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."

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

They are just going to go +2/+1, have fun, and another aspect of the game goes away.

Until they remove that from future printings of the PHB, which they've so far said they will not be doing, it's not going anywhere. DMs can (and should) set restrictions on what systems are used at their table. This is an optional system DMs can choose to use or not.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Are reborn/revenant "Deathless monster type"? (undead, but healed by positive energy and hurt by necrotic)

Are vryloka a race yet, or only a dhampire subrace now?

Could a reborn to eat undead monsters? Because the player read the Chinese (echi) zombie post-apocalipse comic "Virus Girlfriend"/My Girlfriend is a Zombie". That hunger may be OP (when I played Diablo II with the Barbarian I searched all the corpses to collect lots of potions), or cause lot of troubles when the most of monster summoned by the DM are no-living, without vital fluids to be eaten.

Could be hexblood's magic token to be used with an animal companion to explore? Or a remote-control walking drone created by the gnome artificier.

Some PC races would be better with the option of to get special racial traits to alter or upgrade special racial traits.

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The next step for the return of Ravenloft may be modules, updated adventures, and also some Van Ritchen's monster compedium, but this UA article is for a future player guide with crunch (maybe also with the blood hunter class?) and not only for Ravenloft but all gothic settings (useful for both, Innistrad and Ravenloft).

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Since the Dhampir's bite counts as a simple melee weapon, can it be used as a monk weapon? Is the Con bonus in addition to the Str/Dex bonus or does it replace it?

Please put this into their feedback survey in a few weeks.

 

[dave2008]

A minotaur should in all but the most fringe of corner cases, be far more physically powerful than a halfling,

I tend to agree with you; however, I also see how it makes sense for a game to allow the most flexibility possible. Taking ability scores out of race helps do that.

You can always house-rule ability adjustments into your game (I do, along with penalties too), but for the mass market I think it is best to take them out and allow people to play the characters they want.

Of course I can do whatever I want in my home game.

 

[dave2008]

That's why I don't like it, a universal floating +2/+1 is boring af. I'd rather use that design space to for a "feat and a half" of lineage specific cool stuff.

That could be cool. Of course the game works fine if you eliminate the +2/+1 completely, so you could just get rid of them too.

 

[dave2008]

Until they remove that from future printings of the PHB, which they've so far said they will not be doing, it's not going anywhere. DMs can (and should) set restrictions on what systems are used at their table. This is an optional system DMs can choose to use or not.

I could see it being replaced in an anniversary 2024 update of the PHB though. An Anniversary Dungeons and Dragons if you will.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

I tend to agree with you; however, I also see how it makes sense for a game to allow the most flexibility possible. Taking ability scores out of race helps do that.

You can always house-rule ability adjustments into your game (I do, along with penalties too), but for the mass market I think it is best to take them out and allow people to play the characters they want.

Of course I can do whatever I want in my home game.

I made a Half-Orc Artificer character that has a genetic disorder that makes him much physically weaker and less healthy than other orcs/half-orcs. It caused a huge storyline devoted to him trying to replace his worthless flesh limbs with magical prosthetics that would function better. It's a great way to make a character have a backstory-bound motivation, sub-plot, and character arc.

PCs are supposed to be the outliers. The weakest orc can be weaker than the strongest kobold. The dumbest human is less intelligent than the smartest dolphin. Races/Species can overlap. It's okay that they can.

 

[Kurotowa]

You know what this makes me want? A second stab at genasi using the the new lineage design model. Not just as a way to introduce better ability packages, but so you can mix and match their heritage and appearance more. Want your PC to look like a dwarf made of living stone or an elf with hair of flame? Great. Want to look like a more generic humanoid but stipulate that one or both parents were elves or dwarves and the elemental influences just predominated? That works too, same stats, no problem.

 

[Faolyn]

I mean...the RP around that is fine. Its still a stocky, thick limbed, short, powerfully built Dwarf.

Imagine a typical dwarf in a dwarven home. They probably have to learn how to do mining (hefting picks, lifting heavy rocks, hauling mine carts) or smithing (repetitively swinging hammers, lifting heavy ores). They eat hearty dwarven food and drink strong dwarven ales, and they tromp through well-built stone halls. They build up their bulky muscles--thick limbed, powerfully built, as you say.

But a dwarf raised by elves wouldn't have to engage in those activities, so their muscles are going to grow differently. They might have very strong arms built for dealing with bows, but that's a different type of muscle than what you'd get with mining or smithing. An elf-raised dwarf would be muscled, but it would end up with the physique of a swimmer or acrobat rather than a weightlifter.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

You know what this makes me want? A second stab at genasi using the the new lineage design model. Not just as a way to introduce better ability packages, but so you can mix and match their heritage and appearance more. Want your PC to look like a dwarf made of living stone or an elf with hair of flame? Great. Want to look like a more generic humanoid but stipulate that one or both parents were elves or dwarves and the elemental influences just predominated? That works too, same stats, no problem.

EXACTLY THIS! Screw 5e's current genasi. Why do Genies only mate with humans? Why do the race's overall mechanics suck? If they did this, they could fix the freaking Genasi and let me play a Half-Efreeti Half-Goblin Fire Genasi!