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...

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

rabbit.jpg



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.
 

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Levistus's_Leviathan

5e Freelancer
Too many animal folk.
Whatever do you mean? We only have Turtle/Tortoise-folk, Dragonfolk (Dragonborn and Kobolds), Lizard-folk, Goatfolk (Satyrs), Birdfolk (Aarakocra, Owlins, and Kenku), Sasquatch-folk (Bugbears), Catfolk (Tabaxi and Leonin), Fishfolk (Locathah and I guess Tritons count), Snakefolk (Yuan-Ti Purebloods), Lycanthrope-folk (Shifters), Horsefolk (Centaurs), Elephantfolk (Loxodons), Cowfolk (Minotaurs and maybe Exandria Firbolg), Squid-Crab-folk (Simic Hybrids), and Frogfolk (Grung, Grippli, and Bullywugs, though the last two aren't playable)! We obviously need more!

(I mean, I could get behind some more Bug-folk; like Grasshopperfolk, Dragonflyfolk, Bee/Waspfolk, Ladybug-folk, and playable Thri-Kreen, but that's about all we need, IMO. Well, that and Fox-folk/Kitsune. Oh, Echidna/Platypusfolk could work, too! And Lupins.)
 

Helpful NPC Thom

Adventurer
I don't get the objection. "D&D" is a system, not a setting, and these characters are for a specific adventure that they presumably do fit.
I never said they shouldn't exist in D&D, I merely commented that the mental imagery clashed. I would include rabbitfolk (and mousefolk, catfolk, tortoisefolk, and all their animalistic ilk), but not in a standard D&D game of knights, wizards, and dragons.
 

Levistus's_Leviathan

5e Freelancer
a standard D&D game of knights, wizards, and dragons.
I'm not sure if that is the standard anymore. It might have been back in OD&D or even Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, but it sure isn't anymore. Eberron, Exanrdia, Ravenloft, Dark Sun, and Planescape are all very popular and well-known D&D settings that have nothing to do with the stereotypical "Knights, Wizards, and Clerics venturing into a dungeon to kill a Dragon and take its stuff". Furthermore, the adventure that these Rabbitfolk appear in is a Fey adventure that takes place in a world that is practically made out of Fairy Tales like Alice in Wonderland and Jack and the Beanstalk.

If you don't like Rabbitfolk in your Knights and Dragons D&D campaign, that's perfectly fine. However, I'm not sure that this old, outdated, and largely irrelevant style of play should have a monopoly on deciding what should be in the game anymore. (Well, it hasn't for decades, so that's more than enough for me.)
 

Sacrosanct

Legend
I'm not sure if that is the standard anymore. It might have been back in OD&D or even Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, but it sure isn't anymore.

Having been playing for a while, yeah, it started that way. And it might have been the "default" for a while too. But I think it's also important to realize that D&D has been played incorporating anthropomorphic races for a long, long, time. When The Secret of NIMH came out in 1982, it was a thing. When TMNT came out in 1984 and even had it's own system (Palladium), it was a thing. Then when the popular series Redwall came out in 1986, it was a thing now too.

As an old school gamer, I get how a lot of people view D&D in a traditional Tolkien-setting with knights and wizards, but I think we need to understand that for at least 20 years, probably closer to 30, D&D players have been playing a bit of everything as their D&D experience.

Yes, I feel old realizing that the 90s was 30 years ago...

Edit And I don't think the "old way" is irrelevant any more than any other style of preferences is. They are all relevant as long as there is an audience for them. We're not dead yet...
 


aco175

Legend
Too many animal folk. I think we're fast approaching the "They were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn't stop to think if they should."
I feel the same way with lots of 'non-Tolkien' races or at least non-PHB. Although, I am more ok with this since it is a fey campaign with fairies and magic being part of it. I would like to think that if I ran this, I could make it more lighthearted and fairytale-like and be ok with all of the races in this setting.
 


Levistus's_Leviathan

5e Freelancer
Old, Outdated, Irrelevant.

That's one view, but not a particularly charitable one. :)
Sorry, maybe that was a bit harsh. I meant that it is old, in the case of it not being how we tell if something is "D&D or not" for decades now, and outdated and irrelevant in the sense of what should be added to the game. Didn't mean for it to come across as badwrongfun. It's perfectly fine and amazing if you enjoy that playstyle, I just think that trying to gatekeep new options by saying "there shouldn't be Rabbitfolk in a Lord of the Rings game!" is both wrong and exclusionary.
 

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