D&D (2024) Species Playtest Summary and discussion - Cleric pack

[Jefe Bergenstein]

Not a fan of Goliath's implementation. Growing big doesnt seem to do anything. At least enlarge gives a damage bonus, but god forbid a species give something not universally useful to all classes, because then complaints that goliath wizards are being unfairly penalized will come out of the woodwork.

I really liked that aarakocra just had wings, rather than getting controlled fall at level 3, flap at level 5, fly for x minutes at whatever level. Winged Tieflings, Owlin, Faeries, and Aasimar have a feat. Why is Large, which doesnt even convey combat benefits, other than taking up more space, so forbidden?

Just let goliaths be medium or large at creation. All being big does is let you carry more, and people rarely use encumbrance anyways these days in my experience.

 

[Incenjucar]

Being permanently large is game-changing, making you significantly more powerful unless you build against it but also unable to fit inside a lot of the game or travel on a reasonable sized mount.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

It's the default because it makes the most sense to be the default and carries the most flavor.
You are a divine being with the head of a jackal or whatever. Being able to shout "I have come on behalf of the gods!" super loud and then making the ground rumble when you stomp on it makes all the sense in the world.

That's the fiction people want, but in reality, what happens is you pray for a round and then your voice gets 3 times louder (whoopty fart). It's the verbal action that makes it lame.

We did decide that Thaumaturgy is why tieflings are disliked, because they are noisy neighbors.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

Being permanently large is game-changing, making you significantly more powerful unless you build against it but also unable to fit inside a lot of the game or travel on a reasonable sized mount.

How does it make you "significantly more powerful"? It limits you by being grappled/tripped by small creatures, most of whom suck at grappling/tripping. It lets you grapple/trip huge things, which is something you'd want the "big guy" species to do anyways, and we should just have by default except for the v-tude babies.

Also, more powerful than flight?

 

[Stalker0]

It's the default because it makes the most sense to be the default and carries the most flavor.
You are a divine being with the head of a jackal or whatever. Being able to shout "I have come on behalf of the gods!" super loud and then making the ground rumble when you stomp on it makes all the sense in the world.

Or...just case Prestidigitation.

 

[Xamnam]

Or...just case Prestidigitation.

I'll go out on a limb and say Prestidigitation has more general use cases, but I would also say none of the options there are as impressive/imposing as what Thaumaturgy can do.

 

[Incenjucar]

How does it make you "significantly more powerful"? It limits you by being grappled/tripped by small creatures, most of whom suck at grappling/tripping. It lets you grapple/trip huge things, which is something you'd want the "big guy" species to do anyways, and we should just have by default except for the v-tude babies.

Also, more powerful than flight?

Bigger AOEs, better reach, better OA presence, blocking passages, larger weapons which increase damage dice. This is one of the oldest problems in D&D.

Flight is restricted by the shape of the room and adds the danger of fall damage, and is often not especially meaningful against ranged attackers anyway. It also can't stop the adventure because you can't fit inside the adventure.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

I'll go out on a limb and say Prestidigitation has more general use cases, but I would also say none of the options there are as impressive/imposing as what Thaumaturgy can do.

By RAW, Thaumaturgy doesnt even give you advantage. When there's multiple species of people that can do it at will, it shouldn't be that scary.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

Bigger AOS, better reach, better OA presence, blocking passages, larger weapons which increase damage dice. This is one of the oldest problems in D&D.

Flight is restricted by the shape of the room and adds the danger of fall damage, and is often not especially meaningful against ranged attackers anyway. It also can't stop the adventure because you can't fit inside the adventure.

Most of that isnt RAW. There arent rules for "large longswords", so the large goliath would still be hitting for the same d8. Reach likewise isnt granted by being large. I don't know what bigger AOS means.

I will give passage blocking and OA presence, but those are offset by being less maneuverable yourself on the field. There are also rules for squeezing.

I'm tired of these bland as tap water rules with no meaningful impacts. Go big or go home. Literally.

 

[Incenjucar]

Utility cantrips generally factor into roleplay-based gameplay, not raw cause-effect behavior. It's for blowing minds, not causing the target to save vs. mondblow.

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Edit: I meant AOEs, pardon my phone keyboard.