D&D General Which non-D&D races would you like to see in D&D?

[doctorbadwolf]

Gorons, Zoras and Koroks!

Gerudo and Sheikah, too!

Do races from prior editions who aren't in 5e count? Or do you want examples completely outside of D&D as a whole?

Hell yeah.

Vryloka, Hamadryad, Hengeyokai, and Wilden from 4e, for sure.

Can’t think of any from other fiction. Maybe final fantasy? The rabbit folk. Tbh just more animal folk.

 

[CreamCloud0]

Gerudo and Sheikah, too!

I’m not really sure what adding those two would add that isn’t provided already by humans and/or elves, unless you’re just looking at them from just the culture angle? Putting in their civilisations. I was thinking the same about zora with triton and sea elves earlier but i think they at least have a few of their own defining traits that differentiate them from those.

 

[fluffybunbunkittens]

Some might say we have enough cat races. And to that I say... Kilrathi.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I’m not really sure what adding those two would add that isn’t provided already by humans and/or elves, unless you’re just looking at them from just the culture angle? Putting in their civilisations. I was thinking the same about zora with triton and sea elves earlier but i think they at least have a few of their own defining traits that differentiate them from those.

Oh I absolutely will never care in the least about how differentiated two races are. They have a different aesthetic? Enough reason to include them!

Also neither Gerudo nor Shiekah would be elves. Shiekah are long lived but so are dwarves, gnomes, and a few others. Gerudo are tall, strong, heat resistant, and always female. Closer to Goliaths than humans or elves.

 

[Dragonhelm]

I am open to anyone who wants to bring back races from a previous edition of D&D. Which races from a previous edition would you like to see in 5e again? curious

First on my list are the Vanara, from Oriental Adventures 3e. They're adorable. The story of the Monkey King in Chinese mythology make them a great fit.

Avariel elves. They date waaaaay back to Dragon Magazine #51 with an article about "The Winged Folk". With all the different types of elves who adapt to a number of environments, they would be a great addition.

Shardminds from 4e. They're crystalline, have a great backstory tied to the Far Realm, and they can break apart and reform several feet away. I was not a fan of the art. I'd rather see something more like Crystar. Alas. Anyway, they debuted in the 4e Player's Handbook 3.

I'll post more as they come to me.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Honestly, the only thing we've even had to reskin to create was Entkin, and I'm not sure they count for the thread. I think all we did was kind of merge Tortle and Warforged, add Powerful Build, change them to Plant, and make them require water and air.

Overall, we tend to prefer not having SciFi races in Fantasy settings. Otherwise, I might include Wookiee.



I think Custom Lineage would be perfect for the kind of "mutant" that Witchers represent, although Custom Lineage is so very bare bones at the moment that I've only ever seen it used for powergaming so far.

For myself, I've begun thinking that Darkvision should just be magic. It's just a kind of magic that makes sense for some cultures to teach their children, like a Language. It's also hard to argue that it's not magical because it lets you see in a cave with no light and everything one temperature. No matter how narrowly you contrive the situation, except for magical darkness, Darkvision always works. That's not really physically possible, so it must be magic.

That said, I also think that all Darkvision should come with a rider such as Daylight Sensitivity. I don't think it's fair that some races are crippled in the dark, while others just don't have a problem. Even with the limitations that Darkvision has, it's just not really shown itself to be enough of a limitation to discourage people from wandering around in the dark. The choice between having Darkvision or normal vision needs to be an actual choice with an actual cost or benefit.

The problem with Ents/Tree folk is all the wood jokes, morning wood, you've got wood, the Oreads chooses to grapple your party's wood, truely endless.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Sentient and possibly telepathic cats?

They’re in a few different things.

 

[DammitVictor]

I'll second the "All of Star Trek" and "All of the Star Wars" suggestions. I'd suggest everything from Expanded Psionics Handbook, and everything from Complete Spacefarer's Handbook... hey, maybe the ones from Complete Book of Humanoids that haven't been hit up yet, like ogre mage, wemics, and the saurials.

Sentient and possibly telepathic cats?

They’re in a few different things.

Oh, man... how did I forget Phantasy Star? Motavians, Dezolians, psychic cats, and maybe the PSO stuff while we're here.

 

[Corinnguard]

Are you talking about the physicality, the culture, or both?

Just seeing these non-D&D races in D&D as player character races.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Just seeing these non-D&D races in D&D as player character races.

There's a lot of great races in Babylon 5 I would suggest. They even exist in easy to convert d20 versions, via the RPG from Moongoose.