D&D 5E Unearthed Arcana: Gothic Lineages & New Race/Culture Distinction

The latest Unearthed Arcana contains the Dhampir, Reborn, and Hexblood races. The Dhampir is a half-vampire; the Hexblood is a character which has made a pact with a hag; and the Reborn is somebody brought back to life. https://dnd.wizards.com/articles/unearthed-arcana/gothic-lineages Perhaps the bigger news is this declaration on how race is to be handled in future D&D books as it joins...

The latest Unearthed Arcana contains the Dhampir, Reborn, and Hexblood races. The Dhampir is a half-vampire; the Hexblood is a character which has made a pact with a hag; and the Reborn is somebody brought back to life.

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Perhaps the bigger news is this declaration on how race is to be handled in future D&D books as it joins other games by stating that:

"...the race options in this article and in future D&D books lack the Ability Score Increase trait, the Language trait, the Alignment trait, and any other trait that is purely cultural. Racial traits henceforth reflect only the physical or magical realities of being a player character who’s a member of a particular lineage. Such traits include things like darkvision, a breath weapon (as in the dragonborn), or innate magical ability (as in the forest gnome). Such traits don’t include cultural characteristics, like language or training with a weapon or a tool, and the traits also don’t include an alignment suggestion, since alignment is a choice for each individual, not a characteristic shared by a lineage."
 

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Vaalingrade

Legend
Being good just takes hard work, being popular requires luck...
Oh god, don't mention the 'L' word to writers.

So many communities think that it's all about being a marketing wizard and chasing trends and letting Amazon roger you good and hard month after month--which is why they're yelling are people for acknowledging luck on a message board rather than rolling around on their money piles.
 

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Oh god, don't mention the 'L' word to writers.

So many communities think that it's all about being a marketing wizard and chasing trends and letting Amazon roger you good and hard month after month--which is why they're yelling are people for acknowledging luck on a message board rather than rolling around on their money piles.
I write a bit*, but the hard work has always been my stumbling block.


*Only published in Monthly Notices to the Royal Astronomical Society, but you can't have everything.
 


Micah Sweet

Level Up & OSR Enthusiast
That's why I like focusing on slavers, bandits, and evil cultists for cannon fodder, myself. I also have a fondness for blights, although they're not humanoid so it doesn't really count.
I'm tired of cultists. How many times in the official adventures are the bad guys groups of mostly humans worshipping something icky? We need to find some way to inject variety without running these other issues.
 

Vaalingrade

Legend
I like making the bad guys just plain naughty words.

It doesn't really matter what their actual goals are to make them effective as antagonists. They could be trying to save a puppy hospital; if they're going about it by being an naughty word, the party has reason to punch their faces to custard.

Like there are plenty of people who think they're doing something positive via atrocity. They don't need a god tier seafood platter to make them do it: they're stupid on their own.
 


Azzy

ᚳᚣᚾᛖᚹᚢᛚᚠ
I'm tired of cultists. How many times in the official adventures are the bad guys groups of mostly humans worshipping something icky? We need to find some way to inject variety without running these other issues.
Make your cults more racially inclusive... 🥁📀

Joke aside,

undead are always a favorite of mine, but they can be overused. Invaders, insurgents, partisans, terrorists, radical nationalists, etc. can be of any race (appropriate to the area) and can employ other humanoids or even monsters in their cause and operations.
 




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