D&D 5E why has none of the wisdom races caught on?

[cbwjm]

Strange, I've always pictured them as a searing orb of fire, and not at all shaped like RL warriors!

Whoops, autocorrect strikes again!

When I read your reply, I was wondering why you replaced firbolgs with fireballs

 

[Faolyn]

Worth noting that 2E tieflings were nothing like the theme park devils with quirky names that 4E/5E present. A 2E tiefling was just a human with some fiendish ancestry, and every one was unique and often passable as human with varying degrees of effort. You could have a tiefling that didn't cast a shadow, one that wilted plants at a touch, another that had a horse tail, etc. It was possible to have something resembling the 5E tiefling, but that was far from the norm.

Yeah, I miss the old tieflings, even though they could sometimes be unbalanced if you use the variant abilities. I hope the next edition makes them cool again.

 

[Faolyn]

Agreed. A wolf/fox/dog/jackal race (so canidae) would be great. It's easy to do now RAW with the Custom lineage in Tasha's
(S or M, +2/+1 to any, dkvision, feat* -- done). But a better option would be great.

* particularly appropriate feats might include a choice between Alert, Mobile, Observant, Feytouched/Shadowtouched, but one could easily justify Telekinetic, Sentinel, Athlete, etc.

This is actually why I don't like the Custom Lineage all that much. A canine folk should have sharp teeth and good hearing/smell, not darkvision--but there's no way to trade darkvision for a different sensory trait.

 

[Minigiant]

Because few races have been normalized, period.

The only new base races in 2 editions are Dragonborn and Tieflings and tons of people still don't like it.

 

[Kobold Stew]

This is actually why I don't like the Custom Lineage all that much. A canine folk should have sharp teeth and good hearing/smell, not darkvision--but there's no way to trade darkvision for a different sensory trait.

I don't know dogs. Ours walks around in the dark a lot.

Swap darkvision for proficiency in Perception. Have fun!

 

[Faolyn]

I don't know dogs. Ours walks around in the dark a lot.

Swap darkvision for proficiency in Perception. Have fun!

They can see in the dark much better than humans, but they're really good at hearing and smell.

 

[Peter BOSCO'S]

Why would you need a +2 WIS? A +1 is enough. Just start with a 15 from point buy or standard array, add a +1 and you're good with the 16 you need at L1. The only reason to need a +2 WIS race is if you want to start with a 17 so you can take a half-feat that can provide +1 WIS at L4, so you can get the 18 you need at L4.

Therefore, the +2 WIS races are ignored because, in addition to being niche or weird, they're unneeded for a Cleric/Druid build. Just stick with Wood Elf, Hill Dwarf, Half-Elf, or Human, all of whom are relatively popular, and all of whom can or do get a +1 WIS.

 

[Tonguez]

They can see in the dark much better than humans, but they're really good at hearing and smell.

kinda dogs see movement better but humans have greater acuity (see more detail). but yeah dogs rely on scent rather than vision

 

[Mind of tempest]

Human, human, and human. Honestly non-human monks make little sense to me.

Clerics are so generic, the only way to make them special is to come up with some really unusual abilities, such as the kuo-tua's lightning blast... which simply becomes part of a domain. The cleric's extra spell-like abilities for clerics became domain spells. I'm not sure what abilities (other than high Wisdom) would make a drow cleric unique. Sure, due to not being tough they tend to go with a casting rather than bashing build, but you could totally build a human cleric that way too.

Druids are somewhere between humans and elves. Given how close elves are to nature you would expect more elven druids, but that conflicts with the "elves make better wizards" vibe as well. Furthermore the only benefit wood elves get to being druids is +1 Wisdom. That is pretty weak. Elves already have the "being close to nature thing" and there's really nothing distinguishing elven druids from non-elven druids.

Of the Wisdom-boosting races, many would not make good monks, often for flavor reasons. Elves are too weak and fragile, thri-kreen have natural weapons that aren't compatible with being a monk (scratching isn't punching, thri-kreen multiple attacks are not compatible with Flurry of Blows nor should they be, GMs will freak out if thri-kreen are doing a lot of damage per attack, etc), shifters have the same issues as thri-kreen only less so, dwarves are slow and have short limbs... kalashtar would, IMO, make good monks but outside of Eberron you don't see them.

how is a cleric genric it is a question of faith dwarves minored in faith as they are mostly just grumpy imaging what could be done with one that majored the interplay of fanaticism vs more calm forms and that is before you look and the verities of human faith mix them in a blender and see what falls out.

elves are said to be in tune with nature what tolkien seem to have meant was the basics of environmentalism what about something that never left nature not in tune but part as cruel or as benevolent as nature?

then what would make a good monk race? other than human which is cheating as they are made to fit everything in them perfectly.

Because it's a weak hook for a race. It's easy to imagine a character as naturally smart or strong or fast or tough, but what even is Wisdom? Good common sense? A natural inclination to divine magic? Those are a weak sell, and more in line with personal traits or class flavor. So the races have to rely on other hooks to sell them, and most of the lot aren't too great. Shifters are diluted enough they don't make anyone happy, Kalashtar are super specialized, Githzerai are weird, and Furbolg are very niche.

Of course, the question will soon be null and void, and good riddance.

I was not suggesting it as the primary hook just a starting point

 

[Scruffy nerf herder]

in one of my other threads, the topic of primarily wisdom races came up and it honestly bugs me as we do not even have one of them in the players handbook?
by wisdom races, I mean at least in 5e a plus two to the wisdom attribute so these guys:

• Githzerai
• Firbolg
• Wildhunt Shifters
• Kalashtar

I am not counting hill dwarves as no one has been able to explain to me how they differ from mountain dwarves.
Has anyone got any thoughts, knowledge of past wisdom races or theories as to why none of them has quite caught on?

Don't mind me over here just using the whole bestiary for race options..... Nothing to see here don't take pictures.