D&D General Species need more than spells (and why Tieflings have been shafted since 5e released)

[Laurefindel]

Something I've noticed from Wizards of the Coast is that, for a decent number of species, instead of providing them with original features, ones that paint a picture of how the species fights, or handles social scenarios, or traits that hark back to their backstory and lore-

-They just give them spells...

I'm ambivalent about the (over?)use of spells-as-abilities in 5e, especially 5e24 design.

On one hand, spells are a versatile and elegant format of pre-packaged abilities, already scaled by level for relative power/game-balance, listed alphabetically and using a standard format for easy reference. As far as efficiency goes, it's an excellent solution.

On the other hand, the proliferation of spells-as-abilities makes things rather bland and uniform, and contributes to the feeling that magic has lost it's "magic" and has become disappointingly mundane.

 

[Corinnguard]

But honestly, the time when I feel character race/species mattered the most was when there were pages and pages of text about what it meant to be an elf, dwarf, or orc (so late 2e, 3e, and BECMI). The mechanics have always been playing catch-up in this regard.

There was also Pathfinder 1st edition with its' various Races of Golarion books (ex. Elves of Golarion) which covered their historical, geographical and social lore. Pathfinder 1st edition also introduced alternate racial traits. If you felt that a particular racial trait was weak or useless for your character, you could swap out that trait with another trait of equal value. And there were quite a number of these alternate racial traits for each race in PF1.

Maybe 5e could go about making its' own set of alternate species traits?

 

[Kobold Stew]

I have been consistently disappointed with the presentation of species since 2014. MotM was solid, but for the most part they have not been balanced well with each other, and there has not been the creativity that we have seen with other aspects of design (in my opinion; happy to provide examples if needed).

And I agree that the spells pattern, of one spell at 3 and a higher level one at 5, seen in Elves and Tiefling (and Faerie, Flamkin, and Rimekin in 2024 Lorwyn; and Deep Gnome, Duergar, Fairy, four Genasis, Gityanki, Githzerai, Triton, and Yuan-Ti in MotM) is a big part of it. In addition, the rotating spells, particularly being able to choose any wizard cantrip asa high elf, is just so useful and solves so many build problems, that these species are (in my experience) disproportionatley represented. And to be clear: I don't mind some species being inherently magical or having a cantrip available.

The Kobold from MotM had good flexibility, and for me hit the sweet spot: allowing a cantrip if the player wanted, but once chosen it was fixed, while also providing solid non-magical options if the player wanted (even if I did regret the loss of pack tactics).

 

[Sorinth]

Part of the problem is the power budget and how that in turns relates to Humans. If the only idea you have for Human special abilities is a free feat then it makes sense that other species features are also feat equivalent. And since there are feats that are basically here's a few spells it's pretty easy. It's lazy but I do understand why.

Now I would be all in favour of more unique options, but you probably need a larger power budget to begin with. Like it could be cool to see a "charming" based species like fey/devil that would impose disadvantage on saves against charm. But not only is that very powerful, you also need to add ways of them using charm effects from the species just in case the class doesn't offer any charm based features. So that's a lot of power, and if Human is getting a feat, well that's not enough.

So you might want to think about what cool/interesting features Human's should get.

 

[CreamCloud0]

Part of the problem is the power budget and how that in turns relates to Humans. If the only idea you have for Human special abilities is a free feat then it makes sense that other species features are also feat equivalent. And since there are feats that are basically here's a few spells it's pretty easy. It's lazy but I do understand why.

Now I would be all in favour of more unique options, but you probably need a larger power budget to begin with. Like it could be cool to see a "charming" based species like fey/devil that would impose disadvantage on saves against charm. But not only is that very powerful, you also need to add ways of them using charm effects from the species just in case the class doesn't offer any charm based features. So that's a lot of power, and if Human is getting a feat, well that's not enough.

So you might want to think about what cool/interesting features Human's should get.

having discussed this concept before, here's what i came up with for humans:

Human
Speed:30ft HP:13+2d4 Size:Medium
Resourceful: you gain a use of Heroic Inspiration after you finish a long or short rest.
Versatile: you gain an Origin feat.
Diverse Skill: you gain two skills, also pick three untrained skills, you gain half your PB to checks you make with them, if you later become proficient in any of the skills reassign the half-proficiency.
Adaptability: you may become temporarily proficient in any one skill, tool or piece of equipment over the course of a long or short rest, your proficiency lasts for 4 hours if you learnt over a short rest or 12 hours for a long rest, the known duration is doubled if you learn from someone who already has the proficiency, you may only know one proficiency at a time this way.
Leading By Example: if you succeed on an attack roll, saving throw or ability check you may use your bonus action to give advantage to someone else also attempting the same kind of d20 check who saw you.

just gave them a generally very useful jack of all trades adaptable loadout,

 

[Sorinth]

having discussed this concept before, here's what i came up with for humans:

just gave them a generally very useful jack of all trades adaptable loadout,

I've never really liked the skill monkey niche that humans have gotten in D&D. Sure it's good and broadly useful, but it's boring and at least to me doesn't really seem to fit humanity.

That said I really like the idea of Humans being natural leaders. I feel your Leading by Example might be a bit too niche, but certainly something that gives your allies bonuses to their checks would be fitting. I'd be tempted to do something like Flash of Genius except Prof based instead of Int based or maybe make the bonus a d4 instead of a flat value.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

They just give them spells.

Because that is 5e's answer to everything.

Yet I see almost no one complaining about how nearly every character in 5e is actually a spellcaster, as in they literally actually do have the ability to cast what are explicitly and mechanically spells. I do see occasional, mild grumbles that spellcasting is too common.

 

[CreamCloud0]

I've never really liked the skill monkey niche that humans have gotten in D&D. Sure it's good and broadly useful, but it's boring and at least to me doesn't really seem to fit humanity.

That said I really like the idea of Humans being natural leaders. I feel your Leading by Example might be a bit too niche, but certainly something that gives your allies bonuses to their checks would be fitting. I'd be tempted to do something like Flash of Genius except Prof based instead of Int based or maybe make the bonus a d4 instead of a flat value.

You think LBE is niche? I honestly thought it might be a little too widely applicable myself.

 

[Deset Gled]

That said I really like the idea of Humans being natural leaders.

I can understand this idea.

But ain't no way that "humans are naturally predispositioned to save the troubled locals by being their natural leaders" is going to play out well. It's just not. It's asking for so much trouble.

 

[Sorinth]

I can understand this idea.

But ain't no way that "humans are naturally predispositioned to save the troubled locals by being their natural leaders" is going to play out well. It's just not. It's asking for so much trouble.

Being a natural leader isn't the same as being a hero. The bandits troubling those locals villagers also have a leader. And it's not like being a natural leader even means you will always be the one(s) in charge, even IRL there are plenty of people in charge of people who are objectively better leaders then they are. And of course there's the whole this feature is for PCs not every human commoner you ever meet.

Also worth noting that Hobgoblins have already been published with a leader type of mechanics and I don't remember any trouble.

You think LBE is niche? I honestly thought it might be a little too widely applicable myself.

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding it but like you succeed at your stealth check so you give someone advantage on their stealth roll, except that stealth check has already been made so kind of doesn't matter until next time. If someone Fireballs the party you are giving someone advantage the next time they face a Dex save not the current Fireball since everybody is rolling for that at the same time right?