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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dnd.wizards.com

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."

 

[Nathaniel Lee]

I will be doing so, and I'll be letting Wizards know in the survey that if they do not provide a framework, the same as they have been, again, forever, that they wont be getting any of my money.

It does not need to be either or. It can be both. WoTC caving to a vocal segment over something that as you say they could do themselves, and have been for apparently years, and is EXTREMELY EASIER to do (since its just a flat 2/1..) well fine, but give me my option too?

To be clear: I do not care if Tasha's is the default. Simply do the work and include OPTIONS, for those of us that see no issue in the system we have had forever, or they should not expect to get paid for me to do the work for them.

EDIT: But we both know they wont. It will be Tasha's going forward, its clear as day.

I mean... it's not that difficult to just add ASIs and languages to the small handful of races that will be coming out. It's not like we get inundated with a flood of races each year...

 

[Scribe]

I mean... it's not that difficult to just add ASIs and languages to the small handful of races that will be coming out. It's not like we get inundated with a flood of races each year...

Agreed, but its the principle of it.

 

[Minigiant]

Definitely. There should be a tree-ish race with Tremorsense, a Grimlock race with Blindsight, and other options.

Infrared vision, Ghost Sight, Regular long distance vision, SCENT.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

That would be WotC trying to have their cake and eat it too. Not good enough. This is exactly the mentality that led to the half-measures in Tasha's that failed to live up to the promises WotC made about addressing the issues of racial sensitivity in their game. Sure it offered players more flexibility in their chargen choices, but that was the problem: everything was focused on the player characters, who were presented as being "exceptional" and "unique"; nothing was there to address the issue of the portrayal of the general population beyond an anemic "do what you want".

The very notion that there must an "iconic" elf/dwarf/halfling/gnome/etc. is a problem in and of itself. Presenting a people as a monolith, and then codifying that monolithic depiction through mechanical reinforcement, is one of the biggest contributors to the racial essentialism that WotC themselves has acknowledged permeates their game, as unsatisfactory and incomplete their attempts to correct course have been so far. People in the thread have been talking about "elf culture", "dwarf culture", "gnome culture" - as if there ever could be a singular, all-encompassing culture for any of those species! As innocent as this desire may start off as, it leads to the typecasting and reinforcing of stereotypes that create a shallow and unrealistic notion of there being an "essential" ideal of an "elf", "dwarf", "gnome", etc. And that same typecasting impulse takes a darker turn when combined with the idea of some peoples being intrinsically less "pure" or more "evil" than others. Combine that with unconscious use of racialized language, and a binary, absolutist view of right and wrong reinforced by White privilege, and you get the racially insensitive portrayals of the "monstrous races", who are being essentialized and presented as a monolith, much like the dwarves and the elves but even moreso.

Wired recently published two articles on D&D that I think are relevant to the general discussion.

Dungeons & Dragons' Racial Reckoning Is Long Overdue

The tabletop game's storylines are infused with regressive stereotypes about race and power. Players are on a quest to rewrite the narrative.

www.wired.com

D&D Must Grapple With the Racism in Fantasy

And getting rid of it will take a lot of work.

www.wired.com

No. Making the game more inclusive is very good, all rational and decent people agree on that.
This implementation is bad. The PHB presents the core cultural presentation of the races, it does not tell you how every elf thinks and behaves. Assigning alignments and mental ability score boosts to races is racist. Saying “most elf cultures in the default and basic D&D worlds use longbows and long swords, but you can swap those to other weapons or even to tools for your elf, either individually or their particular Elven culture.” Is not racist.

 

[Kurotowa]

Only thing I just realized that I forgot.

I really wish there more senses/vison options than darkvision.

I don't. Already my group's DM has to describe a scene three times; once for the PCs with basic vision, once for the ones with darkvision, and once for the Warlock with Devil's Sight. Adding yet more variations would just multiply that further. Similarly, conditional Perception bumps would require the player to be constantly asking if it applies and the DM having to give away information to say either way.

Special sensory options works good in narrative works and in very small RPG parties, but not so much in your common 4-6 player group.

 

[Nathaniel Lee]

Agreed, but its the principle of it.

I understand the position you're coming from, and I definitely empathize with your perspective... but ultimately it's going to apply only to a miniscule number of game options, all of which will be 100% completely optional (since the rules presented in every book beyond the core three are optional).

How much of a problem is it really going to be in the long run for three options (at least for the time being) out of something like 40+ options to require a tiny bit of extra work? I mean, any number of new optional rules and mechanics they put out in future books could be things you and/or your players absolutely abhor, and in those cases you'd likely either just ignore them entirely or maybe like something about them and then try to homebrew it to work the way you want it to. Why the hang up specifically on this issue of future race options?

 

[Argyle King]

As currently written, the Vampiric Bite ability gives a bonus on the next attack roll, equal to the damage dealt.

1d4+Con Damage, so 2.5 (average) plus Con Mod bonus to the next attack roll made.

 

[Weiley31]

I still like the fact that the Vampiric Bite is a monk weapon technically. Limited uses due to CON/Prof, but still we had Smite Dentures at one point with a topic on here.

 

[cbwjm]

Bingo! The target audience isn't made up of old stick-in-the-muds like me.

Yep, I love DnD but I feel like it is moving towards the new crowd. The older crowd (and I'm younger than many of the old crowd) are having to adapt or move on.

 

[Scribe]

Why the hang up specifically on this issue of future race options

If the edition is not changed, and in fact once it is changed, every race updated or released will be under this new approach, and the system I prefer is essentially discontinued and no option will be provided outside of my own homebrew or 3rd party.

I mean that's it really, unless someone at Wizards says 'let people have a choice' then this UA telegraphs that I won't even be given an option.

All because an option for others, wasn't good enough for them.