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."

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

But as soon as you do have fantasy cultures, which if you have dwarves, elves etc at all you have to, they have aspects of them that make then distinguishable from others, and therefore signposts indicating what proficiencies a member of that culture should have. I just want a mechanical option to add those proficiencies to my character, and the current direction of character creation is saying no.

So, you're envisioning determining cultures across racial lines? Why?

 

[MGibster]

So, you're envisioning determining cultures across racial lines? Why?

You certainly don't have to do it that way. But can you envision a setting where the elves have their own nation and they're culturally distinct from humans or dragonborn?

 

[Faolyn]

You certainly don't have to do it that way. But can you envision a setting where the elves have their own nation and they're culturally distinct from humans or dragonborn?

That leads to another question: would all elves in this setting belong to the same nation?

It's certainly possible, especially if you decide that there are very few elves in the world. But it's also possible you have several distinct elven nations/cultures, and a nation that has a racial mix but only one culture. Or, of course, a nation that has several different cultures within it because it's highly stratified.

 

[Micah Sweet]

That leads to another question: would all elves in this setting belong to the same nation?

It's certainly possible, especially if you decide that there are very few elves in the world. But it's also possible you have several distinct elven nations/cultures, and a nation that has a racial mix but only one culture. Or, of course, a nation that has several different cultures within it because it's highly stratified.

There can absolutely be multiple cultures with elves, or one culture if that suits the campaign. There can also be multiple cultures with multiple peoples. I know this because there are myriad examples of this in D&D settings alone, never bothering with fantasy in general. All of cultures can and should be distinct from one another, and value different things. I just want those cultural aspects to be reflected in character creation, and I refuse to believe that defining them mechanically is no longer possible. How exactly are you supposed to describe elves, dwarves, etc. in a hypothetical reprinting or new edition PH? Just a dry physical description, because every other aspect of the lineage has too many variables to generate an expectation?

 

[MGibster]

That leads to another question: would all elves in this setting belong to the same nation?

Maybe? There are a lot of different ways you could do it. I've got my own setting that, like Greek mythology, pretty much every playable race shares a similar culture, worships the same gods, speak the same language, etc., etc. I've got another idea where the elves will be all from the same place, a high fantasy medieval kingdom, but they're going to be the antagonist of the series with the PCs being from more of an early modern European setting. You could also have a setting where Drow have a culture, Wood Elves have their culture, and High Elves are still different. In Al-Qadim from 2nd edition, the races largely shared the same culture with people being separated into city dwellers and nomads.

It's certainly possible, especially if you decide that there are very few elves in the world. But it's also possible you have several distinct elven nations/cultures, and a nation that has a racial mix but only one culture. Or, of course, a nation that has several different cultures within it because it's highly stratified.

Sure. And it makes sense for the designers of the setting to make their decisions based on what they're trying to accomplish.

 

[Faolyn]

How exactly are you supposed to describe elves, dwarves, etc. in a hypothetical reprinting or new edition PH? Just a dry physical description, because every other aspect of the lineage has too many variables to generate an expectation?

First, I'd do the ancestry/culture split. I'd decide which aspects of the elf were really inborn. Darkvision (well, in a new edition, I'd go for Low Light Vision or nothing at all), Fey Ancestry, Trance. As you know, I strongly dislike racial ASIs, but if I had to do them for race, I'd just do a +1 for each race, not a +2/+1. The other bonuses would be floating or tied to class or background.

For cultures... well, I'm liking how Level Up is doing it. They have both the "High Elf Culture" or "Wood Elf Culture" which is the other parts of the elf trait, and more generic cultures, like Villager. Personally, I'd rename the racial cultures, but IIRC Morrus said they were doing it for legacy purposes.

 

[Micah Sweet]

First, I'd do the ancestry/culture split. I'd decide which aspects of the elf were really inborn. Darkvision (well, in a new edition, I'd go for Low Light Vision or nothing at all), Fey Ancestry, Trance. As you know, I strongly dislike racial ASIs, but if I had to do them for race, I'd just do a +1 for each race, not a +2/+1. The other bonuses would be floating or tied to class or background.

For cultures... well, I'm liking how Level Up is doing it. They have both the "High Elf Culture" or "Wood Elf Culture" which is the other parts of the elf trait, and more generic cultures, like Villager. Personally, I'd rename the racial cultures, but IIRC Morrus said they were doing it for legacy purposes.

I'm actually with you on racial ASIs; they're unnecessary. I just wish they hadn't said that they were never meant to represent the race's traits, when it is very clear to me that they were and had been for quite some time.

Out of curiosity, what would you name the cultures to?

 

[Faolyn]

Out of curiosity, what would you name the cultures to?

Oh, I'm terrible at naming things. For the High Elves Culture, that's where you get your cantrip(s)*, so I would make it into the idea of a Fae Woods Scion (or something like that). The Wood Elves Culture had all the foresty survival stuff, so I'd go for a simpler Forest Native or Woodland Survivalist.

*Actually, I might have a few options per culture, so for this one, there'd be one option for a cantrip and maybe higher spells when you hit 3rd and 5th level, one for Fey Step like an eladrin, etc.

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

OK. So what would a culture actually grant? (I'd really suggest shying away from ASIs.)

Skills, tools and weapon proficiencies etc?

 

[Micah Sweet]

OK. So what would a culture actually grant? (I'd really suggest shying away from ASIs.)

Skills, tools and weapon proficiencies etc?

Yeah, exactly. Skills, tools, and weapon/armor proficiencies. Maybe specialty abilities like stonecunning, or the lizardfolk ability to make weapons and armor.