D&D (2024) The 10 Species in "Your Ideal 2024 PHB"

[Remathilis]

I mean, you can make pretty much the same argument for almost every class, as well.

There's certainly a strong argument that greater mechanical specificity, and more heterogenous design, strengthens the narrative presentation of the concept. (Not an overwhelming argument, but strong.) But greater specificity is also going to have a trade-off with less versatility.

Having a race with 3 choice points, each of which has 3 options, is simply easier to fit into a book than 27 different races.

I can and I did!

Though the thing is homogeneous design ends up reducing their impact on the world as well. For example, the aarakorca, harengon, tabaxi and tortle are all unique separate species with distinct designs (both mechanical and aesthetic) and lore. Combining them removes those unique elements, makes them all one people, and forces them all into one style and story. Remember the ardling? How the second attempt tried to make a generic animal-headed species and it failed to capture the essence of any of the animals it was trying to emulate? That's what I dislike. And I would gladly take 27 dedicated options over a dozen sourcebooks to one mediocre option in the PHB.

 

[Remathilis]

You say that as if that would stop people from trying to get as much "IN THE PHB" as they can.

I'm not sure where the allergy to supplements came from in the hobby...

 

[Chaltab]

I'm not sure where the allergy to supplements came from in the hobby...

Every edition prior to 5E had an ungodly number of them and especially in 3E they became unbalanced and ridiculous.

 

[GuardianLurker]

Every edition prior to 5E had an ungodly number of them and especially in 3E they became unbalanced and ridiculous.

There's still an ungodly amount of them. And they are just a balanced as ever. It's just that they're now all on DM's Guild.

 

[OB1]

Human
Elf
Dwarf
Dragonborn
Orc
Goblin
Bugbear
Gnome
Changeling
Fairy


With only 10, I would make Tiefling/Assamir/Genassi a template to put on top of any of the above species.

 

[CreamCloud0]

Core 4:

Human
Elf
Dwarf
Orc

X-Touched 6, that can just be 1st level feat as a template added to core 4:

Aasimar
Tiefling
Warforged
Shifter
Dhampir
Dragonborn

ah i see, so you chose not to follow the rules presented in the OP, in the way almost exactly called out by the OP...

Basic Ground Rules

• Number: There must be ten. No more. No less. So no "just the four Tolkien races" answers or cheats around that.

you actually have 28 species options here: 4 species x 7 templates(6+1 untemplated) = 28.

 

[Aldarc]

Though the thing is homogeneous design ends up reducing their impact on the world as well. For example, the aarakorca, harengon, tabaxi and tortle are all unique separate species with distinct designs (both mechanical and aesthetic) and lore. Combining them removes those unique elements, makes them all one people, and forces them all into one style and story.

Based on some past discussions, some would consider this a feature and not a flaw. FWIW, I do think it is worth asking whether the lore, story, and style for these species is strong enough on their own. For some people, just like other people with the half-elf and half-orc, these species options aren't strong enough on their own so they deem that little is lost by combining them.

Remember the ardling? How the second attempt tried to make a generic animal-headed species and it failed to capture the essence of any of the animals it was trying to emulate? That's what I dislike. And I would gladly take 27 dedicated options over a dozen sourcebooks to one mediocre option in the PHB.

WotC has a terrible track record of failing horribly with their initial attempts to do things like Ardlings, Psions, or Druid Wildshape Templates, missing some obvious solutions, and then deciding to scrap their ideas entirely. Their motto seems to be, "If at first you don't succeed, never try again." That said, I think that they were trying to do too much with the Ardling. It was not just trying to be Beastfolk but also Angelic Outsider Beastfolk.

I'm not sure where the allergy to supplements came from in the hobby...

Regardless, there are plenty enough "PHB-only GMs" to make that allergy an inconvenience that the whole table has to deal with.

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

Elf

Dwarf

Dire Halfling

Gnome

Swanmay

Dennis

Street shark

Sasquatch

Venerable Dragonwrought Kobold

Kue-jin

 

[Corinnguard]

It was not just trying to be Beastfolk but also Angelic Outsider Beastfolk.

If they really wanted to have Angelic Outsider Beastfolk, they could have officially brought back the Guardinals and made Guardinal descended Aasimar.

 

[Misanthrope Prime]

If they really wanted to have Angelic Outsider Beastfolk, they could have officially brought back the Guardinals and made Guardinal descended Aasimar.

The guardinals never made sense to me. Spend five minutes at a furry con and you'll know there's nothing neutral good going on there.