Edit: Added a poll. As of now this is every trait balanced against each other. If enough people like 1 Major 2 Minor traits I will switch to that design goal.
So this is a continuation of a thought experiment I had in another thread. The design goal is to have some traits similar to but not exactly the same as the fleshed out species (Human, Elf, etc), so this new improved custom lineage could be used to mechanically represent mixed species (Dwelf, Gnorc, etc), not covered species (Gnoll, Drider, etc) or new species (Doggos, Lobsterian, etc). Note that some traits are direct ports because I can’t think of a way to make them different. Please provide feed back on the traits, so we can find a balance. Please suggest traits that you think are important that I missed and why they are important. Also if you think this is a horrible design, I want to know why. I may debate with you, but it’s all for the sake of learning, understanding and entertainment. Thanks in advance.
CUSTOM LINEAGE
Instead of choosing one of the game’s species for your character at 1st level, if your DM allows you can use the following traits to represent your character’s lineage. This can represent mixed lineages or completely new linages.
Creature Type. You are a humanoid. You determine your appearance and whether you resemble any of your kin. Your DM may allow you to have up to two tags that classify species for magic item use (and feats if the species specific feats carry over). A mixed Dwarf Elf might have “You are an Elf” for use of the Moonblade and “You are a Dwarf” for Axe of Dwarven Lords. (Your DM may also allow you to be another creature type if it better fits the character you are designing, this change can effect gameplay.)
Size. You are Small or Medium (your choice).
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Variable Traits. You gain three of the following options of your choice (you may only choose a letter once even if it has multiple choices):
(a) Darkvision- darkvision with a range of 60 feet
(b) Skillful- proficiency in one skill of your choice.
(c) Elemental Blast -choose acid, cold, fire, or lightning, as a bonus action you blast a 30ft line of the chosen element from your mouth or hands dealing proficiency bonus d6 damage to any creature that is in the line that fails a dex save DC 8+ Con + PB. You can use this PB times and regain this ability when you finish a long rest. (this can represent breath weapon, some genasi ability, or etc)
(d) Resistance- choose acid, cold, fire, lightning, necrotic, poison, psychic, radiant, or thunder and gain resistance to that damage type
(e) Magical lineage- choose from arcane, divine or primal spell list. You gain one cantrip, and one 1st level spell of your choice from that list. You can cast the 1st spell once without expending a spell slot. You can use spell slots to cast the spell normally.
(f) Toughness - Your hp max increases by 1 and it increases by 1 again each time you gain a level.
(g) Powerful Build- You count as one size larger
(h) Fey Ancestry- advantage against being charmed
(i) Cunning- Choose between Int, Wis, or Cha and you have advantage on all saving throws of that type.
(j) Nimbleness- you may move through the space of a creature a size larger than you but can not stop there.
(k) Ancestral Movement- You gain one of the following: (1)Speed 35, (2) can cast Misty Step half your proficiency bonus rounded down times per long rest without expending a spell slot. Can cast it normally with spell slots, (3) Climb speed, (4) Swim speed, (5) Dash as bonus action proficiency times per long rest (6) limited flight half speed and must end turn on surface or fall
(m) Amphibious- you can breath air and water
(n) Carapace- You have a +1 to your AC when not wearing medium or heavy armor. You can use this benefit while holding a shield
(p) Natural Weapon- you have a bite (piercing), claws (slashing), hooves (bludgeoning) attack that can use instead of your unarmed strikes that deals 1d8 damage (can represent other natural attacks such as horns, pincers, spines, etc)
(q) Thick Hide- you can calculate your AC as 12+ Con when not wearing armor
(r) Monstrous From- Your creature type changes to Aberration, Fey, or Monstrosity. Choose one of the following forms. They grant special abilities if you have other traits.
Beastial Lower Body- Your body below the waist is that of some beast (bear, centipede, goat, horse, snake, spider, etc) you choose the number of legs (1) Darkvision: increases to 120ft. (2) Powerful Build: your speed increases by 5ft. (3) AM speed 35: speed increases by 5, (4) AM climb speed: at 5th level you gain spider climb, (5) AM swim speed: swim speed double your speed, (6) AM bonus action Dash: pounce attack if you move 15ft in straight line before a melee attack you knock the target prone on hit if they fail save DC 8+Str+PB, (7) limited flight: at 5th level you gain a fly speed equal to your speed
Strong Wings- You have large wings. (1) AM swim speed: your swim speed is doubled, (2) AM limited flight: you have a fly speed equal to your speed.
Tentacles- You have a number of tentacles coming from various parts of your body, (1) Powerful build: you may use your tentacles to make an unarmed attack on hit the target takes normal damage and is grappled, (2) Natural weapon: your attacks with your Natural weapons have a 10ft reach, (3) AM climb speed: At 5th level your climb speed is doubled, (4) Nimbleness: you can move through the space of a creature the one size smaller than you or larger, but can’t stop there.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and one other language that you and your DM agree is appropriate for your character.
I guess we might just cut to the chase and make the martial master race and caster master race, and be done with it. Because this is how it will inevitably end.
I guess we might just cut to the chase and make the martial master race and caster master race, and be done with it. Because this is how it will inevitably end.
That shouldn’t be possible since none of the traits should be better than what the normal species get and you only get three traits. There will obviously be favored builds, but that already exist in the game. Min/maxers will always exist. The goal here it to make something that fills a void, but doesn’t become a min/maxers wet dream. Notice there is no versatile, lucky, or relentless endurance. Also I would expect this to be in the DMG so a conversation has to be had. This shouldn’t become I’m a human monk but I have a carapace, toughness, and darkvision. This is more for the player who says I want to be a Drider. Okay you get darkvision, natural weapon, and monstrous lower body. Or the player who wants being a Orc dwarf to show mechanically. They can’t get tremorsense and relentless endurance, but they can take darkvision, toughness, and AM bonus action dash. It might be better to just take the dwarf or orc traits for this build from a min max perspective.
I guess we might just cut to the chase and make the martial master race and caster master race, and be done with it. Because this is how it will inevitably end.
That shouldn’t be possible since none of the traits should be better than what the normal species get and you only get three traits. There will obviously be favored builds, but that already exist in the game. Min/maxers will always exist. The goal here it to make something that fills a void, but doesn’t become a min/maxers wet dream. Notice there is no versatile, lucky, or relentless endurance. Also I would expect this to be in the DMG so a conversation has to be had. This shouldn’t become I’m a human monk but I have a carapace, toughness, and darkvision. This is more for the player who says I want to be a Drider. Okay you get darkvision, natural weapon, and monstrous lower body. Or the player who wants being a Orc dwarf to show mechanically. They can’t get tremorsense and relentless endurance, but they can take darkvision, toughness, and AM bonus action dash. It might be better to just take the dwarf or orc traits for this build from a min max perspective.
That is the goal, not really what was achieved. Example no one is taking fey ancestry here over cunning wisdom. Advantage against ALL wisdom saves is huge for basically everyone. Then you have the bonus action teleport. The third one is probably just dark vision unless there is a member in your party that doesnt have it.
Still, the concept is there, and this, in my opinion, belongs as a extra rule in the dmg or something with a side bar in the PHB saying to ask your GM about additional custom or half species options at the bottom of the already existing side bar.
Ultimately, I personally feel the first level feat we already get at level 1 with backgrounds can also be used to define the mixing of heritage.
Half-elf/half-human for example could use the wood-elf stats and take the skilled feat to symbolize the human versatility and ambition. Or they could take the human side and one of their first level feats could be magic initiate primal for wood elf or arcane for high elf, and they still have another first level feat.
Half human/half dwarf human stats on a shorter guy with a beard the toughness and crafter feats. That feels like a dwarvish human to me.
Dwarf/halfling, take dwarf and the lucky feat or take halfling and the crafter or toughness feat. Your background also encompasses your heritage and upbringing to me.
I guess we might just cut to the chase and make the martial master race and caster master race, and be done with it. Because this is how it will inevitably end.
That shouldn’t be possible since none of the traits should be better than what the normal species get and you only get three traits. There will obviously be favored builds, but that already exist in the game. Min/maxers will always exist. The goal here it to make something that fills a void, but doesn’t become a min/maxers wet dream. Notice there is no versatile, lucky, or relentless endurance. Also I would expect this to be in the DMG so a conversation has to be had. This shouldn’t become I’m a human monk but I have a carapace, toughness, and darkvision. This is more for the player who says I want to be a Drider. Okay you get darkvision, natural weapon, and monstrous lower body. Or the player who wants being a Orc dwarf to show mechanically. They can’t get tremorsense and relentless endurance, but they can take darkvision, toughness, and AM bonus action dash. It might be better to just take the dwarf or orc traits for this build from a min max perspective.
That is the goal, not really what was achieved. Example no one is taking fey ancestry here over cunning wisdom. Advantage against ALL wisdom saves is huge for basically everyone. Then you have the bonus action teleport. The third one is probably just dark vision unless there is a member in your party that doesnt have it.
Still, the concept is there, and this, in my opinion, belongs as a extra rule in the dmg or something with a side bar in the PHB saying to ask your GM about additional custom or half species options at the bottom of the already existing side bar.
Ultimately, I personally feel the first level feat we already get at level 1 with backgrounds can also be used to define the mixing of heritage.
Half-elf/half-human for example could use the wood-elf stats and take the skilled feat to symbolize the human versatility and ambition. Or they could take the human side and one of their first level feats could be magic initiate primal for wood elf or arcane for high elf, and they still have another first level feat.
Half human/half dwarf human stats on a shorter guy with a beard the toughness and crafter feats. That feels like a dwarvish human to me.
Dwarf/halfling, take dwarf and the lucky feat or take halfling and the crafter or toughness feat. Your background also encompasses your heritage and upbringing to me.
As a DM I would tell my players to really think about their goals. Taking skilled as an elf doesn’t make you anymore human than taking Magic Initiate. If there isn’t a mechanical crunch then don’t limit your choices to create something. Since it’s fully role playing we will role play and take whatever helps your build. Also the role play method still leaves me homebrewing stuff when someone wants to play a Gnoll.
Why would someone always take cunning wisdom over fey ancestry. Fey ancestry works for works no matter which save the charm effect is using. So is it better to play gnome over elf? They get advantage on Int, Wis and Cha saves? would changing it from fey ancestry to a new ability “fey heritage- you have advantage on saves against being charmed and magically being put to sleep and saves to end those conditions.” Is this equal to Cunning- wisdom? Also what would a player be trying to gain taking this custom lineage to gain cunning- wisdom that they wouldn’t get from being a gnome.
If bonus action teleport was that big of deal everyone would be an Eladrin, high elf with fey teleportation feat, or take the fey touched feat. In other words there are many ways to get this ability. In my opinion there are better ancestral movements.
I'm not against a "Race Builder" toolkit but this definitely has no place in core, the books will be bloated enough as is.
This could be less than a page in the DMG
You have 17 features up there! It's at least two pages for a single "race" not counting any art or flavor text...
But this wouldn’t have flavor text because it’s basically a builder. Maybe a second page if they build an example. Also it’s not a single “race”, it’s multiple species and mixed species depending on how it’s used.
I guess we might just cut to the chase and make the martial master race and caster master race, and be done with it. Because this is how it will inevitably end.
That shouldn’t be possible since none of the traits should be better than what the normal species get and you only get three traits. There will obviously be favored builds, but that already exist in the game. Min/maxers will always exist. The goal here it to make something that fills a void, but doesn’t become a min/maxers wet dream. Notice there is no versatile, lucky, or relentless endurance. Also I would expect this to be in the DMG so a conversation has to be had. This shouldn’t become I’m a human monk but I have a carapace, toughness, and darkvision. This is more for the player who says I want to be a Drider. Okay you get darkvision, natural weapon, and monstrous lower body. Or the player who wants being a Orc dwarf to show mechanically. They can’t get tremorsense and relentless endurance, but they can take darkvision, toughness, and AM bonus action dash. It might be better to just take the dwarf or orc traits for this build from a min max perspective.
That is the goal, not really what was achieved. Example no one is taking fey ancestry here over cunning wisdom. Advantage against ALL wisdom saves is huge for basically everyone. Then you have the bonus action teleport. The third one is probably just dark vision unless there is a member in your party that doesnt have it.
Still, the concept is there, and this, in my opinion, belongs as a extra rule in the dmg or something with a side bar in the PHB saying to ask your GM about additional custom or half species options at the bottom of the already existing side bar.
Ultimately, I personally feel the first level feat we already get at level 1 with backgrounds can also be used to define the mixing of heritage.
Half-elf/half-human for example could use the wood-elf stats and take the skilled feat to symbolize the human versatility and ambition. Or they could take the human side and one of their first level feats could be magic initiate primal for wood elf or arcane for high elf, and they still have another first level feat.
Half human/half dwarf human stats on a shorter guy with a beard the toughness and crafter feats. That feels like a dwarvish human to me.
Dwarf/halfling, take dwarf and the lucky feat or take halfling and the crafter or toughness feat. Your background also encompasses your heritage and upbringing to me.
As a DM I would tell my players to really think about their goals. Taking skilled as an elf doesn’t make you anymore human than taking Magic Initiate. If there isn’t a mechanical crunch then don’t limit your choices to create something. Since it’s fully role playing we will role play and take whatever helps your build. Also the role play method still leaves me homebrewing stuff when someone wants to play a Gnoll.
Why would someone always take cunning wisdom over fey ancestry. Fey ancestry works for works no matter which save the charm effect is using. So is it better to play gnome over elf? They get advantage on Int, Wis and Cha saves? would changing it from fey ancestry to a new ability “fey heritage- you have advantage on saves against being charmed and magically being put to sleep and saves to end those conditions.” Is this equal to Cunning- wisdom? Also what would a player be trying to gain taking this custom lineage to gain cunning- wisdom that they wouldn’t get from being a gnome.
If bonus action teleport was that big of deal everyone would be an Eladrin, high elf with fey teleportation feat, or take the fey touched feat. In other words there are many ways to get this ability. In my opinion there are better ancestral movements.
This is that unequal piece meal people are talking about. ALL charms and fears currently target wisdom, and gnome currently doesn't gets it against all, just saves against magic. Int and charisma are rarely targeted as is. Elves and OTHER races with fey ancestry have features other than that as do gnomes. The gnome features have typically been cosidered weaker so they have the better save ability. But you put them side by side and they are not equal.
As far as the background thing, of course they can think out of the box. I was literally just giving suggestions of how you can use the default custom background thing to mechanically show more than just your character's job. I mean, let's just look at the current half elf and see how it is seperate from humans. They get fey ancestry and dark vision instead of a feat. How are they different from elves? They lose trance and their "subspecies" and gain an extra skill.
Mechanically almost no different from an elf. You would actually be better off keeping all the extra stuff you get from elf and using your background to fully round out and define your character. Backgrounds are more than just "former employment".
Lets look at half orc vs orc. The difference one skill and savage attack, which savage attack was never very human. In this case they just lose adrenaline rush and powerful build and gain a skill. You are telling me being half human isnt just having extra skills, but from what wizards has done in the past, mechanically no apparently not.
Edit: just another example of something you can do now that you couldn't before with the current side bar and background feature. Halfling/orc. Use orc stats, Halfling size and take the lucky feat as part of your background. No one can tell me that a small race with powerful build, adrenaline rush and lucky doesn't feel like a halfling/orc at least more so than any current method we have to create it other than pure homebrew.
I guess we might just cut to the chase and make the martial master race and caster master race, and be done with it. Because this is how it will inevitably end.
That shouldn’t be possible since none of the traits should be better than what the normal species get and you only get three traits. There will obviously be favored builds, but that already exist in the game. Min/maxers will always exist. The goal here it to make something that fills a void, but doesn’t become a min/maxers wet dream. Notice there is no versatile, lucky, or relentless endurance. Also I would expect this to be in the DMG so a conversation has to be had. This shouldn’t become I’m a human monk but I have a carapace, toughness, and darkvision. This is more for the player who says I want to be a Drider. Okay you get darkvision, natural weapon, and monstrous lower body. Or the player who wants being a Orc dwarf to show mechanically. They can’t get tremorsense and relentless endurance, but they can take darkvision, toughness, and AM bonus action dash. It might be better to just take the dwarf or orc traits for this build from a min max perspective.
That is the goal, not really what was achieved. Example no one is taking fey ancestry here over cunning wisdom. Advantage against ALL wisdom saves is huge for basically everyone. Then you have the bonus action teleport. The third one is probably just dark vision unless there is a member in your party that doesnt have it.
Still, the concept is there, and this, in my opinion, belongs as a extra rule in the dmg or something with a side bar in the PHB saying to ask your GM about additional custom or half species options at the bottom of the already existing side bar.
Ultimately, I personally feel the first level feat we already get at level 1 with backgrounds can also be used to define the mixing of heritage.
Half-elf/half-human for example could use the wood-elf stats and take the skilled feat to symbolize the human versatility and ambition. Or they could take the human side and one of their first level feats could be magic initiate primal for wood elf or arcane for high elf, and they still have another first level feat.
Half human/half dwarf human stats on a shorter guy with a beard the toughness and crafter feats. That feels like a dwarvish human to me.
Dwarf/halfling, take dwarf and the lucky feat or take halfling and the crafter or toughness feat. Your background also encompasses your heritage and upbringing to me.
As a DM I would tell my players to really think about their goals. Taking skilled as an elf doesn’t make you anymore human than taking Magic Initiate. If there isn’t a mechanical crunch then don’t limit your choices to create something. Since it’s fully role playing we will role play and take whatever helps your build. Also the role play method still leaves me homebrewing stuff when someone wants to play a Gnoll.
Why would someone always take cunning wisdom over fey ancestry. Fey ancestry works for works no matter which save the charm effect is using. So is it better to play gnome over elf? They get advantage on Int, Wis and Cha saves? would changing it from fey ancestry to a new ability “fey heritage- you have advantage on saves against being charmed and magically being put to sleep and saves to end those conditions.” Is this equal to Cunning- wisdom? Also what would a player be trying to gain taking this custom lineage to gain cunning- wisdom that they wouldn’t get from being a gnome.
If bonus action teleport was that big of deal everyone would be an Eladrin, high elf with fey teleportation feat, or take the fey touched feat. In other words there are many ways to get this ability. In my opinion there are better ancestral movements.
This is that unequal piece meal people are talking about. ALL charms and fears currently target wisdom, and gnome currently doesn't gets it against all, just saves against magic. Int and charisma are rarely targeted as is. Elves and OTHER races with fey ancestry have features other than that as do gnomes. The gnome features have typically been cosidered weaker so they have the better save ability. But you put them side by side and they are not equal.
As far as the background thing, of course they can think out of the box. I was literally just giving suggestions of how you can use the default custom background thing to mechanically show more than just your character's job. I mean, let's just look at the current half elf and see how it is seperate from humans. They get fey ancestry and dark vision instead of a feat. How are they different from elves? They lose trance and their "subspecies" and gain an extra skill.
Mechanically almost no different from an elf. You would actually be better off keeping all the extra stuff you get from elf and using your background to fully round out and define your character. Backgrounds are more than just "former employment".
Lets look at half orc vs orc. The difference one skill and savage attack, which savage attack was never very human. In this case they just lose adrenaline rush and powerful build and gain a skill. You are telling me being half human isnt just having extra skills, but from what wizards has done in the past, mechanically no apparently not.
Have you read the 1DND species, the gnome gets it against all Int, Wis, Cha now. It doesn’t matter what your background says that’s just role play. The crunch of mechanics is what’s going to matter in game. What 5e half elves received that was different was a better stat spread +2Cha, +1x, +1y. So no, getting a skill is not the design of having Having a human parent. Technically the half elf was based on having the 5e human parent, not the heavily favored variant human. Thankfully One Dnd has move away from stats being attached to species (which kills the 5e human because all it did was give a lot of stats).
Using your first level feat to play into your story is fine and I won’t knock someone for doing that, but in the end you story is just role play. If you choose skilled for story reasons when Alert, or Magic initiate would have been better for gameplay that’s your choice. Again the goal of this is to give options. I’m fine with you believing everything is okay with a status quo. I disagree.
Also the orc is a strange because technically the current Orc was designed based on the half orc instead of the other way around. That’s because historically half orc has been a playable race and orcs were monsters. That is definitely noticeable in the first pass at a 5e Orc in VGM.
I guess we might just cut to the chase and make the martial master race and caster master race, and be done with it. Because this is how it will inevitably end.
That shouldn’t be possible since none of the traits should be better than what the normal species get and you only get three traits. There will obviously be favored builds, but that already exist in the game. Min/maxers will always exist. The goal here it to make something that fills a void, but doesn’t become a min/maxers wet dream. Notice there is no versatile, lucky, or relentless endurance. Also I would expect this to be in the DMG so a conversation has to be had. This shouldn’t become I’m a human monk but I have a carapace, toughness, and darkvision. This is more for the player who says I want to be a Drider. Okay you get darkvision, natural weapon, and monstrous lower body. Or the player who wants being a Orc dwarf to show mechanically. They can’t get tremorsense and relentless endurance, but they can take darkvision, toughness, and AM bonus action dash. It might be better to just take the dwarf or orc traits for this build from a min max perspective.
That is the goal, not really what was achieved. Example no one is taking fey ancestry here over cunning wisdom. Advantage against ALL wisdom saves is huge for basically everyone. Then you have the bonus action teleport. The third one is probably just dark vision unless there is a member in your party that doesnt have it.
Still, the concept is there, and this, in my opinion, belongs as a extra rule in the dmg or something with a side bar in the PHB saying to ask your GM about additional custom or half species options at the bottom of the already existing side bar.
Ultimately, I personally feel the first level feat we already get at level 1 with backgrounds can also be used to define the mixing of heritage.
Half-elf/half-human for example could use the wood-elf stats and take the skilled feat to symbolize the human versatility and ambition. Or they could take the human side and one of their first level feats could be magic initiate primal for wood elf or arcane for high elf, and they still have another first level feat.
Half human/half dwarf human stats on a shorter guy with a beard the toughness and crafter feats. That feels like a dwarvish human to me.
Dwarf/halfling, take dwarf and the lucky feat or take halfling and the crafter or toughness feat. Your background also encompasses your heritage and upbringing to me.
As a DM I would tell my players to really think about their goals. Taking skilled as an elf doesn’t make you anymore human than taking Magic Initiate. If there isn’t a mechanical crunch then don’t limit your choices to create something. Since it’s fully role playing we will role play and take whatever helps your build. Also the role play method still leaves me homebrewing stuff when someone wants to play a Gnoll.
Why would someone always take cunning wisdom over fey ancestry. Fey ancestry works for works no matter which save the charm effect is using. So is it better to play gnome over elf? They get advantage on Int, Wis and Cha saves? would changing it from fey ancestry to a new ability “fey heritage- you have advantage on saves against being charmed and magically being put to sleep and saves to end those conditions.” Is this equal to Cunning- wisdom? Also what would a player be trying to gain taking this custom lineage to gain cunning- wisdom that they wouldn’t get from being a gnome.
If bonus action teleport was that big of deal everyone would be an Eladrin, high elf with fey teleportation feat, or take the fey touched feat. In other words there are many ways to get this ability. In my opinion there are better ancestral movements.
This is that unequal piece meal people are talking about. ALL charms and fears currently target wisdom, and gnome currently doesn't gets it against all, just saves against magic. Int and charisma are rarely targeted as is. Elves and OTHER races with fey ancestry have features other than that as do gnomes. The gnome features have typically been cosidered weaker so they have the better save ability. But you put them side by side and they are not equal.
As far as the background thing, of course they can think out of the box. I was literally just giving suggestions of how you can use the default custom background thing to mechanically show more than just your character's job. I mean, let's just look at the current half elf and see how it is seperate from humans. They get fey ancestry and dark vision instead of a feat. How are they different from elves? They lose trance and their "subspecies" and gain an extra skill.
Mechanically almost no different from an elf. You would actually be better off keeping all the extra stuff you get from elf and using your background to fully round out and define your character. Backgrounds are more than just "former employment".
Lets look at half orc vs orc. The difference one skill and savage attack, which savage attack was never very human. In this case they just lose adrenaline rush and powerful build and gain a skill. You are telling me being half human isnt just having extra skills, but from what wizards has done in the past, mechanically no apparently not.
Have you read the 1DND species, the gnome gets it against all Int, Wis, Cha now. It doesn’t matter what your background says that’s just role play. The crunch of mechanics is what’s going to matter in game. What 5e half elves received that was different was a better stat spread +2Cha, +1x, +1y. So no, getting a skill is not the design of having Having a human parent. Technically the half elf was based on having the 5e human parent, not the heavily favored variant human. Thankfully One Dnd has move away from stats being attached to species (which kills the 5e human because all it did was give a lot of stats).
Using your first level feat to play into your story is fine and I won’t knock someone for doing that, but in the end you story is just role play. If you choose skilled for story reasons when Alert, or Magic initiate would have been better for gameplay that’s your choice. Again the goal of this is to give options. I’m fine with you believing everything is okay with a status quo. I disagree.
Also the orc is a strange because technically the current Orc was designed based on the half orc instead of the other way around. That’s because historically half orc has been a playable race and orcs were monsters. That is definitely noticeable in the first pass at a 5e Orc in VGM.
Note I said currently with gnome. One dnd is in playtest. Also note one dnd was doing away with all ASI from species as you noted so I clearly ignored that. But sure lets keep that. The difference between an elf and a half elf js lose trance and subspecies gain +1 asi to a third ability (not your preferred 2) and gain 1 skill. But sure lets do that for one dnd and then they can be a worse elf while also still getting a better first level feat.
(Also background should be mechanical AND flavor my opinion.
I guess we might just cut to the chase and make the martial master race and caster master race, and be done with it. Because this is how it will inevitably end.
That shouldn’t be possible since none of the traits should be better than what the normal species get and you only get three traits. There will obviously be favored builds, but that already exist in the game. Min/maxers will always exist. The goal here it to make something that fills a void, but doesn’t become a min/maxers wet dream. Notice there is no versatile, lucky, or relentless endurance. Also I would expect this to be in the DMG so a conversation has to be had. This shouldn’t become I’m a human monk but I have a carapace, toughness, and darkvision. This is more for the player who says I want to be a Drider. Okay you get darkvision, natural weapon, and monstrous lower body. Or the player who wants being a Orc dwarf to show mechanically. They can’t get tremorsense and relentless endurance, but they can take darkvision, toughness, and AM bonus action dash. It might be better to just take the dwarf or orc traits for this build from a min max perspective.
That is the goal, not really what was achieved. Example no one is taking fey ancestry here over cunning wisdom. Advantage against ALL wisdom saves is huge for basically everyone. Then you have the bonus action teleport. The third one is probably just dark vision unless there is a member in your party that doesnt have it.
Still, the concept is there, and this, in my opinion, belongs as a extra rule in the dmg or something with a side bar in the PHB saying to ask your GM about additional custom or half species options at the bottom of the already existing side bar.
Ultimately, I personally feel the first level feat we already get at level 1 with backgrounds can also be used to define the mixing of heritage.
Half-elf/half-human for example could use the wood-elf stats and take the skilled feat to symbolize the human versatility and ambition. Or they could take the human side and one of their first level feats could be magic initiate primal for wood elf or arcane for high elf, and they still have another first level feat.
Half human/half dwarf human stats on a shorter guy with a beard the toughness and crafter feats. That feels like a dwarvish human to me.
Dwarf/halfling, take dwarf and the lucky feat or take halfling and the crafter or toughness feat. Your background also encompasses your heritage and upbringing to me.
As a DM I would tell my players to really think about their goals. Taking skilled as an elf doesn’t make you anymore human than taking Magic Initiate. If there isn’t a mechanical crunch then don’t limit your choices to create something. Since it’s fully role playing we will role play and take whatever helps your build. Also the role play method still leaves me homebrewing stuff when someone wants to play a Gnoll.
Why would someone always take cunning wisdom over fey ancestry. Fey ancestry works for works no matter which save the charm effect is using. So is it better to play gnome over elf? They get advantage on Int, Wis and Cha saves? would changing it from fey ancestry to a new ability “fey heritage- you have advantage on saves against being charmed and magically being put to sleep and saves to end those conditions.” Is this equal to Cunning- wisdom? Also what would a player be trying to gain taking this custom lineage to gain cunning- wisdom that they wouldn’t get from being a gnome.
If bonus action teleport was that big of deal everyone would be an Eladrin, high elf with fey teleportation feat, or take the fey touched feat. In other words there are many ways to get this ability. In my opinion there are better ancestral movements.
This is that unequal piece meal people are talking about. ALL charms and fears currently target wisdom, and gnome currently doesn't gets it against all, just saves against magic. Int and charisma are rarely targeted as is. Elves and OTHER races with fey ancestry have features other than that as do gnomes. The gnome features have typically been cosidered weaker so they have the better save ability. But you put them side by side and they are not equal.
As far as the background thing, of course they can think out of the box. I was literally just giving suggestions of how you can use the default custom background thing to mechanically show more than just your character's job. I mean, let's just look at the current half elf and see how it is seperate from humans. They get fey ancestry and dark vision instead of a feat. How are they different from elves? They lose trance and their "subspecies" and gain an extra skill.
Mechanically almost no different from an elf. You would actually be better off keeping all the extra stuff you get from elf and using your background to fully round out and define your character. Backgrounds are more than just "former employment".
Lets look at half orc vs orc. The difference one skill and savage attack, which savage attack was never very human. In this case they just lose adrenaline rush and powerful build and gain a skill. You are telling me being half human isnt just having extra skills, but from what wizards has done in the past, mechanically no apparently not.
Have you read the 1DND species, the gnome gets it against all Int, Wis, Cha now. It doesn’t matter what your background says that’s just role play. The crunch of mechanics is what’s going to matter in game. What 5e half elves received that was different was a better stat spread +2Cha, +1x, +1y. So no, getting a skill is not the design of having Having a human parent. Technically the half elf was based on having the 5e human parent, not the heavily favored variant human. Thankfully One Dnd has move away from stats being attached to species (which kills the 5e human because all it did was give a lot of stats).
Using your first level feat to play into your story is fine and I won’t knock someone for doing that, but in the end you story is just role play. If you choose skilled for story reasons when Alert, or Magic initiate would have been better for gameplay that’s your choice. Again the goal of this is to give options. I’m fine with you believing everything is okay with a status quo. I disagree.
Also the orc is a strange because technically the current Orc was designed based on the half orc instead of the other way around. That’s because historically half orc has been a playable race and orcs were monsters. That is definitely noticeable in the first pass at a 5e Orc in VGM.
Note I said currently with gnome. One dnd is in playtest. Also note one dnd was doing away with all ASI from species as you noted so I clearly ignored that. But sure lets keep that. The difference between an elf and a half elf js lose trance and subspecies gain +1 asi to a third ability (not your preferred 2) and gain 1 skill. But sure lets do that for one dnd and then they can be a worse elf while also still getting a better first level feat.
(Also background should be mechanical AND flavor my opinion.
Wait so you didn’t use playtest when describing the gnome trait, but then immediately decided to use playtest when describing the ASI distribution. I’m working from all playtest consider this whole thing is a thought experiment and thus playtest. You started off with a decent argument and constructive criticism, but now you have fallen into protect the status quo mode. If I wanted to play a standard half elf in One dnd I would just pick elf and role play being mixed human elf. I wouldn’t waste my feat on skilled, because it wouldn’t change anything with the roll play. If I wanted to play a dwelf, dworc, this system would allow something closer to what I prefer. If I want to play gnoll, or Drider there is nothing in the rules to help facilitate that as of now, nor has anything been discussed for the future. This system would act as a bridge until those species are officially released, if they even get a release. If you want to point out flaws in this customer lineage system I will gladly hear them, debate them, and attempt to correct them, but if you just want to try to convince me the status quo is better that’s a waste of your time and mine.
I guess we might just cut to the chase and make the martial master race and caster master race, and be done with it. Because this is how it will inevitably end.
That shouldn’t be possible since none of the traits should be better than what the normal species get and you only get three traits. There will obviously be favored builds, but that already exist in the game. Min/maxers will always exist. The goal here it to make something that fills a void, but doesn’t become a min/maxers wet dream. Notice there is no versatile, lucky, or relentless endurance. Also I would expect this to be in the DMG so a conversation has to be had. This shouldn’t become I’m a human monk but I have a carapace, toughness, and darkvision. This is more for the player who says I want to be a Drider. Okay you get darkvision, natural weapon, and monstrous lower body. Or the player who wants being a Orc dwarf to show mechanically. They can’t get tremorsense and relentless endurance, but they can take darkvision, toughness, and AM bonus action dash. It might be better to just take the dwarf or orc traits for this build from a min max perspective.
That is the goal, not really what was achieved. Example no one is taking fey ancestry here over cunning wisdom. Advantage against ALL wisdom saves is huge for basically everyone. Then you have the bonus action teleport. The third one is probably just dark vision unless there is a member in your party that doesnt have it.
Still, the concept is there, and this, in my opinion, belongs as a extra rule in the dmg or something with a side bar in the PHB saying to ask your GM about additional custom or half species options at the bottom of the already existing side bar.
Ultimately, I personally feel the first level feat we already get at level 1 with backgrounds can also be used to define the mixing of heritage.
Half-elf/half-human for example could use the wood-elf stats and take the skilled feat to symbolize the human versatility and ambition. Or they could take the human side and one of their first level feats could be magic initiate primal for wood elf or arcane for high elf, and they still have another first level feat.
Half human/half dwarf human stats on a shorter guy with a beard the toughness and crafter feats. That feels like a dwarvish human to me.
Dwarf/halfling, take dwarf and the lucky feat or take halfling and the crafter or toughness feat. Your background also encompasses your heritage and upbringing to me.
As a DM I would tell my players to really think about their goals. Taking skilled as an elf doesn’t make you anymore human than taking Magic Initiate. If there isn’t a mechanical crunch then don’t limit your choices to create something. Since it’s fully role playing we will role play and take whatever helps your build. Also the role play method still leaves me homebrewing stuff when someone wants to play a Gnoll.
Why would someone always take cunning wisdom over fey ancestry. Fey ancestry works for works no matter which save the charm effect is using. So is it better to play gnome over elf? They get advantage on Int, Wis and Cha saves? would changing it from fey ancestry to a new ability “fey heritage- you have advantage on saves against being charmed and magically being put to sleep and saves to end those conditions.” Is this equal to Cunning- wisdom? Also what would a player be trying to gain taking this custom lineage to gain cunning- wisdom that they wouldn’t get from being a gnome.
If bonus action teleport was that big of deal everyone would be an Eladrin, high elf with fey teleportation feat, or take the fey touched feat. In other words there are many ways to get this ability. In my opinion there are better ancestral movements.
This is that unequal piece meal people are talking about. ALL charms and fears currently target wisdom, and gnome currently doesn't gets it against all, just saves against magic. Int and charisma are rarely targeted as is. Elves and OTHER races with fey ancestry have features other than that as do gnomes. The gnome features have typically been cosidered weaker so they have the better save ability. But you put them side by side and they are not equal.
As far as the background thing, of course they can think out of the box. I was literally just giving suggestions of how you can use the default custom background thing to mechanically show more than just your character's job. I mean, let's just look at the current half elf and see how it is seperate from humans. They get fey ancestry and dark vision instead of a feat. How are they different from elves? They lose trance and their "subspecies" and gain an extra skill.
Mechanically almost no different from an elf. You would actually be better off keeping all the extra stuff you get from elf and using your background to fully round out and define your character. Backgrounds are more than just "former employment".
Lets look at half orc vs orc. The difference one skill and savage attack, which savage attack was never very human. In this case they just lose adrenaline rush and powerful build and gain a skill. You are telling me being half human isnt just having extra skills, but from what wizards has done in the past, mechanically no apparently not.
Have you read the 1DND species, the gnome gets it against all Int, Wis, Cha now. It doesn’t matter what your background says that’s just role play. The crunch of mechanics is what’s going to matter in game. What 5e half elves received that was different was a better stat spread +2Cha, +1x, +1y. So no, getting a skill is not the design of having Having a human parent. Technically the half elf was based on having the 5e human parent, not the heavily favored variant human. Thankfully One Dnd has move away from stats being attached to species (which kills the 5e human because all it did was give a lot of stats).
Using your first level feat to play into your story is fine and I won’t knock someone for doing that, but in the end you story is just role play. If you choose skilled for story reasons when Alert, or Magic initiate would have been better for gameplay that’s your choice. Again the goal of this is to give options. I’m fine with you believing everything is okay with a status quo. I disagree.
Also the orc is a strange because technically the current Orc was designed based on the half orc instead of the other way around. That’s because historically half orc has been a playable race and orcs were monsters. That is definitely noticeable in the first pass at a 5e Orc in VGM.
Note I said currently with gnome. One dnd is in playtest. Also note one dnd was doing away with all ASI from species as you noted so I clearly ignored that. But sure lets keep that. The difference between an elf and a half elf js lose trance and subspecies gain +1 asi to a third ability (not your preferred 2) and gain 1 skill. But sure lets do that for one dnd and then they can be a worse elf while also still getting a better first level feat.
(Also background should be mechanical AND flavor my opinion.
Wait so you didn’t use playtest when describing the gnome trait, but then immediately decided to use playtest when describing the ASI distribution. I’m working from all playtest consider this whole thing is a thought experiment and thus playtest. You started off with a decent argument and constructive criticism, but now you have fallen into protect the status quo mode. If I wanted to play a standard half elf in One dnd I would just pick elf and role play being mixed human elf. I wouldn’t waste my feat on skilled, because it wouldn’t change anything with the roll play. If I wanted to play a dwelf, dworc, this system would allow something closer to what I prefer. If I want to play gnoll, or Drider there is nothing in the rules to help facilitate that as of now, nor has anything been discussed for the future. This system would act as a bridge until those species are officially released, if they even get a release. If you want to point out flaws in this customer lineage system I will gladly hear them, debate them, and attempt to correct them, but if you just want to try to convince me the status quo is better that’s a waste of your time and mine.
I apologize, I often have multiple points at the same time. It become difficult in debate because people like to boil down points into one basic point rather than all.
So my points are currently multi-form here.
1. The status quo with background + ancestry + side bar options allows for greater variety of expression than the current 5e 2 half races and thats it.
2. The 5e two half races didn't even do a particularly good job of BEING a half race.
3. The custom race/ half race idea here is solid, but will take A LOT of work to balance out the options which may not be feasible for the first few books.
4. Gnomes aren't picked universally over elves currently in 5e because their cunning only provides advantage against magic not all checks.
5. Even in One DnD the difference between gnome and elf is more than gnomish cunning and fey ancestry.
The assumption for playtest vs not playtest was because 2 very different points were being made that were unrelated to one another. One was about use frequency which will undoubtedly be based on how something functions currently in 5e and not in one dnd. The other was about porting the half races that people are complaining arent in over and how impractical and limp that port is.
I guess we might just cut to the chase and make the martial master race and caster master race, and be done with it. Because this is how it will inevitably end.
That shouldn’t be possible since none of the traits should be better than what the normal species get and you only get three traits. There will obviously be favored builds, but that already exist in the game. Min/maxers will always exist. The goal here it to make something that fills a void, but doesn’t become a min/maxers wet dream. Notice there is no versatile, lucky, or relentless endurance. Also I would expect this to be in the DMG so a conversation has to be had. This shouldn’t become I’m a human monk but I have a carapace, toughness, and darkvision. This is more for the player who says I want to be a Drider. Okay you get darkvision, natural weapon, and monstrous lower body. Or the player who wants being a Orc dwarf to show mechanically. They can’t get tremorsense and relentless endurance, but they can take darkvision, toughness, and AM bonus action dash. It might be better to just take the dwarf or orc traits for this build from a min max perspective.
That is the goal, not really what was achieved. Example no one is taking fey ancestry here over cunning wisdom. Advantage against ALL wisdom saves is huge for basically everyone. Then you have the bonus action teleport. The third one is probably just dark vision unless there is a member in your party that doesnt have it.
Still, the concept is there, and this, in my opinion, belongs as a extra rule in the dmg or something with a side bar in the PHB saying to ask your GM about additional custom or half species options at the bottom of the already existing side bar.
Ultimately, I personally feel the first level feat we already get at level 1 with backgrounds can also be used to define the mixing of heritage.
Half-elf/half-human for example could use the wood-elf stats and take the skilled feat to symbolize the human versatility and ambition. Or they could take the human side and one of their first level feats could be magic initiate primal for wood elf or arcane for high elf, and they still have another first level feat.
Half human/half dwarf human stats on a shorter guy with a beard the toughness and crafter feats. That feels like a dwarvish human to me.
Dwarf/halfling, take dwarf and the lucky feat or take halfling and the crafter or toughness feat. Your background also encompasses your heritage and upbringing to me.
As a DM I would tell my players to really think about their goals. Taking skilled as an elf doesn’t make you anymore human than taking Magic Initiate. If there isn’t a mechanical crunch then don’t limit your choices to create something. Since it’s fully role playing we will role play and take whatever helps your build. Also the role play method still leaves me homebrewing stuff when someone wants to play a Gnoll.
Why would someone always take cunning wisdom over fey ancestry. Fey ancestry works for works no matter which save the charm effect is using. So is it better to play gnome over elf? They get advantage on Int, Wis and Cha saves? would changing it from fey ancestry to a new ability “fey heritage- you have advantage on saves against being charmed and magically being put to sleep and saves to end those conditions.” Is this equal to Cunning- wisdom? Also what would a player be trying to gain taking this custom lineage to gain cunning- wisdom that they wouldn’t get from being a gnome.
If bonus action teleport was that big of deal everyone would be an Eladrin, high elf with fey teleportation feat, or take the fey touched feat. In other words there are many ways to get this ability. In my opinion there are better ancestral movements.
This is that unequal piece meal people are talking about. ALL charms and fears currently target wisdom, and gnome currently doesn't gets it against all, just saves against magic. Int and charisma are rarely targeted as is. Elves and OTHER races with fey ancestry have features other than that as do gnomes. The gnome features have typically been cosidered weaker so they have the better save ability. But you put them side by side and they are not equal.
As far as the background thing, of course they can think out of the box. I was literally just giving suggestions of how you can use the default custom background thing to mechanically show more than just your character's job. I mean, let's just look at the current half elf and see how it is seperate from humans. They get fey ancestry and dark vision instead of a feat. How are they different from elves? They lose trance and their "subspecies" and gain an extra skill.
Mechanically almost no different from an elf. You would actually be better off keeping all the extra stuff you get from elf and using your background to fully round out and define your character. Backgrounds are more than just "former employment".
Lets look at half orc vs orc. The difference one skill and savage attack, which savage attack was never very human. In this case they just lose adrenaline rush and powerful build and gain a skill. You are telling me being half human isnt just having extra skills, but from what wizards has done in the past, mechanically no apparently not.
Have you read the 1DND species, the gnome gets it against all Int, Wis, Cha now. It doesn’t matter what your background says that’s just role play. The crunch of mechanics is what’s going to matter in game. What 5e half elves received that was different was a better stat spread +2Cha, +1x, +1y. So no, getting a skill is not the design of having Having a human parent. Technically the half elf was based on having the 5e human parent, not the heavily favored variant human. Thankfully One Dnd has move away from stats being attached to species (which kills the 5e human because all it did was give a lot of stats).
Using your first level feat to play into your story is fine and I won’t knock someone for doing that, but in the end you story is just role play. If you choose skilled for story reasons when Alert, or Magic initiate would have been better for gameplay that’s your choice. Again the goal of this is to give options. I’m fine with you believing everything is okay with a status quo. I disagree.
Also the orc is a strange because technically the current Orc was designed based on the half orc instead of the other way around. That’s because historically half orc has been a playable race and orcs were monsters. That is definitely noticeable in the first pass at a 5e Orc in VGM.
Note I said currently with gnome. One dnd is in playtest. Also note one dnd was doing away with all ASI from species as you noted so I clearly ignored that. But sure lets keep that. The difference between an elf and a half elf js lose trance and subspecies gain +1 asi to a third ability (not your preferred 2) and gain 1 skill. But sure lets do that for one dnd and then they can be a worse elf while also still getting a better first level feat.
(Also background should be mechanical AND flavor my opinion.
Wait so you didn’t use playtest when describing the gnome trait, but then immediately decided to use playtest when describing the ASI distribution. I’m working from all playtest consider this whole thing is a thought experiment and thus playtest. You started off with a decent argument and constructive criticism, but now you have fallen into protect the status quo mode. If I wanted to play a standard half elf in One dnd I would just pick elf and role play being mixed human elf. I wouldn’t waste my feat on skilled, because it wouldn’t change anything with the roll play. If I wanted to play a dwelf, dworc, this system would allow something closer to what I prefer. If I want to play gnoll, or Drider there is nothing in the rules to help facilitate that as of now, nor has anything been discussed for the future. This system would act as a bridge until those species are officially released, if they even get a release. If you want to point out flaws in this customer lineage system I will gladly hear them, debate them, and attempt to correct them, but if you just want to try to convince me the status quo is better that’s a waste of your time and mine.
I apologize, I often have multiple points at the same time. It become difficult in debate because people like to boil down points into one basic point rather than all.
So my points are currently multi-form here.
1. The status quo with background + ancestry + side bar options allows for greater variety of expression than the current 5e 2 half races and thats it.
2. The 5e two half races didn't even do a particularly good job of BEING a half race.
3. The custom race/ half race idea here is solid, but will take A LOT of work to balance out the options which may not be feasible for the first few books.
4. Gnomes aren't picked universally over elves currently in 5e because their cunning only provides advantage against magic not all checks.
5. Even in One DnD the difference between gnome and elf is more than gnomish cunning and fey ancestry.
The assumption for playtest vs not playtest was because 2 very different points were being made that were unrelated to one another. One was about use frequency which will undoubtedly be based on how something functions currently in 5e and not in one dnd. The other was about porting the half races that people are complaining arent in over and how impractical and limp that port is.
1. I sorta of agree since currently the only expression is the two half races, but technically the new solution is honestly just role play. There is no need to use your background fear or skills to define your species. You pick what you look like and everyone just role plays that. So yes infinite expression.
2. 5e two half races where odd super babies. Half elves had better stat spread and half orcs had better traits that didn’t come from either parentage.
3. I want to do the work. Mostly for the fun of it. I doubt WotC would actually use it.
4. In current 5e being a gnome has a bunch of negatives that are gone in one dnd. 25 speed increases to 30, and being small doesn’t give you disadvantage on using two handed weapons in one dnd. Also the Int, Wis, Cha saves are triggered by magic far more times than not.
5. I think this has to do with the power of advantage on wisdom saves. I was just saying that it’s not so powerful that people won’t make other selections.
with this build it will be impossible to make all the possible traits perfectly balance, but they should all be good enough that they serve a purpose in a build, while not being better than the normal species.
My fix to bring fey ancestry up to par was to combine it with part of trance but I don’t think I went far enough.
Fey Heritage- you have advantage on saving throws to avoid or end the charmed condition and you can’t be put to sleep by magic.
Also I’m altering monstrous lower body and assault wings into one trait with options.
Monstrous From- Your creature type changes to Aberration, Fey, or Monstrosity. Choose one of the following forms. They grant special abilities if you have other traits.
Beastial Lower Body- Your body below the waist is that of some beast (bear, centipede, goat, horse, snake, spider, etc) you choose the number of legs (1) Darkvision: increases to 120ft. (2) Powerful Build: your speed increases by 5ft. (3) AM speed 35: speed increases by 5, (4) AM climb speed: at 5th level you gain spider climb, (5) AM swim speed: swim speed double your speed, (6) AM bonus action Dash: pounce attack if you move 15ft in straight line before a melee attack you knock the target prone on hit if they fail save DC 8+Str+PB, (7) limited flight: at 5th level you gain a fly speed equal to your speed
Strong Wings- You have large wings. (1) AM swim speed: your swim speed is doubled, (2) AM limited flight: you have a fly speed equal to your speed.
Tentacles- You have a number of tentacles coming from various parts of your body, (1) Powerful build: you may use your tentacles to make an unarmed attack on hit the target takes normal damage and is grappled, (2) Natural weapon: your attacks with your Natural weapons have a 10ft reach, (3) AM climb speed: At 5th level your climb speed is doubled, (4) Nimbleness: you can move through the space of a creature the one size smaller than you or larger, but can’t stop there.
I guess we might just cut to the chase and make the martial master race and caster master race, and be done with it. Because this is how it will inevitably end.
That shouldn’t be possible since none of the traits should be better than what the normal species get and you only get three traits. There will obviously be favored builds, but that already exist in the game. Min/maxers will always exist. The goal here it to make something that fills a void, but doesn’t become a min/maxers wet dream. Notice there is no versatile, lucky, or relentless endurance. Also I would expect this to be in the DMG so a conversation has to be had. This shouldn’t become I’m a human monk but I have a carapace, toughness, and darkvision. This is more for the player who says I want to be a Drider. Okay you get darkvision, natural weapon, and monstrous lower body. Or the player who wants being a Orc dwarf to show mechanically. They can’t get tremorsense and relentless endurance, but they can take darkvision, toughness, and AM bonus action dash. It might be better to just take the dwarf or orc traits for this build from a min max perspective.
That is the goal, not really what was achieved. Example no one is taking fey ancestry here over cunning wisdom. Advantage against ALL wisdom saves is huge for basically everyone. Then you have the bonus action teleport. The third one is probably just dark vision unless there is a member in your party that doesnt have it.
Still, the concept is there, and this, in my opinion, belongs as a extra rule in the dmg or something with a side bar in the PHB saying to ask your GM about additional custom or half species options at the bottom of the already existing side bar.
Ultimately, I personally feel the first level feat we already get at level 1 with backgrounds can also be used to define the mixing of heritage.
Half-elf/half-human for example could use the wood-elf stats and take the skilled feat to symbolize the human versatility and ambition. Or they could take the human side and one of their first level feats could be magic initiate primal for wood elf or arcane for high elf, and they still have another first level feat.
Half human/half dwarf human stats on a shorter guy with a beard the toughness and crafter feats. That feels like a dwarvish human to me.
Dwarf/halfling, take dwarf and the lucky feat or take halfling and the crafter or toughness feat. Your background also encompasses your heritage and upbringing to me.
As a DM I would tell my players to really think about their goals. Taking skilled as an elf doesn’t make you anymore human than taking Magic Initiate. If there isn’t a mechanical crunch then don’t limit your choices to create something. Since it’s fully role playing we will role play and take whatever helps your build. Also the role play method still leaves me homebrewing stuff when someone wants to play a Gnoll.
Why would someone always take cunning wisdom over fey ancestry. Fey ancestry works for works no matter which save the charm effect is using. So is it better to play gnome over elf? They get advantage on Int, Wis and Cha saves? would changing it from fey ancestry to a new ability “fey heritage- you have advantage on saves against being charmed and magically being put to sleep and saves to end those conditions.” Is this equal to Cunning- wisdom? Also what would a player be trying to gain taking this custom lineage to gain cunning- wisdom that they wouldn’t get from being a gnome.
If bonus action teleport was that big of deal everyone would be an Eladrin, high elf with fey teleportation feat, or take the fey touched feat. In other words there are many ways to get this ability. In my opinion there are better ancestral movements.
This is that unequal piece meal people are talking about. ALL charms and fears currently target wisdom, and gnome currently doesn't gets it against all, just saves against magic. Int and charisma are rarely targeted as is. Elves and OTHER races with fey ancestry have features other than that as do gnomes. The gnome features have typically been cosidered weaker so they have the better save ability. But you put them side by side and they are not equal.
As far as the background thing, of course they can think out of the box. I was literally just giving suggestions of how you can use the default custom background thing to mechanically show more than just your character's job. I mean, let's just look at the current half elf and see how it is seperate from humans. They get fey ancestry and dark vision instead of a feat. How are they different from elves? They lose trance and their "subspecies" and gain an extra skill.
Mechanically almost no different from an elf. You would actually be better off keeping all the extra stuff you get from elf and using your background to fully round out and define your character. Backgrounds are more than just "former employment".
Lets look at half orc vs orc. The difference one skill and savage attack, which savage attack was never very human. In this case they just lose adrenaline rush and powerful build and gain a skill. You are telling me being half human isnt just having extra skills, but from what wizards has done in the past, mechanically no apparently not.
Have you read the 1DND species, the gnome gets it against all Int, Wis, Cha now. It doesn’t matter what your background says that’s just role play. The crunch of mechanics is what’s going to matter in game. What 5e half elves received that was different was a better stat spread +2Cha, +1x, +1y. So no, getting a skill is not the design of having Having a human parent. Technically the half elf was based on having the 5e human parent, not the heavily favored variant human. Thankfully One Dnd has move away from stats being attached to species (which kills the 5e human because all it did was give a lot of stats).
Using your first level feat to play into your story is fine and I won’t knock someone for doing that, but in the end you story is just role play. If you choose skilled for story reasons when Alert, or Magic initiate would have been better for gameplay that’s your choice. Again the goal of this is to give options. I’m fine with you believing everything is okay with a status quo. I disagree.
Also the orc is a strange because technically the current Orc was designed based on the half orc instead of the other way around. That’s because historically half orc has been a playable race and orcs were monsters. That is definitely noticeable in the first pass at a 5e Orc in VGM.
Note I said currently with gnome. One dnd is in playtest. Also note one dnd was doing away with all ASI from species as you noted so I clearly ignored that. But sure lets keep that. The difference between an elf and a half elf js lose trance and subspecies gain +1 asi to a third ability (not your preferred 2) and gain 1 skill. But sure lets do that for one dnd and then they can be a worse elf while also still getting a better first level feat.
(Also background should be mechanical AND flavor my opinion.
Wait so you didn’t use playtest when describing the gnome trait, but then immediately decided to use playtest when describing the ASI distribution. I’m working from all playtest consider this whole thing is a thought experiment and thus playtest. You started off with a decent argument and constructive criticism, but now you have fallen into protect the status quo mode. If I wanted to play a standard half elf in One dnd I would just pick elf and role play being mixed human elf. I wouldn’t waste my feat on skilled, because it wouldn’t change anything with the roll play. If I wanted to play a dwelf, dworc, this system would allow something closer to what I prefer. If I want to play gnoll, or Drider there is nothing in the rules to help facilitate that as of now, nor has anything been discussed for the future. This system would act as a bridge until those species are officially released, if they even get a release. If you want to point out flaws in this customer lineage system I will gladly hear them, debate them, and attempt to correct them, but if you just want to try to convince me the status quo is better that’s a waste of your time and mine.
I apologize, I often have multiple points at the same time. It become difficult in debate because people like to boil down points into one basic point rather than all.
So my points are currently multi-form here.
1. The status quo with background + ancestry + side bar options allows for greater variety of expression than the current 5e 2 half races and thats it.
2. The 5e two half races didn't even do a particularly good job of BEING a half race.
3. The custom race/ half race idea here is solid, but will take A LOT of work to balance out the options which may not be feasible for the first few books.
4. Gnomes aren't picked universally over elves currently in 5e because their cunning only provides advantage against magic not all checks.
5. Even in One DnD the difference between gnome and elf is more than gnomish cunning and fey ancestry.
The assumption for playtest vs not playtest was because 2 very different points were being made that were unrelated to one another. One was about use frequency which will undoubtedly be based on how something functions currently in 5e and not in one dnd. The other was about porting the half races that people are complaining arent in over and how impractical and limp that port is.
1. I sorta of agree since currently the only expression is the two half races, but technically the new solution is honestly just role play. There is no need to use your background fear or skills to define your species. You pick what you look like and everyone just role plays that. So yes infinite expression.
2. 5e two half races where odd super babies. Half elves had better stat spread and half orcs had better traits that didn’t come from either parentage.
3. I want to do the work. Mostly for the fun of it. I doubt WotC would actually use it.
4. In current 5e being a gnome has a bunch of negatives that are gone in one dnd. 25 speed increases to 30, and being small doesn’t give you disadvantage on using two handed weapons in one dnd. Also the Int, Wis, Cha saves are triggered by magic far more times than not.
5. I think this has to do with the power of advantage on wisdom saves. I was just saying that it’s not so powerful that people won’t make other selections.
with this build it will be impossible to make all the possible traits perfectly balance, but they should all be good enough that they serve a purpose in a build, while not being better than the normal species.
My fix to bring fey ancestry up to par was to combine it with part of trance but I don’t think I went far enough.
Fey Heritage- you have advantage on saving throws to avoid or end the charmed condition and you can’t be put to sleep by magic.
Also I’m altering monstrous lower body and assault wings into one trait with options.
Monstrous From- Your creature type changes to Aberration, Fey, or Monstrosity. Choose one of the following forms. They grant special abilities if you have other traits.
Beastial Lower Body- Your body below the waist is that of some beast (bear, centipede, goat, horse, snake, spider, etc) you choose the number of legs (1) Darkvision: increases to 120ft. (2) Powerful Build: your speed increases by 5ft. (3) AM speed 35: speed increases by 5, (4) AM climb speed: at 5th level you gain spider climb, (5) AM swim speed: swim speed double your speed, (6) AM bonus action Dash: pounce attack if you move 15ft in straight line before a melee attack you knock the target prone on hit if they fail save DC 8+Str+PB, (7) limited flight: at 5th level you gain a fly speed equal to your speed
Strong Wings- You have large wings. (1) AM swim speed: your swim speed is doubled, (2) AM limited flight: you have a fly speed equal to your speed.
Tentacles- You have a number of tentacles coming from various parts of your body, (1) Powerful build: you may use your tentacles to make an unarmed attack on hit the target takes normal damage and is grappled, (2) Natural weapon: your attacks with your Natural weapons have a 10ft reach, (3) AM climb speed: At 5th level your climb speed is doubled, (4) Nimbleness: you can move through the space of a creature the one size smaller than you or larger, but can’t stop there.
So to talk about the work itself, I think what may be a little more "fun" if you will may be to have 2 minor traits that you pick and one MAJOR trait. One of the Major traits could be gain another first level feat and another could be something like pick 2 more minor traits for those that want more options. This way you could have more powerful ones like cunning and/or magic resistance be competing with each other while less powerful ones are competing in the 2 minor trait side. This would still total 3 but would allow one trait to really stand out.
I feel this is what makes the current races "fun" they all have a couple minor traits and then they have a big trait. Dragonborn has its limited flight thing at 5 and breath weapon as its majors with dark vision and damage resistance being its 2 minors. With Human it is the feat, with a skill and inspiration being its minors....elves have a bunch of minors with dark vision a skill fey ancestry and their heritages giving a few specific spells. Gnomes, again gnomish cunning the big major, dark vision and their heritages their minors. Halfling, another 4 minors, luck that only works on nat 1's, brave, nimbleness and a skill, So on and so forth basically
I'm not against a "Race Builder" toolkit but this definitely has no place in core, the books will be bloated enough as is.
I agree. While I hold no objection, at best this should be part of some appendix in the back of the book or sidebar as opposed to some core feature of the material.
I know I'm probably in the minority here, but I like the fact that races have differences and such. It gives them each distinct flavor and character and personality. If you remove that in favor of some sort of custom thing as the default you're going to get every character sporting nearly identical, 'optimal', traits. If I want to play a dwarf, I'm going to play a dwarf no matter the racials (unless they're REALLY crippling); but if I can be a dwarf and my racials can be whatever I want on top of that, don't be surprised when I pick the OMGWTFOPED ones.
I'm not against a "Race Builder" toolkit but this definitely has no place in core, the books will be bloated enough as is.
I agree. While I hold no objection, at best this should be part of some appendix in the back of the book or sidebar as opposed to some core feature of the material.
I know I'm probably in the minority here, but I like the fact that races have differences and such. It gives them each distinct flavor and character and personality. If you remove that in favor of some sort of custom thing as the default you're going to get every character sporting nearly identical, 'optimal', traits. If I want to play a dwarf, I'm going to play a dwarf no matter the racials (unless they're REALLY crippling); but if I can be a dwarf and my racials can be whatever I want on top of that, don't be surprised when I pick the OMGWTFOPED ones.
With what I’m proposing you could only be dwarf and you facials be whatever is if your DM is super lenient. Also none of the features I’m adding to the list are better than normal species abilities. Also I’ve been trying to make sure you can’t combine things into something OP. With what I’ve done so far the best combo I see is resistance, carapace, thick hide on a sorcerer or spell caster that has high con. I’m not sure what you would have to tell your DM you are to get them to allow this combo, but you certainly aren’t a dwarf. A good place for this would be in the DMG right after or before example of creating a whole new species. Basically this should save time and when you get players who just want to play something not in the books this should be an easy balanced way of letting them make it. If we can find the balance.
I really like the work that you have put into this. I have seen a lot of people suggest something along these lines, but it is usually not this well fleshed out. I think that you have done a decent job of not making it too complicated while still providing a lot of options. I also applaud your efforts to reduce the chance of getting something overpowered by some combination of the traits. The advantage of a system like this would be its great flexibility, but it seems to me that how you have done this has ensured that any race made from these components would not be stronger (or probably even as strong) as the published species.
The idea of one major and two minor traits is interesting, but might make the system unnecessarily complicated. In addition, the monstrous form option essentially turns a minor trait into a major one. According to Aquilontune's calculations and interpretation, most of the existing species have either one major and two minor traits or four minor traits. This system essentially provides either three minor traits or one major and one minor (i.e. one fewer minor trait than the average published race). This limits its power, which I would say is made up for by flexibility. All in all, this system may need further tweaking, but seems impressively solid to me.
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Edit: Added a poll. As of now this is every trait balanced against each other. If enough people like 1 Major 2 Minor traits I will switch to that design goal.
So this is a continuation of a thought experiment I had in another thread. The design goal is to have some traits similar to but not exactly the same as the fleshed out species (Human, Elf, etc), so this new improved custom lineage could be used to mechanically represent mixed species (Dwelf, Gnorc, etc), not covered species (Gnoll, Drider, etc) or new species (Doggos, Lobsterian, etc). Note that some traits are direct ports because I can’t think of a way to make them different. Please provide feed back on the traits, so we can find a balance. Please suggest traits that you think are important that I missed and why they are important. Also if you think this is a horrible design, I want to know why. I may debate with you, but it’s all for the sake of learning, understanding and entertainment. Thanks in advance.
CUSTOM LINEAGE
Instead of choosing one of the game’s species for your character at 1st level, if your DM allows you can use the following traits to represent your character’s lineage. This can represent mixed lineages or completely new linages.
Creature Type. You are a humanoid. You determine your appearance and whether you resemble any of your kin. Your DM may allow you to have up to two tags that classify species for magic item use (and feats if the species specific feats carry over). A mixed Dwarf Elf might have “You are an Elf” for use of the Moonblade and “You are a Dwarf” for Axe of Dwarven Lords. (Your DM may also allow you to be another creature type if it better fits the character you are designing, this change can effect gameplay.)
Size. You are Small or Medium (your choice).
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.
Variable Traits. You gain three of the following options of your choice (you may only choose a letter once even if it has multiple choices):
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and one other language that you and your DM agree is appropriate for your character.
I guess we might just cut to the chase and make the martial master race and caster master race, and be done with it. Because this is how it will inevitably end.
That shouldn’t be possible since none of the traits should be better than what the normal species get and you only get three traits. There will obviously be favored builds, but that already exist in the game. Min/maxers will always exist. The goal here it to make something that fills a void, but doesn’t become a min/maxers wet dream. Notice there is no versatile, lucky, or relentless endurance. Also I would expect this to be in the DMG so a conversation has to be had. This shouldn’t become I’m a human monk but I have a carapace, toughness, and darkvision. This is more for the player who says I want to be a Drider. Okay you get darkvision, natural weapon, and monstrous lower body. Or the player who wants being a Orc dwarf to show mechanically. They can’t get tremorsense and relentless endurance, but they can take darkvision, toughness, and AM bonus action dash. It might be better to just take the dwarf or orc traits for this build from a min max perspective.
I'm not against a "Race Builder" toolkit but this definitely has no place in core, the books will be bloated enough as is.
That is the goal, not really what was achieved. Example no one is taking fey ancestry here over cunning wisdom. Advantage against ALL wisdom saves is huge for basically everyone. Then you have the bonus action teleport. The third one is probably just dark vision unless there is a member in your party that doesnt have it.
Still, the concept is there, and this, in my opinion, belongs as a extra rule in the dmg or something with a side bar in the PHB saying to ask your GM about additional custom or half species options at the bottom of the already existing side bar.
Ultimately, I personally feel the first level feat we already get at level 1 with backgrounds can also be used to define the mixing of heritage.
Half-elf/half-human for example could use the wood-elf stats and take the skilled feat to symbolize the human versatility and ambition. Or they could take the human side and one of their first level feats could be magic initiate primal for wood elf or arcane for high elf, and they still have another first level feat.
Half human/half dwarf human stats on a shorter guy with a beard the toughness and crafter feats. That feels like a dwarvish human to me.
Dwarf/halfling, take dwarf and the lucky feat or take halfling and the crafter or toughness feat. Your background also encompasses your heritage and upbringing to me.
This could be less than a page in the DMG
You have 17 features up there! It's at least two pages for a single "race" not counting any art or flavor text...
As a DM I would tell my players to really think about their goals. Taking skilled as an elf doesn’t make you anymore human than taking Magic Initiate. If there isn’t a mechanical crunch then don’t limit your choices to create something. Since it’s fully role playing we will role play and take whatever helps your build.
Also the role play method still leaves me homebrewing stuff when someone wants to play a Gnoll.
Why would someone always take cunning wisdom over fey ancestry. Fey ancestry works for works no matter which save the charm effect is using. So is it better to play gnome over elf? They get advantage on Int, Wis and Cha saves?
would changing it from fey ancestry to a new ability “fey heritage- you have advantage on saves against being charmed and magically being put to sleep and saves to end those conditions.” Is this equal to Cunning- wisdom? Also what would a player be trying to gain taking this custom lineage to gain cunning- wisdom that they wouldn’t get from being a gnome.
If bonus action teleport was that big of deal everyone would be an Eladrin, high elf with fey teleportation feat, or take the fey touched feat. In other words there are many ways to get this ability. In my opinion there are better ancestral movements.
But this wouldn’t have flavor text because it’s basically a builder. Maybe a second page if they build an example. Also it’s not a single “race”, it’s multiple species and mixed species depending on how it’s used.
This is that unequal piece meal people are talking about. ALL charms and fears currently target wisdom, and gnome currently doesn't gets it against all, just saves against magic. Int and charisma are rarely targeted as is. Elves and OTHER races with fey ancestry have features other than that as do gnomes. The gnome features have typically been cosidered weaker so they have the better save ability. But you put them side by side and they are not equal.
As far as the background thing, of course they can think out of the box. I was literally just giving suggestions of how you can use the default custom background thing to mechanically show more than just your character's job. I mean, let's just look at the current half elf and see how it is seperate from humans. They get fey ancestry and dark vision instead of a feat. How are they different from elves? They lose trance and their "subspecies" and gain an extra skill.
Mechanically almost no different from an elf. You would actually be better off keeping all the extra stuff you get from elf and using your background to fully round out and define your character. Backgrounds are more than just "former employment".
Lets look at half orc vs orc. The difference one skill and savage attack, which savage attack was never very human. In this case they just lose adrenaline rush and powerful build and gain a skill. You are telling me being half human isnt just having extra skills, but from what wizards has done in the past, mechanically no apparently not.
Edit: just another example of something you can do now that you couldn't before with the current side bar and background feature. Halfling/orc. Use orc stats, Halfling size and take the lucky feat as part of your background. No one can tell me that a small race with powerful build, adrenaline rush and lucky doesn't feel like a halfling/orc at least more so than any current method we have to create it other than pure homebrew.
Have you read the 1DND species, the gnome gets it against all Int, Wis, Cha now. It doesn’t matter what your background says that’s just role play. The crunch of mechanics is what’s going to matter in game. What 5e half elves received that was different was a better stat spread +2Cha, +1x, +1y. So no, getting a skill is not the design of having Having a human parent. Technically the half elf was based on having the 5e human parent, not the heavily favored variant human. Thankfully One Dnd has move away from stats being attached to species (which kills the 5e human because all it did was give a lot of stats).
Using your first level feat to play into your story is fine and I won’t knock someone for doing that, but in the end you story is just role play. If you choose skilled for story reasons when Alert, or Magic initiate would have been better for gameplay that’s your choice. Again the goal of this is to give options. I’m fine with you believing everything is okay with a status quo. I disagree.
Also the orc is a strange because technically the current Orc was designed based on the half orc instead of the other way around. That’s because historically half orc has been a playable race and orcs were monsters. That is definitely noticeable in the first pass at a 5e Orc in VGM.
Note I said currently with gnome. One dnd is in playtest. Also note one dnd was doing away with all ASI from species as you noted so I clearly ignored that. But sure lets keep that. The difference between an elf and a half elf js lose trance and subspecies gain +1 asi to a third ability (not your preferred 2) and gain 1 skill. But sure lets do that for one dnd and then they can be a worse elf while also still getting a better first level feat.
(Also background should be mechanical AND flavor my opinion.
Wait so you didn’t use playtest when describing the gnome trait, but then immediately decided to use playtest when describing the ASI distribution. I’m working from all playtest consider this whole thing is a thought experiment and thus playtest. You started off with a decent argument and constructive criticism, but now you have fallen into protect the status quo mode. If I wanted to play a standard half elf in One dnd I would just pick elf and role play being mixed human elf. I wouldn’t waste my feat on skilled, because it wouldn’t change anything with the roll play. If I wanted to play a dwelf, dworc, this system would allow something closer to what I prefer. If I want to play gnoll, or Drider there is nothing in the rules to help facilitate that as of now, nor has anything been discussed for the future. This system would act as a bridge until those species are officially released, if they even get a release. If you want to point out flaws in this customer lineage system I will gladly hear them, debate them, and attempt to correct them, but if you just want to try to convince me the status quo is better that’s a waste of your time and mine.
I apologize, I often have multiple points at the same time. It become difficult in debate because people like to boil down points into one basic point rather than all.
So my points are currently multi-form here.
1. The status quo with background + ancestry + side bar options allows for greater variety of expression than the current 5e 2 half races and thats it.
2. The 5e two half races didn't even do a particularly good job of BEING a half race.
3. The custom race/ half race idea here is solid, but will take A LOT of work to balance out the options which may not be feasible for the first few books.
4. Gnomes aren't picked universally over elves currently in 5e because their cunning only provides advantage against magic not all checks.
5. Even in One DnD the difference between gnome and elf is more than gnomish cunning and fey ancestry.
The assumption for playtest vs not playtest was because 2 very different points were being made that were unrelated to one another. One was about use frequency which will undoubtedly be based on how something functions currently in 5e and not in one dnd. The other was about porting the half races that people are complaining arent in over and how impractical and limp that port is.
1. I sorta of agree since currently the only expression is the two half races, but technically the new solution is honestly just role play. There is no need to use your background fear or skills to define your species. You pick what you look like and everyone just role plays that. So yes infinite expression.
2. 5e two half races where odd super babies. Half elves had better stat spread and half orcs had better traits that didn’t come from either parentage.
3. I want to do the work. Mostly for the fun of it. I doubt WotC would actually use it.
4. In current 5e being a gnome has a bunch of negatives that are gone in one dnd. 25 speed increases to 30, and being small doesn’t give you disadvantage on using two handed weapons in one dnd. Also the Int, Wis, Cha saves are triggered by magic far more times than not.
5. I think this has to do with the power of advantage on wisdom saves. I was just saying that it’s not so powerful that people won’t make other selections.
with this build it will be impossible to make all the possible traits perfectly balance, but they should all be good enough that they serve a purpose in a build, while not being better than the normal species.
My fix to bring fey ancestry up to par was to combine it with part of trance but I don’t think I went far enough.
Fey Heritage- you have advantage on saving throws to avoid or end the charmed condition and you can’t be put to sleep by magic.
Also I’m altering monstrous lower body and assault wings into one trait with options.
Monstrous From- Your creature type changes to Aberration, Fey, or Monstrosity. Choose one of the following forms. They grant special abilities if you have other traits.
So to talk about the work itself, I think what may be a little more "fun" if you will may be to have 2 minor traits that you pick and one MAJOR trait. One of the Major traits could be gain another first level feat and another could be something like pick 2 more minor traits for those that want more options. This way you could have more powerful ones like cunning and/or magic resistance be competing with each other while less powerful ones are competing in the 2 minor trait side. This would still total 3 but would allow one trait to really stand out.
I feel this is what makes the current races "fun" they all have a couple minor traits and then they have a big trait. Dragonborn has its limited flight thing at 5 and breath weapon as its majors with dark vision and damage resistance being its 2 minors. With Human it is the feat, with a skill and inspiration being its minors....elves have a bunch of minors with dark vision a skill fey ancestry and their heritages giving a few specific spells. Gnomes, again gnomish cunning the big major, dark vision and their heritages their minors. Halfling, another 4 minors, luck that only works on nat 1's, brave, nimbleness and a skill, So on and so forth basically
I agree. While I hold no objection, at best this should be part of some appendix in the back of the book or sidebar as opposed to some core feature of the material.
I know I'm probably in the minority here, but I like the fact that races have differences and such. It gives them each distinct flavor and character and personality. If you remove that in favor of some sort of custom thing as the default you're going to get every character sporting nearly identical, 'optimal', traits. If I want to play a dwarf, I'm going to play a dwarf no matter the racials (unless they're REALLY crippling); but if I can be a dwarf and my racials can be whatever I want on top of that, don't be surprised when I pick the OMGWTFOPED ones.
With what I’m proposing you could only be dwarf and you facials be whatever is if your DM is super lenient. Also none of the features I’m adding to the list are better than normal species abilities. Also I’ve been trying to make sure you can’t combine things into something OP. With what I’ve done so far the best combo I see is resistance, carapace, thick hide on a sorcerer or spell caster that has high con. I’m not sure what you would have to tell your DM you are to get them to allow this combo, but you certainly aren’t a dwarf. A good place for this would be in the DMG right after or before example of creating a whole new species. Basically this should save time and when you get players who just want to play something not in the books this should be an easy balanced way of letting them make it. If we can find the balance.
I really like the work that you have put into this. I have seen a lot of people suggest something along these lines, but it is usually not this well fleshed out. I think that you have done a decent job of not making it too complicated while still providing a lot of options. I also applaud your efforts to reduce the chance of getting something overpowered by some combination of the traits. The advantage of a system like this would be its great flexibility, but it seems to me that how you have done this has ensured that any race made from these components would not be stronger (or probably even as strong) as the published species.
The idea of one major and two minor traits is interesting, but might make the system unnecessarily complicated. In addition, the monstrous form option essentially turns a minor trait into a major one. According to Aquilontune's calculations and interpretation, most of the existing species have either one major and two minor traits or four minor traits. This system essentially provides either three minor traits or one major and one minor (i.e. one fewer minor trait than the average published race). This limits its power, which I would say is made up for by flexibility. All in all, this system may need further tweaking, but seems impressively solid to me.