D&D (2024) Which races would YOU put into the 50th anniversary Players Handbook?

[Lanefan]

Fiction is one of the ways by which we model, analyze, and understand reality.

If one wants to (IMO over-)think about it that way. I'm not at the D&D table for any of that.

Fiction which completely ignores this fact is fiction which contributes to problems in the real world.

If one allows it to.....

 

[Lanefan]

But they aren't necessarily stronger than halflings, are they? A halfling can hit 20 Strength just like a goliath can.

Which is exactly the problem - a Halfling should simply not be able to hit that 20 strength but instead be hard-capped at 18; either that, or Goliaths should be able to get to 22.

And then, from there, natural variability is already a thing that exists.

Within the limits imposed by one's size and genetics, yes.

That said, each species' size and genetics can be reasonably expected to impose a different set of extreme-end limits. Halfling strength might vary all over theplace but never outside the range of 2-18, while Goliath strength might vary all over the place but never outside the range of 5-22.

Michael Phelps is physically stronger and hardier than most human beings because his genetics are slightly different (his red blood cells are smaller but more numerous, for example, so his blood is more efficient at carrying in oxygen and nutrients and carrying away waste.) Mozart was an absolute musical genius who got started at age 5. Gauss was likewise a mathematical genius who (at least apocryphally) was proving meaningful results in grade school. Meanwhile, some folks have dyscalculia or dyslexia or dyspraxia or a host of things that impede learning, or have physical weakness outside the bounds of normal, or suffer from a congenitally weak constitution, or absolutely chronic foot-in-mouth disease ( ), etc., etc. Factors that can easily push someone well outside the "norm" for their physiology.

Those are the sort of extreme-end cases I'm referring to. My point is that while Michael Phelps might be an extreme exception for Human strength and endurance he might not be exceptional at all when held up against Goliaths, for whom such strength and endurance is commonplace. By the same token, no Halfling could ever hope to achieve anything anywhere near Phelps' strength and endurance; it's simply beyond them.

Which means, an extreme-end-strength Halfling would be the same as a moderately-strong Human who in turn is the same as a very ordinary Goliath.

I can see the argument that NPCs should trend toward these things, because NPCs are generally sampled from the population overall, so there's enough of them for individual quirkiness to be washed out by the masses. I don't see how one can get to requiring that absolutely all PCs strictly adhere to this.

Easy - one just decides one wants PCs to in general reflect the setting populations of which they are members.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

By the same token, no Halfling could ever hope to achieve anything anywhere near Phelps' strength and endurance; it's simply beyond them.

It seems completely irrational and even anti-scientific to suggest a halfling couldn't have the same endurance. Strength, sure, that's mostly leverage, but endurance? Smaller creatures often have vastly more endurance than larger ones. I mean, humans are ourselves proof positive of this.

 

[Lanefan]

It seems completely irrational and even anti-scientific to suggest a halfling couldn't have the same endurance. Strength, sure, that's mostly leverage, but endurance? Smaller creatures often have vastly more endurance than larger ones. I mean, humans are ourselves proof positive of this.

Fair point. I stand corrected.

 

[Mind of tempest]

right I am going with the only logical option, no races which have ever been in the phb before as they suck and have been done to death I want only the unpopular hyper niche races as it would be funny.

and I would only let humans in if they are the types of humans from all tomorrows as it would get super nuts and that is what I want.

 

[jmartkdr2]

Alternate answer, assuming I don’t care how popular/successful the game is: humans and planetouched only. You can back-fill elves (and greenskins) by calling them feytouched, and you can be small or large-ish (goliath-sized) if you like. Dwarves are just a culture. Dragonborn are now dragon-blooded and are just humans with horns and a tail.

I think that covers everything but full-anthro beastfolk.

 

[Scribe]

It sounds to me like you just want ability scores to be something they never were in 5e, and you're pushing back against things that are recognizing what ability scores always were in this system.

I'm not sure what you mean.

ASI was a further distinction between (some of) the races in the original PHB for 5e. Thats it.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

I'm not sure what you mean.

ASI was a further distinction between (some of) the races in the original PHB for 5e. Thats it.

I mean that you are saying that ability scores should be hard-line separators of physiology, something that no amount of training, no matter how significant, can ever overcome. Ability scores in 5e have never been this, and never will be.

 

[Scribe]

I mean that you are saying that ability scores should be hard-line separators of physiology, something that no amount of training, no matter how significant, can ever overcome. Ability scores in 5e have never been this, and never will be.

I do believe that caps, and negative modifiers could have a place, yes. Halflings should never be on par with...Goliaths, or Dragonborn, or...anything beyond other Small things, like Fairy, in terms of Strength.

I mean even the new packet.

"Their size - being not unlike that of a human child - ...."

Yeah, there are cases where the physiology should mean something, and Halfling Strength, in relation to the majority of the games other races, is one of those cases.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Which means, an extreme-end-strength Halfling would be the same as a moderately-strong Human who in turn is the same as a very ordinary Goliath.

No edition of D&D has ever modelled this. Ever. Literally 100% of editions have not represented this, or anything remotely like it.

Because 12 Strength isn't, and has never been, a meaningful ceiling for halfling strength. Even in 1e, when ability score limits actually existed.

Easy - one just decides one wants PCs to in general reflect the setting populations of which they are members.

Why should they? PCs do not behave like those populations. They do things that most members of those populations would consider completely insane. They take incredible risks, reach stupidly high heights, etc. They should not be like normal people--because normal people don't adventure. “We...have no use for adventures. Nasty disturbing uncomfortable things! Make you late for dinner!”

Yeah, there are cases where the physiology should mean something, and Halfling Strength, in relation to the majority of the games other races, is one of those cases.

Okay. D&D has never done that though, and it seems odd to demand that it start doing so, at least in the way you've described. It is trivially easy for a halfling to be stronger than an ordinary goliath, and always has been. Even back in Ye Olden Dayse this was true. Only noticeably above-average goliaths (or equivalents, since I know goliaths don't exist in 1e) could ever be beyond a halfling's reach.