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."

 

[Morrus]

Morrus butt hurt+3

You've been here over a year. You know that namecalling and bullying is not acceptable here. Don't post again in this thread.

 

[BookTenTiger]

It used to be that the racial ability score adjustments were meant to reflect how a particular demihuman race differed from the human norm. And they tended to be balanced: bonus here, penalty there. Then 5e did away with penalties. (Or was it 4e that did that?) And now the bonuses won't be tied to race. So… why have such adjustments at all, when they aren't a reflection of anything in the fiction and aren't adjusting anything?

Might as well just fold the bonuses into your stat generation method from the get-go and otherwise forget about what they used to represent. Players are just going to use them to buff their class's key ability anyway!

(For what it's worth, racial stat adjustments are such an AD&D thing anyhow. Basic D&D chugs along just fine without having them at all, at least until you get into all the optional monstrous races from the Creature Crucibles and Mystara Gazetteers…)

My own thinking went from:

Allow players to choose from a few different ability bonuses based on their lineage, to

Ability score bonuses based on background, to

Floating ability score bonuses after point-buy or rolling.

Since almost all Wizard players are going to want to boost Intelligence and probably Constitution, and all Rogue players are going to want to boost Dexterity and probably Wisdom, just let them go for it no matter their lineage or background. It creates more variety that way, and the lore of the lineages can be established through other powers.

 

[dave2008]

I said it was the final nail in the coffin not the sole cause. It doesn't really seem optional to me when future books aren't going to incorporate the races as presented in the PHB.

I guess, but how many more races will we see at this point? I mean all races up to this point have racial modifiers. If that is not enough for you, not sure what I can do for you. I counted something like 43 races on DnDBeyond. Those are not invalidated if they end up adding a few in the next few years that are different.

Also, you say it is the final nail, but it is not even a nail yet. This is something that hasn't even happened yet.

Do I expect it to happen? I do, because despite my issues with it, I think it is good for the game. But I really don't think we are getting many more races at this point. I could see this be coming the standard in a anniversary PHB in 2024.

 

[Scribe]

But what if I want to play Zidi Wheatling, the Halfling Titan, a halfling known in the nine boroughs for beating a bodybuilding goliath in a weightlifting competition? I'm not allowed to?

You then play with the soon to be sole official rules, Tasha's.

So your desires are met.

People who want a system with racial modifiers?

Nope, not going forward.

 

[Morrus]

Not at all, feel free to work within a framework more fitting to your sensibilities.

Such as Tasha's (soon to be less) optional system.

I'm not begrudging you that choice, I simply don't want to lose the system that has been provided forever.

And we will. This UA makes it clear.

But what you're saying is that you want the rules to support your world, not every world.

 

[dave2008]

People who want a system with racial modifiers?

As I've pointed out, they are still there. If you want ability modifiers you have to do a little work, but you have to that right now to get them correct anyway

 

[dave2008]

But what you're saying is that you want the rules to support your world, not every world.

He wants both, per his responses to me. He doesn't mind the Tasha / UA rules being default, but he also wants the books to include alternate racial specific modifiers for those who want them. Of course who gets to choose those modifiers and what will they be? That would be my issue with that approach. I don't generally like what D&D comes up with for racial modifiers.

 

[Scribe]

But what you're saying is that you want the rules to support your world, not every world.

I want a system that allows for Tasha's (we had that before Tasha's, it's our table) and one in which there are specific racial ASI which we have had in various ways, forever.

I don't even care if Tasha's is the default, official stance.

Why do I need to lose my option, when both are clearly able to exist at the same time?

Am I being unreasonable here?

 

[dave2008]

You then play with the soon to be sole official rules, Tasha's.

So your desires are met.

People who want a system with racial modifiers?

Nope, not going forward.

You play with all of the existing races (all 43 of them), so your desires are met. No big issue then?

 

[Morrus]

I want a system that allows for Tasha's (we had that before Tasha's, it's our table) and one in which there are specific racial ASI which we have had in various ways, forever.

But you have that. What's the problem?