D&D General Pick your PHB (Ancestries)

[DeviousQuail]

With the exception of humans, all of mine are "lesser" versions of some of the more powerful creatures of dnd. No one knows who humans are supposed to be the "lesser" version of and that is troubling for some.

• Humans: what's your deal?
• Elves: the mortal fey
• Dwarves: diminutive giants
• Dragonborn: dragon people and we're not going to be wishy-washy about it
• Aasimar: celestial, but we gotta make them look a little less like humans
• Tiefling: fiend, no notes
• Genasi: djinn without the phenomenal cosmic power and itty bitty living spaces
• Beastfolk: has three subgroups (mammalian, avian, and reptilian) that all take after the great beasts and spirits of the wilds

With the exception of humans, each of these ancestries comes with a very wide range of variation. Elves might take on your classic Tolkien look, or they might have features and abilities more in line with gnomes, goblins, fairies, pixies, trolls, etc. The residents of an elvish settlement would look more like Carnival Row (the show with Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevingne) set in medieval times.

Mechanically, I would turn many of the old sub-ancestry features into traits, feats, or bonus features that come online as characters level up. That way we don't have to balance everything for 1st level play.