D&D (2024) Scoring abilities of 2024 Species (and looking back to MotM)

Kobold Stew

Last Guy in the Airlock
Supporter
personally i've always considered having natural weapons to be very vastly overrated for what they're actually capable of, on average dealing d6 nonmagical damage, 9
<snip>
i wouldn't rate them more than a single point's worth, 1.5 if they've got a useful PB uses effect.
So "nonmagical" seems to mean less in 2024, so they are more effective. I agree that they don't get used much. I started with them at 1 point, which put the Minotaur even lower. They are effective for the Minotaur and Centaur, less so for the Tabaxi. On the other hand, given that there are multiple simple weapons in the PHB that only do 1d4 (from which I do make builds), They're not worth nothing.

I'll think about this.

Tiefkings are quite a bit stronger than you rate.

Poison is the most common damage type with fire not far behind. I bet we are going to see a lot more necrotic with the new MM.

Poison spray is good now.

The spells in general are mostly good.
I agree, and that's what my instinct said. At the same time, Dwarves have better poison resistance.

Your opinion's helpful. I just don't find the 2024 Tiefling at all compelling. even if I were to adjust each ability up half a point its relative position would not change.
At first glance I think Halflings are the weakest and also the ones most affected by class choice.
I may have over-rated the Halfling lucky ability. Advantage on Fear saves is a mid-tier 2 ability that only some classes/subclasses can access.
In general they seem fairly well balanced though.
Thanks!
 

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Kobold Stew

Last Guy in the Airlock
Supporter
Great list! It's obviously all subjective and I don't find anything you wrote to be way off.
Thanks for taking the time for this feedback.

Here's what I would change for the 2024 PHB races:
  • Dragonborn are way overrated, definitely not the best race in 2024. 5 points is way too much for 10 minutes of flight once per day, only usable once casters already get the Fly spell.
I'm prepared to downgrade it to a 4 (like the other comparable abilities). Thanks.
  • Aasimar maybe overrated but they're definitely strong. I'd say both necrotic and radiant are "rare" which would drop them 1 point by your metrics and seems about right
Yeah -- I rated Radiant as worth 2, because PCs get it a lt. We don't know yet what Monsters will have. I'm prepared to downgrade it if we find that it is rare in the MM. (I also weighed in that both are resistances Wild Heart Barbarians don't get resistance to. didn't change things, but it affected it.
  • Elf seems like one of the weakest races now. I think you're overrating spells, but it depends on the build, they can sometimes be VERY strong due to not taking a spellslot. Also I think 2.5 for resistance to Charm is too much. I could see adding 1 point (or even more) though for qualifying for Elven Accuracy. So maybe your number is about right I dunno
lol. I am excluding Elven accuracy and other legacy feats; if that were in the game, then I think the species should get a bonus just for being eligible for that. As I said upthread, resistance to charm and fear effects comes online mid-2 tier for several classes. I weighed it in that light.

  • Goliath is way underrated, it's likely the best race in 2024 PHB. I'd put Giant Ancestry at 7 points, it's build-defining good. I'd say Large Form should only be ~3 though, it's good but not great
That's interesting. I'll think about this some more.
  • Halfling also way underrated, it's the other potential choice for best race in 2024 PHB. Luck is 7 points easily. Best single species-feature in the book.
Ha! You should have it out with @ad_hoc
  • Gnome I would say 9.5 is too high. Adv on 3 saves is huge but that's literally all they have. Weakest species in the game by far
Hmm. Not sure I agree, but I may be over-rating being able to cast Minor Illusion.
  • Dwarf, Human, Orc, and Tiefling all look spot on, no comments

Great list thanks for pulling this together!
I really appreciate this feedback. Will revise Dragonborn accordingly, and think about other things. Thanks.
 

ad_hoc

(she/her)
<snip>

So "nonmagical" seems to mean less in 2024, so they are more effective. I agree that they don't get used much. I started with them at 1 point, which put the Minotaur even lower. They are effective for the Minotaur and Centaur, less so for the Tabaxi. On the other hand, given that there are multiple simple weapons in the PHB that only do 1d4 (from which I do make builds), They're not worth nothing.

I'll think about this.


I agree, and that's what my instinct said. At the same time, Dwarves have better poison resistance.

Your opinion's helpful. I just don't find the 2024 Tiefling at all compelling. even if I were to adjust each ability up half a point its relative position would not change.

I may have over-rated the Halfling lucky ability. Advantage on Fear saves is a mid-tier 2 ability that only some classes/subclasses can access.

Thanks!

Yeah, Dwarves are good.

Lucky is quite good. Naturally stealthy is either a complete miss or quite situational. Nimbleness is not as good as it seems when you see how many push effects there are in 2024. Brave is fine but I think you're over rating it.

I think my least favourite species are the Halfling and unfortunately the Gnome. Cunning is really good (10x as good as Brave) but the extra flavourful abilities just don't seem all that fun at first glance.

Sorry, I meant that the species seem well balanced overall. More balanced than you have them.
 

Kobold Stew

Last Guy in the Airlock
Supporter
I love that you took the effort to write all of this out! I do disagree, of course, with the valuation of certain features...
I expect nothing less. :D
Superdarkvision in regular play is not really better than regular Darkvision - the important thing is just having any in the first place. It does enable engaging from max 120ft range against enemies with only regular Darkvision, but unless the whole party is building dwarves/drow/orcs and prepared to fight every encounter in open spaces at moonless nights, I would not say this is worth a whole point.
I'm prepared to downgrade it a half point. Let me think.
Holding breath / amphibious are ribbons, not worth any points. Natural weapons are worth nothing as well, unless they are horns/bite/hooves (as those don't need free hands, which could be niche useful for grapplers).
So this is a distinction I didn't make. Maybe I should separate the weapons that are hands from those that aren't. Thanks.
Many race special abilities are overcosted. Lizardfolk bonus action bite / unarmored AC are the most glaring example, because you are not going to have a build that makes use of both, so they should not be counted as separate features.
I'm happy to hear you say this, because I have a soft spot for Lizardfolk. In the 2014 rules, the armor allowance solved the Durid Armor problem better than anything else, and I really liked it for that. Drudis now can wear any armor, so I maybe should drop it a bit.
Orc Relentless Endurance should be at most half the cost, because you are aiming to not ever use it (and even if you do, everything in the game has multi-attack, it likely won't keep you standing).
True. I didn't want to call it a minor ability, though, since it's both unique to the Orc (and Half-orc, ahem). and it can save a life. It makes me want to play an Orc Wizard, which I've not really done. (Made a half-orc wiz once, but the game fizzled).
Dwarf tremorsense swings between amazing and utterly useless based on how the GM treats 'must be in contact with same surface'.
Yeah -- didn't know how to deal with that. I gave it 50%.
Goliath giant size is mainly just a 1/day speed boost... but if you're a grapple build then it's suddenly amazing, so good luck valuing that.
lol. I don't see it as a speed boost, but as a unique combat ability, that completely changes one fight per long rest. When you go big, you become the target, and that can be great for allies. But yeah -- so much is DM dependent.

Thanks so much.
 

I'm happy to hear you say this, because I have a soft spot for Lizardfolk. In the 2014 rules, the armor allowance solved the Durid Armor problem better than anything else, and I really liked it for that. Drudis now can wear any armor, so I maybe should drop it a bit.
Their natural AC also allowed them to make for a +1 AC Rogue... but that kind of disappears after the first few levels, as you can expect to find a studded leather +1 in a regular game. I really tried to make a low-Wisdom Lizardfolk Monk to take advantage of the natural AC, but Stunning Strike / most of their subclasses use the Wisdom DC for things, so that didn't go anywhere.

Oh, with the 2024 Stunning Strike still doing something on a successful save, that Monk might actually work now! I don't know what you'd do with the saved Wisdom stat points, pump up Strength to jump better? But a Monk could really benefit from their 2 racial skills, that's unique.

I just want everyone to know that lizardfolk have a cool racial design that makes you think. And you get frills.
 

ECMO3

Legend
Not all species are created equal, and scoring where the imbalances exist offers one way to assess and quantify these differences. In my judgement, the ten PHB 2024 species score between 7 and 12 points. That’s a fair range, and suggests that the designers value some of these features differently than I do, but the ranking that emerges does feel mostly accurate to me.

When more than one species has the same point total, relative position is determined by the value of the highest-scoring feature (so Dragonborn and Aasimar both have 12 points and a 5-point feature, but Dragonborn also has a 4-point feature, which puts it above Aasimar whose second-best feature scores 3).

Here are my rankings of the PHB species (with working hidden in the spoiler; see next post for explanations). From weakest to strongest:

WEAK: Tiefling (7), Orc (9)

AVERAGE: Gnome (9.5), Dwarf (10), Halfling (10), Goliath (10.5)

STRONG: Elf (11), Human (11.5), Aasimar (12), Dragonborn (12)

There’s a clustering between 9.5 and 10.5 points which includes 4/10 of the species. I know this is all subjective, but for me it helps establish a baseline by which to assess homebrewed options and (as in post 3 of this thread) weigh up races published under the previous rules.

Dragonborn (12)
  • Darkvision 1
  • Resistance to chosen type 2
  • Breathweapon pb/long 4
  • Flight 10 min/long (gated at 5) 5
Aasimar (12)
  • Resistance to Necrotic and Radiant 3
  • Darkvision and Light cantrip 1
  • Healing 1/long 3
  • Revelation: 1 min of flight/pb per long 5
Human (11.5)
  • Skill 1.5
  • Feat 7
  • Resourceful (1/Long) 3
Elf (11)
  • Darkvision 1
  • Fey ancestry (saves vs charm) 2.5
  • Trance 0.5
  • Skill 1.5
  • Cantrip and spells 4
  • +5’ speed or superdark or flex cantrip 1.5
Goliath (10.5)
  • Speed bonus 1
  • Powerful build .5
  • Giant ancestry pb/long 4
  • Growth 10 min/long (gated at 5) 5
Dwarf (10)
  • Superdarkvision 1.5
  • Resistance to poison and save bonus 2.5
  • Toughness (1/level) 4
  • Tremorsense 10 min pb/long on stone 2
Halfling (10)
  • Must be small 0
  • Brave (Adv on fear saves) 3
  • Luck 5
  • Nimbleness and stealthy 2
Gnome (9.5)
  • Darkvision 1
  • Cunning (adv on three saves) 7
  • Cantrip, minor magic 1.5
  • Must be small 0
Orc (9)
  • Powerful build .5
  • Super darkvision 1.5
  • Adrenaline rush – dash PB/short or long 4
  • Relentless Endurance 3
Tiefling (7)
  • Darkvision 1
  • Resistance 2
  • cantrip, spells 4
  • Thaumaturgy 0

Major edits: superdarkvision adjusted to 1.5.

I mostly agree with this.

The only one I disagree with is Dragonborn. I think you are overvaluing breath weapon. It can be really good but you need to have a high Constitution to make it work. This is worse than the spells of the spell species because they allow you to choose one of three abilities.

Because of this I would give breath weapon a 2, which would make it middle of the field. It would be better on a class if you knew you were going to use a high Constitution.

FWIW the first 2024 character I am playing is a Green Dragonborn Ranger/Monk and overall she is awesome, but she has a 12 Constitution and even with a 12 I find her breath weapon underwhelming. I plan to eventually get the Dragonfear feat and boost Charisma, which will make it a bit better.

Don't get me wrong I use her breath weapon at times, but I don't think it is the equivalent of some of the Elf spells.
 
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Kobold Stew

Last Guy in the Airlock
Supporter
Goliath is way underrated, it's likely the best race in 2024 PHB. I'd put Giant Ancestry at 7 points, it's build-defining good.
Can you elaborate on this a bit? I see the value of Hill Giant and Cloud Giant options, but I've not seen any 2024 Goliaths in play. I don't see anything that's build-defining, though.
 


Kobold Stew

Last Guy in the Airlock
Supporter
That can also be done by origin feat by any race using a background. Easier with a human. Or spend a feat from the class progression but that seems suboptimal given how easy it is to get the origin feat.
I think the origin feat is quite difficult to get, if you play the backgrounds as written.

Unless you are human, the only way to get True Strike from an origin feat is if you choose the Sage background (or, as you say forego the ASI options at level 4). Taking that background means that you can't take a +2 to Str, Dex, or Charisma -- which are the primary stats for Barb, Bard, Fighter, Monk, Paladin, Ranger, Rogue, Sorcerer, or Warlock. Now for some of those classes (that get Extra attack) this would likely not be the build in any case, but I do think the background is written consciously to make it difficult to get Magic Initiate (Wizard) as an origin feat. (You're also saddled with Arcana and History as skills, which is terrible if (as often) characters dump Int).

RAW, Magic Initiate (Wizard) is hard to access (and that's part of why I rate the Human extra feat as high as I do).
 

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