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.

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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."

 

[Scribe]

So, you don't have races for them.

Hagborn (a version of Hexbloods from 3.5) had Str/Con

The Dhampir in the UA could be a psychic being, with bonuses to Intelligence and Charisma.

A reborn could be a ceramic doll, they wouldn't be tough. Or they could be a gnome possessed by an archmage, and get a +2 INT and +1 Dex

There are no races or even static scores that fit with these, and you acknowledge it could be many things. So... nothing in this UA is involving specific races like you keep insisting.

No, I'm not hung up on these lineages, I am hung up on the sidebar comment in the UA document.

These are not purely biological entities, they feel to me (hexblood less so) more like what would be Templates in past versions of the game (it's Templates right? I would have to go look.)

 

[Azzy]

How does one read the two pages per race and think that they're the same just because they likely will no longer have +2 STR (or whatever)?

This. That entire line of "logic" is ridiculously asinine.

 

[Aldarc]

FWIW, I loathe Intelligence as a character ability (again, because of the constraint it seems to allow to thrive in terms of the roleplay). Earthdawn's dropping it was always a winner by my accounting.

A few OSR variants (e.g., Into the Odd, Maze Rats) also drop Intelligence, though they also reduce stats to basically Strength, Dexterity, and Willpower, albeit out of a concern for "skilled play."

Wisdom is tough, Charisma is easy, but intelligence is pretty mind boggling that its still a thing. I dont know what I would replace it with, but out of the basic Attributes its easily the worst for me to logic my way through.

Is it Analysis? Maybe? Is it knowledge? Not really, but maybe? Is it education? Nope, but thats part (now define education within the context) ect ect.

I dont like Intelligence as an Ability at all.

Reason or Wits maybe. I think that Wisdom is probably worse as it has its grubby little fingers in Intelligence and Charisma while also including Awareness and Intuition.

 

[humble minion]

My biggest issue with these lineages is nothing to do with ability scores or the new ability score rules, it's the way that these template-lineages have no connection with whatever the PC was before the event that caused them to assume the lineage. Obviously the choice of size is meant to be a nod to whatever your PC was 'before', but that's really as far as it goes, and there's a lot of questions left unanswered in the process. Not so much an issue for dhampirs of course, but what in-world reason is there for a dragonborn who makes a pact with a hag and becomes a hexblood losing its breath weapon? And why does a human who recovers after a long time petrified gain darkvision?

The logic holes there really bug me. I get what WotC are trying to do with lineages, and I heartily approve, but I wish the first brand new published lineages hadn't been these template-y ones, but just lineage implementations of more traditionally-structured D&D races. From a game mechanics design point of view, the whole lineage thing is still fairly new and unfamiliar, and it looks to me like WotC are trying to run before learning to walk here.

 

[Aldarc]

PF2 has actually addressed things like that, @humble minion.

 

[Older Beholder]

Not so much an issue for dhampirs of course, but what in-world reason is there for a dragonborn who makes a pact with a hag and becomes a hexblood losing its breath weapon? And why does a human who recovers after a long time petrified gain darkvision?

Making a pact with a hag usually comes at a cost.
I’d treat the Dragonborn losing its breath weapon as a curse, a payment taken for in exchange for abilities gained.

It gives the character the motivation of seeking a hag said to have the breath of a dragon.
Plenty of role play opportunities in general for a Dragonborn that’s ‘lost its breath’

The petrifaction /darkvision did stick out to me when I first read it the UA
Maybe on some level the character is still conscious, and the eyes adjust to the darkness? It’s a stretch, I know

I think with the options in this UA it’s really about giving players options to cover whatever story they’re trying to tell.

 

[IndigoTraveler]

I personally feel like that, since they had no problems with introducing stronger races options with some strong racial features like the Goblin, Yuan-Ti, Satyr/Centaur(because of their singular "Fey" typing), that WoTC has no problems with introducing the idea of an option being a bit more substantially powerful. The idea of a Hexblood Dwarf, even if he decided to trade his dwarven weapon familiarity for Elven Weapon familiarity to feel closer to his Fey heritage, suddenly forgetting how to use said weapons to be a bit stupid. Okay yeah you could make the argument that Fey stealing/taking memories as barter is a Fey thing to do

Plus, with the Lineage features overwriting the racial features, your pretty much "stuck" with whatever that Lineage is giving you. And if that option ends up being crappy, then your biting yourself in the foot.

The whole Dual-Typing thing also seems to be a weird take on trying to incorporate an idea of balance. But if you count as both types, in regards to stuff, then technically your getting double the weaknesses. Your Satyr Bard is gonna suddenly get turned by your Ancient Paladin, your Dhampir Rogue was hiding nearby and just got turned by the Party cleric. That undead slaying sword that accidently got tossed at your Dhampir Wizard, and scoring a crit hit on em while being low on health, just murdered the poor slob.

They should allow Lineage Features+Racial features and Single typing. Do it like Volo's where there is a disclaiming that states Hey some of these Lineage PCs may be a tad bit stronger compared to standard PCs so discuss it over with your DM or party first beforehand.

Or Tasha's it up abit by allowing the choice of Lineage Features+Racial Features or just Lineage Features.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

OK, we may agree some "racial traits" aren't really inborn but based in traditional upbringing, and this detail can cause troubles if "transhumanist magic" is possible, I mean, trans humanism like Eclipse Phase RPG or Altered Carbone, when memories can be uploaded to "file" and this downloaded to a different body, maybe from a different race. It is not only possible thanks druid's reincarnation spell, but also Savage Species had got a special magic ritual using as example an ogre becoming an elf.

My suggestion is allowing those "nurture" or traditional upbringing to be replaced with other options. Maybe with some special traits as the dragonmarks from Eberron, or "exclusive feats" only for members of a noble house, religious brotherhood, criminal guild or other faction.

* Who would want to play a halfling warrior? An otaku who loves the trope of kid hero, for example the main character of the videogame Dragon Quest V. Somebody love the trope of litle people defeating kaijus, giants, megafaun and other bigger enemies, but the little PC races weren't designed to be fighters but rogues or maybe spellcasters.

* It is ironic because in the shooter videogames all playable characters must have got the same height because shorter characters are harder to be shooted and this breaks the power balance (but if all characters are designed to have their own merits and flaws).

* Besides dwarves and elves, what PC races have got racial traits based in "traditional upbringing"?

 

[Mind of tempest]

OK, we may agree some "racial traits" aren't really inborn but based in traditional upbringing, and this detail can cause troubles if "transhumanist magic" is possible, I mean, trans humanism like Eclipse Phase RPG or Altered Carbone, when memories can be uploaded to "file" and this downloaded to a different body, maybe from a different race. It is not only possible thanks druid's reincarnation spell, but also Savage Species had got a special magic ritual using as example an ogre becoming an elf.

My suggestion is allowing those "nurture" or traditional upbringing to be replaced with other options. Maybe with some special traits as the dragonmarks from Eberron, or "exclusive feats" only for members of a noble house, religious brotherhood, criminal guild or other faction.

* Who would want to play a halfling warrior? An otaku who loves the trope of kid hero, for example the main character of the videogame Dragon Quest V. Somebody love the trope of litle people defeating kaijus, giants, megafaun and other bigger enemies, but the little PC races weren't designed to be fighters but rogues or maybe spellcasters.

* It is ironic because in the shooter videogames all playable characters must have got the same height because shorter characters are harder to be shooted and this breaks the power balance (but if all characters are designed to have their own merits and flaws).

* Besides dwarves and elves, what PC races have got racial traits based in "traditional upbringing"?

so a soul transfer spell?

 

[Chaosmancer]

No, I'm not hung up on these lineages, I am hung up on the sidebar comment in the UA document.

These are not purely biological entities, they feel to me (hexblood less so) more like what would be Templates in past versions of the game (it's Templates right? I would have to go look.)

Right.

And, we were told this is the design going forward. In that sidebar that you are hung up on.

So, if they never release another purely biological entity again, what is the problem?