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

[TiQuinn]

I am referring to the unofficial Python data scrape of DnDBeyond character sheets. The scrape occurred late 2022, and internet discussions flourished 2023. Here is an early post about it.

https://dice-scroller.com/en/most-popular-dnd-classes-and-races/#about

I think the data itself is still available online. The data includes some incomplete character sheets that seem unused and some redundant sheets that seem to be for a same character. It can benefit from a cleanup. But the source (DnDBeyond) and sheer quantity (over a million character sheets) make it useful for general impressions, such as most frequent classes and least frequent classes.

In 2022, about 3.56% of these character sheets chose Aasimar for the species, and 2.75% chose Aarakocra. For D&D 5e 2024, Aasimar made the cut, but Aarakocra didnt. Every species of a frequency less than 3% never made the cut, including Shifter, Warforged, Changeling, Tabaxi, Goblin, Kobold, and so on. Only the highest frequencies made the cut for 2024 core. Except some species merged: half into full, subspecies into full, and seemingly elemental Genasi into Goliath.

You still haven’t explained how this is to be interpreted as halflings and gnomes are in free fall and to be rolled into dwarves in some future PHB when they are in the middle of the pack of species chosen and there are several others that have lower percentages and much more likely to be excluded. The 3% cutoff number seems incidental. If humans, elves and dragonborn grow in usage, do you think the next PHB would only have three species? And again, this doesn’t explain genasi, half-elves or half-orcs not being included.

The numbers, while interesting, do not reflect the editorial decisions as you propose.

 

[Yaarel]

You still haven’t explained how this is to be interpreted as halflings and gnomes are in free fall and to be rolled into dwarves in some future PHB when they are in the middle of the pack of species chosen and there are several others that have lower percentages and much more likely to be excluded.

Freefall compares to earlier editions, when core presumed the 1e species options. Today, new species have surpassed some of them. Tiefling is more popular than Dwarf. Gnome hovers near the threshold (3.1% in 2019, 3.72% in 2022). Tiefling and Dragonborn do well, and Goliath and Aasimar entered recently. Half Orc merged into Orc. And so on. There is a demographic shift.

 

[DrJawaPhD]

It's lipstick on a pig.

It absolutely is. But this piggy looks better with lipstick than without!

 

[CreamCloud0]

this popped up in my YT feed and felt tangentially related, an interesting 17 minute watch

 

[Parmandur]

A half-race would have abilities from both parents.

I see no particular reason that has to be true in terms of game mechanics.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Maybe in the future thanks some new option gnomes and halflings could become popular, for example to pilot a magitek mini-mecha or to ride a monster mount. Or some adventure in a zombie apocalypse and halflings' stealth skills are a great help because avoid those undeads always is a better strategy.

I miss half-elves and half-orcs. I like to imagine the half-elf hero like a person with a noble heart but misunderstood or unvalued by the rest.

Maybe we need more racial feats.