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Unearthed Arcana: Gothic Lineages & New Race/Culture Distinction
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<blockquote data-quote="Chaosmancer" data-source="post: 8208837" data-attributes="member: 6801228"><p>They said "hey, if you want these generic statblocks to feel more elfy you can apply the traits you apply to your elf PC". That was it. There were no elves in the MM. Except for drow, and we can easily find discrepancies with the Drow. </p><p></p><p>1) The Elite Warrior and the Priestess have Levitate as part of their innate casting, something Drow in the PHB can't do. </p><p></p><p>2) The rules in the DMG for adding racial traits to NPCs say that adding innate spells with level requirements instead use their CR as a level. Drow are CR 1/4, so they are only level 1. Meaning they should get Dancing Lights only, yet they also have Faerie Fire and Darkness</p><p></p><p>These are minor differences, I get that, but considering the major differences just two years later, I think this shows that rather than a design principle of "there is no difference between NPC and PC members of the same race" this hints that the design you are talking about was more one of convenience.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Of course they aren't supposed to have them, if they were supposed to have them, they would have had them from the start and you wouldn't have to add them. </p><p></p><p>You are approaching this in a very formulaic and rigid way, trying to figure out the exact definition of what every NPC is capable of and to what degree. And that approach is clearly not what the designers have taken with this. Differences abound and more are easy to make if you want them. </p><p></p><p>Personally? I like that elves are immune to sleep magic and resistant to charm, that has led to a good origin story for them. It is innate to all my elves. The weapon training? Useful, but it is definetly a cultural thing and I'm not sold on every elf having it. Many do, but not everyone. And Tasha's allowing floating ASIs has let me officially clear a big hurdle I was homebrewing anyways, because I was dividing the elves based on their societal roles (High Elves as sages and mages, Wood Elves as Soldiers and Rangers, Dark Elves as Beast Tamers and Clerics) which is made much easier by not having to fight with ASIs that don't make sense. </p><p></p><p>And if I'm making an NPC and want them to have abilities? I really don't need WoTC to tell me precisely which abilities are allowed in which measures, because my NPC is likely either so generic I don't care, or so specific that I'd change it anyways.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Chaosmancer, post: 8208837, member: 6801228"] They said "hey, if you want these generic statblocks to feel more elfy you can apply the traits you apply to your elf PC". That was it. There were no elves in the MM. Except for drow, and we can easily find discrepancies with the Drow. 1) The Elite Warrior and the Priestess have Levitate as part of their innate casting, something Drow in the PHB can't do. 2) The rules in the DMG for adding racial traits to NPCs say that adding innate spells with level requirements instead use their CR as a level. Drow are CR 1/4, so they are only level 1. Meaning they should get Dancing Lights only, yet they also have Faerie Fire and Darkness These are minor differences, I get that, but considering the major differences just two years later, I think this shows that rather than a design principle of "there is no difference between NPC and PC members of the same race" this hints that the design you are talking about was more one of convenience. Of course they aren't supposed to have them, if they were supposed to have them, they would have had them from the start and you wouldn't have to add them. You are approaching this in a very formulaic and rigid way, trying to figure out the exact definition of what every NPC is capable of and to what degree. And that approach is clearly not what the designers have taken with this. Differences abound and more are easy to make if you want them. Personally? I like that elves are immune to sleep magic and resistant to charm, that has led to a good origin story for them. It is innate to all my elves. The weapon training? Useful, but it is definetly a cultural thing and I'm not sold on every elf having it. Many do, but not everyone. And Tasha's allowing floating ASIs has let me officially clear a big hurdle I was homebrewing anyways, because I was dividing the elves based on their societal roles (High Elves as sages and mages, Wood Elves as Soldiers and Rangers, Dark Elves as Beast Tamers and Clerics) which is made much easier by not having to fight with ASIs that don't make sense. And if I'm making an NPC and want them to have abilities? I really don't need WoTC to tell me precisely which abilities are allowed in which measures, because my NPC is likely either so generic I don't care, or so specific that I'd change it anyways. [/QUOTE]
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