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]

I don’t think @Elfcrusher was suggesting that the change wasn’t a response to feedback, only that the feedback isn’t coming from a vocal minority.

I never said minority.

 

[Dausuul]

If only there was another way, having options both fully supported!

If only...

If Wizards fully supported every option that everybody wants, the PHB would be ten thousand pages long.

And it's bizarre to me that people think "+2 to one stat and +1 to another stat" is inadequate support for "+2 Dex, +1 Wis." As a DM, I curate my settings heavily--I pick and choose the races that are allowed, ban various spells, etc. That requires some work on my part, but I would never complain that Wizards isn't "supporting" me because they don't do it for me! They provide the ingredients. It's up to me which ones I want to use, or whether I want to just dump them all in the pot and stir.

 

[Charlaquin]

I never said minority.

Right, but Elfcrusher did.

 

[Scribe]

What does "fully supported" mean?

How many options do you figure can be "fully supported" at a time? Because there's a whole lot of requests for various options for various things to be "fully supported".

Do include thoughts on playtesting in your answer, and consider how you can claim a thing is "fully supported" without testing it?

Considering the ability we as DMs or Players have, to change anything, and the fact the 2/1 Tasha's system was provided as an official option?

I do not believe it beyond the realm of possibility to maintain the Tasha's system as official rule 1a, and maintain as an option the pre-Tasha's system, yes for new content as well.

Anything less, is 'you have 1 option' officially, and it's not remotely about play testing balance.

 

[Scribe]

Right, but Elfcrusher did.

Yes, putting words in my mouth, and intent that they decided on their own. /shrug

 

[Charlaquin]

Yes, putting words in my mouth, and intent that they decided on their own. /shrug

Ok, I’ll be on my way then...

 

[Scribe]

Ok, I’ll be on my way then...

I think I'll join you. Been fun all.

 

[Umbran]

Considering the ability we as DMs or Players have, to change anything, and the fact the 2/1 Tasha's system was provided as an official option?

You failed to address what "full support" actually means, and how many options can be fully supported? You have maintained focus on the single issue, and failed to recognize that it sits within a context of them having many, many, many requests all over the place for "fully supporting" someone's favored option. Ask a dozen gamers what options WotC should fully support, you'll get two dozen answers, if not more.

Is there some a priori reason why THIS should be a thing they give full support to the option, as opposed to something else? Or is it just because this is the one that's cheesing some folks off at the moment?

 

[Umbran]

...they're just being spearheaded by a different set of blue-haired ladies.

Mod Note:
Seeing someone booted from the thread earlier wasn't enough?

Fine, let's be clear - don't denigrate people. If it isn't beneath you, it should be. If your argument depends on it, it ain't a great argument.

 

[MGibster]

You failed to address what "full support" actually means, and how many options can be fully supported? You have maintained focus on the single issue, and failed to recognize that it sits within a context of them having many, many, many requests all over the place for "fully supporting" someone's favored option. Ask a dozen gamers what options WotC should fully support, you'll get two dozen answers, if not more.

I don't believe any game can be all things to all people. The designers need to pick a direction they want to go in and go. We can't reasonably support 2-3 different methods of handling race. At best, maybe they can make some suggestions in the DMG. But from a player's point of view it should be simple. Trying to cater to the wants and desires of everyone will just lead to badly watered down work.