Celestials and fiends are too “organic” looking, as in they look like if you cut them open you’d find more or less the same organs in them a other things (I know devils have miniature versions of other devil types in them). I don’t really know how I’d want it to be changed though.
MMotM was the opportunity to make Minotaur something other than "the horns race." At least now they've got Labyrinthine Recall...? If they had their old Unearthed Arcana trait of 'Sea Reaver' it might well match the artwork, which I wasn't really fond of until I learned of that trait. I would've liked something like AC based on their CON mod, but then is that making them too bull-ish?
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Zero is the most important number in D&D: Session Zero sets the boundaries and the tone; Rule Zero dictates the Dungeon Master (DM) is the final arbiter; and Zero D&D is better than Bad D&D.
"Let us speak plainly now, and in earnest, for words mean little without the weight of conviction."
A somewhat tangential hot take about a class , but in relation to the change made from magical BPS to force damage for some creatures (and how that effects Barbarians), in retrospect I honestly find it weird that Barbarians are even capable of resisting magical BPS, especially as early as Tier 1.
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I feel like instead of "Race" we should use the term "Species", but I also understand it's kind of too late to try and relabel it after all these years.
Half-Races should not be their own individual player races. There should either be a system for playing a hybrid race for any combination of humanoid races (so you could play an Orc-Dwarf or Halfling-Elf), or you being a hybrid shouldn't impact your racial mechanics at all.
Tieflings shouldn't be specifically descended from Devils, and should go back to having any kind of fiendish ancestry. If you want to play a person descended from a Rakshasa or Demon Lord, the Tiefling race should have the option to do that. The same applies to Aasimar and them just being descended from Angels.
All Planetouched should function as the Gothic Lineages from Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft.
Tritons, Sea Elves, and Water Genasi are mostly redundant. Multiple aquatic races are fine. But they have to be different from each other. Having 3 different races of people with blue skin that can breathe underwater and swim fast is not good game design.
D&D's base dwarves are boring because they're just ripping off Tolkien. The most interesting Dwarves are the ones from 5e Eberron because of how they differ from Tolkienish Dwarves. Other settings should have different takes on the race, like having a group of sailing Dwarves styled after the Vikings, or an artificer-run magocracy that uses runes and magic items in everyday life.
There are too many Elves and Shadar-Kai never should have been retconned to just be another subspecies of Elf.
Half-Races should not be their own individual player races. There should either be a system for playing a hybrid race for any combination of humanoid races (so you could play an Orc-Dwarf or Halfling-Elf), or you being a hybrid shouldn't impact your racial mechanic
D&D's base dwarves are boring because they're just ripping of Tolkien. The most interesting Dwarves are the ones from 5e Eberron because of how they differ from Tolkienish Dwarves. Other settings should have different takes on the race, like having a group of sailing Dwarves styled after the Vikings, or an artificer-run magocracy that uses runes and magic items in everyday life.
Check out dark sun dwarves. They had some cool stuff going on. See also Mul, a dwarf/human hybrid.
Datk sun had some really cool ideas I wish they had incorporated in other settings.
Half-Races should not be their own individual player races. There should either be a system for playing a hybrid race for any combination of humanoid races (so you could play an Orc-Dwarf or Halfling-Elf), or you being a hybrid shouldn't impact your racial mechanic
D&D's base dwarves are boring because they're just ripping of Tolkien. The most interesting Dwarves are the ones from 5e Eberron because of how they differ from Tolkienish Dwarves. Other settings should have different takes on the race, like having a group of sailing Dwarves styled after the Vikings, or an artificer-run magocracy that uses runes and magic items in everyday life.
Check out dark sun dwarves. They had some cool stuff going on. See also Mul, a dwarf/human hybrid.
Datk sun had some really cool ideas I wish they had incorporated in other settings.
I'm pretty familiar with the Mul. I think that hybrid races are fine, so long as their place in the world is clear. I'm not sure if they really need to be mechanically distinct from the Dwarves of the world, though.
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Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Not sure how spicy this is, but I dont think Darkvision should be as common as it is, even among the PHB races.
I think that's a pretty mild take. However, the choice of which races specifically should lose it... That might get you in some fights. ;)
I think it became ultra common in the same vein as infravision was also really common. If it bothers you a lot you could homebrew a lesser lowlight vision and leave true darkvision as a rarity.
Which races would you remove ot from if goong with that option?
There shouldn't be half-anythings. Different species shouldn't be able to breed together. You're a human, elf, orc, dwarf, or whatever you want...but not half.
Not sure how spicy this is, but I dont think Darkvision should be as common as it is, even among the PHB races.
I think that's a pretty mild take. However, the choice of which races specifically should lose it... That might get you in some fights. ;)
I think it became ultra common in the same vein as infravision was also really common. If it bothers you a lot you could homebrew a lesser lowlight vision and leave true darkvision as a rarity.
Which races would you remove ot from if goong with that option?
This question has me intrigued a bit, so I'm gonna go through some of the creatures with Darkvision and try to figure out if I feel like it fully makes sense for them to have Darkvision...
Aasimar, I think, mostly just have Darkvision as a stand-in for general celestial special senses. Ultimately, though, I feel like it doesn't feel totally in-line with the theming of the race, so we could drop it from them.
Bugbear is a race that's partly defined as being skulkers in darkness... everything of the race kind of leans into that, so at that point it would be weirder for them to not have darkvision.
Dwarves of all kind have a long and storied history of being mountain-born people with a deep ties to mining and otherwise being underground. It's entirely reasonable for a Dwarf to live their entire lives underground without ever seeing the sun, so Darkvision makes sense for them.
Elves I'm kind of mixed on... I know that, classically, Elves have a long-established history in Tolkien-esque stories for being able to see in the dark (and otherwise having far superior sight compared to the other races), so despite darkvision not feeling fully justified to me in the race, since there's not a lot of reason for them being able to specifically see in the dark, I'd keep it on Elves because at this point it would be more effort to explain why they DON'T have it than why they do.
Genasi, like Aasimar, kind of just have Darkvision as a stand-in for a sense of obligation for them to have some kind of sense beyond normal human senses, but ultimately I feel like it doesn't fulfill any need from the race through their backstory or characterization, so let's drop it from them.
Gnomes are similar to Dwarves in the sense that they're clearly established as a mining race who regularly lives underground. Darkvision for them.
Goblins basically have all the same justifications for Darkvision as both Bugbears and Gnomes, so they should have Darkvision as well.
Hobgoblins kind of feel like they should have Darkvision, since all the other Goblinoids do, but I feel like they don't have much in their heritage that feels like Darkvision would totally make sense for them. If anything the backstory element that they created Goblins to be their servants in ancient times it almost makes sense they'd give them Darkvision to make them more useful as servants, and to compensate for their own lack of darkvision.
Kobolds rely on Darkvision so much that they actually got bad at regular vision (except for the books that drop their sunlight sensitivity), so they make perfect sense to me.
Orcs and Half-Orcs I feel don't really have a good reason for why they would have Darkvision. Orcish culture doesn't really exist primarily in dark, unlit locations for any extended period of time. They're not known for being particularly sneaky either... I feel like there's often a sense that monsters just have Darkvision because it somehow makes them more monstrous, but with the shift in Orcs in popular culture to be more just "large green people", it feels like Darkvision is just kind of... there. Let's drop it from them.
Owlin. They're owls. Darkvision.
Tabaxi. Same thing, just cats. Darkvision.
Tiefling, with their fiendish heritage, make sense as having an innate proclivity to darkness deep in their blood. I feel like it'd be weirder for them not to have Darkvision than to have it.
Triton, at first glance, seem like they just kind of have Darkvision as a ribbon feature, but these are beings who are established as living so deep in the ocean that they might not ever get regular sunlight. With their deep-sea nature, Darkvision makes sense to me, so they can keep it.
Yuan-Ti are snake-people, and while snakes are nocturnal and adapted to living in darkness, they don't really "See" in the dark... they rely on a combination of scent and infrared sensing. That said... functionally, I think Darkvision is a good enough approximation of those features without having to come up with a whole "heat sensing" vision with its own rules and complications.
So that's not all the races with Darkvision, but overall I'm realizing that, for the most part, I felt that the races with darkvision should keep their darkvision. Even the ones I thought didn't totally make sense to have it, I don't really feel passionately that they absolutely shouldn't have Darkvision.
There shouldn't be half-anythings. Different species shouldn't be able to breed together. You're a human, elf, orc, dwarf, or whatever you want...but not half.
Elrond Half-Elven, Lord of Rivendell would like to have a word with you.
There shouldn't be half-anythings. Different species shouldn't be able to breed together. You're a human, elf, orc, dwarf, or whatever you want...but not half.
If you just don't like half-x races, that's cool. But there is a misconception here.
Different species can breed. Or rather, it's wrong to say that different species can't. Our ancestors interbred with Neanderthals and now we have Neanderthal DNA. It's a simplification taught at schools that species are defined as populations that can breed within themselves but not with each other. It's taught to help kids understand a little better - a bit like they're taught that electrons orbit nuclei like planets orbit the sun. Unfortunately, reality is a lot more fuzzy than that.
As I said, if you don't like the halfbreeds, that's fine, but I just wanted to clarify that aspect about what a species is.
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If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
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The new lore might be lame but mechanically they may be the biggest winners in MMM. They were pretty terrible before.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
Earth Genasi is bonkers now. Their features are universally excellent and PWT is just a broken spell
I feel like pass without trace should legitimately be a 3rd+ level spell. +10 to stealth is such a huge bonus.
BoringBard's long and tedious posts somehow manage to enrapture audiences. How? Because he used Charm Person, the #1 bard spell!
He/him pronouns. Call me Bard. PROUD NERD!
Ever wanted to talk about your parties' worst mistakes? Do so HERE. What's your favorite class, why? Share & explain
HERE.Fey suck, they're annoying to deal with in pretty much everyway possible and I do not understand why people want Fey content.
Celestials and fiends are too “organic” looking, as in they look like if you cut them open you’d find more or less the same organs in them a other things (I know devils have miniature versions of other devil types in them). I don’t really know how I’d want it to be changed though.
MMotM was the opportunity to make Minotaur something other than "the horns race." At least now they've got Labyrinthine Recall...? If they had their old Unearthed Arcana trait of 'Sea Reaver' it might well match the artwork, which I wasn't really fond of until I learned of that trait. I would've liked something like AC based on their CON mod, but then is that making them too bull-ish?
Zero is the most important number in D&D: Session Zero sets the boundaries and the tone; Rule Zero dictates the Dungeon Master (DM) is the final arbiter; and Zero D&D is better than Bad D&D.
"Let us speak plainly now, and in earnest, for words mean little without the weight of conviction."
- The Assemblage of Houses, World of Warcraft
elves=mid
A somewhat tangential hot take about a class , but in relation to the change made from magical BPS to force damage for some creatures (and how that effects Barbarians), in retrospect I honestly find it weird that Barbarians are even capable of resisting magical BPS, especially as early as Tier 1.
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
We should be able to kitbash races together.
Give me my Half-Elf Tiefling Centaur already!
Not sure how spicy this is, but I dont think Darkvision should be as common as it is, even among the PHB races.
Three-time Judge of the Competition of the Finest Brews! Come join us in making fun, unique homebrew and voting for your favorite entries!
I think that's a pretty mild take. However, the choice of which races specifically should lose it... That might get you in some fights. ;)
I feel like instead of "Race" we should use the term "Species", but I also understand it's kind of too late to try and relabel it after all these years.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
Half-Races should not be their own individual player races. There should either be a system for playing a hybrid race for any combination of humanoid races (so you could play an Orc-Dwarf or Halfling-Elf), or you being a hybrid shouldn't impact your racial mechanics at all.
Tieflings shouldn't be specifically descended from Devils, and should go back to having any kind of fiendish ancestry. If you want to play a person descended from a Rakshasa or Demon Lord, the Tiefling race should have the option to do that. The same applies to Aasimar and them just being descended from Angels.
All Planetouched should function as the Gothic Lineages from Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft.
Tritons, Sea Elves, and Water Genasi are mostly redundant. Multiple aquatic races are fine. But they have to be different from each other. Having 3 different races of people with blue skin that can breathe underwater and swim fast is not good game design.
D&D's base dwarves are boring because they're just ripping off Tolkien. The most interesting Dwarves are the ones from 5e Eberron because of how they differ from Tolkienish Dwarves. Other settings should have different takes on the race, like having a group of sailing Dwarves styled after the Vikings, or an artificer-run magocracy that uses runes and magic items in everyday life.
There are too many Elves and Shadar-Kai never should have been retconned to just be another subspecies of Elf.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
Check out dark sun dwarves. They had some cool stuff going on. See also Mul, a dwarf/human hybrid.
Datk sun had some really cool ideas I wish they had incorporated in other settings.
I'm pretty familiar with the Mul. I think that hybrid races are fine, so long as their place in the world is clear. I'm not sure if they really need to be mechanically distinct from the Dwarves of the world, though.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
I think it became ultra common in the same vein as infravision was also really common. If it bothers you a lot you could homebrew a lesser lowlight vision and leave true darkvision as a rarity.
Which races would you remove ot from if goong with that option?
There shouldn't be half-anythings. Different species shouldn't be able to breed together. You're a human, elf, orc, dwarf, or whatever you want...but not half.
This question has me intrigued a bit, so I'm gonna go through some of the creatures with Darkvision and try to figure out if I feel like it fully makes sense for them to have Darkvision...
Aasimar, I think, mostly just have Darkvision as a stand-in for general celestial special senses. Ultimately, though, I feel like it doesn't feel totally in-line with the theming of the race, so we could drop it from them.
Bugbear is a race that's partly defined as being skulkers in darkness... everything of the race kind of leans into that, so at that point it would be weirder for them to not have darkvision.
Dwarves of all kind have a long and storied history of being mountain-born people with a deep ties to mining and otherwise being underground. It's entirely reasonable for a Dwarf to live their entire lives underground without ever seeing the sun, so Darkvision makes sense for them.
Elves I'm kind of mixed on... I know that, classically, Elves have a long-established history in Tolkien-esque stories for being able to see in the dark (and otherwise having far superior sight compared to the other races), so despite darkvision not feeling fully justified to me in the race, since there's not a lot of reason for them being able to specifically see in the dark, I'd keep it on Elves because at this point it would be more effort to explain why they DON'T have it than why they do.
Genasi, like Aasimar, kind of just have Darkvision as a stand-in for a sense of obligation for them to have some kind of sense beyond normal human senses, but ultimately I feel like it doesn't fulfill any need from the race through their backstory or characterization, so let's drop it from them.
Gnomes are similar to Dwarves in the sense that they're clearly established as a mining race who regularly lives underground. Darkvision for them.
Goblins basically have all the same justifications for Darkvision as both Bugbears and Gnomes, so they should have Darkvision as well.
Hobgoblins kind of feel like they should have Darkvision, since all the other Goblinoids do, but I feel like they don't have much in their heritage that feels like Darkvision would totally make sense for them. If anything the backstory element that they created Goblins to be their servants in ancient times it almost makes sense they'd give them Darkvision to make them more useful as servants, and to compensate for their own lack of darkvision.
Kobolds rely on Darkvision so much that they actually got bad at regular vision (except for the books that drop their sunlight sensitivity), so they make perfect sense to me.
Orcs and Half-Orcs I feel don't really have a good reason for why they would have Darkvision. Orcish culture doesn't really exist primarily in dark, unlit locations for any extended period of time. They're not known for being particularly sneaky either... I feel like there's often a sense that monsters just have Darkvision because it somehow makes them more monstrous, but with the shift in Orcs in popular culture to be more just "large green people", it feels like Darkvision is just kind of... there. Let's drop it from them.
Owlin. They're owls. Darkvision.
Tabaxi. Same thing, just cats. Darkvision.
Tiefling, with their fiendish heritage, make sense as having an innate proclivity to darkness deep in their blood. I feel like it'd be weirder for them not to have Darkvision than to have it.
Triton, at first glance, seem like they just kind of have Darkvision as a ribbon feature, but these are beings who are established as living so deep in the ocean that they might not ever get regular sunlight. With their deep-sea nature, Darkvision makes sense to me, so they can keep it.
Yuan-Ti are snake-people, and while snakes are nocturnal and adapted to living in darkness, they don't really "See" in the dark... they rely on a combination of scent and infrared sensing. That said... functionally, I think Darkvision is a good enough approximation of those features without having to come up with a whole "heat sensing" vision with its own rules and complications.
So that's not all the races with Darkvision, but overall I'm realizing that, for the most part, I felt that the races with darkvision should keep their darkvision. Even the ones I thought didn't totally make sense to have it, I don't really feel passionately that they absolutely shouldn't have Darkvision.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
Elrond Half-Elven, Lord of Rivendell would like to have a word with you.
If you just don't like half-x races, that's cool. But there is a misconception here.
Different species can breed. Or rather, it's wrong to say that different species can't. Our ancestors interbred with Neanderthals and now we have Neanderthal DNA. It's a simplification taught at schools that species are defined as populations that can breed within themselves but not with each other. It's taught to help kids understand a little better - a bit like they're taught that electrons orbit nuclei like planets orbit the sun. Unfortunately, reality is a lot more fuzzy than that.
As I said, if you don't like the halfbreeds, that's fine, but I just wanted to clarify that aspect about what a species is.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.