I've always felt there's not enough races. I've always loved having weird things in my campaigns; the weirder, the better! When I was first introduced to dnd back in 4e, the two races I zeroed in on were Dragonborn and Tieflings. Hell, thinking just recently, I'm pretty sure I've had more Yuan-ti than Elves in my games.
Tangentially, I'm kinda tempted to run a game where Thri-kreen have killed of all the Elves and lament the loss of their most precious food source.😆
I've always felt there's not enough races. I've always loved having weird things in my campaigns; the weirder, the better! When I was first introduced to dnd back in 4e, the two races I zeroed in on were Dragonborn and Tieflings. Hell, thinking just recently, I'm pretty sure I've had more Yuan-ti than Elves in my games.
Tangentially, I'm kinda tempted to run a game where Thri-kreen have killed of all the Elves and lament the loss of their most precious food source.😆
Different strokes for different folks. Me, I like a little less weird in my games. I love that races like Tieflings and Dragonborn exist, and have played as both throughout the years, but I don’t think they should be considered universal enough to be in the PHB. I don’t even think my own favorite race, the Thri-kreen should be in the PHB either. But I do think that Orcs, Goblins, and Hobgoblins should have been in there for years.
Interesting never gave that a thought after printing this out to get a proper look.
Anyone remember Bravestarr?
Strength of the bear, etc?
How about rather than the character resembling the animal instead have them when manifesting any of the powers also manifest a spiritual form resembling their legacy like a totem animal?
What I'd like to know is can we alter that winged flight into a boost of ground or water speed if that legacy entity is a land rather than an airborne entity or aquatic entity?
Must admit when I first watched that video I wasn't impressed.
Been watching Treantmonk's Temple video on the Origins and it got me intrigued enough to even print out a copy and I'm VERY interested in this not just the Ardling mind you.
Now I'll go back to reread this thread and see how wrong I was or whether my suggestion has any merit!
Many thanks had a player run a Fallen Aasimar Folk Hero whose back story needed work and I still think I messed up by not using a Session Zero.
EDIT: Finally made my way through this thread.
Nope as far as I'm concerned this is a variant Aasimar some of which sounds much better than the 5e version at least until you find out they want them to have animal heads.
As it stands this looks like a fine test for an Aasimar disregard the animal headed bit as unnecessary although my own view of tieflings and aasimar is they were often born due to being conceived near areas with a planar opening to that particular plane infusing them with the energies that altered them into their state.
The idea being most aren't the result of their mother being with an extra planar creature, but purely being in the wrong place, time and actually innocent but tell that when the locals might not want to listen to reason or have another reason to want them chased out of town, imprisoned, etc...
Weird animal head "not aasimar" wasn't on anybody I knows wish list. Aasimar were.
Maybe it has to do with copyrights and Aasimar not being their creations so they can't own it.
As for the Orcs I welcome that and thought they should have been added after Eberron made them PCs in 3rd ed.
Aasimar are in MMM. They're not going anywhere, but they're also not showing up in the new PHB. Just like duergar and eladrin, among others.
I'll be pretty shocked if ardlings make it to the new PHB. To me, they seem way more niche than most of the stuff that's already not part of the core books. But would I be upset? Nah. The game's already weird, and this is hardly an escalation when we've already got beholders and gelatinous cubes and stuff.
Orc is also in the MMM but making its way into the PHB so being in MMM already is not really a valid reason not to move Aasimar. I am not anti Aardling, but I would prefer they move an older race to the PHB and keep new races to source books.
Orc being in the PHB is a reallly key thing for many reasons. Historically it was seen that playing orc meant you where playing one of the “evil races” by putting them in the PHB wizards are training DMs to think more in shades of grey when it comes to these races. They won’t be a niche race a player plays if they want to play the “other or outsider always having to prove they are not a savage orc raider”. They will instead make DMs consider that maybe there are lots of good, neutral, lawful etc orcs in there worlds, and this will then span out to the other supposedly always canon fodder races.
Banning it seems a bit harsh when you can just alter the description for them to have minor characteristics or mannerisms of their spirit animal instead. Flavor is mutable, folks.
I just think the whole idea of them is kinda dumb. There doesn’t need to be a polar opposite of Tieflings. Heck, I don’t think Tieflings should be in the PHB either for that matter.
I love this, it’s new and different so not at my table. And your in your rights to ban it, I wonder will orc players in your world always have to be seen as evil? Will you insist that a good orc is rare? Because your going to get a lot more of them now they are a defined PHB race.
Gave the playtest material a whirl; cooked up a small Ardling Paladin.
Subtype is Idyllic. Has a dog head.
Basically, an armored corgi. His name is Lucky.
DM is using Faerun for the setting; but changing the history a bit: magic went away for centuries; and has slowly returned within the recent years, along with the mythological “monsters” of the past.
Background is that the Ardling was actually a corgi, owned by a retired Paladin who passed away, leaving the corgi alone.
When the magic returned, it awakened the ardling’s celestial lineage, bestowing the strength, intelligence, and humanoid aspects of their ancestral hound archon lineage.
Now viewing his deceased owners memories with perfect clarity, the Ardling now seeks to emulate the great deeds the Paladin had achieved during their life, to honor them.
In play, I can say that the potential for fun has been fantastic…nothing quite beats a heavily-armored corgi with a heart-of-gold, brandishing a warhammer.
I flavor the angelic flight as a supernatural leap. Social encounters have been a blast; with hardened warriors looking upon the Ardling quizzically; but the Ardling’s martial capability quickly earning trust among them.
Gave the playtest material a whirl; cooked up a small Ardling Paladin.
Subtype is Idyllic. Has a dog head.
Basically, an armored corgi. His name is Lucky.
DM is using Faerun for the setting; but changing the history a bit: magic went away for centuries; and has slowly returned within the recent years, along with the mythological “monsters” of the past.
Background is that the Ardling was actually a corgi, owned by a retired Paladin who passed away, leaving the corgi alone.
When the magic returned, it awakened the ardling’s celestial lineage, bestowing the strength, intelligence, and humanoid aspects of their ancestral hound archon lineage.
Now viewing his deceased owners memories with perfect clarity, the Ardling now seeks to emulate the great deeds the Paladin had achieved during their life, to honor them.
In play, I can say that the potential for fun has been fantastic…nothing quite beats a heavily-armored corgi with a heart-of-gold, brandishing a warhammer.
I flavor the angelic flight as a supernatural leap. Social encounters have been a blast; with hardened warriors looking upon the Ardling quizzically; but the Ardling’s martial capability quickly earning trust among them.
And this is what people should be doing actually trying it out this idea sounds epic :)
Weird animal head "not aasimar" wasn't on anybody I knows wish list. Aasimar were.
Maybe it has to do with copyrights and Aasimar not being their creations so they can't own it.
As for the Orcs I welcome that and thought they should have been added after Eberron made them PCs in 3rd ed.
Aasimar are in MMM. They're not going anywhere, but they're also not showing up in the new PHB. Just like duergar and eladrin, among others.
I'll be pretty shocked if ardlings make it to the new PHB. To me, they seem way more niche than most of the stuff that's already not part of the core books. But would I be upset? Nah. The game's already weird, and this is hardly an escalation when we've already got beholders and gelatinous cubes and stuff.
Orc is also in the MMM but making its way into the PHB so being in MMM already is not really a valid reason not to move Aasimar. I am not anti Aardling, but I would prefer they move an older race to the PHB and keep new races to source books.
Orc being in the PHB is a reallly key thing for many reasons. Historically it was seen that playing orc meant you where playing one of the “evil races” by putting them in the PHB wizards are training DMs to think more in shades of grey when it comes to these races. They won’t be a niche race a player plays if they want to play the “other or outsider always having to prove they are not a savage orc raider”. They will instead make DMs consider that maybe there are lots of good, neutral, lawful etc orcs in there worlds, and this will then span out to the other supposedly always canon fodder races.
I am actually quite happy for the Orc to find it's way into the PHB, it is just Ardling that I am iffy on. I don't think they shouldn't exist, I just think there are races that already exist and that have survived the test of time that should be in the PHB and that Ardlings are better for a source book of some kind.
The idea being most aren't the result of their mother being with an extra planar creature, but purely being in the wrong place, time and actually innocent but tell that when the locals might not want to listen to reason or have another reason to want them chased out of town, imprisoned, etc...
Tradotionally, (prior to 4E/5E creating it's own lore), Aasimar and Teiflings simply had a touch/spark of divine or Planar heritage. They could be the mortal children of deities, they might have an Angel or Demon parent, (didn't have to be mother), might have had an outsider in their family tree, might have simply been a human(oid) born and raised in an Outer Plane or Divine Realm, the child of Aasimar/Teifling parents, or even something like handpicked by a deity or priest to be special.
Im the FR, for instance, Mulhorandi culture had a lot of Aasimar comparitively who were the decendents of the Egyptian pantheon, frequently elevated to prophets and clergy because of the divine spark.
I wouldn't mind ardlings as much if they had just been added as a 4th aasimar subrace. They would feel a lot less intrusive then, and wouldn't be trying to push out a race which has been a 5e staple.
Weird animal head "not aasimar" wasn't on anybody I knows wish list. Aasimar were.
Maybe it has to do with copyrights and Aasimar not being their creations so they can't own it.
As for the Orcs I welcome that and thought they should have been added after Eberron made them PCs in 3rd ed.
Aasimar are in MMM. They're not going anywhere, but they're also not showing up in the new PHB. Just like duergar and eladrin, among others.
I'll be pretty shocked if ardlings make it to the new PHB. To me, they seem way more niche than most of the stuff that's already not part of the core books. But would I be upset? Nah. The game's already weird, and this is hardly an escalation when we've already got beholders and gelatinous cubes and stuff.
Orc is also in the MMM but making its way into the PHB so being in MMM already is not really a valid reason not to move Aasimar. I am not anti Aardling, but I would prefer they move an older race to the PHB and keep new races to source books.
Orc being in the PHB is a reallly key thing for many reasons. Historically it was seen that playing orc meant you where playing one of the “evil races” by putting them in the PHB wizards are training DMs to think more in shades of grey when it comes to these races. They won’t be a niche race a player plays if they want to play the “other or outsider always having to prove they are not a savage orc raider”. They will instead make DMs consider that maybe there are lots of good, neutral, lawful etc orcs in there worlds, and this will then span out to the other supposedly always canon fodder races.
I am actually quite happy for the Orc to find it's way into the PHB, it is just Ardling that I am iffy on. I don't think they shouldn't exist, I just think there are races that already exist and that have survived the test of time that should be in the PHB and that Ardlings are better for a source book of some kind.
This exactly. Put other beloved races into the PHB, put Ardlings into an expansion book. I wouldn’t have cared if they had made it into M3.
Banning it seems a bit harsh when you can just alter the description for them to have minor characteristics or mannerisms of their spirit animal instead. Flavor is mutable, folks.
I just think the whole idea of them is kinda dumb. There doesn’t need to be a polar opposite of Tieflings. Heck, I don’t think Tieflings should be in the PHB either for that matter.
I love this, it’s new and different so not at my table. And your in your rights to ban it, I wonder will orc players in your world always have to be seen as evil? Will you insist that a good orc is rare? Because your going to get a lot more of them now they are a defined PHB race.
I have allowed Orc, Goblin, and Hobgoblin PCs at my table since 2e, and no they have never had to be evil. I never said Ardlings shouldn’t exist, I just don’t think they should be a PHB race.
ok, but what does this say about how the core books might be presenting D&D? Are the WoTC team looking to show in the PHB (and other core books), rather than just in supplementary books (!), that D&D can be a widely diverse game? Not just a Lord of the Rings flavour, which it always was, but also something akin to some of the recent books like Wildemount and Theros? Maybe that's a good idea, that is to present the possibility that the game need not be, well, Lord of the Rings?
Hey, I think that's a good goal to have. I hope they create a tag line something like; Play your game.
ok, but what does this say about how the core books might be presenting D&D? Are the WoTC team looking to show in the PHB (and other core books), rather than just in supplementary books (!), that D&D can be a widely diverse game? Not just a Lord of the Rings flavour, which it always was, but also something akin to some of the recent books like Wildemount and Theros? Maybe that's a good idea, that is to present the possibility that the game need not be, well, Lord of the Rings?
Hey, I think that's a good goal to have. I hope they create a tag line something like; Play your game.
It’s like salt in a stew. You can always add more, you can’t take it out. It would be infinitely easier for players who want Ardlings in their game to add them from a supplement than it will be for me to remove them from the game if they are in the PHB. If they’re in the PHB it makes it harder to play “my” game and means I’m stuck playing “yours.”
You know, I feel there's an approach here that could be used to accommodate everyone so it becomes a pantry rather than a stew, i.e. having a section for "standard" races, one for extraplanar races, exotic races, a section for building half-races, etc. Unfortunately, that'll probably be either a bigger or more drastically reorganized book that WotC really wants to make...
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I've always felt there's not enough races. I've always loved having weird things in my campaigns; the weirder, the better! When I was first introduced to dnd back in 4e, the two races I zeroed in on were Dragonborn and Tieflings. Hell, thinking just recently, I'm pretty sure I've had more Yuan-ti than Elves in my games.
Tangentially, I'm kinda tempted to run a game where Thri-kreen have killed of all the Elves and lament the loss of their most precious food source.😆
Different strokes for different folks. Me, I like a little less weird in my games. I love that races like Tieflings and Dragonborn exist, and have played as both throughout the years, but I don’t think they should be considered universal enough to be in the PHB. I don’t even think my own favorite race, the Thri-kreen should be in the PHB either. But I do think that Orcs, Goblins, and Hobgoblins should have been in there for years.
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Interesting never gave that a thought after printing this out to get a proper look.
Anyone remember Bravestarr?
Strength of the bear, etc?
How about rather than the character resembling the animal instead have them when manifesting any of the powers also manifest a spiritual form resembling their legacy like a totem animal?
What I'd like to know is can we alter that winged flight into a boost of ground or water speed if that legacy entity is a land rather than an airborne entity or aquatic entity?
Must admit when I first watched that video I wasn't impressed.
Been watching Treantmonk's Temple video on the Origins and it got me intrigued enough to even print out a copy and I'm VERY interested in this not just the Ardling mind you.
Now I'll go back to reread this thread and see how wrong I was or whether my suggestion has any merit!
Many thanks had a player run a Fallen Aasimar Folk Hero whose back story needed work and I still think I messed up by not using a Session Zero.
EDIT: Finally made my way through this thread.
Nope as far as I'm concerned this is a variant Aasimar some of which sounds much better than the 5e version at least until you find out they want them to have animal heads.
As it stands this looks like a fine test for an Aasimar disregard the animal headed bit as unnecessary although my own view of tieflings and aasimar is they were often born due to being conceived near areas with a planar opening to that particular plane infusing them with the energies that altered them into their state.
The idea being most aren't the result of their mother being with an extra planar creature, but purely being in the wrong place, time and actually innocent but tell that when the locals might not want to listen to reason or have another reason to want them chased out of town, imprisoned, etc...
Well let's see where they go with this!
Orc being in the PHB is a reallly key thing for many reasons. Historically it was seen that playing orc meant you where playing one of the “evil races” by putting them in the PHB wizards are training DMs to think more in shades of grey when it comes to these races. They won’t be a niche race a player plays if they want to play the “other or outsider always having to prove they are not a savage orc raider”. They will instead make DMs consider that maybe there are lots of good, neutral, lawful etc orcs in there worlds, and this will then span out to the other supposedly always canon fodder races.
I love this, it’s new and different so not at my table. And your in your rights to ban it, I wonder will orc players in your world always have to be seen as evil? Will you insist that a good orc is rare? Because your going to get a lot more of them now they are a defined PHB race.
Gave the playtest material a whirl; cooked up a small Ardling Paladin.
Subtype is Idyllic. Has a dog head.
Basically, an armored corgi. His name is Lucky.
DM is using Faerun for the setting; but changing the history a bit: magic went away for centuries; and has slowly returned within the recent years, along with the mythological “monsters” of the past.
Background is that the Ardling was actually a corgi, owned by a retired Paladin who passed away, leaving the corgi alone.
When the magic returned, it awakened the ardling’s celestial lineage, bestowing the strength, intelligence, and humanoid aspects of their ancestral hound archon lineage.
Now viewing his deceased owners memories with perfect clarity, the Ardling now seeks to emulate the great deeds the Paladin had achieved during their life, to honor them.
In play, I can say that the potential for fun has been fantastic…nothing quite beats a heavily-armored corgi with a heart-of-gold, brandishing a warhammer.
I flavor the angelic flight as a supernatural leap. Social encounters have been a blast; with hardened warriors looking upon the Ardling quizzically; but the Ardling’s martial capability quickly earning trust among them.
And this is what people should be doing actually trying it out this idea sounds epic :)
When is going Hasbro to sell cute plush of aardling heroes?
Aren't there already some for sale at GAME?
Kudo's about the Corgi Paladin, okay I admit that was a great idea!
Heh, awakened animal PCs.... actually not a bad idea!
Only after they start selling the D&D flamethrower.
I am actually quite happy for the Orc to find it's way into the PHB, it is just Ardling that I am iffy on. I don't think they shouldn't exist, I just think there are races that already exist and that have survived the test of time that should be in the PHB and that Ardlings are better for a source book of some kind.
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
The specific argument was about Archons being mainly anthropomorphic.
Tradotionally, (prior to 4E/5E creating it's own lore), Aasimar and Teiflings simply had a touch/spark of divine or Planar heritage. They could be the mortal children of deities, they might have an Angel or Demon parent, (didn't have to be mother), might have had an outsider in their family tree, might have simply been a human(oid) born and raised in an Outer Plane or Divine Realm, the child of Aasimar/Teifling parents, or even something like handpicked by a deity or priest to be special.
Im the FR, for instance, Mulhorandi culture had a lot of Aasimar comparitively who were the decendents of the Egyptian pantheon, frequently elevated to prophets and clergy because of the divine spark.
I wouldn't mind ardlings as much if they had just been added as a 4th aasimar subrace. They would feel a lot less intrusive then, and wouldn't be trying to push out a race which has been a 5e staple.
This exactly. Put other beloved races into the PHB, put Ardlings into an expansion book. I wouldn’t have cared if they had made it into M3.
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I have allowed Orc, Goblin, and Hobgoblin PCs at my table since 2e, and no they have never had to be evil. I never said Ardlings shouldn’t exist, I just don’t think they should be a PHB race.
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I feel the Ardling would be best left to a supplement rather than core rulebook. I'd prefer Goliath over it to be honest.
ok, but what does this say about how the core books might be presenting D&D? Are the WoTC team looking to show in the PHB (and other core books), rather than just in supplementary books (!), that D&D can be a widely diverse game? Not just a Lord of the Rings flavour, which it always was, but also something akin to some of the recent books like Wildemount and Theros? Maybe that's a good idea, that is to present the possibility that the game need not be, well, Lord of the Rings?
Hey, I think that's a good goal to have. I hope they create a tag line something like; Play your game.
It’s like salt in a stew. You can always add more, you can’t take it out. It would be infinitely easier for players who want Ardlings in their game to add them from a supplement than it will be for me to remove them from the game if they are in the PHB. If they’re in the PHB it makes it harder to play “my” game and means I’m stuck playing “yours.”
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
You know, I feel there's an approach here that could be used to accommodate everyone so it becomes a pantry rather than a stew, i.e. having a section for "standard" races, one for extraplanar races, exotic races, a section for building half-races, etc. Unfortunately, that'll probably be either a bigger or more drastically reorganized book that WotC really wants to make...