D&D 5E Tweaks to the races

[Kobold Stew]

I'm really impressed with the tweaks to the races packet -- almost all of them reflect things that have been discussed on these boards, and almost all of them are real improvements.

* racial weapons now grant proficiency, but not an enhanced damage die. This means classes with fewer combat abilities will use the racial weapons, but there can still be diversity amongst the combat-heavy classes. [edit: halfling weapons removed]

* racial skill bonuses now grant advantage, and not proficiency in the skill. Elves will tend to roll better than humans on spot and listen, but a skilled human can still achieve a higher roll than an unskilled elf regularly.

* human ability bonuses now a flat +1. Other races now get two bonuses -- this also resolves the slight weirdness of the only charisma bonus (so far) going to stout halflings. Now it goes to lightfoot halflings.

* intimations of more developed language rules (with bonus languages = intelligence bonus). I still think halflings should speak common, so that it's common to at least one race other than human. (Has there ever been exciting flavour added by not communicating clearly with halflings?)

* halfling "lucky" now affects 5% of all d20 rolls (natural 1s), not twice a day. (I really like this, even if it is a nerf.)

Each of these seems to me to take us in an improved direction. Now I look forward to seeing half-elves and half-orcs!

What do others think? Are there changes you'd still like to see?

 

[the Jester]

These changes are pretty good.

Humans need more work- I still favor +1 to highest and lowest stats, rather than +1 to all; I just think that makes the whole concept of racial modifiers silly. After all, isn't the fact that elves get +1 dex supposed to indicate that the average elf is more dextrous than the average human? Right now, it only indicates that the poor elf can match a human's dexterity.

 

[Gargoyle]

One thing I really enjoy about the racial section is the flavor. They've nailed it for each race IMO.

I would like to see a change to the Religion section however. In the Cleric's class description, I rather liked the introduction of deities as types such as the Protector rather than specific named deities. For races, it would be nice if they used the same type of generalization. Dwarves and halflings generally worship the Protector, high elves worship the Arcanist (and perhaps add Corellon to the list of Arcanists in the clerical description). This would make it so that the Player's Handbook would be more valid for any campaign, just map your deities to those types in your campaign setting, just as you would for the clerics. Some more deity types might be appropriate, for example the wood elves might revere the Warden, and define the Warden as a nature god. Instead of the Protector, halflings might honor the Hearth deity, and define that as a god that focuses on the home, farming, and family.

I just think this would make the races section more useful and more consistent with how it's handled in the classes section.

 

[Szatany]

* racial weapons now grant proficiency, but not an enhanced damage die. This means classes with fewer combat abilities will use the racial weapons, but there can still be diversity amongst the combat-heavy classes.

I like that, but I'd go one step further. I could be nice if a character who has multiple proficiency with the same weapon from various sources gets +1 to damage with the weapon for each redundant proficiency.

 

[cmbarona]

I'd say "meh" overall. I'm still slightly miffed about the absence of Halfling Weapon Training. I'm sure they have their reasons. But before, I was encouraged to use the sling, short sword, and dagger with my Halfling Rogue. Now, I can just swap those out for a Rapier and Hand Crossbow, but it doesn't feel the same. I was on par AND distinct, now I'm on par and bland. Or I can keep my weapons and be distinct but under par (or should I say "over par"?). Or I could dual wield short swords to power-game, but that seems cheesy.

 

[Kobold Stew]

Thanks for the observation on the halfling weapons -- missed that. OP edited as a result.

 

[El Mahdi]

deleted

 

[Kobold Stew]

Ha! Thanks. I was correct up until my last word.

 

[Li Shenron]

I am fine with all races except the Human, because of the ability bonuses. My preference would be to give no ability bonus at all to Humans, or as a second choice to give them a total number of '+' not higher than any other race.

I don't like the change from "skilled" to advantage. It means an elf is less likely to miss an easy listen/spot check, but it's not any better at succeeding at something beyond human capabilities, and I think this is a traditional concept of elves in the majority of fantasy settings.

OTOH I want to point out that for classes the same change to Knowledge skills is actually pretty good! It means exactly that all clerics are more reliable in religious lore (less likely to ignore something easy), but then some clerics can also pick up the skill and become additionally able to know things that others can't.

I am undecided on racial weapon bonuses... ideally, I would like something that is beneficial to all characters of that race. The previous version (increased damage dice) was useful only to those proficient, while the current version (bonus proficiency) is a benefit only to those not proficient, so in either case for some PC there is more benefit than for others. Maybe merging these into one ability "you get proficiency, but if you already have it you get increase damage" would be the solution for this strange unevenness.

 

[Kobold Stew]

I am undecided on racial weapon bonuses... ideally, I would like something that is beneficial to all characters of that race. The previous version (increased damage dice) was useful only to those proficient, while the current version (bonus proficiency) is a benefit only to those not proficient, so in either case for some PC there is more benefit than for others. Maybe merging these into one ability "you get proficiency, but if you already have it you get increase damage" would be the solution for this strange unevenness.

I prefer the current solution: the bonus damage means that it is counter-productive for the best fighters to be creative and have a cool concept. That's a win: we should reward players who want to break the mould, not punish them. It also means that we do see "default" racial weaponry in the under-skilled: every elf wizard uses a longsword due to tradition, even if they never want to get into combat. That's a win (though potentially game able, depending on multiclass rules). It also prevents every halfling doing more damage with a dagger than every other race ever. Another win.

Three-zip in my books.