D&D General What are your Core races?

[bedir than]

Different worlds have different vibes. They shake up preconceived notions about what is and what could be. Different PC Ps get created; different stories get told. Stereotypes get avoided. Freshness emerges.

You are running multiple homebrew worlds at once?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

You are running multiple homebrew worlds at once?

Not usually. Those are examples chosen from a few different D&D campaigns, though the Nephilim and the psi-dwarves (called inheritors) are from the same post-apocalyptic campaign.

But I have files on every campaign idea I think is worth fleshing out, and a lot of my ideas get posted here for others to use, including in RangerWickett’s “Campaign Ideas” thread in my sig.

 

[Mind of tempest]

man, you guys are so much better at this, I can't even hammer out one custom race properly.

 

[Li Shenron]

The 5e PHB has 9 "core" races that are assumed to be basic to D&D 5e in a general way.

For the sake of discussion, let's say that you're putting out your own homebrew campaign setting and you get to choose 9 races but CANNOT include the original 3 demihumans - elf, dwarf, halfling. Your new lineup can be from the history of canonical D&D lore or something new to the game.

What does your world's core 9 looks like?

Just for sake... I'd keep humans, the least-popular (IMXP) PHB races, and add some of the VGtM races.

Human
Half-Orc
Gnome
Firbolg
Goblin
Kenku
Lizardfolk
Tabaxi
Triton

 

[Yaarel]

man, you guys are so much better at this, I can't even hammer out one custom race properly.

With regard to mechanics, if you want to design a new lineage, use the Custom Lineage in Tashas.

Then create your own feat for that lineage.

An easy way to do this, is to look at the half feats in Xanathars and in Tashas. These are the feats that also grant a +1 ability score improvement, but ignore this improvement. Create two half feats for your lineage.

For one of the half feats, to cast one 2nd level spell per short rest, seems balanced (compare Fey Step), albeit this is probably the most powerful edge within the boundary of balanced. Other feats have a 2nd level spell per long rest, but then add extras. It also depends on which spell; some are more powerful than others.

Where Tashas gives the option to have Darkvision or swap it for a proficiency, I feel strongly it is balanced to swap Darkvision for a cantrip, such as the Light cantrip.

When I design a lineage feat, I tend to pack it full till its bursting at its seems. But that is ok. Because, the Tashas lineage is less powerful compared to the lineages in the Players Handbook. So as long as one is aiming for the Tashas design space, the end result is highly likely to be balanced for the game.

 

[clearstream]

With regard to mechanics, if you want to design a new lineage, use the Custom Lineage in Tashas.

Then create your own feat for that lineage.

An easy way to do this, is to look at the half feats in Xanathars and in Tashas. These are the feats that also grant a +1 ability score improvement, but ignore this improvement. Create two half feats for your lineage.

For one of the half feats, to cast one 2nd level spell per short rest, seems balanced (compare Fey Step), albeit this is probably the most powerful edge within the boundary of balanced. Other feats have a 2nd level spell per long rest, but then add extras. It also depends on which spell; some are more powerful than others.

Where Tashas gives the option to have Darkvision or swap it for a proficiency, I feel strongly it is balanced to swap Darkvision for a cantrip, such as the Light cantrip.

When I design a lineage feat, I tend to pack it full till its bursting at its seems. But that is ok. Because, the Tashas lineage is less powerful compared to the lineages in the Players Handbook. So as long as one is aiming for the Tashas design space, the end result is highly likely to be balanced for the game.

Exactly. Even though not all feats are equal, they still can serve as a helpful yardstick for balancing races. An ASI (two stat bumps) = a feat.

For my three kinds of orcs, I set the balance target at three ASIs. Because I split the stat bumps onto classes, that comes down to 1.5 ASIs. That informed each orc subrace having three half feats.

Sea orcs have resilience, tenacity, and toughness.
Wood orcs have trance, two skills, and two spells.
Travellers are quick (+5' speed and disengage as mobility), lucky, and have expertise in one skill.

The difficult part is asking yourself questions like - who is this for? should this trait matter to every class? what is a player choosing this race trying to achieve? how should the race feel to play? Although I believe each of my subraces favours certain classes, none are redundant for any class.

 

[CleverNickName]

We just finished rolling up new characters for my homebrew campaign setting. We have five characters:

• a red dragonborn barbarian
• a dryashi feyblood rogue
• a human cleric (grave)
• a lightfoot halfling fighter
• a tabaxi warlock (archfey)

So while I only consider Dwarf, Halfling, Human, and Elf to be "core," I clearly have no issues with other races. I'll allow anything the player feels like investing their time and attention into. The only thing I ask is that they have a compelling story to build on.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

My current setting has three 'core races' at this point. There are plenty more of sapient species, but these are the most prominent ones.
(I already posted these pics in another thread, but seems to be apropos for this as well)

Spoiler: Humans

Humans. You might be familiar with these guys. Humans are numerous and have variety of differnt cultures. Most live in small hunter-gatherer tribes or nomadic bands, using mostly stone age technology, whilst some build city states and have mastered the bronze.

Hunter-gatherers

Sherennid traders who travel between the various settlements on their droms caravans. (the droms are huge draft animals)

People from the city states. From left to right: wizard-scribe from Shimbal, hedonite from Xaharranad, Marutian noblewoman, Ilumian soldier.

Spoiler: Eldri

The Eldri are small elf-like beings that live in small clans or family groups. From left to right: river clan, jungle clan, desert clan, underdark clan.

Spoiler: Orcs

The Orcs are proud and honourable warrior people who are much hardier than humans and thus can survive in extreme conditions. They mostly live in deserts though many also can be found in the cities of humanity.

There are also gnolls, lizardfolk, kreen (basically thri-kreen) kobols (dog-men kobolds), morogs (ape-men like bugbear equivalents) and some others. But these are really not that detailed.

 

[Yaarel]

My current setting has three 'core races' at this point. There are plenty more of sapient species, but these are the most prominent ones.
(I already posted these pics in another thread, but seems to be apropos for this as well)

Spoiler: Humans

Humans. You might be familiar with these guys. Humans are numerous and have variety of differnt cultures. Most live in small hunter-gatherer tribes or nomadic bands, using mostly stone age technology, whilst some build city states and have mastered the bronze.

Hunter-gatherers

Sherennid traders who travel between the various settlements on their droms caravans. (the droms are huge draft animals)

People from the city states. From left to right: wizard-scribe from Shimbal, hedonite from Xaharranad, Marutian noblewoman, Ilumian soldier.

Spoiler: Eldri

The Eldri are small elf-like beings that live in small clans or family groups. From left to right: river clan, jungle clan, desert clan, underdark clan.

Spoiler: Orcs

The Orcs are proud and honourable warrior people who are much hardier than humans and thus can survive in extreme conditions. They mostly live in deserts though many also can be found in the cities of humanity.

There are also gnolls, lizardfolk, kreen (basically thri-kreen) kobols (dog-men kobolds), morogs (ape-men like bugbear equivalents) and some others. But these are really not that detailed.

Beautiful artwork.

 

[Ancalagon]

I see that as a much smaller problem than the inverse of that situation.

When something isn't covered in the core rules it is so much easier to write it into a future or 3PP product in a way that best suits that product without any unwanted baggage mandated by "core rules". The core rules should focus on things that are most likely to be common denominators across the majority of settings, in order to keep it stream-lined and not waste space of things that stand a good chance of getting ignored.

When writing a supplement, because it actually does make a big difference, it is much easier to add core things than it is to remove things that were part of the core rules. Once something is part of the "core rules" then certain players feel entitled to use it, making it much more difficult to remove without alienating that player. "The D&D book that I paid $50 for has Dragonborn/Teiflings/whatever in it! It is NOT FAIR that I can't play what I want!"

That was part of the problem as 3rd edition added more books, too many players expected to be able to create every crazy non-sensical concept that they could come up with just because it had been published in an official book. That increases the burden on the DM.

I agree with you. And for some reason, the thing that they want to play is almost always some kind of OP/broken combo...