D&D 5E Preview Witchlight's New Rabbit People

You can take a look at the harengons, a rabbit-themed race in the upcoming Wild Beyond the Witchlight, over at D&D Beyond.

Harengons are medium or small humanoids with a bonus to initiative, Dexterity saving throws, and a 'rabbit hop' which lets them jump up to five times their proficiency bonus without provoking opportunity attacks.

Creature Type. You are a Humanoid.

Size. You are Medium or Small. You choose the size when you select this race.

Speed. Your walking speed is 30 feet.

Hare-Trigger. You can add your proficiency bonus to your initiative rolls.

Leporine Senses. You have proficiency in the Perception skill.

Lucky Footwork. When you fail a Dexterity saving throw, you can use your reaction to roll a d4 and add it to the save, potentially turning the failure into a success. You can’t use this reaction if you’re prone or your speed is 0.

Rabbit Hop. As a bonus action, you can jump a number of feet equal to five times your proficiency bonus, without provoking opportunity attacks. You can use this trait only if your speed is greater than 0. You can use it a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

When you create a harengon or fairy using the rules from The Wild Beyond the Witchlight, you can choose to increase one ability score by 2 and another by 1, or choose to increase three different scores by 1. Further, you know Common and will choose one other language to learn.

 

[Scott Christian]

(They aren't just screenshots, they are 2D image files generated from custom 3D models. You can have them printed in 3D and use them in your games! In color!)

But I digress.

Of course they look hilarious. They look every bit as hilarious as dragon-people, and robot-people, and lizard-people, and eagle-people, and cat-people. To name a few.

Hybrid creatures can be found everywhere in real-world mythology, and I borrowed heavily from them when I was creating my first adventures in middle school. So they really aren't that weird to me; I grew up with them in my games. If you're grumbling over rabbit-people in a fairy-tale setting, I feel like you'd really grumble over an ancient Egyptian-inspired or Hindu-inspired game setting.

One thing that seems to happen when people talk about races, is one side takes a stance for inclusion, and the other exclusion. What is failed, is to see the perimeter. My guess is @Bird Of Play would have one of these as a creature that lives in a swamp or a strange cursed person that lives all alone in some mystical forest. That is the mythos you are referring to - they are unique. He is (again a guess) objecting to having villages and kingdoms full of rabbit folk, while also simultaneously supporting kingdoms, villages, hovels, towns, cities, etc. full of turtle people, bird people, etc.

 

[Bird Of Play]

@Scott Christian Yep! That's my take, indeed.

 

[Scott Christian]

@Scott Christian Yep! That's my take, indeed.

It amazes me that people don't understand this. Reading these forums, I feel like everyone in here is pretty darn smart. But for some reason, when it comes to races, they lose all sense subtlety. It's weird to me. Although, on the flip side, I can say most people do not put down other people's playstyle. But many seem to refuse to try and understand other people's playstyle. It is an odd paradox.

 

[Weiley31]

Serious question: do they explain why some haregons are small and others medium? Are they distinct different types of the same species like a subrace, is the race prone to dwarfism, or did they go "it's magic, I don't gotta explain ####!" ?

Probably cuz while most rabbits are tiny/small, there are some breeds that can be huge Chonky bois/gois. And then you get some rabbit characters in pop culture that are either short/small or like regular size. See the white rabbit from Alice and Bucky O'Hare from that cartoon series.

 

[Nod_Hero]

I like the idea. There's some really good non-bunny-girl rabbit-folk art out there to draw inspiration from for a more serious D&D vibe.
This one was the inspiration for Jaques, my Knight in our Curse of Strahd campaign:

 

[Hexmage-EN]

I'll be honest, I wasn't terribly interested in the harengon until I learned there were originally no plans to have them as a race, but solely as violent NPC thieves. The Medieval artwork of killer rabbit people hunting humans did a lot to turn me around on them, too, to the point that they now feel more like a natural fit for D&D than a lot of the other animal people races already in existence.

Plus D&D apparently already had a rabbit person monk in Dungeonland.

 

[Mind of tempest]

And then there's me, who liked darkedgy stuff since I was a little kid, kept liking that as a teenager, and goes on with it as an adult.
I played Mortal Kombat and Doom, and read Lobo comics and watched Nightmare On Elm Street, when I was around 8-9 years old.

In fact, perhaps I like that stuff so much because it reminds me of my childhood days?

doom is more dark brutal these days as edgy is more deliberately offensive.
I would not be against more mature content but blind shock stuff is dull to me and takes me out of the game.

 

[CleverNickName]

One thing that seems to happen when people talk about races, is one side takes a stance for inclusion, and the other exclusion. What is failed, is to see the perimeter. My guess is @Bird Of Play would have one of these as a creature that lives in a swamp or a strange cursed person that lives all alone in some mystical forest. That is the mythos you are referring to - they are unique. He is (again a guess) objecting to having villages and kingdoms full of rabbit folk, while also simultaneously supporting kingdoms, villages, hovels, towns, cities, etc. full of turtle people, bird people, etc.

I think you are describing the difference between a creature in the Monster Manual, and a playable race option in the Player's Handbook. A solitary creature in a swamp vs. a playable character.

It isn't a stretch for me to imagine rabbit people with villages, if there are lizard-men and snake-people with them as well. I guess I'm having trouble understanding why one is sillier than the other.

 

[Remathilis]

Probably cuz while most rabbits are tiny/small, there are some breeds that can be huge Chonky bois/gois. And then you get some rabbit characters in pop culture that are either short/small or like regular size. See the white rabbit from Alice and Bucky O'Hare from that cartoon series.

I mean, I get that they wanted both Usagi Yojimbo and the White Rabbit to be represented, but I was wondering if their was a in-universe explanation for the two size variants. Kinda a missed opportunity to do something unique with their lore if not.

 

[Faolyn]

Wait, I did not mean to insult.
Is he a mmorpg fan?
Does FFXIV have anime catboys and anime catgirls?
Isn't the answer to both "yes"? Where's the insult?

Is the insult the fact that -I- don't like mmorpg with catboys or catgirls? Or is the insult the fact that I think FFXIV's worldbuilding is bad?

I hope Dannyalcatraz doesn't mind me butting in for a sec.

You wrote "You think FFXIV does worldbuilding right? Of all games?? I meeeean, that explains why you'd like the bunnypeople. Again this proves my point, a mmorpg fan who likes a game with catboys/catgirls and stuff will of course like the bunnypeople. "

Your insult is where you said that you don't like games with these elements, and I think that they are objectively wrong (when you indicate that FF does worldbuilding wrong), therefore, anyone who likes those games is also objectively wrong.

You are fully allowed to dislike any race you like for any reason. But (A) it's incredibly rude to tell other people they're wrong for liking that race (which you've been doing), (B) it's also pretty naive of you to expect that other people aren't going to say "hey, I like this race and think it's cool for lots of reasons."