I wanted to create a new race with an alignment line, so I checked other races ter see how it's supposed to look, an' what did I found? nah alignment line! It was like Ability Score Increase an' then Age and then it jus' skipped to Size with nah line beetween! I checked in di Sources tab an' found that di alignment line isn't in digital Basic Rules either! I found it on'y on undigital copies of di books.
I think I can handle it, but can anyone tell me what happened with di alignment lines in D&D Beyond?
It's worth noting that you can still put an Alignment line in your homebrew species, and in fact you can edit the alignment line back into homebrew versions of the official species.
What might work better though, and a suggestion I've had for a number of folks upset with the loosening of character generation rules, is to have a table/chart set up that your players have easy access to, listing all of the species that are allowed in your games, the fixed modifiers you expect everyone from that species to take, and the alignment they have to select as a member of that species. It takes only a minute or two of work on your end, but it clearly and unambiguously sets the tone and expectations for your game and makes it easy for your players to know what to do. It may not be mechanically enforced by DDB anymore, but you can still easily enforce it for your games.
It's worth noting that you can still put an Alignment line in your homebrew species, and in fact you can edit the alignment line back into homebrew versions of the official species.
What might work better though, and a suggestion I've had for a number of folks upset with the loosening of character generation rules, is to have a table/chart set up that your players have easy access to, listing all of the species that are allowed in your games, the fixed modifiers you expect everyone from that species to take, and the alignment they have to select as a member of that species. It takes only a minute or two of work on your end, but it clearly and unambiguously sets the tone and expectations for your game and makes it easy for your players to know what to do. It may not be mechanically enforced by DDB anymore, but you can still easily enforce it for your games.
It was easier when all of that was pre-built in and all anyone who didn’t want to use those rules was say “change it to whatever you any.” That took seconds and required no table/chart whatsoever.
Heh. I mean, DMs have had to have lists of acceptable species in their game for quite a while now. A lot of DMs I've spoken to like doing opt-in lists and writing up little worldbuildy blurbs for why a given species exists in their world and what its general place is. That hasn't included required modifiers, classes, and/or alignments for a while now, but it easily could.
As for it being easier to change fixed ASIs, alignments, and the like? Alignments sure, that's always been a drop-down list, but "fixing" fixed ASIs has traditionally required either homebrewing an entire new variant of the species to give to the player, or homebrewing an item that manually slap-patches the stats the way they're supposed to be. Yes, that sounds like insanity to you, I distinctly recall having this exact argument before, but you don't work a customer service/support job. Heh, I have talked to professional people, as part of my for-pay work, that would've required forty minutes and an illustrated guide document to grasp the concept of "do your scores via SA/point-buy, write down the numbers you get, add two points to where you want your species ASI to be, subtrract two points from where the ASI actually is, then switch to Manual mode and write down the new numbers."
Easy and simple for you. But remember - this is a user base that complains Avrae doesn't automate D&D math enough. There is literally no amount of math that isn't too much math for some of the yammering yaybos in this place, but they all deserve to play D&D too, and they need the simplest possible tools to do so. It's still easier for you to set up a neat little worldbuildy chart explaining the locked ASIs, classes and alignments for your world's species than it is for these people to do basic arithmetic. You and I both can think whatever we like of that fact, but that doesn't make it any less of a fact.
Heh. I mean, DMs have had to have lists of acceptable species in their game for quite a while now. A lot of DMs I've spoken to like doing opt-in lists and writing up little worldbuildy blurbs for why a given species exists in their world and what its general place is. That hasn't included required modifiers, classes, and/or alignments for a while now, but it easily could.
I already have enough of all of that to do, I didn’t need more added to it.
As for it being easier to change fixed ASIs, alignments, and the like? Alignments sure, that's always been a drop-down list, but "fixing" fixed ASIs has traditionally required either homebrewing an entire new variant of the species to give to the player, or homebrewing an item that manually slap-patches the stats the way they're supposed to be. Yes, that sounds like insanity to you, I distinctly recall having this exact argument before, but you don't work a customer service/support job. Heh, I have talked to professional people, as part of my for-pay work, that would've required forty minutes and an illustrated guide document to grasp the concept of "do your scores via SA/point-buy, write down the numbers you get, add two points to where you want your species ASI to be, subtrract two points from where the ASI actually is, then switch to Manual mode and write down the new numbers."
[REDCATED] All it “traditionally” took was saying the phrase “change it to whatever you want.” All of that 🐂💩 you just mentioned was all a “D&D Beyond problem,” not a “D&D Problem.” That complaint has absolutely nothing to do with D&D and everything to do with this website. Forcing those changes on D&D to force DDB to change their interface is not a valid argument whatsoever. If DDB wasn’t meeting someone’s needs, that complaint should have been addressed directly to fandom and had nothing to do with WotC at all. If you just play with actual paper and pencil, it isn’t a problem.
Easy and simple for you. But remember - this is a user base that complains Avrae doesn't automate D&D math enough. There is literally no amount of math that isn't too much math for some of the yammering yaybos in this place, but they all deserve to play D&D too, and they need the simplest possible tools to do so.
Those sound like “them problems,” not “D&D problems.” And they had far simpler tools than this website, a calculator, pencil and a piece of paper.
It's still easier for you to set up a neat little worldbuildy chart explaining the locked ASIs, classes and alignments for your world's species than it is for these people to do basic arithmetic. You and I both can think whatever we like of that fact, but that doesn't make it any less of a fact.
So instead of using their interest in D&D as an excuse to strengthen their math skills as an educational opportunity… the solution instead is to cater to the lowest common denominator, overturn the actual intent behind the original game, and make more work for the rest of us…. 🤤 Good to know we’re on track to start watering sour crops with Gatorade. 🤦♂️
Notes: All users are expected to remain civil in their interactions
It's a general assumption in discussions here that people are using the D&D Beyond toolset.
No, Wizards doesn't take DDB into account when making changes. The removal of alignment and the floating ASI changes were made because that's what folks wanted from the game, whether they used pen and paper or DDB. If you still use pen and paper, you can still nab an older edition of the PHB - which I'd do sooner rather than later - and say to your players "this is what you're playing". if you're on DDB, then yeah, you're stuck. C'est la vie. The people using this website's toolset who had to work around fixed ASIs previously no longer have to. The folks who liked forced ASIs still have it much easier, comparatively, than the people who didn't like forced ASIs and had to jank around it. Tell your players "use this stat array", vet their sheet once to make sure that's the array they wrote in, and you're done.
Yeah, DMs have a million things to do and some of them don't like vetting PCs. If you're not playing with a group you trust to follow instructions, a'la playing with randies on DDB or what-have-you, then vetting sheets is just a thing you have to do. On DDB it's the work of, like...twenty seconds per sheet to check and see if the numbers look good and if nobody took anything they weren't entitled to, and you can do it at literally any time. If you're using pen and paper then vetting sheets is a much more significant asspain, yeah. One of the drawbacks of paper sheets as opposed to digital media. You may want to consider form-fillable PDFs as a middle ground, if you dislike the rigidity of DDB's tools. Which I know for a fact that you do.
People have been telling stories about nimble elves, stout dwarves, murderous blood-crazed barely-civilized half-orcs, ring-tossing "halflings" and the like for forty-eight years now. They'd like to be able to break the mold sometimes. Even if only to appreciate the mold a little more once they're forced back into it and telling the exact same story they've already told a hundred times again for the hundred and first time. Nobody's saying you can't keep telling that story. Nobody's ever said that. They'd just like it to be as easy to tell other kinds of stories, instead of having to work harder at it for no real discernible reason that matters for their specific table. Like I said in the other thread before it got shitcanned - the books should be striving for neutrality wherever possible, and currently they just isn't doing that thang.
The original topic of this thread was one asking where the alignment section on player races had gone. That question has been answered and this thread appears to be rapidly devolving, so to avoid a repeat of the discussions on this contentious topic that have been had several times over already on other threads, this thread will now be locked.
Hi.
I wanted to create a new race with an alignment line, so I checked other races ter see how it's supposed to look, an' what did I found? nah alignment line! It was like Ability Score Increase an' then Age and then it jus' skipped to Size with nah line beetween! I checked in di Sources tab an' found that di alignment line isn't in digital Basic Rules either! I found it on'y on undigital copies of di books.
I think I can handle it, but can anyone tell me what happened with di alignment lines in D&D Beyond?
By the way I'm a titan so please don't annoy me.
This was recently errata'd by Wizards of the Coast to remove suggested alignments from pc races
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
how recently, can I ask?
By the way I'm a titan so please don't annoy me.
13th December 2021, less than a month ago
https://dnd.wizards.com/dndstudioblog/sage-advice-book-updates
Find my D&D Beyond articles here
It's worth noting that you can still put an Alignment line in your homebrew species, and in fact you can edit the alignment line back into homebrew versions of the official species.
What might work better though, and a suggestion I've had for a number of folks upset with the loosening of character generation rules, is to have a table/chart set up that your players have easy access to, listing all of the species that are allowed in your games, the fixed modifiers you expect everyone from that species to take, and the alignment they have to select as a member of that species. It takes only a minute or two of work on your end, but it clearly and unambiguously sets the tone and expectations for your game and makes it easy for your players to know what to do. It may not be mechanically enforced by DDB anymore, but you can still easily enforce it for your games.
Please do not contact or message me.
It was easier when all of that was pre-built in and all anyone who didn’t want to use those rules was say “change it to whatever you any.” That took seconds and required no table/chart whatsoever.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Heh. I mean, DMs have had to have lists of acceptable species in their game for quite a while now. A lot of DMs I've spoken to like doing opt-in lists and writing up little worldbuildy blurbs for why a given species exists in their world and what its general place is. That hasn't included required modifiers, classes, and/or alignments for a while now, but it easily could.
As for it being easier to change fixed ASIs, alignments, and the like? Alignments sure, that's always been a drop-down list, but "fixing" fixed ASIs has traditionally required either homebrewing an entire new variant of the species to give to the player, or homebrewing an item that manually slap-patches the stats the way they're supposed to be. Yes, that sounds like insanity to you, I distinctly recall having this exact argument before, but you don't work a customer service/support job. Heh, I have talked to professional people, as part of my for-pay work, that would've required forty minutes and an illustrated guide document to grasp the concept of "do your scores via SA/point-buy, write down the numbers you get, add two points to where you want your species ASI to be, subtrract two points from where the ASI actually is, then switch to Manual mode and write down the new numbers."
Easy and simple for you. But remember - this is a user base that complains Avrae doesn't automate D&D math enough. There is literally no amount of math that isn't too much math for some of the yammering yaybos in this place, but they all deserve to play D&D too, and they need the simplest possible tools to do so. It's still easier for you to set up a neat little worldbuildy chart explaining the locked ASIs, classes and alignments for your world's species than it is for these people to do basic arithmetic. You and I both can think whatever we like of that fact, but that doesn't make it any less of a fact.
Please do not contact or message me.
I already have enough of all of that to do, I didn’t need more added to it.
[REDCATED] All it “traditionally” took was saying the phrase “change it to whatever you want.” All of that 🐂💩 you just mentioned was all a “D&D Beyond problem,” not a “D&D Problem.” That complaint has absolutely nothing to do with D&D and everything to do with this website. Forcing those changes on D&D to force DDB to change their interface is not a valid argument whatsoever. If DDB wasn’t meeting someone’s needs, that complaint should have been addressed directly to fandom and had nothing to do with WotC at all. If you just play with actual paper and pencil, it isn’t a problem.
Those sound like “them problems,” not “D&D problems.” And they had far simpler tools than this website, a calculator, pencil and a piece of paper.
So instead of using their interest in D&D as an excuse to strengthen their math skills as an educational opportunity… the solution instead is to cater to the lowest common denominator, overturn the actual intent behind the original game, and make more work for the rest of us…. 🤤 Good to know we’re on track to start watering sour crops with Gatorade. 🤦♂️
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Sposta, buddy.
This is the D&D Beyond forum.
It's a general assumption in discussions here that people are using the D&D Beyond toolset.
No, Wizards doesn't take DDB into account when making changes. The removal of alignment and the floating ASI changes were made because that's what folks wanted from the game, whether they used pen and paper or DDB. If you still use pen and paper, you can still nab an older edition of the PHB - which I'd do sooner rather than later - and say to your players "this is what you're playing". if you're on DDB, then yeah, you're stuck. C'est la vie. The people using this website's toolset who had to work around fixed ASIs previously no longer have to. The folks who liked forced ASIs still have it much easier, comparatively, than the people who didn't like forced ASIs and had to jank around it. Tell your players "use this stat array", vet their sheet once to make sure that's the array they wrote in, and you're done.
Yeah, DMs have a million things to do and some of them don't like vetting PCs. If you're not playing with a group you trust to follow instructions, a'la playing with randies on DDB or what-have-you, then vetting sheets is just a thing you have to do. On DDB it's the work of, like...twenty seconds per sheet to check and see if the numbers look good and if nobody took anything they weren't entitled to, and you can do it at literally any time. If you're using pen and paper then vetting sheets is a much more significant asspain, yeah. One of the drawbacks of paper sheets as opposed to digital media. You may want to consider form-fillable PDFs as a middle ground, if you dislike the rigidity of DDB's tools. Which I know for a fact that you do.
People have been telling stories about nimble elves, stout dwarves, murderous blood-crazed barely-civilized half-orcs, ring-tossing "halflings" and the like for forty-eight years now. They'd like to be able to break the mold sometimes. Even if only to appreciate the mold a little more once they're forced back into it and telling the exact same story they've already told a hundred times again for the hundred and first time. Nobody's saying you can't keep telling that story. Nobody's ever said that. They'd just like it to be as easy to tell other kinds of stories, instead of having to work harder at it for no real discernible reason that matters for their specific table. Like I said in the other thread before it got shitcanned - the books should be striving for neutrality wherever possible, and currently they just isn't doing that thang.
Please do not contact or message me.
The original topic of this thread was one asking where the alignment section on player races had gone. That question has been answered and this thread appears to be rapidly devolving, so to avoid a repeat of the discussions on this contentious topic that have been had several times over already on other threads, this thread will now be locked.
Find my D&D Beyond articles here