Bunch of guys saying "you can ignore Forgotten Realms lore and the Tolkienite baggage of fifty years of D&D if you want, but you should have to work extra hard for it. You should have to rewrite all the rules, rewrite all the species, invent special exemptions for your players to play in your world instead of the Forgotten Realms, and you should do it all without the benefit of official support..."
Boooh. Fine, I'll jump on this grenade. Hyperbole aside, this is how it was and how it still is with this UA entry. WotC releases what you want so you can use it without doing anything, or you homebrew it. WotC releasing more over time so you have to homebrew less over time is irrelevant and a non-argument.
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And what's more, there are tons of game systems in which choice of species doesn't matter. Champions, for example... you can be whatever race you want with whatever stats you want, including alien, cyborg, or mutant human. Your species, race, etc, is just cosmetic.
Why does this have to be the case in EVERY game or else. It's like people want to run these games through the meat-grinder and have them all come out the same.
I like the idea of taking all game systems into a meat grinder, the results being bits of GURPS all over the design studio's kitchen. It's like a device from Munchkin.
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Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
I mean, if you find a set of a couple of lineages that replaces all the unique and varied racial abilities from all of the multitude of races for the same 3 traits that you always get no matter what as highly innovate and a sign of high customizability.......I’m just not seeing it. So a Hexblood Dragonborn is the exact same mechanically as a Hexblood Aarakokra or Hexblood Elf or a Hexblood Loxodon? You know, since these are suppose to replace the base race. No skill, tool, armor, or weapon proficiencies that you can customize? This is the exact opposite of what I want as far as racial customization. I want racial feats that can great change how a races traits can be expressed. I want options for each race that you can pick and choose from to give you more control and freedom. This......isn’t really doing any of that for me.....
I don’t hate these, but I’m just not seeing that “great freedom of choice and options” that others seem to be seeing.....
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"Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy and taste good with ketchup."
To be fair this discussion is much less about the UA lineages and more so about the paragraph included and going back to the discussion of the TCE optional rules.
how Hexblood and these lineages tie into other races is something worth discussing though. The rules aren't as clear as they could be and replacing your original lineage's features completely does make these feel like something that works better as a roleplay option after your character dies etc. rather than something you want to play at the start.
It's less these specific options and more what this new design stance represents that broadens the game, at least to me. The idea that your 'Lineage' can be more than just your species. Yeah, applying one of these templates to an aarakocra results in Flightless Birb weirdness, but to be fair aarakocra already work poorly as a D&D species/lineage, so I'm less concerned than I maybe should be about that particular edge case.
Nevertheless, this is still a step towards a more systematic approach, as well as acknowledgment from Wizards that not every last single godforsaken game of D&D is "we want to play the journey of the Fellowship of the Ring again!"
What you're looking for is what I believe 3.5 called a racial template modifier, and it was almost universally reviled because idiot DMs let people apply half a dozen species modifier templates to the same character and create an unholy chimera God Never Meant to Make. It makes more sense for things like dhampir or hexblooded, but it's also a huge power spike and anathema to the design intent of 5e, so in that case we'll just have to homebrew edge cases.
I just wish other people - take a moment here to stare pointedly at whichever grognard has most irritated you recently - wouldn't consider every last single character concept that isn't a direct, unmodified clone of a Lord of the Rings character to be an "edge case". I know Tolkien was an awesomely influental person and the entire reason the game exists, and without his work fantasy as we know it likely wouldn't exist today...but holy shit I am really starting to detest those goddamned books.
Drop the player. I'm all for playing the game how you want, but if a player is being a jerk or not taking no for an answer, drop them. If I had a player that's playstyle was messing with the campaign, I'd drop them and tell them to find a new DM.
And me, dropping an existing player from a game because we now disagree over this optional rule -- this would fall under your category of how I am "not affected by this change"?
Seems like a pretty BIG effect to me.
You said that it was them doing this whenever UA or optional features came out, ne? The player is affecting your table way more negatively than this ever would if you just disallow it.
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I just wish other people - take a moment here to stare pointedly at whichever grognard has most irritated you recently - wouldn't consider every last single character concept that isn't a direct, unmodified clone of a Lord of the Rings character to be an "edge case".
Ah yes, now I see why you're upset over Eberron's racial and cultural identities. It's choc full of LotR clones.
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Why does this have to be the case in EVERY game or else. It's like people want to run these games through the meat-grinder and have them all come out the same.
I'm trying to think of a way to say this that isn't offensive, so please realize I don't mean to be offensive when I say this: Part of what a lot of us would like to overcome is that you and others think this would make things all the same.
On a separate note, yes, you can play how you want at your table, but that does need reiteration, because there are a lot of inflexible people out there who aren't going to allow something at their table if it isn't printed. I mean players as well as DMs. Moreover, it effects Adventurer's League, and it effects those of us who get paid to run games (you really can't tell people to take a hike for being immature when the rent is due). That last point was so bad I had to stop running D&D professionally until Tasha's came out. It's amazing how many people will quit a group just because you let a player have their character not speak an associated race language. Since Tasha's I've started running again and not had that be an issue (and it has come up).
It also needs to be said that there is something in the culture of D&D that must be encouraging that kind of attitude, because I don't see it to this level in other games. The World of Darkness groups had a bit of that, but it seems to have abated since the WoD/CoD changeover. Maybe it comes with the copious lore that exists with D&D, I'm not sure.
That's a lot like what I was saying about how race becomes less a part of the rules as time goes on.
Which is my main objection. The player’s choice of race should be significant to the PC. Being an Elf or being a Dwarf should matter.
I agree that race should matter more than it currently does. However, most proficiencies are not genetic (Aarakocra can be seen as an exception, but even then they could represent this in a non-proficiency based way). Also, race still matters in a lot of ways. Gnomes don't get Vampiric Bite, Dwarves don't get Powerful Build, Orcs don't get Infernal Legacy, Satyrs don't get Halfling's Luck, and Centaurs don't get Gnomish Cunning. Lots of traits are still dependent on your race/species/lineage. It's overexaggerating to say that it isn't significant or doesn't matter anymore just because a Dwarf can get a +2 to Dexterity.
Suggestions to make it matter more that using Lineage/Tasha's, but in a different way:
Race/Species/Lineage should grant you an additional hit dice dependent on which you choose. Dwarves, Hobgoblins, Half-Orcs and Firbolg would get an additional 1d10, Humans, Satyrs, Elves, Tieflings, and most other normal-sized Medium races would get an extra 1d8. Most small races would get an extra 1d6. Goliaths, Orcs, Half-Ogres, Centaurs, Bugbears, and other "Large" races would get an extra 1d12.
I already linkedJoeltheWalrus's alternative to the Customize your Origin and current racial ASI bonus systems. That has race still matter for ASIs, but your upbringing/job matters just a bit more.
There could be more race/species/lineage specific feats, specifically more "genetic" ones instead of "cultural" ones.
I have a system where characters get a free feat at level one, dependent on their race/class/background. This helps keep race mattering in my campaigns.
Unfortunately, we're almost definitely going to need a new edition (maybe 5.5e) in order to get changes like this.
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I just wish other people - take a moment here to stare pointedly at whichever grognard has most irritated you recently - wouldn't consider every last single character concept that isn't a direct, unmodified clone of a Lord of the Rings character to be an "edge case".
Ah yes, now I see why you're upset over Eberron's racial and cultural identities. It's choc full of LotR clones.
Legolas the robot with a sniper rifle.
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A fool pulls the leaves. A brute chops the trunk. A sage digs the roots.
If I want to play a futuristic game of cybernetic augmentations and VR-style combat against sentient computer programs I’m not gonna complain that I would have to homebrew all of that for D&D, I’ll just go play Shadowrun instead. If I want to play in a modern world full of grimdark horror, I’m not gonna complain that I would have to homebrew all of that for D&D, I’ll just dust off my bag-o’ d10s and run around in the World of Darkness.
If one objects so strenuously to playing a game that has “the Tolkienite baggage of fifty years of D&D,” then why does one play D&D and not another game that has not been steeped in 5 decades of Tolkienite baggage?” For many players, the opportunity to experience a “Tolkienite” world with a rich longstanding history is one of the main selling points of D&D. Why play a game inspired by and designed around a “Tolkienite” experience if one dislikes that experience so immensely? I’m curious since it seems such a strange thing to me.
Fallout 3 was (and still is) one of my favorite video games of all time. Fallout 4 was a putrescent pile of rotting excrement. I absolutely hated Fallout 4, so I don’t play it. I disliked Destiny 2 immensely, so I don’t play it. If one dislikes D&D, why does one play it? D&D can be many things to many people, but it cannot possibly be all things to everyone.
... there are a lot of inflexible people out there who aren't going to allow something at their table if it isn't printed.
Without wanting to defend this unreservedly, that often stems from the fact that a lot of what isn't printed is terrible. So is some of what is printed (and there's inflexible people out there who will absolutely throw a hissy fit if you choose not to allow something in print). And there's the UA middle ground of playtest material, which more often than not means "this is seriously overpowered but that's ok since this is playtest material so you should test it by playing it and when we publish it officially it'll be nerfed so your players who did play it will cry".
I'm exaggerating (just a wee smidge), but let's not pretend do-what-you-want-anything-goes isn't as flawed as official-material-only-no-exceptions.
I know Tolkien was an awesomely influental person and the entire reason the game exists, and without his work fantasy as we know it likely wouldn't exist today...but holy shit I am really starting to detest those goddamned books.
Gygax hated them too. D&D was originally supposed to be more Robert E. Howard than J. R. R. Tolkien.
How often have you seen Vince, BioWizard, Lyxen, and the rest heap shit on Eberron for existing at all? Bitterly declare that Eberron represents an awful and unacceptable degradation of the Classic Fantasy Adventure that D&D is ultimately "meant" for? These are folks who complain their heads off that orcs aren't all irredeemably evil forever anymore and how terrible it is that when presented with a grand magical fantasy adventurescape where one can be anything that sets their imagination alike, nobody decides to be a magicless human farm boy who's spent his entire life digging taters and has never seen a sword in his life.
Unpopular opinion: **** Tolkien. **** Middle Earth. **** Faerun. Give me my magic-steampunk lightning-powered skyships. Give me my realmfuls of youkai. Give me my extraplanar incursions. Give me my spellslingers and arcane dragoons. Give me all that ******* cool shit. Or give me the tools to make it my own damn self, since Wizards of the Coast is pathologically terrified of taking advantage of the stupendous wealth of rich folklore outside of Germanic and Britannian classic Eurofantasy - or taking advantage of the work of the hundreds of thousands of splendid authors who've carved the fantasy genre into an explosion of awesome stuff after Tolkien.
This new design direction is one of those tools people can use to make their own shit. And unhooking all the Faerunian cultural baggage from species stat blocks is another great way of empowering players to make their own shit, without having to explain why Faerun's shit got mixed in with your shit and now you have Faerunian dwarves running around your own homebrew world.
How often have you seen Vince, BioWizard, Lyxen, and the rest heap shit on Eberron for existing at all? Bitterly declare that Eberron represents an awful and unacceptable degradation of the Classic Fantasy Adventure that D&D is ultimately "meant" for? These are folks who complain their heads off that orcs aren't all irredeemably evil forever anymore and how terrible it is that when presented with a grand magical fantasy adventurescape where one can be anything that sets their imagination alike, nobody decides to be a magicless human farm boy who's spent his entire life digging taters and has never seen a sword in his life.
Unpopular opinion: **** Tolkien. **** Middle Earth. **** Faerun. Give me my magic-steampunk lightning-powered skyships. Give me my realmfuls of youkai. Give me my extraplanar incursions. Give me my spellslingers and arcane dragoons. Give me all that ****ing cool shit. Or give me the tools to make it my own damn self, since Wizards of the Coast is pathologically terrified of taking advantage of the stupendous wealth of rich folklore outside of Germanic and Britannian classic Eurofantasy - or taking advantage of the work of the hundreds of thousands of splendid authors who've carved the fantasy genre into an explosion of awesome stuff after Tolkien.
This new design direction is one of those tools people can use to make their own shit. And unhooking all the Faerunian cultural baggage from species stat blocks is another great way of empowering players to make their own shit, without having to explain why Faerun's shit got mixed in with your shit and now you have Faerunian dwarves running around your own homebrew world.
I'd like to think I'm smart enough not to conflate these issues. Two wrongs don't make a right.
If we get more content, that's great. I love more content. I just don't see this particular content as revolutionary, game changing, or a paradigm shift on WotC's part, and in some ways it's a step in the wrong direction. Floating ASIs are dumb. I'll die on this hill.
How often have you seen Vince, BioWizard, Lyxen, and the rest heap shit on Eberron for existing at all? Bitterly declare that Eberron represents an awful and unacceptable degradation of the Classic Fantasy Adventure that D&D is ultimately "meant" for? These are folks who complain their heads off that orcs aren't all irredeemably evil forever anymore and how terrible it is that when presented with a grand magical fantasy adventurescape where one can be anything that sets their imagination alike, nobody decides to be a magicless human farm boy who's spent his entire life digging taters and has never seen a sword in his life.
Unpopular opinion: **** Tolkien. **** Middle Earth. **** Faerun. Give me my magic-steampunk lightning-powered skyships. Give me my realmfuls of youkai. Give me my extraplanar incursions. Give me my spellslingers and arcane dragoons. Give me all that ****ing cool shit. Or give me the tools to make it my own damn self, since Wizards of the Coast is pathologically terrified of taking advantage of the stupendous wealth of rich folklore outside of Germanic and Britannian classic Eurofantasy - or taking advantage of the work of the hundreds of thousands of splendid authors who've carved the fantasy genre into an explosion of awesome stuff after Tolkien.
This new design direction is one of those tools people can use to make their own shit. And unhooking all the Faerunian cultural baggage from species stat blocks is another great way of empowering players to make their own shit, without having to explain why Faerun's shit got mixed in with your shit and now you have Faerunian dwarves running around your own homebrew world.
I'd like to think I'm smart enough not to conflate these issues. Two wrongs don't make a right.
If we get more content, that's great. I love more content. I just don't see this particular content as revolutionary, game changing, or a paradigm shift on WotC's part, and in some ways it's a step in the wrong direction. Floating ASIs are dumb. I'll die on this hill.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinions. Just because you personally dislike something doesn't mean it's stupid, or that other people won't like it. Similarly, just because you enjoy something doesn't mean that everyone will. And that's fine. You don't have to criticize people for their preferences. Just play whatever way is fun for you, and hopefully, everyone else will play the way that's fun for them.
All stars fade. Some stars forever fall. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Homebrew (Mostly Outdated):Magic Items,Monsters,Spells,Subclasses ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
Perhaps because DDB can officially support only what's printed (apparently excluding Chapter 9 of the DMG) makes people think that it's all that's allowed, and on the flip side, thinking that what's officially supported is required.
I do not believe either are true. I do not see where DDB gets to dictate which features we are required to use or not use. (They get to say what we can't do on their service by simply not being able to do it - unsupported etc., but that's not the same thing as telling players they're simply not allowed to play their way by other means.) DDB's a handy tool, but I believe that interpreting DDB's official support of a feature as "The Rules" is not the intent of WotC or DDB.
That's just like my opinion, though.
Aside from modifying class features (which I thought was a work in progress perhaps more accelerated post Tasha optional class features swaps), and a way to truly integrate HON and SAN into the character sheet, what else in Ch. 9 isn't supported on D&D Beyond? Out of further curiosity, does roll20 or other VTT gives players more flexibility? I'm not trying to say your wrong, I'm pointing out where in Ch. 9 I see DDB lacking capacity, I'm just curious if it fails elsewhere in the DM's Workshop.
I do agree by it's nature DDB does sort of narrow the parameters of what people can and can't do with D&D barring homebrew labor and even homebrew I'll grant has its limits. That said, while I can envision something less orthodox than DDB, something call it D&D Unbound, I think it would be harder to implement and may be more of a challenge to entry level players, D&D still being the largest "gateway" into TTRPGs out there in terms of consistent marketshare.
The one good thing I see here is that they are starting to use that PB scaling features where they belong, with Races. Too bad I now have to homebrew rules for what their ASBs are going to be because of these so-called “optional” (Crawford, you’re dirty mother******* liar) lineage rules so now I need to homebrew shit just to make it match established RAW in the PHB.
The big issue is that these are basic like “Half-races” which means they should be useable as templates to apply to any race and that would just **** everything up. So basically, on top of everything else they ****ed this up too. Now your Race is Damphir, which means you can’t be a “Damphir-Elf” or a “Damphir-Hobgoblin.” In other words, this is me saying “You ****ed this up too Crawford. You suck.”
If I want to play a futuristic game of cybernetic augmentations and VR-style combat against sentient computer programs I’m not gonna complain that I would have to homebrew all of that for D&D, I’ll just go play Shadowrun instead. If I want to play in a modern world full of grimdark horror, I’m not gonna complain that I would have to homebrew all of that for D&D, I’ll just dust off my bag-o’ d10s and run around in the World of Darkness.
If one objects so strenuously to playing a game that has “the Tolkienite baggage of fifty years of D&D,” then why does one play D&D and not another game that has not been steeped in 5 decades of Tolkienite baggage?” For many players, the opportunity to experience a “Tolkienite” world with a rich longstanding history is one of the main selling points of D&D. Why play a game inspired by and designed around a “Tolkienite” experience if one dislikes that experience so immensely? I’m curious since it seems such a strange thing to me.
Fallout 3 was (and still is) one of my favorite video games of all time. Fallout 4 was a putrescent pile of rotting excrement. I absolutely hated Fallout 4, so I don’t play it. I disliked Destiny 2 immensely, so I don’t play it. If one dislikes D&D, why does one play it? D&D can be many things to many people, but it cannot possibly be all things to everyone.
Because Shadowrun is a mechanically terrible game, at least if the Sixth World sourcebook I have to go by is any indication. Seriously, those rules are an absolute trashfire. I bought the book at my Friendly Local Game Store (which is three hundred miles away from me since I got a job and moved, but it will never stop being my FLGS) out of sheer curiosity because I enjoy the world/idea of Shadowrun, but those rules are awful. Hopefully Cyberpunk Red learns from Shadowrun's mistakes.
Because for as much of a horrible anime weeb as I am, there's just not enough Twilight in me to run World of Darkness. Besides, I have the Grim Hollow Campaign Guide and their new Player Guide incoming as soon as it's done, if I want dark fantasy D&D I've got those needs thoroughly covered.
Because all the Rules-Lite Narrative Experience(TM) games out there are disgraces and should just stop.
Oh. And also because there's absolutely zero support for running any of those games online. Zip. Nada. Zilch. Nopesters.
It's an argument I've made before - DDB and its ilk are the only reason I get to play at all. I have zero friends in my local area, my whole group is online across all corners of the continental United States. I actually prefer GURPS 4e to D&D, but there's no way to support an online GURPS game. And also GURPS handles combat and other fast-paced sequences as poorly as 5e handles social encounters and site exploration. Even if I could convince people to try a new ruleset - and there was actually some interest in Savage Worlds when I floated the idea even if Savage Worlds is basically just GURPS Lite with a better combat engine - there's simply no support for it. If you're not playing in person around a real-life table with a paper character sheet in hand, you more or less can't play. It sucks rocks, I hate it, but it's true.
Heh, and besides. I'm not trying to kick D&D out of the Fantasy genre. I'm trying to kick it into different takes on fantasy. Maybe I want some Brandon Sanderson in my world instead of Tolkien, all Tolkien, and nothing but Tolkien. No way to make a Mistwalker in D&D, but man - the worldbuilding that guy does is impressive, and there's some cool ideas to be mined there. Legit: were a DM to tell me "The game I'm planning takes its inspiration from the guns-and-sorcery magicpunk Western fantasy stories of Brandon Sanderson's Wax and Wayne series, in a world recovering from centuries of climatological catastrophe where the sciences are only beginning to emerge from the shadow of ancient magic and immortal tyranny", my excitement would be downright sexual and that game would get the absolute shit played out of it. Still fantasy, still magical, but man. That just sounds so much freaking cooler than "the twist? This time, we're throwing a necklace into the volcano, Frodo!"
I know Tolkien was an awesomely influental person and the entire reason the game exists, and without his work fantasy as we know it likely wouldn't exist today...but holy shit I am really starting to detest those goddamned books.
Gygax hated them too. D&D was originally supposed to be more Robert E. Howard than J. R. R. Tolkien.
It was/is. The DNA of D&D lifts far more from the pulp stories of the early 19th century (Anderson, Howard, Moorcock, etc.) and westerns than it does from Tolkien's work. That's just set dressing. Oerth is nothing like Middle-Earth.
Really, what we think of as classical D&D began as a fantasy supplement for Chainmail, which was a miniatures game. And it wasn't long before any Tolkien influences were scrubbed. TSR was threatened with a lawsuit when Hobbits appeared in print. That's why we have Halflings.
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Boooh. Fine, I'll jump on this grenade. Hyperbole aside, this is how it was and how it still is with this UA entry. WotC releases what you want so you can use it without doing anything, or you homebrew it. WotC releasing more over time so you have to homebrew less over time is irrelevant and a non-argument.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
I like the idea of taking all game systems into a meat grinder, the results being bits of GURPS all over the design studio's kitchen. It's like a device from Munchkin.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
I mean, if you find a set of a couple of lineages that replaces all the unique and varied racial abilities from all of the multitude of races for the same 3 traits that you always get no matter what as highly innovate and a sign of high customizability.......I’m just not seeing it. So a Hexblood Dragonborn is the exact same mechanically as a Hexblood Aarakokra or Hexblood Elf or a Hexblood Loxodon? You know, since these are suppose to replace the base race. No skill, tool, armor, or weapon proficiencies that you can customize? This is the exact opposite of what I want as far as racial customization. I want racial feats that can great change how a races traits can be expressed. I want options for each race that you can pick and choose from to give you more control and freedom. This......isn’t really doing any of that for me.....
I don’t hate these, but I’m just not seeing that “great freedom of choice and options” that others seem to be seeing.....
"Meddle not in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crunchy and taste good with ketchup."
Characters for Tenebris Sine Fine
RoughCoronet's Greater Wills
To be fair this discussion is much less about the UA lineages and more so about the paragraph included and going back to the discussion of the TCE optional rules.
how Hexblood and these lineages tie into other races is something worth discussing though. The rules aren't as clear as they could be and replacing your original lineage's features completely does make these feel like something that works better as a roleplay option after your character dies etc. rather than something you want to play at the start.
They did say these were 'special' however.
It's less these specific options and more what this new design stance represents that broadens the game, at least to me. The idea that your 'Lineage' can be more than just your species. Yeah, applying one of these templates to an aarakocra results in Flightless Birb weirdness, but to be fair aarakocra already work poorly as a D&D species/lineage, so I'm less concerned than I maybe should be about that particular edge case.
Nevertheless, this is still a step towards a more systematic approach, as well as acknowledgment from Wizards that not every last single godforsaken game of D&D is "we want to play the journey of the Fellowship of the Ring again!"
What you're looking for is what I believe 3.5 called a racial template modifier, and it was almost universally reviled because idiot DMs let people apply half a dozen species modifier templates to the same character and create an unholy chimera God Never Meant to Make. It makes more sense for things like dhampir or hexblooded, but it's also a huge power spike and anathema to the design intent of 5e, so in that case we'll just have to homebrew edge cases.
I just wish other people - take a moment here to stare pointedly at whichever grognard has most irritated you recently - wouldn't consider every last single character concept that isn't a direct, unmodified clone of a Lord of the Rings character to be an "edge case". I know Tolkien was an awesomely influental person and the entire reason the game exists, and without his work fantasy as we know it likely wouldn't exist today...but holy shit I am really starting to detest those goddamned books.
Please do not contact or message me.
You said that it was them doing this whenever UA or optional features came out, ne? The player is affecting your table way more negatively than this ever would if you just disallow it.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
Ah yes, now I see why you're upset over Eberron's racial and cultural identities. It's choc full of LotR clones.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
I'm trying to think of a way to say this that isn't offensive, so please realize I don't mean to be offensive when I say this: Part of what a lot of us would like to overcome is that you and others think this would make things all the same.
On a separate note, yes, you can play how you want at your table, but that does need reiteration, because there are a lot of inflexible people out there who aren't going to allow something at their table if it isn't printed. I mean players as well as DMs. Moreover, it effects Adventurer's League, and it effects those of us who get paid to run games (you really can't tell people to take a hike for being immature when the rent is due). That last point was so bad I had to stop running D&D professionally until Tasha's came out. It's amazing how many people will quit a group just because you let a player have their character not speak an associated race language. Since Tasha's I've started running again and not had that be an issue (and it has come up).
It also needs to be said that there is something in the culture of D&D that must be encouraging that kind of attitude, because I don't see it to this level in other games. The World of Darkness groups had a bit of that, but it seems to have abated since the WoD/CoD changeover. Maybe it comes with the copious lore that exists with D&D, I'm not sure.
I agree that race should matter more than it currently does. However, most proficiencies are not genetic (Aarakocra can be seen as an exception, but even then they could represent this in a non-proficiency based way). Also, race still matters in a lot of ways. Gnomes don't get Vampiric Bite, Dwarves don't get Powerful Build, Orcs don't get Infernal Legacy, Satyrs don't get Halfling's Luck, and Centaurs don't get Gnomish Cunning. Lots of traits are still dependent on your race/species/lineage. It's overexaggerating to say that it isn't significant or doesn't matter anymore just because a Dwarf can get a +2 to Dexterity.
Suggestions to make it matter more that using Lineage/Tasha's, but in a different way:
Race/Species/Lineage should grant you an additional hit dice dependent on which you choose. Dwarves, Hobgoblins, Half-Orcs and Firbolg would get an additional 1d10, Humans, Satyrs, Elves, Tieflings, and most other normal-sized Medium races would get an extra 1d8. Most small races would get an extra 1d6. Goliaths, Orcs, Half-Ogres, Centaurs, Bugbears, and other "Large" races would get an extra 1d12.
I already linkedJoeltheWalrus's alternative to the Customize your Origin and current racial ASI bonus systems. That has race still matter for ASIs, but your upbringing/job matters just a bit more.
There could be more race/species/lineage specific feats, specifically more "genetic" ones instead of "cultural" ones.
I have a system where characters get a free feat at level one, dependent on their race/class/background. This helps keep race mattering in my campaigns.
Unfortunately, we're almost definitely going to need a new edition (maybe 5.5e) in order to get changes like this.
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Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
Legolas the robot with a sniper rifle.
A fool pulls the leaves. A brute chops the trunk. A sage digs the roots.
My Improved Lineage System
If I want to play a futuristic game of cybernetic augmentations and VR-style combat against sentient computer programs I’m not gonna complain that I would have to homebrew all of that for D&D, I’ll just go play Shadowrun instead. If I want to play in a modern world full of grimdark horror, I’m not gonna complain that I would have to homebrew all of that for D&D, I’ll just dust off my bag-o’ d10s and run around in the World of Darkness.
If one objects so strenuously to playing a game that has “the Tolkienite baggage of fifty years of D&D,” then why does one play D&D and not another game that has not been steeped in 5 decades of Tolkienite baggage?” For many players, the opportunity to experience a “Tolkienite” world with a rich longstanding history is one of the main selling points of D&D. Why play a game inspired by and designed around a “Tolkienite” experience if one dislikes that experience so immensely? I’m curious since it seems such a strange thing to me.
Fallout 3 was (and still is) one of my favorite video games of all time. Fallout 4 was a putrescent pile of rotting excrement. I absolutely hated Fallout 4, so I don’t play it. I disliked Destiny 2 immensely, so I don’t play it. If one dislikes D&D, why does one play it? D&D can be many things to many people, but it cannot possibly be all things to everyone.
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Without wanting to defend this unreservedly, that often stems from the fact that a lot of what isn't printed is terrible. So is some of what is printed (and there's inflexible people out there who will absolutely throw a hissy fit if you choose not to allow something in print). And there's the UA middle ground of playtest material, which more often than not means "this is seriously overpowered but that's ok since this is playtest material so you should test it by playing it and when we publish it officially it'll be nerfed so your players who did play it will cry".
I'm exaggerating (just a wee smidge), but let's not pretend do-what-you-want-anything-goes isn't as flawed as official-material-only-no-exceptions.
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Gygax hated them too. D&D was originally supposed to be more Robert E. Howard than J. R. R. Tolkien.
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Pang. C'mon. You're smarter than that.
How often have you seen Vince, BioWizard, Lyxen, and the rest heap shit on Eberron for existing at all? Bitterly declare that Eberron represents an awful and unacceptable degradation of the Classic Fantasy Adventure that D&D is ultimately "meant" for? These are folks who complain their heads off that orcs aren't all irredeemably evil forever anymore and how terrible it is that when presented with a grand magical fantasy adventurescape where one can be anything that sets their imagination alike, nobody decides to be a magicless human farm boy who's spent his entire life digging taters and has never seen a sword in his life.
Unpopular opinion: **** Tolkien. **** Middle Earth. **** Faerun. Give me my magic-steampunk lightning-powered skyships. Give me my realmfuls of youkai. Give me my extraplanar incursions. Give me my spellslingers and arcane dragoons. Give me all that ******* cool shit. Or give me the tools to make it my own damn self, since Wizards of the Coast is pathologically terrified of taking advantage of the stupendous wealth of rich folklore outside of Germanic and Britannian classic Eurofantasy - or taking advantage of the work of the hundreds of thousands of splendid authors who've carved the fantasy genre into an explosion of awesome stuff after Tolkien.
This new design direction is one of those tools people can use to make their own shit. And unhooking all the Faerunian cultural baggage from species stat blocks is another great way of empowering players to make their own shit, without having to explain why Faerun's shit got mixed in with your shit and now you have Faerunian dwarves running around your own homebrew world.
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I'd like to think I'm smart enough not to conflate these issues. Two wrongs don't make a right.
If we get more content, that's great. I love more content. I just don't see this particular content as revolutionary, game changing, or a paradigm shift on WotC's part, and in some ways it's a step in the wrong direction. Floating ASIs are dumb. I'll die on this hill.
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Everyone is entitled to their own opinions. Just because you personally dislike something doesn't mean it's stupid, or that other people won't like it. Similarly, just because you enjoy something doesn't mean that everyone will. And that's fine. You don't have to criticize people for their preferences. Just play whatever way is fun for you, and hopefully, everyone else will play the way that's fun for them.
All stars fade. Some stars forever fall.
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If there was no light, people wouldn't fear the dark.
Aside from modifying class features (which I thought was a work in progress perhaps more accelerated post Tasha optional class features swaps), and a way to truly integrate HON and SAN into the character sheet, what else in Ch. 9 isn't supported on D&D Beyond? Out of further curiosity, does roll20 or other VTT gives players more flexibility? I'm not trying to say your wrong, I'm pointing out where in Ch. 9 I see DDB lacking capacity, I'm just curious if it fails elsewhere in the DM's Workshop.
I do agree by it's nature DDB does sort of narrow the parameters of what people can and can't do with D&D barring homebrew labor and even homebrew I'll grant has its limits. That said, while I can envision something less orthodox than DDB, something call it D&D Unbound, I think it would be harder to implement and may be more of a challenge to entry level players, D&D still being the largest "gateway" into TTRPGs out there in terms of consistent marketshare.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
The one good thing I see here is that they are starting to use that PB scaling features where they belong, with Races. Too bad I now have to homebrew rules for what their ASBs are going to be because of these so-called “optional” (Crawford, you’re dirty mother******* liar) lineage rules so now I need to homebrew shit just to make it match established RAW in the PHB.
The big issue is that these are basic like “Half-races” which means they should be useable as templates to apply to any race and that would just **** everything up. So basically, on top of everything else they ****ed this up too. Now your Race is Damphir, which means you can’t be a “Damphir-Elf” or a “Damphir-Hobgoblin.” In other words, this is me saying “You ****ed this up too Crawford. You suck.”
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Also, this slipped by me earlier, but it's worth addressing
Because Shadowrun is a mechanically terrible game, at least if the Sixth World sourcebook I have to go by is any indication. Seriously, those rules are an absolute trashfire. I bought the book at my Friendly Local Game Store (which is three hundred miles away from me since I got a job and moved, but it will never stop being my FLGS) out of sheer curiosity because I enjoy the world/idea of Shadowrun, but those rules are awful. Hopefully Cyberpunk Red learns from Shadowrun's mistakes.
Because for as much of a horrible anime weeb as I am, there's just not enough Twilight in me to run World of Darkness. Besides, I have the Grim Hollow Campaign Guide and their new Player Guide incoming as soon as it's done, if I want dark fantasy D&D I've got those needs thoroughly covered.
Because all the Rules-Lite Narrative Experience(TM) games out there are disgraces and should just stop.
Oh. And also because there's absolutely zero support for running any of those games online. Zip. Nada. Zilch. Nopesters.
It's an argument I've made before - DDB and its ilk are the only reason I get to play at all. I have zero friends in my local area, my whole group is online across all corners of the continental United States. I actually prefer GURPS 4e to D&D, but there's no way to support an online GURPS game. And also GURPS handles combat and other fast-paced sequences as poorly as 5e handles social encounters and site exploration. Even if I could convince people to try a new ruleset - and there was actually some interest in Savage Worlds when I floated the idea even if Savage Worlds is basically just GURPS Lite with a better combat engine - there's simply no support for it. If you're not playing in person around a real-life table with a paper character sheet in hand, you more or less can't play. It sucks rocks, I hate it, but it's true.
Heh, and besides. I'm not trying to kick D&D out of the Fantasy genre. I'm trying to kick it into different takes on fantasy. Maybe I want some Brandon Sanderson in my world instead of Tolkien, all Tolkien, and nothing but Tolkien. No way to make a Mistwalker in D&D, but man - the worldbuilding that guy does is impressive, and there's some cool ideas to be mined there. Legit: were a DM to tell me "The game I'm planning takes its inspiration from the guns-and-sorcery magicpunk Western fantasy stories of Brandon Sanderson's Wax and Wayne series, in a world recovering from centuries of climatological catastrophe where the sciences are only beginning to emerge from the shadow of ancient magic and immortal tyranny", my excitement would be downright sexual and that game would get the absolute shit played out of it. Still fantasy, still magical, but man. That just sounds so much freaking cooler than "the twist? This time, we're throwing a necklace into the volcano, Frodo!"
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It was/is. The DNA of D&D lifts far more from the pulp stories of the early 19th century (Anderson, Howard, Moorcock, etc.) and westerns than it does from Tolkien's work. That's just set dressing. Oerth is nothing like Middle-Earth.
Really, what we think of as classical D&D began as a fantasy supplement for Chainmail, which was a miniatures game. And it wasn't long before any Tolkien influences were scrubbed. TSR was threatened with a lawsuit when Hobbits appeared in print. That's why we have Halflings.