D&D 5E (2024) WotC Should Make 5.5E Specific Setting

[Paul Farquhar]

It is.

The point is it isn't a gentle decision. It has major setting ramifications.

In a sense - Dragonborn are very rare for a reason - so there is simply not enough of them that it’s possible to field units of breath weapon infantry. If you had a setting with a significant Dragonborn population you would either have to rule that most did not have breath weapons, or that they ruled the world. You can’t put a unit of flamethrowers on a medieval battlefield without massively changing the world.

There is a similar issue with elves, of course - a company of Fire Bolters on the battlefield would be like adding automatic weapons. It’s the norm for Eberron of course, and you have the same on both sides, but it would end any pretence of pseudo-medievalism in a setting like FR or Greyhawk. So it falls to the DM to handwave why that doesn’t happen.

And then the humans all use their bonus feat to pick up arcane initiate…

Most settings, especially pseudo-medieval ones, only work because normal folk don’t have the same abilities as PCs, including the ones they get from their species.

 

[mamba]

I am less a fan of isolationist Elf. Actually most of the creepy "pure blood" tropes in D&D seem to enter via Elf campaigns.

That can be anyone, I just ran with the example that was provided. Also, these do not need to be the only elves either, others can be more open. To me that is much more culture driven than species driven

 

[Minigiant]

In a sense - Dragonborn are very rare for a reason - so there is simply not enough of them that it’s possible to field units of breath weapon infantry. If you had a setting with a significant Dragonborn population you would either have to rule that most did not have breath weapons, or that they ruled the world. You can’t put a unit of flamethrowers on a medieval battlefield without massively changing the world.

There is a similar issue with elves, of course - a company of Fire Bolters on the battlefield would be like adding automatic weapons. It’s the norm for Eberron of course, and you have the same on both sides, but it would end any pretence of pseudo-medievalism in a setting like FR or Greyhawk. So it falls to the DM to handwave why that doesn’t happen.

And then the humans all use their bonus feat to pick up arcane initiate…

Most settings, especially pseudo-medieval ones, only work because normal folk don’t have the same abilities as PCs, including the ones they get from their species.

But again that becomes an excuse to never deal with the situation.

You allow all these magical races available for PCs but nerf them hard because you don't want to think about the consequences.

Thinking about the consequences is exactly what you pay publishers for.

It's the publishers job to do the hard work to make purchasing work it.

 

[Yaarel]

That can be anyone, I just ran with the example that was provided. Also, these do not need to be the only elves either, others can be more open. To me that is much more culture driven than species driven

Old school Forgotten Realms occasionally got carried away with off-putting elven fantasy racism, supremacism, purity, along with a fetish of skin colors and eye colors. I am glad 5e drops these Elf "traditions". I hope they dont resurface accidentally later as content creators look to older editions for inspiration.

By contrast, I doubt people would care if there was some weird rivalry between Dragonborn descending from Green Dragon poison breath versus Blue Dragonborn lightning breath. It seems little more than sports team rivalries.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

But again that becomes an excuse to never deal with the situation.

You allow all these magical races available for PCs but nerf them hard because you don't want to think about the consequences.

Thinking about the consequences is exactly what you pay publishers for.

It's the publishers job to do the hard work to make purchasing work it.

If you think about the consequences, no D&D setting works, and it’s not possible to create one that does.

The game runs on creative vaguery, player character exceptionalism and the willing suspension of disbelief. In other words, D&D works only because of a social contract to never deal with the situation.

 

[TwoSix]

By contrast, I doubt people would care if there was some weird rivalry between Dragonborn descending from Green Dragon poison breath versus Blue Dragonborn lightning breath. It seems little more than sports team rivalries.

That just doesn't make sense. Blue Lightning is so obviously superior, how can it be a competition?