Lately I have only been paying a lot less attention to the current playlets releases for the upcoming revised version of 5th Edition (R5e), they keep changing, and re changing, and re-re changing stuff over and over with every new release, and I've gotten a lil burnt out on it. However, I wanted to know how they're going to be organizing and presenting Feats moving forward, as I want to have my publications represent the future of D&D, not its past. So I specifically looked at the Feats section in both UAs 7 & 8, and I noticed something I simultaneously understand, but don't quite get, and wanted to consult the necrosages more well informed members of the community about.
FEATS
Parts of a Feat
The description of a feat contains the following parts, which are presented after the feat’s name:
Category. A feat is a member of a category, which is noted in the feat. If you are instructed to choose a feat from a specific category, such as the Background category, that category must appear under the feat’s name.
Prerequisite. You must meet any prerequisite specified in a feat to take that feat unless a special feature allows you to take the feat without the prerequisite. If a prerequisite is a level, your character level must meet or exceed that level. If a prerequisite is a class, you must have at least one level in that class to qualify for the feat.
Benefit. The benefit of the feat is then detailed. If you have a feat, you gain its benefit.
Repeatable. A feat can be taken only once unless it states otherwise.
Feat Descriptions
Here are descriptions of some feats that are available to characters using this playtest article. Playtest characters can also select feats from previous installments of the 2022 Unearthed Arcana series. If a feat appears in this article and also in one of those earlier articles, use the version of the feat in this article. The following feats are presented in alphabetical order.
ABILITY SCORE IMPROVEMENT
General Feat (Prerequisite: Level 4+)
Increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. You can’t increase an ability score above 20 using this feat. However, if you’re at least level 19, that maximum increases to 22.
Repeatable. You can take this feat more than once.
What I basically want to know is:
How many categories people think there will end up being, and what are they?
Will feats that fall under multiple categories have them all listed?
Whatever else there might potentially be to understand about feat categories tis there hat I haven't even thought of yet to ask about?
All I can really think of is that it'd be use to separate level 1 feats, level 4+ feats, Fighting Styles, and maybe Epic Boons. There could be more to the system than that, but I wouldn't bet on it.
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Look at what you've done. You spoiled it. You have nobody to blame but yourself. Go sit and think about your actions.
Don't be mean. Rudeness is a vicious cycle, and it has to stop somewhere. Exceptions for things that are funny. Go to the current Competition of the Finest 'Brews! It's a cool place where cool people make cool things.
How I'm posting based on text formatting: Mod Hat Off - Mod Hat Also Off (I'm not a mod)
How many categories people think there will end up being, and what are they?
<shrug>
Will feats that fall under multiple categories have them all listed?
I would hope and expect so. It would seem to defeat the purpose of the mechanic to not do so.
Whatever else there might potentially be to understand about feat categories tis there hat I haven't even thought of yet to ask about?
I'd guess this is yet-another experiment in grouping feats. I wonder if the "background" category will replace the "1st level" prerequisite, for example. (Maybe they wanted a way to allow a feat to be used with a background without suggesting it is a "weak" feat.
agree with quarton, it will mostly be for seperating level 1, 4+ and epic. level 1 will become background feats and feats found in backgrounds. 4+ will be general feats, and backwards wise, this would be all feats that aren't background, or rewritten by the phb, (like tavern brawler will now be background) Perhaps they'll have racial category, but thats probably OK with prerequisites.
this is all guessing though, as it seems like internally they have been refining how feats work without directly playtesting those changes. By the time phb comes, who knows
The more I think about it do they really need more than General, Background, and Epic categories? Level requirements, species, fighting styles etc would probably be covered by prerequisites. Like Eldritch Adept prerequisite of Spellcasting or Pact Magic feature.
general, background, species, epic... class? i forget, where did the playtest fall on things like fighting style being a class feature rather than a "you get this free at level x" class feat?
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unhappy at the way in which we lost individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
tell them you don't like features disappeared quietly in the night: providefeedback!
Honestly, I don’t get why Fighting Styles need a pre-req; they’re only particularly useful on classes that already have them.
Hard disagree there, FSs are great on Rogues and Barbarians but they don't get access to them. Monks also sometimes will want to pick up a Fighting Style.
Wow, that’s a lot of responses overnight! Thanks all!!
Yeah, background, general, and epic make sense.
Wouldn’t race species fall under prerequisites like class is supposedly going to do according to the prerequisites description blurb?
so would epic, in that case. prerequisite: be epic in level. the fact that there are or would be a large number of them makes them suitable for a separate category. in light of that, i could see a species category that moved some species traits into a "pick one free at character creation" sort of situation. this would be an extra complication but it would perhaps simplify the mixed-parentage thing where a half-elf-half-orc would be instructed to pick their last perk from the species category, counting as both orcs and elf for prerequisites. or maybe not every kenku is flightless (especially with hadozee and humblewood glide), or maybe not every loxodon can use their trunk for simple tasks, or maybe a satyr could choose via feat whether they're fae rather than humanoid, etc.
...but they likely won't due to backwards compatibility so i'm probably not helping to bring it up.
Wow, that’s a lot of responses overnight! Thanks all!!
Yeah, background, general, and epic make sense.
Wouldn’t race species fall under prerequisites like class is supposedly going to do according to the prerequisites description blurb?
so would epic, in that case. prerequisite: be epic in level. the fact that there are or would be a large number of them makes them suitable for a separate category. in light of that, i could see a species category that moved some species traits into a "pick one free at character creation" sort of situation. this would be an extra complication but it would perhaps simplify the mixed-parentage thing where a half-elf-half-orc would be instructed to pick their last perk from the species category, counting as both orcs and elf for prerequisites. or maybe not every kenku is flightless (especially with hadozee and humblewood glide), or maybe not every loxodon can use their trunk for simple tasks, or maybe a satyr could choose via feat whether they're fae rather than humanoid, etc.
...but they likely won't due to backwards compatibility so i'm probably not helping to bring it up.
Those are some interesting ideas regarding the potential uses for species feats. 🤔
Wow, that’s a lot of responses overnight! Thanks all!!
Yeah, background, general, and epic make sense.
Wouldn’t race species fall under prerequisites like class is supposedly going to do according to the prerequisites description blurb?
so would epic, in that case. prerequisite: be epic in level. the fact that there are or would be a large number of them makes them suitable for a separate category. in light of that, i could see a species category that moved some species traits into a "pick one free at character creation" sort of situation. this would be an extra complication but it would perhaps simplify the mixed-parentage thing where a half-elf-half-orc would be instructed to pick their last perk from the species category, counting as both orcs and elf for prerequisites. or maybe not every kenku is flightless (especially with hadozee and humblewood glide), or maybe not every loxodon can use their trunk for simple tasks, or maybe a satyr could choose via feat whether they're fae rather than humanoid, etc.
...but they likely won't due to backwards compatibility so i'm probably not helping to bring it up.
Those are some interesting ideas regarding the potential uses for species feats. 🤔
It's just mimicking Pathfinder, which probably got it from 3.5 or something. Personally I really hate that design because it again confuses species which is supposed to be inherited traits that are fixed at character creation and are uniform across species, with acquired traits which you can gain over time and vary depending on environment / choices. I would much prefer a clean separation between these two. It hurts my brain to imagine a dragonborn suddenly growing scales because they punched Cloud Giant real hard.
I'd much prefer it if all the species feats were just rolled into subspecies / species customization at 1st level.
It's just mimicking Pathfinder, which probably got it from 3.5 or something. Personally I really hate that design because it again confuses species which is supposed to be inherited traits that are fixed at character creation and are uniform across species, with acquired traits which you can gain over time and vary depending on environment / choices. I would much prefer a clean separation between these two. It hurts my brain to imagine a dragonborn suddenly growing scales because they punched Cloud Giant real hard.
I'd much prefer it if all the species feats were just rolled into subspecies / species customization at 1st level.
i haven't played pathfinder, 3E, and/or 3.5E so i'll apologize if that's something long ago thought up and shot down for good reason. rather than pose this as feats to be earned at a later date by punching enough dudes (woodelf magic, elven accuracy, etc), i was imagining separation between common and uncommon species traits. perhaps elves commonly have (and pass down to their children) darkvision, trance, and fey ancestry but uncommonly pass along a species feat: fleet of foot, mask of the wild, cantrip, etc.
again, this is unlikely to be the path devs take. i was imagining what it would take to have "enough" racial/species feats to cause a category to grow up around them.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
unhappy at the way in which we lost individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
tell them you don't like features disappeared quietly in the night: providefeedback!
Wow, that’s a lot of responses overnight! Thanks all!!
Yeah, background, general, and epic make sense.
Wouldn’t race species fall under prerequisites like class is supposedly going to do according to the prerequisites description blurb?
so would epic, in that case. prerequisite: be epic in level. the fact that there are or would be a large number of them makes them suitable for a separate category. in light of that, i could see a species category that moved some species traits into a "pick one free at character creation" sort of situation. this would be an extra complication but it would perhaps simplify the mixed-parentage thing where a half-elf-half-orc would be instructed to pick their last perk from the species category, counting as both orcs and elf for prerequisites. or maybe not every kenku is flightless (especially with hadozee and humblewood glide), or maybe not every loxodon can use their trunk for simple tasks, or maybe a satyr could choose via feat whether they're fae rather than humanoid, etc.
...but they likely won't due to backwards compatibility so i'm probably not helping to bring it up.
Those are some interesting ideas regarding the potential uses for species feats. 🤔
It's just mimicking Pathfinder, which probably got it from 3.5 or something. Personally I really hate that design because it again confuses species which is supposed to be inherited traits that are fixed at character creation and are uniform across species, with acquired traits which you can gain over time and vary depending on environment / choices. I would much prefer a clean separation between these two. It hurts my brain to imagine a dragonborn suddenly growing scales because they punched Cloud Giant real hard.
I'd much prefer it if all the species feats were just rolled into subspecies / species customization at 1st level.
That’s a bit of an over-generalization, more specifically aimed at what leveling up and the acquisition of features represents in a narrative sense. Racial feats represent a character either deliberately expanding on an innate proficiency of their race (elven magics, prodigy, orcish fury, etc), or a latent trait fully manifesting (dragon hide, infernal constitution, dwarven resilience, etc). In the latter case this is not necessarily supposed to represent a sudden and instantaneous transformation in narrative terms anymore than a character gaining a feature such as expertise has suddenly gained a vast sum of new knowledge overnight. Narratively speaking the traits could have been developing for some time, and the feat acquisition simply represents the point where they’ve developed enough to provide their mechanical benefits. Your hypothetical Dragonborn isn’t necessarily spontaneously growing harder scales and sharper claws; those would have been growing in for a while and the aftermath of that fight just happens to be the point at which they’ve developed to combat readiness. Obviously it’s an imperfect representation, but that’s the limit of a hard level-based system.
Wow, that’s a lot of responses overnight! Thanks all!!
Yeah, background, general, and epic make sense.
Wouldn’t race species fall under prerequisites like class is supposedly going to do according to the prerequisites description blurb?
so would epic, in that case. prerequisite: be epic in level. the fact that there are or would be a large number of them makes them suitable for a separate category. in light of that, i could see a species category that moved some species traits into a "pick one free at character creation" sort of situation. this would be an extra complication but it would perhaps simplify the mixed-parentage thing where a half-elf-half-orc would be instructed to pick their last perk from the species category, counting as both orcs and elf for prerequisites. or maybe not every kenku is flightless (especially with hadozee and humblewood glide), or maybe not every loxodon can use their trunk for simple tasks, or maybe a satyr could choose via feat whether they're fae rather than humanoid, etc.
...but they likely won't due to backwards compatibility so i'm probably not helping to bring it up.
Those are some interesting ideas regarding the potential uses for species feats. 🤔
It's just mimicking Pathfinder, which probably got it from 3.5 or something. Personally I really hate that design because it again confuses species which is supposed to be inherited traits that are fixed at character creation and are uniform across species, with acquired traits which you can gain over time and vary depending on environment / choices. I would much prefer a clean separation between these two. It hurts my brain to imagine a dragonborn suddenly growing scales because they punched Cloud Giant real hard.
I'd much prefer it if all the species feats were just rolled into subspecies / species customization at 1st level.
Narratively speaking the traits could have been developing for some time, and the feat acquisition simply represents the point where they’ve developed enough to provide their mechanical benefits.
Even if it isn't sudden, it doesn't make sense to me for species traits to develop overtime. It's not a skill you are getting better at using. Why would a dragonborn grow claws in response to adventuring? I could see growing claws as part of the aging process, but adventuring =/= aging. For some of the traits it kinda make sense, like an elf could learn to become more accurate while adventuring, but then it doesn't make sense that only an elf could do so, it's kinda weird for Elven Accuracy to have that 'elven' requirement - I'd rather see Elven Accuracy replace "keen senses" as a species trait. The concept that doing a certain thing can make you more of that species compared to another individual of that species just feels a little icky to me. I could see making all the species traits limited to being required to be your Background feat, or you could replace them as a "Gift of ...." and open them up to any character to take similar to the Dragon "Gift" feats in Fizban.
Wow, that’s a lot of responses overnight! Thanks all!!
Yeah, background, general, and epic make sense.
Wouldn’t race species fall under prerequisites like class is supposedly going to do according to the prerequisites description blurb?
so would epic, in that case. prerequisite: be epic in level. the fact that there are or would be a large number of them makes them suitable for a separate category. in light of that, i could see a species category that moved some species traits into a "pick one free at character creation" sort of situation. this would be an extra complication but it would perhaps simplify the mixed-parentage thing where a half-elf-half-orc would be instructed to pick their last perk from the species category, counting as both orcs and elf for prerequisites. or maybe not every kenku is flightless (especially with hadozee and humblewood glide), or maybe not every loxodon can use their trunk for simple tasks, or maybe a satyr could choose via feat whether they're fae rather than humanoid, etc.
...but they likely won't due to backwards compatibility so i'm probably not helping to bring it up.
Those are some interesting ideas regarding the potential uses for species feats. 🤔
It's just mimicking Pathfinder, which probably got it from 3.5 or something. Personally I really hate that design because it again confuses species which is supposed to be inherited traits that are fixed at character creation and are uniform across species, with acquired traits which you can gain over time and vary depending on environment / choices. I would much prefer a clean separation between these two. It hurts my brain to imagine a dragonborn suddenly growing scales because they punched Cloud Giant real hard.
I'd much prefer it if all the species feats were just rolled into subspecies / species customization at 1st level.
Narratively speaking the traits could have been developing for some time, and the feat acquisition simply represents the point where they’ve developed enough to provide their mechanical benefits.
Even if it isn't sudden, it doesn't make sense to me for species traits to develop overtime. It's not a skill you are getting better at using. Why would a dragonborn grow claws in response to adventuring? I could see growing claws as part of the aging process, but adventuring =/= aging. For some of the traits it kinda make sense, like an elf could learn to become more accurate while adventuring, but then it doesn't make sense that only an elf could do so, it's kinda weird for Elven Accuracy to have that 'elven' requirement - I'd rather see Elven Accuracy replace "keen senses" as a species trait. The concept that doing a certain thing can make you more of that species compared to another individual of that species just feels a little icky to me. I could see making all the species traits limited to being required to be your Background feat, or you could replace them as a "Gift of ...." and open them up to any character to take similar to the Dragon "Gift" feats in Fizban.
Irl it doesn’t make a great deal of sense, no, but fortuitously this is the realm of fiction, and thus latent traits born of some kind of extraordinary heritage manifesting during the course of a story is far from unheard of. Even irl beings can have a latent congenital condition begin to manifest unpredictability at some point during their life, though of course it’s pretty much never as dramatic or singularly beneficial as in fiction, which again makes it fortune we are discussing the latter.
As for Elven Accuracy, think of it as elves being able to reach a higher degree of acuity with their senses than other races. Or maybe that’s just how the elf gods or whatever force created the universe willed things. This is fantasy, sometimes “because that’s how things work” is all the explanation you get or need.
I bet IamSposta wasn't trying to make another godforsaken thread about the nature/nurture divide in DnD (which is already a hugely fraught topic and the cause of many flamewars).
Irl it doesn’t make a great deal of sense, no, but fortuitously this is the realm of fiction, and thus latent traits born of some kind of extraordinary heritage manifesting during the course of a story is far from unheard of. Even irl beings can have a latent congenital condition begin to manifest unpredictability at some point during their life, though of course it’s pretty much never as dramatic or singularly beneficial as in fiction, which again makes it fortune we are discussing the latter.
Depending on the game, you could get any of these traits from a special surgery, from a rare magic potion, from a god's blessing...or you could find a magic ring, spend some time under a mountain in the dark hunting fish to survive, and get darkvision from it... And this is already a game where you can just wake up one morning immune to all poisons, or having danger sense, or...
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Lately I have only been paying a lot less attention to the current playlets releases for the upcoming revised version of 5th Edition (R5e), they keep changing, and re changing, and re-re changing stuff over and over with every new release, and I've gotten a lil burnt out on it. However, I wanted to know how they're going to be organizing and presenting Feats moving forward, as I want to have my publications represent the future of D&D, not its past. So I specifically looked at the Feats section in both UAs 7 & 8, and I noticed something I simultaneously understand, but don't quite get, and wanted to consult the
necrosagesmore well informed members of the community about.What I basically want to know is:
So, wadayas all think? Any ideas?
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
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All I can really think of is that it'd be use to separate level 1 feats, level 4+ feats, Fighting Styles, and maybe Epic Boons. There could be more to the system than that, but I wouldn't bet on it.
Look at what you've done. You spoiled it. You have nobody to blame but yourself. Go sit and think about your actions.
Don't be mean. Rudeness is a vicious cycle, and it has to stop somewhere. Exceptions for things that are funny.
Go to the current Competition of the Finest 'Brews! It's a cool place where cool people make cool things.
How I'm posting based on text formatting: Mod Hat Off - Mod Hat Also Off (I'm not a mod)
Do you think they will have species as a category? General (in OP example) and Background (I assume that covers 1st level feats?) seem set
Edit: maybe species and Fighting Styles will be covered by prerequisites?
EZD6 by DM Scotty
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?
<shrug>
I would hope and expect so. It would seem to defeat the purpose of the mechanic to not do so.
I'd guess this is yet-another experiment in grouping feats. I wonder if the "background" category will replace the "1st level" prerequisite, for example. (Maybe they wanted a way to allow a feat to be used with a background without suggesting it is a "weak" feat.
It would be an obvious thing to do, but only relevant if species other than just-human granted a feat. (Like maybe an update to Custom Lineage.)
agree with quarton, it will mostly be for seperating level 1, 4+ and epic. level 1 will become background feats and feats found in backgrounds. 4+ will be general feats, and backwards wise, this would be all feats that aren't background, or rewritten by the phb, (like tavern brawler will now be background) Perhaps they'll have racial category, but thats probably OK with prerequisites.
this is all guessing though, as it seems like internally they have been refining how feats work without directly playtesting those changes. By the time phb comes, who knows
The more I think about it do they really need more than General, Background, and Epic categories? Level requirements, species, fighting styles etc would probably be covered by prerequisites. Like Eldritch Adept prerequisite of Spellcasting or Pact Magic feature.
But maybe I’m missing something
EZD6 by DM Scotty
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?
general, background, species, epic... class? i forget, where did the playtest fall on things like fighting style being a class feature rather than a "you get this free at level x" class feat?
unhappy at the way in which we lost individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
tell them you don't like features disappeared quietly in the night: provide feedback!
Honestly, I don’t get why Fighting Styles need a pre-req; they’re only particularly useful on classes that already have them.
Hard disagree there, FSs are great on Rogues and Barbarians but they don't get access to them. Monks also sometimes will want to pick up a Fighting Style.
For feat categories what I'd like to see is:
Background
General
Martial (available to: Rogue, Fighter, Monk, Barbarian, Paladin, Ranger) - this includes FSs, GWM, Sentinel, XbowXpert, PAM, Martial Adept etc...
Caster (available to: Warlock, Wizard, Cleric, Druid, Bard, Paladin, Ranger) - this includes Elemental Adept, Spell Sniper, Metamagic Adept, Warcaster etc...
Racial (if they still intend to have these, personally I've never been a fan of them).
Setting-Specific - this includes things like Knight of the Rose or Planar Wanderer
Epic
Wow, that’s a lot of responses overnight! Thanks all!!
Yeah, background, general, and epic make sense.
Wouldn’t
racespecies fall under prerequisites like class is supposedly going to do according to the prerequisites description blurb?Creating Epic Boons on DDB
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Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
so would epic, in that case. prerequisite: be epic in level. the fact that there are or would be a large number of them makes them suitable for a separate category. in light of that, i could see a species category that moved some species traits into a "pick one free at character creation" sort of situation. this would be an extra complication but it would perhaps simplify the mixed-parentage thing where a half-elf-half-orc would be instructed to pick their last perk from the species category, counting as both orcs and elf for prerequisites. or maybe not every kenku is flightless (especially with hadozee and humblewood glide), or maybe not every loxodon can use their trunk for simple tasks, or maybe a satyr could choose via feat whether they're fae rather than humanoid, etc.
...but they likely won't due to backwards compatibility so i'm probably not helping to bring it up.
unhappy at the way in which we lost individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
tell them you don't like features disappeared quietly in the night: provide feedback!
Those are some interesting ideas regarding the potential uses for species feats. 🤔
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
It's just mimicking Pathfinder, which probably got it from 3.5 or something. Personally I really hate that design because it again confuses species which is supposed to be inherited traits that are fixed at character creation and are uniform across species, with acquired traits which you can gain over time and vary depending on environment / choices. I would much prefer a clean separation between these two. It hurts my brain to imagine a dragonborn suddenly growing scales because they punched Cloud Giant real hard.
I'd much prefer it if all the species feats were just rolled into subspecies / species customization at 1st level.
i haven't played pathfinder, 3E, and/or 3.5E so i'll apologize if that's something long ago thought up and shot down for good reason. rather than pose this as feats to be earned at a later date by punching enough dudes (woodelf magic, elven accuracy, etc), i was imagining separation between common and uncommon species traits. perhaps elves commonly have (and pass down to their children) darkvision, trance, and fey ancestry but uncommonly pass along a species feat: fleet of foot, mask of the wild, cantrip, etc.
again, this is unlikely to be the path devs take. i was imagining what it would take to have "enough" racial/species feats to cause a category to grow up around them.
unhappy at the way in which we lost individual purchases for one-off subclasses, magic items, and monsters?
tell them you don't like features disappeared quietly in the night: provide feedback!
That’s a bit of an over-generalization, more specifically aimed at what leveling up and the acquisition of features represents in a narrative sense. Racial feats represent a character either deliberately expanding on an innate proficiency of their race (elven magics, prodigy, orcish fury, etc), or a latent trait fully manifesting (dragon hide, infernal constitution, dwarven resilience, etc). In the latter case this is not necessarily supposed to represent a sudden and instantaneous transformation in narrative terms anymore than a character gaining a feature such as expertise has suddenly gained a vast sum of new knowledge overnight. Narratively speaking the traits could have been developing for some time, and the feat acquisition simply represents the point where they’ve developed enough to provide their mechanical benefits. Your hypothetical Dragonborn isn’t necessarily spontaneously growing harder scales and sharper claws; those would have been growing in for a while and the aftermath of that fight just happens to be the point at which they’ve developed to combat readiness. Obviously it’s an imperfect representation, but that’s the limit of a hard level-based system.
Even if it isn't sudden, it doesn't make sense to me for species traits to develop overtime. It's not a skill you are getting better at using. Why would a dragonborn grow claws in response to adventuring? I could see growing claws as part of the aging process, but adventuring =/= aging. For some of the traits it kinda make sense, like an elf could learn to become more accurate while adventuring, but then it doesn't make sense that only an elf could do so, it's kinda weird for Elven Accuracy to have that 'elven' requirement - I'd rather see Elven Accuracy replace "keen senses" as a species trait. The concept that doing a certain thing can make you more of that species compared to another individual of that species just feels a little icky to me. I could see making all the species traits limited to being required to be your Background feat, or you could replace them as a "Gift of ...." and open them up to any character to take similar to the Dragon "Gift" feats in Fizban.
Irl it doesn’t make a great deal of sense, no, but fortuitously this is the realm of fiction, and thus latent traits born of some kind of extraordinary heritage manifesting during the course of a story is far from unheard of. Even irl beings can have a latent congenital condition begin to manifest unpredictability at some point during their life, though of course it’s pretty much never as dramatic or singularly beneficial as in fiction, which again makes it fortune we are discussing the latter.
As for Elven Accuracy, think of it as elves being able to reach a higher degree of acuity with their senses than other races. Or maybe that’s just how the elf gods or whatever force created the universe willed things. This is fantasy, sometimes “because that’s how things work” is all the explanation you get or need.
I bet IamSposta wasn't trying to make another godforsaken thread about the nature/nurture divide in DnD (which is already a hugely fraught topic and the cause of many flamewars).
Depending on the game, you could get any of these traits from a special surgery, from a rare magic potion, from a god's blessing...or you could find a magic ring, spend some time under a mountain in the dark hunting fish to survive, and get darkvision from it... And this is already a game where you can just wake up one morning immune to all poisons, or having danger sense, or...