I personally would like Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes, Halflings, Tieflings, Aasimar, Orcs, Goblinoids, Dragonborn, and maybe also Shifter and Genasi to be in the core rules. Although I might remove Dragonborn because they're a weird fit.
Let's stay friendly about this... and actually talk about why we want what we want.
There's a couple groups of races I think should be there. The "Tolkien Races" for people coming in. The "Divine Races" for reluctant readers. An Animal System for Mythical races (similar to the half-race system).
This means Dwarves, Elves, Giants (Goliath), Goblins, Halflings, and Orcs. Then for the divine you have Aasimar, Genasi, and Tieflings... though Ardlings and Gnolls wouldn't be bad. Lastly, a system for Minotaurs, Centaurs, Dryads, and Merfolk, because myth is great... and people love Merfolk.
That's what I feel should be core.
Gnolls and Minotaurs don't have free will and should not be humanoids, let alone playable, full stop. Ardlings appear to be the new Aasimar, so I suspect that is a distinction without a difference. If you allow Centaurs to be "core" you have no valid basis for excluding almost any race from being "core".
Minotaurs have free will. On Krynn most of them aren’t even evil. Gnolls are arguable, but there’s some evidence in Out of the Abyss that some gnolls can break free of their programming if treated kindly.
Let's stay friendly about this... and actually talk about why we want what we want. [Snip]
Gnolls and Minotaurs don't have free will and should not be humanoids, let alone playable, full stop. Ardlings appear to be the new Aasimar, so I suspect that is a distinction without a difference. If you allow Centaurs to be "core" you have no valid basis for excluding almost any race from being "core".
That doesn't sound very friendly.
Ardlings aren't replacing anything. Aasimar are staying where they are -- in a splatbook. (Though tbh I think ardlings aren't even FOR 6e, they're for Planescape. We'll see.)
OP's choices make me think they're a Magic player. ;)
Wha? Me? Nah-nev-not even a little- yeah. I was an addict for like 10 years. At one point I was proud of myself for getting down to a pack a day. I still have my decks, but I haven't played in about 5 years on purpose... that game's dangerous.
And Minotaur will depends on your setting! Heck, in D&D's Dungeon Academy, minotaurs have tons of free will and are wonderfully nurturing!
I feel like things that shouldn't be core are stuff D&D specific. D&D's own brand of wierdness. Giff, Gith, non-Goblin Kobolds, and heck yeah Plasmoids are all fairly D&D specific. I also would love for Robots and Dryads to be core... but I feel like they belong in splatbooks because they do appeal to a more specific branch of fantasy. Dryads, Changelings, and Mimics would all make great player races in a Faerie book.
I see the PHB as the introduction to D&D. Don't overwhelm new players with decision paralysis. Save the rest for the other sourcebooks.
Too many options right out of the gate is, in its own way, a gatekeeper. We want more players. We already have those of us with all kinds of experiences that would be off putting to someone with none of those experiences.
Keep it simple in the PHB.
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Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
I had a conversation with a friend a while back, and he left me with this thought: in the history of our own world, the trend has been away from a time with multiple species of hominids toward a time with a single species of hominid. Verisimilitude ought to demand a world of only humans. I wouldn't say that would be a desirable result, but it's the meta-analysis that makes sense to me. I like elves. If they ever fell out of the core I would be motivated to homebrew a way for them to exist.
I think for a standard game of DnD, the races available should be human, elf, dwarf, halfling. You can take away gnomes and half-elves and half-orcs and frankly half-anything as far as I'm concerned.
That's not to say I'm against options. I feel the GM should have the option to make further races available - but to be honest, I'm just never going to play in a setting where there's even a small risk of running into a dragonborn. Or a tabaxi. I'm sure I'd feel the same about tieflings except for the existance of Annah.
Currently, I dream of building a world without any of the standard races I listed above. Although maybe make room for humans? Hm. But a world of ogres and centaur and lizardfolk and kenku and .. oh I dunno, maybe some of the greenskins, although they're sorta same-same, just angrier humans with tusks.
So I'm all for options. I just believe the GM should control them.
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Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
The way I look at it, if you don't want this race or that race, then write up a homebrew for whatever world setting you are going to use, and lay it out for the players before you start a campaign. It doesn't really matter what WoTC puts out in their books. DMs with more than five minutes experience are already thinking of what THEY would change if given a chance. Well, it's a digital world, and there are ample free means to make it happen, whether it's Google Docs, or OpenOffice.
The thing is, you can't have too many in the PHB. It will either start pushing up cost of binding or pushing other content out.
You want the races that will appeal to new players and are associated with D&D. The bread an butter ones. They're pretty much covered by LotR races - so Human, Dwarf, Elf, Halfling. You might want Gnomes, being a fairly common fantasy race, despite not being in LotR.
After that, you just want a sample of races that allow players to see what ideas you can run with. So, you want an Orc or a Goblin to show that traditionally bad guys aren't meant to be 2D cutouts, but can be played. You probably want Tiefling to demonstrate the idea.of being related to devil pacts, etc. Aasimar to be it's opposite. One beast race. Perhaps one more race to round out to 10. You don't want many more than that or you start having problems fitting them in.
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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.
Based on the characters I've played or plan to play, the new PHB should have Tieflings, Half-Elves, Elves, Halflings, Dhampir, Aasimar and Giff (not Giff, it's pronounced Giff!).
Humans, dwarves and all the rest can be in supplements.
More seriously:
Essential: Human, Elves, Dwarves, Halflings.
Should be in as well: Gnomes, Dragonborn, Tieflings. (I would put Aasimar here but they're in MotMv.)
Can be elsewhere (can't fit everything in one book): everything else.
Based on the characters I've played or plan to play, the new PHB should have Tieflings, Half-Elves, Elves, Halflings, Dhampir, Aasimar and Giff (not Giff, it's pronounced Giff!).
Humans, dwarves and all the rest can be in supplements.
More seriously:
Essential: Human, Elves, Dwarves, Halflings.
Should be in as well: Gnomes, Dragonborn, Tieflings. (I would put Aasimar here but they're in MotMv.)
Can be elsewhere (can't fit everything in one book): everything else.
I think they are gonna include Ardlings (the next gen of Aasimar) in the PHB.
I guess the restriction on no half-races anymore applies to half-dragons too?
I don't think so. The "half race" rules proposed applies to playable races being combined. Dragons aren't official playable races. The half-dragon template in the MM, which is for monster not player character designed though many folks do port it over as a player option, isn't what they're talking about here and would still be a homebrew case.
It's actually more like what they initially insisted on with the Gothic Lineages overriding the original racial traits (though they clarified that to something more nuanced). You look like what you want, and you pick one lineage for your racial features.
I will say at least out in social media, this particular mechanic is getting hit hard by folks for its writing first, and I'd say rightfully so.
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Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
I prefer the core races as originally found in the first player's handbook (AD&D: human, half-elf, half-roc, elf, dwarf, gnome, halfling) and any other races to be published in supplements.
Basically, cram as many in there as you can, with a sidebar that says something like this:
"Most existing settings don't include every race presented here. Ask your DM which races are in your game world, and if they're comfortable adding any. Remember that it takes a lot of work to create all the cultural and historical stuff we make for these books. That's why we pay our writers!"
And then maybe a few example world lists. List which races exist in Eberron and in Dragonlance and so on.
The phrase "restriction on half-races" speaks of not having read the document.
I read it. Well, skimmed it at least. How else would I know that they got rid of half-elves and half-orcs? I was just wondering if that applied to half-dragons too.
Basically, cram as many in there as you can, with a sidebar that says something like this:
"Most existing settings don't include every race presented here. Ask your DM which races are in your game world, and if they're comfortable adding any. Remember that it takes a lot of work to create all the cultural and historical stuff we make for these books. That's why we pay our writers!"
And then maybe a few example world lists. List which races exist in Eberron and in Dragonlance and so on.
Were I to write a Player's Handbook, I'd aim for a diversity of Creature Types, and change the typing of some existing Races in order to achieve greater mechanical diversity. Thus, for many Races that are currently Humanoid, I'd change their type to emphasize the more exotic elements of their heritage. Almost all would have at least two sub-races.
Setting agnostic is probably "humans", and suggestions for how to come up with your own list.
I kinda like Dragonborn. Always have.
Minotaurs have free will. On Krynn most of them aren’t even evil. Gnolls are arguable, but there’s some evidence in Out of the Abyss that some gnolls can break free of their programming if treated kindly.
Wha? Me? Nah-nev-not even a little- yeah. I was an addict for like 10 years. At one point I was proud of myself for getting down to a pack a day. I still have my decks, but I haven't played in about 5 years on purpose... that game's dangerous.
And Minotaur will depends on your setting! Heck, in D&D's Dungeon Academy, minotaurs have tons of free will and are wonderfully nurturing!
I feel like things that shouldn't be core are stuff D&D specific. D&D's own brand of wierdness. Giff, Gith, non-Goblin Kobolds, and heck yeah Plasmoids are all fairly D&D specific. I also would love for Robots and Dryads to be core... but I feel like they belong in splatbooks because they do appeal to a more specific branch of fantasy. Dryads, Changelings, and Mimics would all make great player races in a Faerie book.
I see the PHB as the introduction to D&D. Don't overwhelm new players with decision paralysis. Save the rest for the other sourcebooks.
Too many options right out of the gate is, in its own way, a gatekeeper. We want more players. We already have those of us with all kinds of experiences that would be off putting to someone with none of those experiences.
Keep it simple in the PHB.
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
I had a conversation with a friend a while back, and he left me with this thought: in the history of our own world, the trend has been away from a time with multiple species of hominids toward a time with a single species of hominid. Verisimilitude ought to demand a world of only humans. I wouldn't say that would be a desirable result, but it's the meta-analysis that makes sense to me. I like elves. If they ever fell out of the core I would be motivated to homebrew a way for them to exist.
I think for a standard game of DnD, the races available should be human, elf, dwarf, halfling. You can take away gnomes and half-elves and half-orcs and frankly half-anything as far as I'm concerned.
That's not to say I'm against options. I feel the GM should have the option to make further races available - but to be honest, I'm just never going to play in a setting where there's even a small risk of running into a dragonborn. Or a tabaxi. I'm sure I'd feel the same about tieflings except for the existance of Annah.
Currently, I dream of building a world without any of the standard races I listed above. Although maybe make room for humans? Hm. But a world of ogres and centaur and lizardfolk and kenku and .. oh I dunno, maybe some of the greenskins, although they're sorta same-same, just angrier humans with tusks.
So I'm all for options. I just believe the GM should control them.
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
The way I look at it, if you don't want this race or that race, then write up a homebrew for whatever world setting you are going to use, and lay it out for the players before you start a campaign. It doesn't really matter what WoTC puts out in their books. DMs with more than five minutes experience are already thinking of what THEY would change if given a chance. Well, it's a digital world, and there are ample free means to make it happen, whether it's Google Docs, or OpenOffice.
I guess the restriction on no half-races anymore applies to half-dragons too?
The thing is, you can't have too many in the PHB. It will either start pushing up cost of binding or pushing other content out.
You want the races that will appeal to new players and are associated with D&D. The bread an butter ones. They're pretty much covered by LotR races - so Human, Dwarf, Elf, Halfling. You might want Gnomes, being a fairly common fantasy race, despite not being in LotR.
After that, you just want a sample of races that allow players to see what ideas you can run with. So, you want an Orc or a Goblin to show that traditionally bad guys aren't meant to be 2D cutouts, but can be played. You probably want Tiefling to demonstrate the idea.of being related to devil pacts, etc. Aasimar to be it's opposite. One beast race. Perhaps one more race to round out to 10. You don't want many more than that or you start having problems fitting them in.
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.
Based on the characters I've played or plan to play, the new PHB should have Tieflings, Half-Elves, Elves, Halflings, Dhampir, Aasimar and Giff (not Giff, it's pronounced Giff!).
Humans, dwarves and all the rest can be in supplements.
More seriously:
Essential: Human, Elves, Dwarves, Halflings.
Should be in as well: Gnomes, Dragonborn, Tieflings. (I would put Aasimar here but they're in MotMv.)
Can be elsewhere (can't fit everything in one book): everything else.
I think they are gonna include Ardlings (the next gen of Aasimar) in the PHB.
I don't think so. The "half race" rules proposed applies to playable races being combined. Dragons aren't official playable races. The half-dragon template in the MM, which is for monster not player character designed though many folks do port it over as a player option, isn't what they're talking about here and would still be a homebrew case.
It's actually more like what they initially insisted on with the Gothic Lineages overriding the original racial traits (though they clarified that to something more nuanced). You look like what you want, and you pick one lineage for your racial features.
I will say at least out in social media, this particular mechanic is getting hit hard by folks for its writing first, and I'd say rightfully so.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
The phrase "restriction on half-races" speaks of not having read the document.
I prefer the core races as originally found in the first player's handbook (AD&D: human, half-elf, half-roc, elf, dwarf, gnome, halfling) and any other races to be published in supplements.
Basically, cram as many in there as you can, with a sidebar that says something like this:
"Most existing settings don't include every race presented here. Ask your DM which races are in your game world, and if they're comfortable adding any. Remember that it takes a lot of work to create all the cultural and historical stuff we make for these books. That's why we pay our writers!"
And then maybe a few example world lists. List which races exist in Eberron and in Dragonlance and so on.
I read it. Well, skimmed it at least. How else would I know that they got rid of half-elves and half-orcs? I was just wondering if that applied to half-dragons too.
That sounds like a great idea.
Were I to write a Player's Handbook, I'd aim for a diversity of Creature Types, and change the typing of some existing Races in order to achieve greater mechanical diversity. Thus, for many Races that are currently Humanoid, I'd change their type to emphasize the more exotic elements of their heritage. Almost all would have at least two sub-races.
I really want to roll this as a PC and call it "Shmoo."