D&D General Thoughts On How To Get a New Race Over

[FitzTheRuke]

For the record, Shifters are one of the new races from Eberron. They started in the 3e campaign book and appear again in Eberron: Rising from the Last War in 5e before going to MotM. The other Eberron original races are Changelings, Kalashtar, and Warforged.

Yes, that's true. Personally, with the exception of Kalashtar, I see all of those as non-specific to Eberron, in spite of their origins there, simply because I can easily see constructs, part-lycanthropes, and shapeshifters in most settings. The specific look and lore belong exclusively to Eberron, but they are easy enough (to me) to file the serial numbers off of and use. Though it's true of Kalashtar too, in that they're just psychic humans at their core, but you really have to drop the name Kalashtar to do it. (Unlike Warforged, Shifter, and Changeling, which are generic and descriptive enough to keep).

But yes, credit where credit is due. Eberron. I think Eberron is a fantastic setting but I've barely ever used it.

 

[Mind of tempest]

It is absolutely dragonborn, and this statement has nothing to do with my preference for them. It is purely based on their essentially unbroken streak of growth across 5e's run.

Dragonborn have overtaken half-elf. They are the second-most-popular non-human race, surpassed only by elves. Yes, tieflings aren't far behind, but tieflings have had since second edition to build up a following--and dragonborn surpassed them in popularity (based on the D&D Beyond data) years ago. Nothing more than vaguely like dragonborn existed 20 years ago, and proper dragonborn as we understand them now didn't happen until 4e. In less than two decades, they've gone from "obscure racial template" to "third-most-popular race in the entire game."

It is simply, flat inarguable that dragonborn are THE breakout star.

More than anything else, the X-factor is the dominant thing. You have to have the right combination of subtle things that aren't easy to control. I don't personally think your point 2 makes any difference, if it catches on it catches on, nobody cares how many other options are provided. Same for point 3. Gith are skeletally thin, yellow-green, have no nose (or at least no nostrils), and very intentionally pretty alien. Dragonborn get specifically talked up for being so (superficially) non-human--and most of them don't get special edgelord points.

gith also do not have prime material cultures, you can put dragonborn anywhere but Gith live in outer planes I think that hurts them.

The Planescape Campaign Setting introduced Tieflings, Githzerai and Bariaur as new races. Tieflings were the most successful, Githzerai has moderate success and Bariaur have generally being forgotten. And other races introduced later on in Planescape like the Aasimar, Genasi, Githyanki and Rogue Modron have gotten more success than them. Only the Nathri and the Nethling have been less successful than the Bariaur.

who are the last two?

I think it all comes down to Waifu

See whats popular in non-Western fantasy and you'll inevitably see the standard 'human, elf, pretty orc' and demon-chic.

After 50 years things have come full circle with DnD influencing modern ideas of fantasy now being influenced by its own spawn.
All the other races are second tier (except maybe Dragonborn - but they just need to be dragons) and I do wonder how a Neko race might fair

what would it even do other than make cat noises and look like a pretty young woman?

 

[Mind of tempest]

I care about plasmoids, but that is because my mind connects them to the Herculoids cartoon.

what?

For the record, Shifters are one of the new races from Eberron. They started in the 3e campaign book and appear again in Eberron: Rising from the Last War in 5e before going to MotM. The other Eberron original races are Changelings, Kalashtar, and Warforged. Of those four, I actually think Changelings are the most successful.

Kalashtar are generically pretty human-alikes, psionic, and deeply rooted in Eberron specific lore. Which is three strikes against them. Warforged are a bit divisive with the "magic robots" thing, and are also somewhat rooted in Eberron lore. Two strikes, and you'll note neither appeared in MotM. Meanwhile Shifters did appear in MotM, but their problem is they're not furry enough for the anthro enthusiasts and too furry for the anthro avoiders. They've never really caught fire.

Changlings, though, have potential. Shapeshifting is fun, and they've got a lot of appeal for players who want a character with a more fluid identity, along any of several axis. Also their lore is flexible enough they're easy to place into most settings. They're still a mid tier pick, not yet ready for the PHB, but I think they're near the top of the MotM batch.

I think someone could make a good psionic race but wotc would have to make good psionics classwise which is the stumbling block.

warforged do well but are going to be tied to eberron as its showpiece.

changlings do seem to be slowly moving up in the world I could see them doing well if they where in at least another setting as well.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

gith also do not have prime material cultures, you can put dragonborn anywhere but Gith live in outer planes I think that hurts them.

Well, that would be part of the "very intentionally alien" thing, I think.

 

[Kobold Avenger]

who are the last two?

Nathri and Nethlings are hidden away in the Guide to the Ethereal Plane. The Nathri are small grey-skin humanoids from the Ethereal Planes. Nethlings are parts of the sentient Demiplane Neth the Plane that Lives, they're pink goo creatures with shapeshifting capabilities, the plane wants to consume/reabsorb them and get their memories of other planes.

Nethling PCs can be recreated in 5e as Plasmoid PCs.

 

[Argyle King]

what?

I think someone could make a good psionic race but wotc would have to make good psionics classwise which is the stumbling block.

warforged do well but are going to be tied to eberron as its showpiece.

changlings do seem to be slowly moving up in the world I could see them doing well if they where in at least another setting as well.

Herculoids

I think Warforged are the easiest species/race to use in other settings. Some of the particulars of their origin story might change, but it's simple enough to fit them in.

Shifters never quite caught on for me personally. I think Wolverine and Sabertooth are both cool, but I'm not sure that creating an entire species/race resonates.

Greater abundance of changelings is something I would actively dislike.

In any case, I think that different campaign settings should be allowed to be different. It's good to have a default core book which allows for everything to exist and be player-facing, but I also think it is good to have different aesthetics, options, and vibes in different game worlds.

 

[Aldarc]

I didn't like them because we didn't get the Elan, Maenads, Dromites, Xephs or even Synad from 3.5e as races and instead got crystal people. Yes I know that Elan was some sort of paragon path in 4e, and would definitely be a Lineage like Dhampir or Reborn in 5e. That Maenad, Xephs and Synad are already very Human-like. Except for the rage-thing the Maenad has very little to do with the ones in Greek mythology. Xephs probably aren't too different from Githzerai all things considered. The three-in-one mind Synad might be an evolved form of the 1e monster the Tirapheg, they might be more suitable as some subclass or background. And the Dromites are some weird Bug-Halfling people.

I was disapointed that we didn't get something more serpentine or humanoid´yuan-ti or snakefolk race for psionics, something akin to the Ophiduan from Dreamscarred Press.

 

[Tonguez]

gith also do not have prime material cultures, you can put dragonborn anywhere but Gith live in outer planes I think that hurts them.

who are the last two?

what would it even do other than make cat noises and look like a pretty young woman?

Felicia from the Darkstalkers game was my first introduction to Neko, she's an acrobatic fighter with ambition to become a Singing superstar, so she could well be a Bard.

I suppose with her claws and such she could be played as a cat Shifter

 

[Zardnaar]

The current King of my Goliath Kingdom is Macho King Randal Savagestorm III.

Let's just say he's over like rover with any player I introduced him to. No one trusts Bulk Bogan because he has lust in his eyes and his black heart for the queen.

Make your Goliaths have Wrestler personalities. Works wonders. They are already big and muscular.

One of my players is running a Goliath and modeled him on Hogan lol. I just rolled with it.

I remember that feud as well.

New Goluath is impressive.

 

[Alzrius]

Felicia from the Darkstalkers game was my first introduction to Neko, she's an acrobatic fighter with ambition to become a Singing superstar, so she could well be a Bard.

I suppose with her claws and such she could be played as a cat Shifter

Felicia was mine as well (well, after Jenny from Bucky O'Hare), but I'm of the opinion that if an animal-person were put into the PHB today, kitsune would edge out any race of humanoid cats. The "gaining power through earning more tails" idea seems pretty widespread these days, and dovetails into not only the high fantasy aspect of D&D, but also the progressive gain in power via leveling up.