Hi, I’m Redda, the Tyrant Master, and I’m going to take a deep look into the latest playtest pack
We’re currently testing it in a campaign from level 1. The new races concept is really interesting (in one of our latest feedbacks for 5e betatest we suggested to remove stats from races, in order to have a bigger pool of performant characters, and to swap them into the background, so it's something I asked for!), but needs some polish.
I’ll mark things as K = keep (good stuff) AK = absolutely keep (really good stuff), AM = absolutely modify (really bad stuff), MG = modify would be good (slightly bad stuff)
CHARACHTER RACES
HUMAN
K: Looks overall balanced, resourceful (from my point of view) should be removed as the inspiration should be a tool exclusive to the DM to reward players who are engaged in the game. Versatile doesn't need direct polish, the lvl 1 feats do.
ARDLING
AM: As all the races who give spells, this needs some work. Having one spell a day, for classes who don't have spell slots, is not a real buff, especially as it is not specified at what level you can cast this spell. I assumed that you can cast it at it's base level, with a stat that it's not probably one of your best as well, so it may play some good part in a combat once in a while, but especially at higher level won't really fit. On the contrary, it's terribly strong on classes who have spell slots and have no access to these spells (example a mage who can now heal, using INTELLECT, EWWWWWWWWWWW), giving them consistent improvements. I might discuss about possible corrections in another document, here would be really long.
K: Angelic flight Is cool, often useful but not imbalanced.The concept of this race, overall, looks cool.
DRAGONBORN
K: Dragonborn looks well rounded by himself, but a bit stronger compared to some other races as all his features can fit well with every character. Keep this tho.
DWARF
MG: Forge wise spaces into item creation, and from my experience this slows down the game experience for players who don't craft anything, or slows it down ALOT if everybody wants to craft something. I would move this branch of possibilities to an entire manual ruling down item creation, magic item creation, tools to do it, reagents searching etc. Atm it's really vague and doesn't feel like something that can be implemented in a campaign without heavy homemade rules.
K: Rest looks good and well in topic with the Dwarf race. Bit strong, like dragonborn, as they fit in with every class, unlike some other races we'll see later.
ELF
AM: While spells given by Ardlings are a bit appealing, those given by the Elves look terrible. This benefit doesn't look consistent. Also, I think that 5ft of movement are stronger then the other options.
MG: Keen senses, that's a personal feel, but specific abilities shouldn't be implemented as race feats.
K: Fey ancestry and trance look on topic with the Elf race, as they've always been, can be kept.
GNOME
AAAAAAM: Gnomish Cunning, this looks really too strong and useful, especially at higher levels.
MG: Beside Gnomish Cunning, that is clearly overpowered, the rest of the stuffs doesn't really look appealin or performant at higher levels. Can be kept as roleplaying stuff.
HALFLING
K: looks overall balanced. Rerolling the 1 results is not extremely strong, Fear advantage looks cool, other feats aren't really consistent but can prove useful.
MG: I feel about Naturally Stealthy the same way as with Keen Senses.
ORC
K: Orc is well rounded for every class, like Draconid or Halfling, Relentless Endurance is particularly strong on weak classes (like Mages) and Adrenaline Rush can prove useful in some situations but not decisive. Rest is good roleplay stuff.
TIEFLING
MG: As all the races giving spells, this might need some work. The spells given by Tiefling are surely more appealing then the Elves's ones, but still not strong in the long run. Well, not strong compared to other races feats. I will discuss about it in another post.
OVERALL RACES
New races are surely the way to go to avoid getting stucked into building a character class linked to a determined race for best performance, setting a limit to one's creativity. Beside some major balance problems (coff coff Gnomes), rest can be used without any issue. Races giving spells sure need some polish, but overall this section looks fine.
When It comes to halfling I don't like that they made them even smaller. in 5e halflings average 3 foot, but in the playtest they are between 2 and 3 feet so averaging 2 1/2 foot(76.2 cm ).
76.4 cm is the average length for a 14 month old human baby. But now imagine that baby being able to be as strong as any full grown human.
Some addition by me: - Draconic got nightvision. Do not know why. Why a lot of race which living on the surface get nightvision, which live their lifes at daylight? Almost everyone has, except humans. So I would take nightvision out from many races. - Draconic breath weapon is weak, it is really not worth to use if the class has more attack than one. So should be considered as an attack or something like that. - Human still weak. Feats seems getting weaker (give less just compare the feats what gave before and what now) with the new rules. I agree that " inspiration should be a tool exclusive to the DM to reward" except the human. They should have one extra inspiration die, so they can use, an only them two (one for good roleplay if they get, one for daily). One reroll is not a big given, some races gave much more. Rolling 20 should not give any inspiration dice at all. Or get out inspiration from humans and give them something else. Nobody ever played human in our games... never. As DM I tried to lure the players that maybe somebody will, give variant human with +4stat bonus + feat + skill was not enough. Comparing to other races (No night vision, not enough feats) they start with huge disadvantage and it seems it will not be different in one DnD too. It is a shame. - Halfling rerollin 1 is strong if there will be autofail at 1. But 1 autofail, 20 autosuccess should not be implemented in the One DnD. It would be a huge mistake.
I agree halflings are getting too short. Human average size is usually between 5'4" and 6'2"; outliers notwithstanding. Halflings should be literally half the size, so not really any shorter in their average range than 2'7"-3'1". I'd rather they erred on the side of a little bit taller rather than a little bit shorter and just go with like 3 to 3.5 feet.
re Darkvision, 5e combined a lot of other kinds of vision into the overall category of darkvision so that it doesn't quite make as much sense as it used to. Most surface creatures that are meant to have enhance vision relative to humans are meant to come with low-light vision, not actual darkvision which was meant more for underdark dwellers.
Drow used to have infravision which is seeing bodyheat and other thermal differences around them.
I wish they'd improve humans more too.
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Thank you for your time and please have a very pleasant day.
When It comes to halfling I don't like that they made them even smaller. in 5e halflings average 3 foot, but in the playtest they are between 2 and 3 feet so averaging 2 1/2 foot(76.2 cm ).
76.4 cm is the average length for a 14 month old human baby. But now imagine that baby being able to be as strong as any full grown human.
You have a valid point, but have you ever felt the grip of a chimpanzee? These small creatures have fingers of steel. So while a halfling won't have the mass to wield a big weapon or lift a cart, it's possible that said halfling might have enough strength to choke the life out of ya with his/her bare hands.
Man i don't agree with most of this, i have a totally different opinion on races with spells. They give so much variety at the lower levels, some are more utility that can be utilized at higher levels, lookin at things like pass without trace, or guidance. Are they huge abilities? Not really but as has been brought up in he past most groups don't even get to double digit levels. I see the spellcasting traits as a great way to add a dash of gish to a class if that is what you want, or supplement with some interesting spells into your repertoire. You also get to choose which spellcasting stat you want to run it off of cha, int, wis. are the direct damage ones the weakest late game, sure are. But other can have some fun utility. Consider a monk with a high wisdom score (useful for a variety of subclasses) and you have a spellcaster race, and choosing wisdom as the spellcasting modifier. Maybe add magic initiate if you wanna go all in and have a couple variety spells that can be ranged options or just utility options. The spellcasting stat will still be good (it doesn't always have to be 20) and you can throw firebolts when the enemy is out of range or something. It gives more ways to play rather than pushing people to focus on doing only one thing good.
Also I feel your opinions on dragonborn being in a good spot is not a well considered standpoint. Vitea gave my basic opinion of it, and the breathweapon is their only shtick. I think the scaling is ok (very consistent damage) but the action economy feels wrong for the reward.
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"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
New races are surely the way to go to avoid getting stucked into building a character class linked to a determined race for best performance, setting a limit to one's creativity
I'm of the opposite opinion, removing fixed stat increases, limits my creativity on what to build. With fixed stat increases on races, I tend to think hours about a character, how to build it and what trade-offs I take. The removal of those stat increases is robbing half the fun of char creation for me.
I forgot to write. I would give a +1 stat from the race representation for their strong points (for example, elves can put this on dex or cha, and a subrace something else, high elf int, a wood elf wis, etc.) and the background would give a +1 and a +1. But thats my taste only.
When It comes to halfling I don't like that they made them even smaller. in 5e halflings average 3 foot, but in the playtest they are between 2 and 3 feet so averaging 2 1/2 foot(76.2 cm ).
76.4 cm is the average length for a 14 month old human baby. But now imagine that baby being able to be as strong as any full grown human.
You have a valid point, but have you ever felt the grip of a chimpanzee? These small creatures have fingers of steel. So while a halfling won't have the mass to wield a big weapon or lift a cart, it's possible that said halfling might have enough strength to choke the life out of ya with his/her bare hands.
I have seen this idea presented before, in that a creature on earth can do something there for humanoid race X should be able to do it. Chips have a very different muscular structure then the way halflings have been described in all of the rules I have seen.
Also if the race is stronger then there should be bonus based on that races genetic predispositions.
As a side note, I often see Frodo, Sam, and the others were very heroic therefor all hobbits are heroic. You should read the part of the LotR were it talks about hobbits in general vs the outliers of the race.
I am still of the same feeling as I was when this info was released a few years ago in that it seems to go in the wrong direction for how I like to play. After talking to a people I have played with before most of them were so turned off by the doc to not want to play test, note most of them thought there was not enough in the doc to playtest in the first place...but when I brought up the fact WotC probably wanted to get feedback in small chunk's they thought that was ok but they should release the class stuff also so people can truly get a feel of the game.
In general I do not think you necessarily need to play test the race and general rules as presented to see if you would like it or even to see what the basic interactions are and I have seen the idea by authors in other playtests that simply negate comments of those who did not playtest the material, ie pathfinder 2 is a great example.
Stats drawback is the worst drawback in this expansion (and mostly in former ones too, after 3.5), imho. Reaching 20 in the main casting/attacking ability is top prio. If the charachter building lets you sacrifice stat points, most of the times you will feel less performing then others who have the race paired to the class.
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Hi, I’m Redda, the Tyrant Master, and I’m going to take a deep look into the latest playtest pack
We’re currently testing it in a campaign from level 1. The new races concept is really interesting (in one of our latest feedbacks for 5e betatest we suggested to remove stats from races, in order to have a bigger pool of performant characters, and to swap them into the background, so it's something I asked for!), but needs some polish.
I’ll mark things as K = keep (good stuff) AK = absolutely keep (really good stuff), AM = absolutely modify (really bad stuff), MG = modify would be good (slightly bad stuff)
CHARACHTER RACES
HUMAN
K: Looks overall balanced, resourceful (from my point of view) should be removed as the inspiration should be a tool exclusive to the DM to reward players who are engaged in the game. Versatile doesn't need direct polish, the lvl 1 feats do.
ARDLING
AM: As all the races who give spells, this needs some work. Having one spell a day, for classes who don't have spell slots, is not a real buff, especially as it is not specified at what level you can cast this spell. I assumed that you can cast it at it's base level, with a stat that it's not probably one of your best as well, so it may play some good part in a combat once in a while, but especially at higher level won't really fit. On the contrary, it's terribly strong on classes who have spell slots and have no access to these spells (example a mage who can now heal, using INTELLECT, EWWWWWWWWWWW), giving them consistent improvements. I might discuss about possible corrections in another document, here would be really long.
K: Angelic flight Is cool, often useful but not imbalanced.The concept of this race, overall, looks cool.
DRAGONBORN
K: Dragonborn looks well rounded by himself, but a bit stronger compared to some other races as all his features can fit well with every character. Keep this tho.
DWARF
MG: Forge wise spaces into item creation, and from my experience this slows down the game experience for players who don't craft anything, or slows it down ALOT if everybody wants to craft something. I would move this branch of possibilities to an entire manual ruling down item creation, magic item creation, tools to do it, reagents searching etc. Atm it's really vague and doesn't feel like something that can be implemented in a campaign without heavy homemade rules.
K: Rest looks good and well in topic with the Dwarf race. Bit strong, like dragonborn, as they fit in with every class, unlike some other races we'll see later.
ELF
AM: While spells given by Ardlings are a bit appealing, those given by the Elves look terrible. This benefit doesn't look consistent. Also, I think that 5ft of movement are stronger then the other options.
MG: Keen senses, that's a personal feel, but specific abilities shouldn't be implemented as race feats.
K: Fey ancestry and trance look on topic with the Elf race, as they've always been, can be kept.
GNOME
AAAAAAM: Gnomish Cunning, this looks really too strong and useful, especially at higher levels.
MG: Beside Gnomish Cunning, that is clearly overpowered, the rest of the stuffs doesn't really look appealin or performant at higher levels. Can be kept as roleplaying stuff.
HALFLING
K: looks overall balanced. Rerolling the 1 results is not extremely strong, Fear advantage looks cool, other feats aren't really consistent but can prove useful.
MG: I feel about Naturally Stealthy the same way as with Keen Senses.
ORC
K: Orc is well rounded for every class, like Draconid or Halfling, Relentless Endurance is particularly strong on weak classes (like Mages) and Adrenaline Rush can prove useful in some situations but not decisive. Rest is good roleplay stuff.
TIEFLING
MG: As all the races giving spells, this might need some work. The spells given by Tiefling are surely more appealing then the Elves's ones, but still not strong in the long run. Well, not strong compared to other races feats. I will discuss about it in another post.
OVERALL RACES
New races are surely the way to go to avoid getting stucked into building a character class linked to a determined race for best performance, setting a limit to one's creativity. Beside some major balance problems (coff coff Gnomes), rest can be used without any issue. Races giving spells sure need some polish, but overall this section looks fine.
When It comes to halfling I don't like that they made them even smaller.
in 5e halflings average 3 foot, but in the playtest they are between 2 and 3 feet so averaging 2 1/2 foot(76.2 cm ).
76.4 cm is the average length for a 14 month old human baby.
But now imagine that baby being able to be as strong as any full grown human.
I discuss mainly about game/roleplay mechanics, takes no effort for the master to change it as a cosmetic thing :)
I am mostly agree with these statements above,
Some addition by me:
- Draconic got nightvision. Do not know why. Why a lot of race which living on the surface get nightvision, which live their lifes at daylight? Almost everyone has, except humans. So I would take nightvision out from many races.
- Draconic breath weapon is weak, it is really not worth to use if the class has more attack than one. So should be considered as an attack or something like that.
- Human still weak. Feats seems getting weaker (give less just compare the feats what gave before and what now) with the new rules. I agree that " inspiration should be a tool exclusive to the DM to reward" except the human. They should have one extra inspiration die, so they can use, an only them two (one for good roleplay if they get, one for daily). One reroll is not a big given, some races gave much more. Rolling 20 should not give any inspiration dice at all. Or get out inspiration from humans and give them something else.
Nobody ever played human in our games... never. As DM I tried to lure the players that maybe somebody will, give variant human with +4stat bonus + feat + skill was not enough. Comparing to other races (No night vision, not enough feats) they start with huge disadvantage and it seems it will not be different in one DnD too. It is a shame.
- Halfling rerollin 1 is strong if there will be autofail at 1. But 1 autofail, 20 autosuccess should not be implemented in the One DnD. It would be a huge mistake.
I agree halflings are getting too short. Human average size is usually between 5'4" and 6'2"; outliers notwithstanding. Halflings should be literally half the size, so not really any shorter in their average range than 2'7"-3'1". I'd rather they erred on the side of a little bit taller rather than a little bit shorter and just go with like 3 to 3.5 feet.
re Darkvision, 5e combined a lot of other kinds of vision into the overall category of darkvision so that it doesn't quite make as much sense as it used to. Most surface creatures that are meant to have enhance vision relative to humans are meant to come with low-light vision, not actual darkvision which was meant more for underdark dwellers.
Drow used to have infravision which is seeing bodyheat and other thermal differences around them.
I wish they'd improve humans more too.
Thank you for your time and please have a very pleasant day.
You have a valid point, but have you ever felt the grip of a chimpanzee? These small creatures have fingers of steel. So while a halfling won't have the mass to wield a big weapon or lift a cart, it's possible that said halfling might have enough strength to choke the life out of ya with his/her bare hands.
Man i don't agree with most of this, i have a totally different opinion on races with spells. They give so much variety at the lower levels, some are more utility that can be utilized at higher levels, lookin at things like pass without trace, or guidance. Are they huge abilities? Not really but as has been brought up in he past most groups don't even get to double digit levels. I see the spellcasting traits as a great way to add a dash of gish to a class if that is what you want, or supplement with some interesting spells into your repertoire. You also get to choose which spellcasting stat you want to run it off of cha, int, wis. are the direct damage ones the weakest late game, sure are. But other can have some fun utility.
Consider a monk with a high wisdom score (useful for a variety of subclasses) and you have a spellcaster race, and choosing wisdom as the spellcasting modifier. Maybe add magic initiate if you wanna go all in and have a couple variety spells that can be ranged options or just utility options. The spellcasting stat will still be good (it doesn't always have to be 20) and you can throw firebolts when the enemy is out of range or something. It gives more ways to play rather than pushing people to focus on doing only one thing good.
Also I feel your opinions on dragonborn being in a good spot is not a well considered standpoint. Vitea gave my basic opinion of it, and the breathweapon is their only shtick. I think the scaling is ok (very consistent damage) but the action economy feels wrong for the reward.
"Where words fail, swords prevail. Where blood is spilled, my cup is filled" -Cartaphilus
"I have found the answer to the meaning of life. You ask me what the answer is? You already know what the answer to life is. You fear it more than the strike of a viper, the ravages of disease, the ire of a lover. The answer is always death. But death is a gentle mistress with a sweet embrace, and you owe her a debt of restitution. Life is not a gift, it is a loan."
I'm of the opposite opinion, removing fixed stat increases, limits my creativity on what to build.
With fixed stat increases on races, I tend to think hours about a character, how to build it and what trade-offs I take.
The removal of those stat increases is robbing half the fun of char creation for me.
Hobbits are, according to LotR wiki, between 2 and 4 feet tall. Take that as you will.
I forgot to write. I would give a +1 stat from the race representation for their strong points (for example, elves can put this on dex or cha, and a subrace something else, high elf int, a wood elf wis, etc.) and the background would give a +1 and a +1. But thats my taste only.
I have seen this idea presented before, in that a creature on earth can do something there for humanoid race X should be able to do it. Chips have a very different muscular structure then the way halflings have been described in all of the rules I have seen.
Also if the race is stronger then there should be bonus based on that races genetic predispositions.
As a side note, I often see Frodo, Sam, and the others were very heroic therefor all hobbits are heroic. You should read the part of the LotR were it talks about hobbits in general vs the outliers of the race.
To the OP:
I am still of the same feeling as I was when this info was released a few years ago in that it seems to go in the wrong direction for how I like to play. After talking to a people I have played with before most of them were so turned off by the doc to not want to play test, note most of them thought there was not enough in the doc to playtest in the first place...but when I brought up the fact WotC probably wanted to get feedback in small chunk's they thought that was ok but they should release the class stuff also so people can truly get a feel of the game.
In general I do not think you necessarily need to play test the race and general rules as presented to see if you would like it or even to see what the basic interactions are and I have seen the idea by authors in other playtests that simply negate comments of those who did not playtest the material, ie pathfinder 2 is a great example.
Stats drawback is the worst drawback in this expansion (and mostly in former ones too, after 3.5), imho. Reaching 20 in the main casting/attacking ability is top prio. If the charachter building lets you sacrifice stat points, most of the times you will feel less performing then others who have the race paired to the class.