Races & Classes spotted?

[Mad Mac]

I still think both of those pics are Tieflings. Wizards isn't going to create two new races that look similar enough to confuse people. Besides, they're both using the same style of wavy "flame" daggers which were mentioned as a signature Tiefling weapon.

Dragonborn looked basically like lizardmen in 3.5, and the original posted stated the same thing.

 

[Gundark]

yeah I think so are all tieflings.....they do draconic though...

That said straight horns vs. curvy horns? Come on they would need more difference than that.

 

[Tquirky]

You know what I think? I think the designers took note of just how many people in 3.5 were playing aasimars, tieflings, and half-dragons. And they said to themselves, "If our players like using these races so much, then let's just put them in the PHB already.

The missing piece of thinking there is that people were playing them because they were different and unusual. Now that they're mainstream they're no longer as interesting, and their place will be taken by other "exotics". And we're stuck with a draconic furry in the PHB. Thanks a lot WOTC.

 

[Kintara]

The missing piece of thinking there is that people were playing them because they were different and unusual. Now that they're mainstream they're no longer as interesting, and their place will be taken by other "exotics". And we're stuck with a draconic furry in the PHB. Thanks a lot WOTC.

Not everything is about fashion. Some people actually like them on their merits. The fact that they gravitated to those specific things is what matters.

 

[Tquirky]

Not everything is about fashion. Some people actually like them on their merits. The fact that they gravitated to those specific things is what matters.

No, the fact that every D&D world will now have to cater for dragon halfbreeds as a default part of society because WOTC has seen fit to put them in the PHB is what matters. Your worldbuilding is being dictated to you.

It's frustrating. I think the designer's handle on rules is much better than their handle on aesthetics and "flavour", but it seems that MMORPGs have changed the goal posts around as far as they're concerned, so the gimmicks are coming out.

 

[Rechan]

No, the fact that every D&D world will now have to cater for dragon halfbreeds as a default part of society because WOTC has put them in the PHB is what matters.

That is bull.

Just because it's in the PHB doesn't mean it has to be in there. As Wyatt said about Eberron, "Just because there are tieflings in the PHB doesn't mean suddenly a tiefling city is going to pop up." There are tieflings in there, but to such a low degree that it's not a problem.

I fully expect them to just offer very little in the way of dragon-things, simply because Eberron doesn't accommodate it due to what Dragons are in the setting.

Eberron will do fine despite there being no gnomes in the PHB.

 

[Tquirky]

That is bull.

Just because it's in the PHB doesn't mean it has to be in there. As Wyatt said about Eberron, "Just because there are tieflings in the PHB doesn't mean suddenly a tiefling city is going to pop up." There are tieflings in there, but to such a low degree that it's not a problem.

I fully expect them to just offer very little in the way of dragon-things, simply because Eberron doesn't accommodate it due to what Dragons are in the setting.

Eberron will do fine despite there being no gnomes in the PHB.

Be that as it may (and not that I care one iota about whatever happens to Eberron which should be used to freakazoid PCs by now), what if you don't want dragonfolk in every game for flavour reasons?

Stiff biccies. They're in the PHB, you'll have to ban them overtly. Why they couldn't just farm them out to a supplement is a mystery. Oh yeah, gimmicks.

 

[Rechan]

Be that as it may (and not that I care one iota about whatever happens to Eberron which should be used to freakazoid PCs by now), what if you don't want dragonfolk in every game for flavour reasons?

The same thing you do if you don't want anything else in your game: be a man and tell the players no.

And, could you try to be a little more condescending? The colors on my screen aren't running from all the vitriol yet.

 

[Vigilance]

The missing piece of thinking there is that people were playing them because they were different and unusual. Now that they're mainstream they're no longer as interesting, and their place will be taken by other "exotics". And we're stuck with a draconic furry in the PHB. Thanks a lot WOTC.

I look at it this way:

Let's take 5 of the most popular fantasy worlds of the last few centuries- Arthurian Britain, Middle Earth, Hyboria, Nehwon (the world where Lankhmar is) and Thieves World.

Dragonborn fit in three (Hyboria, Nehwon and Lankhmar), Tieflings in 4 (everything but Middle Earth).

Halflings and Elves on the other hand, fit in only one, Middle Earth.

So maybe some of these racial changes are an attempt to make D&D more of a toolkit for emulating fantasy fiction and less of an attempt to make a LOTR game with the serial numbers filed off?

 

[Tquirky]

The same thing you do if you don't want anything else in your game: be a man and tell the players no.

...and what else? Spiked chain wielding warlords? Eladrin? Emerald frost? It gets to the point where you go, "why am I playing this game?" The frustrating thing is that it's all so easily preventable by WOTC, if they actually wanted to prevent it. But they don't. Eberron shows their specific taste in the game, and now it's being injected into 4E, which is fine, there's room for Eberron for some. Problem is, by going specific, and objectionable, they shut out other tastes that would be served by something more generic.

They could just leave things generic and leave the specific to a supplement as the other editions saw fit to do mostly, but no, we're getting specific in the PHB, so their aesthetics can be specifically rejected, and are harder to ignore or ban. It's a pity that their decision is final.