it down to 7?

1. Human
2. Dwarf
3. Elf
4. Gith
5. Kreen
6. Goblin
7. Warforged/Android

God, that stings.

 

[Charlaquin]

Something along these lines.

• Human
• Dwarf

- Hill​

- Mountain​

- Deep​

• Elf

- High​

- Wood​

- Deep​

• Halfling
• Gnome

- Forest​

- Rock​

- Deep​

• Orc
• Goblinoid

- Puca (or whatever, I just needed a name for your basic goblin)​

- Hob​

- Bugbear​

• Dragonborn
• Goliath
• Kobold
• Planetouched

- Fiendish​

- Celestial​

- Elemental​

- Fey​

- Umbral​

- Aberrant​

• Beastfolk

- (no “sub races” as such, but with rules for build-your-own variety with various beast traits to choose from)​

Mixed-heritage would be handled via background feats.

 

[Greg K]

1. Human
2. Dwarf
3. Elf
4. Gnoll
5. Gnome
6. Goblin
7. Halfling
8. Kobold
9. Lizardfolk
10. Ogre
11. Orc
12. Yuan-Ti or Lamia (Kobold Press)

Humans can also have offspring with Elves, Ogres, Orcs.
Instead of Mountain Dwarves, Hill Dwarves, High Elves, etc. I would split Ancestry into Ancestry (Biology) and Environment: Arctic, Desert, Forest, Grasslands, Hills, Island, Jungle, Mountain, Urban, Wetlands or something like Mageocracy, Theocracy

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

1. Human
2. Gnome
3. Sylph
4. Salamander
5. Undine
6. Elf
7. Dwarf
8. Tiefling
9. Aasimar
X. Rhydan

 

[Kobold Stew]

THE CORE
1 Human
2 Elf (Half-elf)
3 Orc (Half-orc)
4. Tiefling

THE SMALLS
4 Halfling
5 Gnome
7 Goblin
8 Kobold

THE EDGE
9 Lizardfolk
10 Beastfolk (really, I just want the Vargr from Traveller; but one could build something that embraces Gnolls, Harengon, Tabaxi, Minotaurs, Shifters, etc.)
11 Fairy [something actually Tiny]
12 Ogre or Goliath [something actually Large]

 

[Stormonu]

Well, there's 14 for my homebrew... cut it down to 12?

• Animalfolk (a fey race that would cover essentially Aarakokra, Centaur, Hybisil, Haregon, Tabaxi, Thri-kreen, Minotaur, Lizardfolk, Leonin, Loxodon, Giff and the like)
• Dragonfolk
• Dwarf
• Elf
• Human
• Halfling
• Human
• Hellchilde (covers Tiefling and Aasimaar)
• Lycan (Eberron's shifters, but more Lycanthrope abilities)
• Titanborn (covers Goliath, Genasi, Centaurs)
• Returned (PC undead)
• Quendri (covers half-anything - half-elves, half-dwarves, half-orcs, half-dragons, etc.)

Cut it to 7?

• Human
• Elf
• Dwarf
• Halfling
• Quendri
• Dragonfolk
• Animalfolk

 

[Horwath]

1. Human
2. Elf
3: Dwarf
4. Orc

rest can be done with templates via origin feats.

Maybe buff up all origin feats to FULL feats without ASI. to leave room for species templates.


Small species:
-5ft speed
+1 AC
cannot use 2H heavy weapons
1H Heavy weapons only with 2 hands.

 

[Zardnaar]

5.5 ones bring back half elf. Add Gith. Cut nothing. Half elf as Elf surface cheating?

Cut to 7.

Aasimar
Elf
Human
Tiefling
Goliath
Halfling
Half Elf

Not that sold on Halflings tbh. Aasimar and Tieflings combo deal.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

1. Human, aka "wanderfolk". Variants: Earthfast (all IRL humans, default option), Starbound (elan, slann, Gallifreyans, Kryptonians, Kalashtar, etc.), and Dual-Blooded (those with one human parent and one other ancestry parent).
2. Elves, aka "feyfolk". Variants: Sun, Moon, Star, Void (read: "high" elf/eladrin, "wood" elf, drow, and shadar-kai).
3. Dwarves, aka "stoutfolk". Variants: Gold/mountain, Copper/steppe, Tin/ocean, Iron/cavern (aka underdark).
4. Dragonborn, aka "scalefolk". Variants: "Imperial"/urban, Badlands/desert, Jungle/forest, Coastal/aquatic.
5. Forgeborn, aka "metalfolk". Variants: Guardian, Envoy, Archivist, Sower.
6. Halflings, aka "hinnfolk" (my blend of halfling and gnome). Variants: Lightfoot, Stoutheart, Cragstep, Ghostwise.
7. Orcs, aka "wildfolk" (my goblinoid catch-all). Variants: Orc, Goblin, Hobgoblin, Bugbear.
8. Planetouched, aka "pithfolk" (made from the "pith" of other planes). Variants: Aasimar/Deva, Tiefling, Genasi, Scatha* (feywild/shadowfell).
9. Tyrians, aka "beastfolk". Variants: Whiskered, Hooved, Scaled, Feathered. (The word Tier means animal/beast in German; shifting to "Tyrian" implies nobility and uprightness, a fun contrast with their feral implications.)
10. Verdants, aka "greenfolk". Variants: Dryad, Wilden, Floran, Saguaran.
11. Satyrs, aka "revelfolk". Variants: Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter.
12. Shifters, aka "werefolk". Variants: Wolf, Bear, Lion, Rat.

With this set, you cover damn near every typical option somewhere. Loxodon? A type of Hooved Tyrian. (Elephants are, after all, ungulates!) All the "mix of human and other" tidied up nicely, with players deciding what it means to their character, and opening the door in the future for dual-blooded of any two ancestries, not just that.

I feel quite confident that these being offered as the core playable species would ensure that almost nobody ever needed anything else. The only other categories I can think of beyond this are undead (esp. vampire/dhampir), metamorphs (changelings, ooze-people, sapient mimics, shardminds, that sort of thing), and insectoids (like Thri-kreen).

Nearly everything else cab be covered with the above categories. I will admit to a special fondness for plant-people and satyrs, even though neither of them is super popular/commonplace and I don't even personally feel like playing them all that much. I just really like them and think they're very thematic. I already have concepts for the Undead too, namely, "soulfolk": Vampire, Revenant, Skeleton, Ghost. Metamorphs, aka "meltfolk": Changeling, Plasmoid, Mimic, ??? (still thinking on the fourth--suggestions?) And then Chitinoids, aka ???? (not sure yet): Bee, Ant, Spider, Moth.

Nearly everything else can then be implemented over time as specialized/bespoke/variant instances of the other stuff above. E.g. Yuan-ti? A specialized variant of a Scaled Tyrian. I suppose one could argue that satyrs are also kinda-sorta a form of Tyrian, but I personally see them as distinct, a type of fey being tied to celebration and ritual rather than to the land proper. So, with the three additional categories of Undead, Metamorphs, and Chitinoids added in major supplement books, you've got an extremely solid, diverse framework that covers tons of things intentionally well, and a wide variety of things at least loosely, enough that well-equipped GMs should be able to hammer out their preferred implementation of more out-there options if needed.

*This is derived from the Irish Gaelic word for "mirror". That is, Scatha are those whose "pith" comes from the mirror planes, Feywild and Shadowfell.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

1. Human
2. Dwarf
3. Elf
4. Tiefling
5. Dragonborn
6. Halfling
7. Gnome
8. Goblin
9. Kobolds
10. Golilath
11. Warforged (maybe: Soulforged)

Subraces don't exist directly as an ancestral choice, but every race might have sub-feature, some that you choose at first level and some you choose at some points during the first 10 levels.
So, Goblin(oids) might be or become Goblins, Hobgoblins or Bugbears, Aasimar, Tieflings and Dragonborn might choose to grow wings eventually, Elves get more attuned with the Feywild (Eladin/High Elves), the Natural World (Wood Elves), the Sea (Sea ELves) or the Underdark (Drow), Dwarves might focus more on the Underdark (Duergar), the Mountains (Mountain Dwarves) or the City (Hill Dwarves). Humans might choose to be "Half-Humans", accessing features from another ancestry, while Warforged might develop traits from their creator's ancestries or Warforged specific ones.