I agree with this and suggest that they put a little blurb about the cultures of each of the races but for multiple settings. "Dwarves in the Forgotten Realms are commonly.... While Dwarves in Eberron are generally...." Give examples while removing any expectations of the races having the same culture in every world.
This can't really be future-proofed (for as of yet unreleased settings) as long as physical books are a thing, so I doubt they'd go for that. Just the one for a default setting though - that's really how it is/used to be (they're actively moving away from this idea, even if it's in an inconsistent and somewhat haphazard manner) anyway, it could/should just be done a little better.
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Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
I agree with this and suggest that they put a little blurb about the cultures of each of the races but for multiple settings. "Dwarves in the Forgotten Realms are commonly.... While Dwarves in Eberron are generally...." Give examples while removing any expectations of the races having the same culture in every world.
This can't really be future-proofed (for as of yet unreleased settings) as long as physical books are a thing, so I doubt they'd go for that. Just the one for a default setting though - that's really how it is/used to be (they're actively moving away from this idea, even if it's in an inconsistent and somewhat haphazard manner) anyway, it could/should just be done a little better.
I don't mean a blurb for every setting, just a short blurb that covers a couple to show that there is no default. The setting books (or DM for homebrew) should do all the heavy lifting after that.
What happens when a new setting is introduced, like Exandria?
What happens when a new species is introduced that doesn't exist in any settings outside its own, like owlen?
You can either have deep, rich, satisfying-to-read lore entries in the PHB and other core books, and then no setting is ever allowed to muck with that lore without a billion angry grognards bellowing "bUt ThAt'S nOt HoW dWaRvEs ArE sUpPoSeD tO bE!", or you can rip the lore out of the core books and put culture-specific lore in setting books..****y to get mostly the same billion angry grognards bellowing "BuT wHeRe'S mY lOrE?!"
You can't really make that chunk of the playerbase happy with D&D as it exists today because what they actually want is for all the non-Forgotten Realms settings to die and disappear. Having different lore for different species in different settings is not allowed, because different settings shouldn't exist and all the lore, all the development effort, all the focus, should be going into the one, singular setting they like and everybody else can suck eggs and find a different game.
It really sucks, because the Forgotten Realms diehards absolutely deserve their lore (where's the ******* Forgotten Realms setting book, Wizards?), but they cannot sustain the game off of sales to the forty-year-invested Old Guard alone. They just can't. New settings draw in new players - look at how insanely successful Exandria has been for Wizards, and there's a lot of million-plus dollar Kickstarters out there for third-party products in the homebrew worlds of popular stremaers, YouTubers, and other influencers. The Forgotten Realms just don't have that kind of pull. Not anymore.
I agree with this and suggest that they put a little blurb about the cultures of each of the races but for multiple settings. "Dwarves in the Forgotten Realms are commonly.... While Dwarves in Eberron are generally...." Give examples while removing any expectations of the races having the same culture in every world.
This can't really be future-proofed (for as of yet unreleased settings) as long as physical books are a thing, so I doubt they'd go for that. Just the one for a default setting though - that's really how it is/used to be (they're actively moving away from this idea, even if it's in an inconsistent and somewhat haphazard manner) anyway, it could/should just be done a little better.
My biggest worry is that D&D Beyond treats the racial changes as errata and forces them on the whole website. From what I have seen of the leaked material, I absolutely hate the racial changes. At this time, I will NOT be buying this book. If D&D Beyond forces these changes on me, making it so that myself and my players HAVE to use the racial changes, D&D Beyond will be useless for character creation for myself and my gaming group.
1/4 of my players don't care about the changes as long as they get to play. Since I use D&D Beyond and Owlbear.Rodeo to run my sessions online, my sessions will stop until I can find a replacement for D&D Beyond.
I hope to God that they implement these changes as alternate races behind a toggle so that those of us who don't want this junk aren't forced to use it.
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Watch your back, conserve your ammo, and NEVER cut a deal with a dragon!
Of course, there's no good reason for dwarves to even exist in other settings. Or for most monsters. Really, there's no good reason for any setting that isn't in the 'standard' D&D cosmology to have the same races, monsters, or magic, but making D&D work properly with that sort of cosmology is a change on a scale beyond anything WotC is even thinking about.
You can either have deep, rich, satisfying-to-read lore entries in the PHB and other core books, and then no setting is ever allowed to muck with that lore without a billion angry grognards bellowing "bUt ThAt'S nOt HoW dWaRvEs ArE sUpPoSeD tO bE!", or you can rip the lore out of the core books and put culture-specific lore in setting books..****y to get mostly the same billion angry grognards bellowing "BuT wHeRe'S mY lOrE?!"
You can't really make that chunk of the playerbase happy with D&D as it exists today because what they actually want is for all the non-Forgotten Realms settings to die and disappear. Having different lore for different species in different settings is not allowed, because different settings shouldn't exist and all the lore, all the development effort, all the focus, should be going into the one, singular setting they like and everybody else can suck eggs and find a different game.
Come now. I know plenty of peeps who play in the FR almost exclusively, and none of them begrudge the existence of other settings. They certainly wouldn't mind if the PHB said one thing (with a "this is Realms lore" sticker on it) and sourcebooks for other settings said something different. The grognards have a million books from previous editions that cover tons of non-crunchy stuff anyway, not to mention a million more wikis that are pretty much edition-agnostic. Besides, they're all very well aware WotC isn't really doing anything too fresh and interesting with any settings: I like the Ravenloft book and it changes some things up, but for a Ravenloft grognard that's not all that appealing - they're not looking for changes to what they have, they're looking for a continuation and the new stuff they'd get from that. FR grognards are no different in that regard: a book that rehashes the material they already own in 3 other editions with a bit of a 5E sauce and changes bunch of canon in ways they more than likely won't be happy with isn't a selling point for them.
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Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
What happens when a new setting is introduced, like Exandria?
What happens when a new species is introduced that doesn't exist in any settings outside its own, like owlen?
You can either have deep, rich, satisfying-to-read lore entries in the PHB and other core books, and then no setting is ever allowed to muck with that lore without a billion angry grognards bellowing "bUt ThAt'S nOt HoW dWaRvEs ArE sUpPoSeD tO bE!", or you can rip the lore out of the core books and put culture-specific lore in setting books..****y to get mostly the same billion angry grognards bellowing "BuT wHeRe'S mY lOrE?!"
You can't really make that chunk of the playerbase happy with D&D as it exists today because what they actually want is for all the non-Forgotten Realms settings to die and disappear. Having different lore for different species in different settings is not allowed, because different settings shouldn't exist and all the lore, all the development effort, all the focus, should be going into the one, singular setting they like and everybody else can suck eggs and find a different game.
It really sucks, because the Forgotten Realms diehards absolutely deserve their lore (where's the ****ing Forgotten Realms setting book, Wizards?), but they cannot sustain the game off of sales to the forty-year-invested Old Guard alone. They just can't. New settings draw in new players - look at how insanely successful Exandria has been for Wizards, and there's a lot of million-plus dollar Kickstarters out there for third-party products in the homebrew worlds of popular stremaers, YouTubers, and other influencers. The Forgotten Realms just don't have that kind of pull. Not anymore.
The thing is that other settings lore can be anything. Not just culture. But some settings might have different lore for the physical aspects of races too. Dragonborn tails are an obvious one. But some settings might not have elves being able to trance, or lucky halflings, or beer resistant dwarfs.
What about magic systems? Tons of people have settings with their own magic system. Why is Vancian magic forced onto every single setting involving DnD.
I enjoy culture being finally separate from race. But in the end you do need to make some baseline assumptions about how DnD settings as a whole will work. You can never make it broad enough to cater for every single setting perfectly.
I've done worldbuilding projects of settings myself. But I simply don't use them for D&D as they're just not similar enough for it to make sense or work.
What happens when a new setting is introduced, like Exandria?
What happens when a new species is introduced that doesn't exist in any settings outside its own, like owlen?
You can either have deep, rich, satisfying-to-read lore entries in the PHB and other core books, and then no setting is ever allowed to muck with that lore without a billion angry grognards bellowing "bUt ThAt'S nOt HoW dWaRvEs ArE sUpPoSeD tO bE!", or you can rip the lore out of the core books and put culture-specific lore in setting books..****y to get mostly the same billion angry grognards bellowing "BuT wHeRe'S mY lOrE?!"
You can't really make that chunk of the playerbase happy with D&D as it exists today because what they actually want is for all the non-Forgotten Realms settings to die and disappear. Having different lore for different species in different settings is not allowed, because different settings shouldn't exist and all the lore, all the development effort, all the focus, should be going into the one, singular setting they like and everybody else can suck eggs and find a different game.
It really sucks, because the Forgotten Realms diehards absolutely deserve their lore (where's the ****ing Forgotten Realms setting book, Wizards?), but they cannot sustain the game off of sales to the forty-year-invested Old Guard alone. They just can't. New settings draw in new players - look at how insanely successful Exandria has been for Wizards, and there's a lot of million-plus dollar Kickstarters out there for third-party products in the homebrew worlds of popular stremaers, YouTubers, and other influencers. The Forgotten Realms just don't have that kind of pull. Not anymore.
Then you put a line in the new setting book about how each of the PHB races work in that world.
And you do a deeper dive into how the setting-specific races work in that setting. And if someone wants to, say, move a leonin out of Theros, they're already homebrewing, and can probably figure it out on their own.
They could not say FR, then, also. They could say something bland like. "In some worlds, elves are like X. Your game may have a different idea, and you should check with your DM." They need to have something generic, if only for Adventurer's League. And, yes, an FR setting book might be nice. I wonder though if its needed. Setting books are really for people who run homebrew. Are there lots of people out there running homebrew in the FR? Or are they just running through published adventures? Actually, don't answer that. It will just derail the thread.
I see your other point, similar to what you were saying about ASIs that even if you put a paragraph long disclaimer in red, boldface, all caps, 40-point type saying this is suggested, not required, there are people who will read it that what's suggested actually is required. And the one and only correct way to play is to use the suggested options. And I agree that you're probably right. I've done a lot of public-facing writing, and people often only read what they want, regardless of what's actually written. But does the whole game need to cater to them? Why hold everyone hostage to some people who will only read it the way they want to read it? They can put in suggested options, and if some people take that as gospel, then that's on them.
Since I use D&D Beyond and Owlbear.Rodeo to run my sessions online, my sessions will stop until I can find a replacement for D&D Beyond.
What do you need replaced? There's hundreds of online dice rollers and character stuff as well as the work-in-progress-anyway encounter tool stuff can be done the old fashioned way.
The other thing that annoys me about the new trend for races is how scant the write ups are. Th three most recent races, Owlin, Herengone, and Fairy are all so… barren. There are next to no cultural entries for them and not even name suggestions. Bubkes. (Less than bubkes actually, since there isn’t even a 🐐💩 there.) WotC is making them so neutral that they’re generic and bland. Owlin are owl people, that’s basically all it says. Herengone are bunny people, that’s basically all it says. 🥱😴😪😮💨😪😮💨🤤
A lack of lore has been one of my main problems with 5th when I started playing again. (The other two being an over simplified but opaque skill system and making Wizards and Sorcs CC and/or support casters.)
And wow, the book hasn't dropped yet, and we are having this discussion yet again. My main concern at the moment is more when will it be available as a standalone and digital product. Because no one in my group of players/dm's is paying that amount to buy content they already have.
I am a fan of minimal baked in Lore in the PHB or Source Book, but I would really expect to see that lore in a good Campaign Guide.
Same here. Honestly, I just only really play in or DM homebrew, and re-write the lore from published sources to the point of just skipping over it entirely when it comes to reading. But I do understand that’s a minority viewpoint. Maybe some suggested lore like: If you are playing in the default setting on the FR, dwarves act like this, but that may change based on the world you and your party create. Similar to what people are saying with ASIs, a line about suggested culture, without a mandate.
I have been playing and DM'ing D&D since 1981. My multiverse still contains remnants from previous editions of D&D and other RPG's. If something catches my, or my player's, interest, I will insert it into my campaign as I see fit. All these WotC changes to make D&D more Socially correct will NEVER see my campaign. To me they,. like 4th Ed, simply don't exist.
They MtG campaign materials I have simply inserted into places like Greyhawk, Eberron, or more rarely, The Forgotten Realms.
The 'Monsters of the Multiverse' material, from what I have seen from the leaked material, will NEVER see my gaming table. I most likely will not play in sessions that use it either (at this time). If D&D Beyond forces us to use the racial changes this book gives us, the character creator will become useless to me, and all the money I have spent here will have been wasted.
Please, please, please D&D Beyond. Add this material behind a toggle that allows us to continue using the races as they currently are and not as presented in this new book.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Watch your back, conserve your ammo, and NEVER cut a deal with a dragon!
The 'Monsters of the Multiverse' material, from what I have seen from the leaked material, will NEVER see my gaming table. I most likely will not play in sessions that use it either (at this time). If D&D Beyond forces us to use the racial changes this book gives us, the character creator will become useless to me, and all the money I have spent here will have been wasted.
Please, please, please D&D Beyond. Add this material behind a toggle that allows us to continue using the races as they currently are and not as presented in this new book.
You've been a member for 4 and a half years or so. Things changing after that long isn't money wasted, its a business keeping up with a changing world. It sucks that you won't use the tools anymore, but that's the model of DDB. They literally have to update everything that Wizards tells them to.
Since I use D&D Beyond and Owlbear.Rodeo to run my sessions online, my sessions will stop until I can find a replacement for D&D Beyond.
What do you need replaced? There's hundreds of online dice rollers and character stuff as well as the work-in-progress-anyway encounter tool stuff can be done the old fashioned way.
I use D&D Beyond exclusively for character creation. I use their Campaigns to share my purchased books (I own everything except Rick and Morty which is just a waste of storage space in my opinion). I now use the Encounter Builder/Combat Tracker also. But the biggest loss will be shared content, and the inability to use the character creator should the racial changes be forced across the board.
Don't get me wrong, I love D&D Beyond, but if the racial changes are Forced on use, the sit will no longer be feasible for me.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Watch your back, conserve your ammo, and NEVER cut a deal with a dragon!
Since I use D&D Beyond and Owlbear.Rodeo to run my sessions online, my sessions will stop until I can find a replacement for D&D Beyond.
What do you need replaced? There's hundreds of online dice rollers and character stuff as well as the work-in-progress-anyway encounter tool stuff can be done the old fashioned way.
I use D&D Beyond exclusively for character creation. I use their Campaigns to share my purchased books (I own everything except Rick and Morty which is just a waste of storage space in my opinion). I now use the Encounter Builder/Combat Tracker also. But the biggest loss will be shared content, and the inability to use the character creator should the racial changes be forced across the board.
Don't get me wrong, I love D&D Beyond, but if the racial changes are Forced on use, the sit will no longer be feasible for me.
DnDBeyond will do what WotC tells them to do. All the complaining in the world will do you no good here. WotC is who you need to talk to.
The 'Monsters of the Multiverse' material, from what I have seen from the leaked material, will NEVER see my gaming table. I most likely will not play in sessions that use it either (at this time). If D&D Beyond forces us to use the racial changes this book gives us, the character creator will become useless to me, and all the money I have spent here will have been wasted.
Please, please, please D&D Beyond. Add this material behind a toggle that allows us to continue using the races as they currently are and not as presented in this new book.
You've been a member for 4 and a half years or so. Things changing after that long isn't money wasted, its a business keeping up with a changing world. It sucks that you won't use the tools anymore, but that's the model of DDB. They literally have to update everything that Wizards tells them to.
If I have spent good money for material, I should still be able to use that material no matter what changes are made in future books. With hard copy books, this is not a problem. With digital material, the changes can, and have been, forced upon us (me). If I don't like/want material, I should not have it forced on me.
If one book forces changes on me to a system I have spent hundreds of dollars collecting, I should NOT have to use that book or the changes it is making to everything else I have purchased.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Watch your back, conserve your ammo, and NEVER cut a deal with a dragon!
In 4th Ed, WotC attempted to have their own character builder. Unlike D&D Beyond, they forced errata and changes to 4e for purposes of game 'Balance' on existing characters. After they completely ruined a character 3 times, a character I had managed to get to L16 despite the first 2 character changing alterations force on that character, I gave up on the builder, and 4e in general. I went over to Pathfinder at the time, as did most people I gave with.
If the changes in this book are forced on me, it may be time for me to give up on D&D and go back to Pathfinder. I may think PF2 is far crappier than 5e, but at least they don't force game altering changes across the board on those that don't want them (?yet?) . . .
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Watch your back, conserve your ammo, and NEVER cut a deal with a dragon!
The 'Monsters of the Multiverse' material, from what I have seen from the leaked material, will NEVER see my gaming table. I most likely will not play in sessions that use it either (at this time). If D&D Beyond forces us to use the racial changes this book gives us, the character creator will become useless to me, and all the money I have spent here will have been wasted.
Please, please, please D&D Beyond. Add this material behind a toggle that allows us to continue using the races as they currently are and not as presented in this new book.
You've been a member for 4 and a half years or so. Things changing after that long isn't money wasted, its a business keeping up with a changing world. It sucks that you won't use the tools anymore, but that's the model of DDB. They literally have to update everything that Wizards tells them to.
If I have spent good money for material, I should still be able to use that material no matter what changes are made in future books. With hard copy books, this is not a problem. With digital material, the changes can, and have been, forced upon us (me). If I don't like/want material, I should not have it forced on me.
If one book forces changes on me to a system I have spent hundreds of dollars collecting, I should NOT have to use that book or the changes it is making to everything else I have purchased.
When you buy the digital content from DDB, it is with the knowledge and understanding that they WILL make any changes that Wizards wants them to. That's the agreement made when the money changes hands. Being upset about it now, 4 years later, because this time it's something you don't like, is your own fault.
Edit: Just one, very recent, example is the PHB. All of the eratta, including the Drow lore changes, are in the DDB PHB. That's how its always been done.
In 4th Ed, WotC attempted to have their own character builder. Unlike D&D Beyond, they forced errata and changes to 4e for purposes of game 'Balance' on existing characters. After they completely ruined a character 3 times, a character I had managed to get to L16 despite the first 2 character changing alterations force on that character, I gave up on the builder, and 4e in general. I went over to Pathfinder at the time, as did most people I gave with.
If the changes in this book are forced on me, it may be time for me to give up on D&D and go back to Pathfinder. I may think PF2 is far crappier than 5e, but at least they don't force game altering changes across the board on those that don't want them (?yet?) . . .
We get it, but...
DnDBeyond will do what WotC tells them to do.
You are filing your complaint to the wrong people.
In 4th Ed, WotC attempted to have their own character builder. Unlike D&D Beyond, they forced errata and changes to 4e for purposes of game 'Balance' on existing characters. After they completely ruined a character 3 times, a character I had managed to get to L16 despite the first 2 character changing alterations force on that character, I gave up on the builder, and 4e in general. I went over to Pathfinder at the time, as did most people I gave with.
If the changes in this book are forced on me, it may be time for me to give up on D&D and go back to Pathfinder. I may think PF2 is far crappier than 5e, but at least they don't force game altering changes across the board on those that don't want them (?yet?) . . .
Considering that Beyond allows you to keep legacy characters even from things like old UA, it probably won't be a problem for existing characters.
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Canto alla vita alla sua bellezza ad ogni sua ferita ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
In 4th Ed, WotC attempted to have their own character builder. Unlike D&D Beyond, they forced errata and changes to 4e for purposes of game 'Balance' on existing characters. After they completely ruined a character 3 times, a character I had managed to get to L16 despite the first 2 character changing alterations force on that character, I gave up on the builder, and 4e in general. I went over to Pathfinder at the time, as did most people I gave with.
If the changes in this book are forced on me, it may be time for me to give up on D&D and go back to Pathfinder. I may think PF2 is far crappier than 5e, but at least they don't force game altering changes across the board on those that don't want them (?yet?) . . .
We get it, but...
DnDBeyond will do what WotC tells them to do.
You are filing your complaint to the wrong people.
Here's the thing though, they aren't.
Sure, that is the reality of the situation but this person still pays D&D Beyond for their products. They still log into D&D Beyond for their service. License issues be damned, this person has a right to complain on the D&D Beyond forums about issues that occur on D&D Beyond.
Wizards in general isn't going to give a flying pig because they sold the license, they're done. It's up to D&D Beyond as the recipient of said license that if they want a change/alteration to that contract, they need to fight for it.
In 4th Ed, WotC attempted to have their own character builder. Unlike D&D Beyond, they forced errata and changes to 4e for purposes of game 'Balance' on existing characters. After they completely ruined a character 3 times, a character I had managed to get to L16 despite the first 2 character changing alterations force on that character, I gave up on the builder, and 4e in general. I went over to Pathfinder at the time, as did most people I gave with.
If the changes in this book are forced on me, it may be time for me to give up on D&D and go back to Pathfinder. I may think PF2 is far crappier than 5e, but at least they don't force game altering changes across the board on those that don't want them (?yet?) . . .
We get it, but...
DnDBeyond will do what WotC tells them to do.
You are filing your complaint to the wrong people.
Here's the thing though, they aren't.
Sure, that is the reality of the situation but this person still pays D&D Beyond for their products. They still log into D&D Beyond for their service. License issues be damned, this person has a right to complain on the D&D Beyond forums about issues that occur on D&D Beyond.
Wizards in general isn't going to give a flying pig because they sold the license, they're done. It's up to D&D Beyond as the recipient of said license that if they want a change/alteration to that contract, they need to fight for it.
This is not the first time, nor will it be the last time, that this exact same thing has happened, with all the exact same arguments and with the exact same answers. Derailing this thread will not help them.
This can't really be future-proofed (for as of yet unreleased settings) as long as physical books are a thing, so I doubt they'd go for that. Just the one for a default setting though - that's really how it is/used to be (they're actively moving away from this idea, even if it's in an inconsistent and somewhat haphazard manner) anyway, it could/should just be done a little better.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
I don't mean a blurb for every setting, just a short blurb that covers a couple to show that there is no default. The setting books (or DM for homebrew) should do all the heavy lifting after that.
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
What happens when a new setting is introduced, like Exandria?
What happens when a new species is introduced that doesn't exist in any settings outside its own, like owlen?
You can either have deep, rich, satisfying-to-read lore entries in the PHB and other core books, and then no setting is ever allowed to muck with that lore without a billion angry grognards bellowing "bUt ThAt'S nOt HoW dWaRvEs ArE sUpPoSeD tO bE!", or you can rip the lore out of the core books and put culture-specific lore in setting books..****y to get mostly the same billion angry grognards bellowing "BuT wHeRe'S mY lOrE?!"
You can't really make that chunk of the playerbase happy with D&D as it exists today because what they actually want is for all the non-Forgotten Realms settings to die and disappear. Having different lore for different species in different settings is not allowed, because different settings shouldn't exist and all the lore, all the development effort, all the focus, should be going into the one, singular setting they like and everybody else can suck eggs and find a different game.
It really sucks, because the Forgotten Realms diehards absolutely deserve their lore (where's the ******* Forgotten Realms setting book, Wizards?), but they cannot sustain the game off of sales to the forty-year-invested Old Guard alone. They just can't. New settings draw in new players - look at how insanely successful Exandria has been for Wizards, and there's a lot of million-plus dollar Kickstarters out there for third-party products in the homebrew worlds of popular stremaers, YouTubers, and other influencers. The Forgotten Realms just don't have that kind of pull. Not anymore.
Please do not contact or message me.
My biggest worry is that D&D Beyond treats the racial changes as errata and forces them on the whole website. From what I have seen of the leaked material, I absolutely hate the racial changes. At this time, I will NOT be buying this book. If D&D Beyond forces these changes on me, making it so that myself and my players HAVE to use the racial changes, D&D Beyond will be useless for character creation for myself and my gaming group.
1/4 of my players don't care about the changes as long as they get to play. Since I use D&D Beyond and Owlbear.Rodeo to run my sessions online, my sessions will stop until I can find a replacement for D&D Beyond.
I hope to God that they implement these changes as alternate races behind a toggle so that those of us who don't want this junk aren't forced to use it.
Watch your back, conserve your ammo,
and NEVER cut a deal with a dragon!
Of course, there's no good reason for dwarves to even exist in other settings. Or for most monsters. Really, there's no good reason for any setting that isn't in the 'standard' D&D cosmology to have the same races, monsters, or magic, but making D&D work properly with that sort of cosmology is a change on a scale beyond anything WotC is even thinking about.
Come now. I know plenty of peeps who play in the FR almost exclusively, and none of them begrudge the existence of other settings. They certainly wouldn't mind if the PHB said one thing (with a "this is Realms lore" sticker on it) and sourcebooks for other settings said something different. The grognards have a million books from previous editions that cover tons of non-crunchy stuff anyway, not to mention a million more wikis that are pretty much edition-agnostic. Besides, they're all very well aware WotC isn't really doing anything too fresh and interesting with any settings: I like the Ravenloft book and it changes some things up, but for a Ravenloft grognard that's not all that appealing - they're not looking for changes to what they have, they're looking for a continuation and the new stuff they'd get from that. FR grognards are no different in that regard: a book that rehashes the material they already own in 3 other editions with a bit of a 5E sauce and changes bunch of canon in ways they more than likely won't be happy with isn't a selling point for them.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
The thing is that other settings lore can be anything. Not just culture. But some settings might have different lore for the physical aspects of races too. Dragonborn tails are an obvious one. But some settings might not have elves being able to trance, or lucky halflings, or beer resistant dwarfs.
What about magic systems? Tons of people have settings with their own magic system. Why is Vancian magic forced onto every single setting involving DnD.
I enjoy culture being finally separate from race. But in the end you do need to make some baseline assumptions about how DnD settings as a whole will work. You can never make it broad enough to cater for every single setting perfectly.
I've done worldbuilding projects of settings myself. But I simply don't use them for D&D as they're just not similar enough for it to make sense or work.
Then you put a line in the new setting book about how each of the PHB races work in that world.
And you do a deeper dive into how the setting-specific races work in that setting. And if someone wants to, say, move a leonin out of Theros, they're already homebrewing, and can probably figure it out on their own.
They could not say FR, then, also. They could say something bland like. "In some worlds, elves are like X. Your game may have a different idea, and you should check with your DM." They need to have something generic, if only for Adventurer's League. And, yes, an FR setting book might be nice. I wonder though if its needed. Setting books are really for people who run homebrew. Are there lots of people out there running homebrew in the FR? Or are they just running through published adventures? Actually, don't answer that. It will just derail the thread.
I see your other point, similar to what you were saying about ASIs that even if you put a paragraph long disclaimer in red, boldface, all caps, 40-point type saying this is suggested, not required, there are people who will read it that what's suggested actually is required. And the one and only correct way to play is to use the suggested options. And I agree that you're probably right. I've done a lot of public-facing writing, and people often only read what they want, regardless of what's actually written. But does the whole game need to cater to them? Why hold everyone hostage to some people who will only read it the way they want to read it? They can put in suggested options, and if some people take that as gospel, then that's on them.
What do you need replaced? There's hundreds of online dice rollers and character stuff as well as the work-in-progress-anyway encounter tool stuff can be done the old fashioned way.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
I have been playing and DM'ing D&D since 1981. My multiverse still contains remnants from previous editions of D&D and other RPG's. If something catches my, or my player's, interest, I will insert it into my campaign as I see fit. All these WotC changes to make D&D more Socially correct will NEVER see my campaign. To me they,. like 4th Ed, simply don't exist.
They MtG campaign materials I have simply inserted into places like Greyhawk, Eberron, or more rarely, The Forgotten Realms.
The 'Monsters of the Multiverse' material, from what I have seen from the leaked material, will NEVER see my gaming table. I most likely will not play in sessions that use it either (at this time). If D&D Beyond forces us to use the racial changes this book gives us, the character creator will become useless to me, and all the money I have spent here will have been wasted.
Please, please, please D&D Beyond. Add this material behind a toggle that allows us to continue using the races as they currently are and not as presented in this new book.
Watch your back, conserve your ammo,
and NEVER cut a deal with a dragon!
You've been a member for 4 and a half years or so. Things changing after that long isn't money wasted, its a business keeping up with a changing world. It sucks that you won't use the tools anymore, but that's the model of DDB. They literally have to update everything that Wizards tells them to.
I use D&D Beyond exclusively for character creation. I use their Campaigns to share my purchased books (I own everything except Rick and Morty which is just a waste of storage space in my opinion).
I now use the Encounter Builder/Combat Tracker also. But the biggest loss will be shared content, and the inability to use the character creator should the racial changes be forced across the board.
Don't get me wrong, I love D&D Beyond, but if the racial changes are Forced on use, the sit will no longer be feasible for me.
Watch your back, conserve your ammo,
and NEVER cut a deal with a dragon!
DnDBeyond will do what WotC tells them to do. All the complaining in the world will do you no good here. WotC is who you need to talk to.
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
If I have spent good money for material, I should still be able to use that material no matter what changes are made in future books. With hard copy books, this is not a problem. With digital material, the changes can, and have been, forced upon us (me). If I don't like/want material, I should not have it forced on me.
If one book forces changes on me to a system I have spent hundreds of dollars collecting, I should NOT have to use that book or the changes it is making to everything else I have purchased.
Watch your back, conserve your ammo,
and NEVER cut a deal with a dragon!
In 4th Ed, WotC attempted to have their own character builder. Unlike D&D Beyond, they forced errata and changes to 4e for purposes of game 'Balance' on existing characters. After they completely ruined a character 3 times, a character I had managed to get to L16 despite the first 2 character changing alterations force on that character, I gave up on the builder, and 4e in general. I went over to Pathfinder at the time, as did most people I gave with.
If the changes in this book are forced on me, it may be time for me to give up on D&D and go back to Pathfinder. I may think PF2 is far crappier than 5e, but at least they don't force game altering changes across the board on those that don't want them (?yet?) . . .
Watch your back, conserve your ammo,
and NEVER cut a deal with a dragon!
When you buy the digital content from DDB, it is with the knowledge and understanding that they WILL make any changes that Wizards wants them to. That's the agreement made when the money changes hands. Being upset about it now, 4 years later, because this time it's something you don't like, is your own fault.
Edit: Just one, very recent, example is the PHB. All of the eratta, including the Drow lore changes, are in the DDB PHB. That's how its always been done.
We get it, but...
DnDBeyond will do what WotC tells them to do.
You are filing your complaint to the wrong people.
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
Considering that Beyond allows you to keep legacy characters even from things like old UA, it probably won't be a problem for existing characters.
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
Here's the thing though, they aren't.
Sure, that is the reality of the situation but this person still pays D&D Beyond for their products. They still log into D&D Beyond for their service. License issues be damned, this person has a right to complain on the D&D Beyond forums about issues that occur on D&D Beyond.
Wizards in general isn't going to give a flying pig because they sold the license, they're done. It's up to D&D Beyond as the recipient of said license that if they want a change/alteration to that contract, they need to fight for it.
This is not the first time, nor will it be the last time, that this exact same thing has happened, with all the exact same arguments and with the exact same answers. Derailing this thread will not help them.
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master