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

[Paul Farquhar]

With regard to class, yes. Racial abilities are shared by the entire race. PCs and NPCs are no different in that regard.

Has to apply to racial abilities too. Greyhawk’s elves are listed as fielding battalions of archers, not firebolters.

 

[Maxperson]

Oh, I totally agree.

I'm not the one arguing that settings are not based in the mechanics that they were designed for. I'm not the one saying that settings are totally system agnostic. Adding a platoon of dwarven wizards does rather change the setting though, because, unless these are the first wizards EVER in the setting, then one really does have to start asking the question about why we never saw a single dwarven wizard in all the millennia of history for the setting.

Lots of them were seen. Just not by PCs or mentioned by the incredibly sparse tidbits of history in the official setting. Metric craptons of Greyhawk history have never been mentioned in official products.

 

[Maxperson]

Has to apply to racial abilities too. Greyhawk’s elves are listed as fielding battalions of archers, not firebolters.

It literally doesn't. The PHB says PCs draw their abilities from the race they belong to, not that they have super special extra powers. Elves probably wouldn't use firebolters because they wouldn't want to burn down forests, plains, etc. They love nature. Arrows are much better in that regard.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Sigh.

They didn't have dwarven wizards, elven high clerics or halfling... well just about anything... because they didn't HAVE to ban them in the setting. The game itself did that.

And might not have done so if that hadn’t been in the core rules (that many tables ignored). It’s not necessarily to the setting.

Adding in a platoon of dwarven wizards to Greyhawk would be a major rewrite of the setting.

You really haven’t understood the player character exceptionalism concept have you? There are no dwarven wizards in the armies because NPCs don’t have PC classes. But a PC dwarf can be a wizard because PCs are different.

An elven high priest of Correlon? Doesn't exist in Greyhawk OR Forgotten Realms until 2e rolls along and they start rewriting the setting. Had to blow up the entire setting (the first time) in order to shoehorn the new mechanics in.

Deities are setting fluff, they had nothing to do with the game rules.

Alright, answer me this. Why is there a major Realm Shaking Event every time there is a new edition? Why ONLY when there is a new edition? Why do we never get RSE's in the middle of an edition?

We don’t get them any more , and the last one was to undo terrible decisions with regard to lore. It had nothing to do with rules changes. They have realised it unnecessarily. Just as its unnecessary to change Greyhawk or Eberron.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

The PHB says PCs draw their abilities from the race they belong to,

But not everyone is equally proficient in the abilities they are granted by their species. Humans have the ability to run a mile in less than four minutes. That doesn’t mean all humans can do it.

Cantrips obviously need to be learned in any case. Baby elves are not born knowing how to cast firebolt. It’s really a cultural feature, not a biological one (heritage in other RPGs). Most elves learn some magic as part of a standard elven education.

 

[Hussar]

NPCs don’t have PC classes

That's edition specific.

 

[Maxperson]

But not everyone is equally proficient in the abilities they are granted by their species. Humans have the ability to run a mile in less than four minutes. That doesn’t mean all humans can do it.

That's not a special human ability. It would be an athletics check by someone with good dex and con.

Cantrips obviously need to be learned in any case. Baby elves are not born knowing how to cast firebolt. It’s really a cultural feature, not a biological one (heritage in other RPGs). Most elves learn some magic as part of a standard elven education.

Sure, but they would learn it during adolescence. All high elves(with probably a very few exceptions) would learn that cantrip by adulthood. Virtually all wood elves would be taught to hide when only lightly obscured.

The PCs are not special with their racial abilities.

 

[Maxperson]

That's edition specific.

Having a PC class was a default NPC option as recently as 5e. 5.5e got rid of that I think, but it was there in the 5e DMG for sure.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

That's edition specific.

Very much a 1st edition thing. NPC classes and monster levels were a specifically 3rd addition thing. Now things are back to how they were in 1st edition (because that is the way to be flexible with regards setting).

 

[Maxperson]

Very much a 1st edition thing. NPC classes and monster levels were a specifically 3rd addition thing. Definitely not part of 5e.

100% a default option for 5e. Page 92.

"When you give an NPC game statistics, you have three main options: giving the NPC only the few statistics it needs, give the NPC a monster stat block, or give the NPC a class and levels."