D&D 5E Witchlight publishes the new official format for player character races.

[Yaarel]

[doublepost]

 

[Yaarel]

Have they announced that this is the new official format, or is that an assumption because it's what appears in the latest published book?

Both.

The new official format is seen in the Witchlight races:
• Type
• Size
• Speed
• ... plus other traits

My analysis of this format is, these other traits fill out a design space of a feat and a half.

 

[Yaarel]

I think I see where the other person was coming from. Try substituting "worldbuilding" or "flavor" for "racism." (Note: I can see arguments for and against fixed benefits, but that seems to be the one argument for them.)

As a DM, I can worldbuild by making the monster statblocks exactly how want them.

Moreover, altho I am less happy with how Witchlight continues to assign an alignment to the statblock of a humanlike lineage, this too perpetuates the traditional world of the Forgotten Realms.

There lacks a disruption to worldbuilding.

The new race format empowers the player to build a character concept. At the same time, the DM continues to build the world that the character is in.

 

[Yaarel]

From an other thread:

He did say they tried removing alignment but that proved unpopular, so they decided to go with the advise in the Monster Manual and double down on it in the stat blocks themselves.

I can see the designers are doing what they can.

Also humanoids or creatures with the full gamut of human choices/desires/etc do not get an alignment.

In Witchlight, the harengon lineage seems an example this approach, where it is a race and its monster statblock says, "Any Alignment".

Individual non-player characters, including Strongheart, a Lawful Good human, will continue have a statblock with the individuals alignment.

Note, statblocks with the "Unaligned" tag (glasswork golem, mushroom campestri) suggest automaton or instinct.



I am guessing, the designers will handpick which humanlike lineages will get a statblock with the "Any Alignment" tag?

Probably, any player-character race will have its future monster statblocks with the Any Alignment tag?

Probably, the future elf statblocks, including for the eladrin, will switch to Any Alignment?

But what will the humanlike "monster races" look like: the future orc and hobgoblin? I hope these become Any Alignment.

 

[Mind of tempest]

They don't have to be; they just have to be not inherently interchangeable.

on this, we are certainly in agreement as neither of us what that.

Both.

The new official format is seen in the Witchlight races:
• Type
• Size
• Speed
• ... plus other traits

My analysis of this format is, these other traits fill out a design space of a feat and a half.

I would prefer chucker races honestly they need like three feats worth of traits so we can get some good stuff.

 

[jayoungr]

Both.

Do you have a link to the announcement, then? I must have missed it, and I'm curious about what it said.

As a DM, I can worldbuild by making the monster statblocks exactly how want them.

That's part of the old "official product versus personal table" debate, which I'd rather not get into personally; just be aware that there are people on this board who are strongly on the "official product" side.

 

[Yaarel]

Do you have a link to the announcement, then? I must have missed it, and I'm curious about what it said.

The Witchlight adventure itself publishes two new races, the fairy and the harengon. These two races use a new format that differs from the format in the Players Handbook.

The new format retains:
• Size (but no longer exact feet and inches and weight)
• Speed
• Age (mentioned separately as typically about a century)

The new format adds:
• Creature Type (since Humanoid is no longer assumed)

The new format removes:
• Ability Score Increase (moving to Ability Score Generation)
• Alignment (strictly individual)
• Languages (each character gets Common plus one depending on culture)
• Subrace description of skin color, hair and eyes.

That's part of the old "official product versus personal table" debate, which I'd rather not get into personally; just be aware that there are people on this board who are strongly on the "official product" side.

To "worldbuild" means to homebrew ones own setting.

To use the Forgotten Realms is to use an official setting.

In both cases, the needs of the DM remain unchanged. The DM can create new statblocks to homebrew or use official statblocks for Forgotten Realms.

The new race format doesnt impact the DM in any way.

 

[jayoungr]

The Witchlight adventure itself publishes two new races, the fairy and the harengon. These two races use a new format that differs from the format in the Players Handbook.

But I asked whether they had announced the new format and you said they had. Was there an announcement, and if so, where?

To "worldbuild" means to homebrew ones own setting.

I disagree with this definition. Writers of official settings also worldbuild. The only difference is that their worldbuilding gets nicely printed up in bound books.

 

[Yaarel]

But I asked whether they had announced the new format and you said they had. Was there an announcement, and if so, where?

I said they published the new format in the Witchlight book.

That said, many of these items, such as removing alignment, were announced earlier. The removal of the height-weight and complexion is a bit of a surprise to me, but is consistent with earlier announcements.

I disagree with this definition. Writers of official settings also worldbuild. The only difference is that their worldbuilding gets nicely printed up in bound books.

Heh, of course, official designers do worldbuilding, such as the worlds of Forgotten Realms. The point is, the monster statblocks continue these FR worlds unchanged. And if the DM wants to homebrew a world, the DM continues to do it via monster statblocks. The race format has no impact on worldbuilding.

 

[Yaarel]

I would prefer chucker races honestly they need like three feats worth of traits so we can get some good stuff.

I moreorless agree.

I am ok with the new format. The default "typical" race is now:
• Type: Humanoid
• Size: Medium or Small
• Speed: 30
• Age: century lifespan
• Racial Traits: about 1½ feats (which can modify a default trait, such as a non-Humanoid creature type, Large or Tiny, etcetera)

Some settings grant a kind of setting feat, like Theros granting a Supernatural Gift, and presumably Darksun will grant a Psionic Talent.

So, including both the racial feat-and-half and the setting feat, each character starts off at level 1 with about 2½ feats.



With regard to the racial traits, I think the player should get a set of racial traits to choose from. For example, the elf character might choose Elven Accuracy, Fey Teleport, Lucky, Flight, faster speed, or so on, for a racial trait for the elf character. Thus there only needs to be one elf race without any elf subraces. Various elven cultures may or may not regard certain trait choices as "prestigious", but an elf player character can be any choice, whether in the majority or the minority of that culture.