D&D (2024) Races as classes

[Benjamin Olson]

I think the contemporary official settings run towards having worlds with substantial cosmopolitan components. Most of these worlds have great cities where it would be normal to find people of most any race filling most any role and which are cultural melting pots where it seems probable you can find a grizzled old elf willing to teach non-elves bladesinging, or a dwarf willing to teach outsiders his special dwarvish method of having stupid spikes on his armor. Unless there is a specific biological limitation I think racial classes or subclasses don't really jive with the cosmopolitan nature of the campaign fantasy worlds, because at least for the core races they are places where every weird races/class/background combo should be possible by means of some eccentric back story.

If your setting is one with far less cultural commerce it may make more sense. For races dominated by isolationist cultures it may even make sense within an official campaign setting like the Forgotten Realms. But really it is only makes lore sense with extreme examples and I don't know what the benefit of a general restrictiveness is. Going beyond race restricted subclasses or classes to outright "you are this race and so this is your class" really only makes sense if you are trying to replicate the Spartans or some similarly extremely unusual and restrictive culture, and even then it seems like a blunt instrument to achieve the lore goal.

 

[Eltab]

If you do race-as-class, beware of "job overlap".

I had one of those legendary Basic rules Magic-Users with 1 spell slot, 1 HP, Robe "armor" and a dagger. After he died I created an Elf. Because this way I could wield a damaging weapon and wear protective armor and still have the same amount of spells.

Elf = Magic-User + Fighter. Why take either of the Human classes?

 

[Minigiant]

I was working on a Paragon base class that does this.

Each of the subclasses resembled the ideal warrior of various fantasy cultures

The Earth Incarnate would be stereotypical tough warrior with skin of stone (dwarf, golaith), metal (warforge), gem (gnome), or wood (other gnome)
The Arcane Incarnate would be the gishy warrior-mage for elves
The Guile Incarnate was the tricksy warrior for halflings, goblins, changelings and other tricky folk
The Dragon Incarnate was a warrior who developed draconic features for dragonborn and kobold etc

Just couldn't figure out the delivery system

 

[Orcslayer78]

That's not what the OP said.

DnD Warlord "wonder[ed] about going back to racial classes." I'm saying it's wrongheaded, even if just an option.





The problem with the above is that now humans are the second-class citizens. Why do Elves and Dwarves get special classes just for them while Humans are stuck being just empty slates?

You see the problem - it's mixing where you came from with who you are. 5e has a problem of that too, by giving out "racial proficiencies" with weapons or tools. But this makes the problem even worse.

Not a problem at all, but a good way to not play all races (yes, Races!) as humans with different shapes, making the game and the roleplay dull and plain.

 

[cbwjm]

Racial classes I think have a place. A couple years ago I posted a racial genasi class that gain spell slots, elemental spells, and the ability to select a second subrace. The class was only 5 or 6 level and was just a way for a genasi player to gain more power from their elemental nature.

Am elf class was similar to the BECMI elf class gaining magic and other abilities depending on the subrace, each subrace had different powers that built upon the race or the race history. Only 10 levels so they'd be expected to multiclass

I've also created racial subclasses. One was for dragonborn, a fighter subclass which made them a more draconic focused fighter, gaining additional breath weapon uses and enhancing their draconic traits.

Definitely a place for these type of classes/subclasses as they can enhance the otherness of the various races.

 

[DnD Warlord]

If you do race-as-class, beware of "job overlap".

I had one of those legendary Basic rules Magic-Users with 1 spell slot, 1 HP, Robe "armor" and a dagger. After he died I created an Elf. Because this way I could wield a damaging weapon and wear protective armor and still have the same amount of spells.

Elf = Magic-User + Fighter. Why take either of the Human classes?

Yeah, that is a real fear. This system would need major playtesting

 

[Neonchameleon]

The only way that would be categorically untrue is if there were no elf-specific tropes to build off of, but at that point why have races?

Or there was no race whose race-specific trope in fantasy was about their adaptability...

The thing about the "classic" races as classes is that they were all basically multiclass characters. and there's no reason anyone shouldn't be able to do that stuff. If you were to tell me that because dwarves were magic resistant they couldn't easily wield magic directly, so they'd focused on artificing and runesmithing that would make sense. If you then told me that meant that 80-90% of runesmiths were dwarves it would work. But if you told me no one tried reverse engineering anything I wouldn't.

Unless a class is based around things that are only possible for a specific race it shouldn't be exclusive to that race.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Everyone should just play humans in different shapes? Pointy eared humans? short an bearded humans? scaly humans? demonic horned humans? gray skin humans? pointy eared coal skin humans?

So pretty much what people have always done?

"No, really, this is going to be a totally new concept. It's going to be this guy, rebelling against authority, and he's going to be all cool-like. But he's an elf, get it! Not a human. So that's different. Right? And he can dual-wield. Also, blackface?"

....too soon?

 

[GreenTengu]

The idea of races as classes is just quite dumb. Although the races may vary from the standard human culture in certain ways, not every member of the society could possibly have the exact same skills, abilities and specializations and still survive as a society.

For the concept of a "racial class" to be relevant, you would first need to propose that there was such a thing as "The Human Class". Think that is too broad? About the "Canadian" class? What skills and abilities would the "Canadian" class have? Still too broad? Fine-- how about the "Manitobian" class? Or the "Winnipegian" class?

Just how small of a group of people do you think you could really assign a single class and still imagine them actually functioning as a working society and breeding pool of individuals?

And-- no-- assigning them all exactly the same class does not add realism by making them "different" from humans. Having no variety in an entire people who are supposedly running a functional, civilized society turns them completely cartoonish as it becomes impossible for them to realistically function in the world except in cooperation with the other races.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

And-- no-- assigning them all exactly the same class does not add realism by making them "different" from humans. Having no variety in an entire people who are supposedly running a functional, civilized society turns them completely cartoonish as it becomes impossible for them to realistically function in the world except in cooperation with the other races

To the extent that D&D, and the D&D class system, accurately models the (or “a”) real world, you are correct.

To the extent it doesn’t, perhaps we shouldn’t worry too much about how the D&D class system “realistically functions.”