D&D General What it means for a race to end up in the PHB, its has huge significance

[Yaarel]

Okay for races the PHB AD&D 1e introduced the traditional races that we think of as PHB races, the Human, Halfling, Dwarf, Elf, Half Elf, Gnome, and Half Orc. This provided those races a higher status over those only in supplemental books, more setting support, more of a presence in fiction and settings, etc...

When 4e added Tieflings and Dragonborn their visiblitty in settings and stories just exploded?

Do you think the same will happen to the new races to the PHB?

What do you think is the effect of a race getting added to the PHB?

The selection of species fundamentally defines the setting.

I suspect the 2024 Players Handbook will mention, if not emphasize, that the DM will decide which species exist or are "typical" within the campaign setting.

 

[Undrave]

I have a book (somewhere) about the development of 4e and tieflings were included specifically because they were the most popular non-core race in 3e. (According to Rob Heinsoo) That's why they got promoted to premier league and probably why gnomes got relegated.

Dragonborn were a whole new option, though (although "play as a dragon or at least dragon-person" has been kicking around since... gosh, before I started playing, but dragonborn had all-new lore and stats and appearance and everything)

I'm certain there's also a corporate push to elevate races they can actually trademark.

 

[Yaarel]

Personally, we do not need anything but fantasy core 4 races: to make it simpler
Human,
Elf,
Dwarf,
Orc

The top five species are: Elf and Human, followed by Tiefling, Dwarf, and Dragonborn.

These five essentially displace the old school Tolkienesque Orc and the Small folk. The displaced species still do ok tho.

 

[Shardstone]

The top five species are: Elf and Human, followed by Tiefling, Dwarf, and Dragonborn.

These five essentially displace the old school Tolkienesque Orc and the Small folk. The displaced species still do ok tho.

Human - Tiefling - Dragonborn as a trinity and then attaching two other races to this can make for a bunch of diverse worlds. This is a very small tangent but thinks for the sudden kernel of inspiration. I never thought on this specific trinity as a potential core for a world before but now that I am, it has a lot of flavor!

 

[Belen]

The top five species are: Elf and Human, followed by Tiefling, Dwarf, and Dragonborn.

These five essentially displace the old school Tolkienesque Orc and the Small folk. The displaced species still do ok tho.

Sure but that chart played with the numbers.

Human: 700+
Elf: 500+
Dragonborn/Tiefling: Under 300k

You can assume that Dragonborn/Tiefling may not combine to equal elf.

They are popular but much less than the top 2. All other races combined may equal 50% of characters.

 

[Mirrorrorrim]

I am very curious to see what happens with the half-elf, if the half-elf isn't in the PHB as that name as opposed to as an elven sub-species (or whatever they are calling it). It's an option with a very long history, was in Tolkien, in all the prior PHBs, is listed as a popular choice on DNDBeyond, and is a popular race in D&D video games like BG3. I am not sure how they change the name with that much force of popularity behind it.

I dunno. They could add an elven lineage called "Elfkin" with small variant abilities because half-elves are so close to elves already.

 

[Yaarel]

Sure but that chart played with the numbers.

Human: 700+
Elf: 500+
Dragonborn/Tiefling: Under 300k

You can assume that Dragonborn/Tiefling may not combine to equal elf.

They are popular but much less than the top 2. All other races combined may equal 50% of characters.

When you add together both the Elf and the Half-Elf, the elven species is the most popular species of all, even more popular than the Human species. Then the many different kinds of Elf − Eladrin, Sea Elf, Shadar-Kai, etcetera are icing on this most popular species.

For the list, I doublechecked the raw DnDBeyond data. DnDBeyond officially corroborates it in its earlier rankings. The ranks of popularity are accurate and surprisingly stable.

The Tielfing ranks higher than the Dwarf, and the Dwarf than the Dragonborn. But all three are near each other in popularity and within the same cluster.

 

[Yaarel]

Human - Tiefling - Dragonborn as a trinity and then attaching two other races to this can make for a bunch of diverse worlds. This is a very small tangent but thinks for the sudden kernel of inspiration. I never thought on this specific trinity as a potential core for a world before but now that I am, it has a lot of flavor!

I see the top five as the salient grouping for most settings.

Also I expect the top five species to adjust to the Five-Folk Band tropes, both unconsciously and intentionally. (Here gender inclusive, instead of "Five Man Band" including the "Chick" who is sometimes a lovable man, often a dreamer.)

• Smart Folk: Elf (will emphasize wizardry and magitech)
• Heart Folk: Dwarf (will become cuter and more grumpily loveable, even sexier)
• Big Folk: Dragonborn (one-person army)
• Rebel Folk: Tiefling (foil as opposite of Jock)
• Jock Folk: Human (well-rounded generalist, summarizes the themes of the setting)


Contrast the original AD&D Greyhawk races:

• Smart Folk: Gnome
• Heart Folk: Elf (including Half-Elf, idealism plus elf babes)
• Big Folk: Dwarf (high Constitution fighter)
• Rebel Folk: Halfling (thief without ambition as foil for ambitious worldbuiding Human)
• Jock Folk: Human

The old school Half-Orc was the "Sixth Folk", by trope, a double agent from the villains who assists the Five.

5e lacks a "Sixth Folk". The equivalent would be something like a playable Mindflayer or Phyrexian.


The top five races define the feel and tone of the settings.

 

[Clint_L]

Ideally I'd like all species features to be separated into 'Trait A' and 'Trait B' (not sure if A and B would be equal power, or a major and minor trait).

There would then be a variant rule option, where if you want to make a hybrid, you would pick Trait A from one species, and Trait B from the other.

It would only need one additional page at most to explain the rules for it (probably less), while allowing full flexibility for people who care about both lore and mechanics.

Oh god, this would make character creation paralyzing for some players, especially new ones. "Here's 900 combinations to sort through."

 

[Yaarel]

I was playing a Dragonborn-like character during 4e. In this case, it came from a Norse setting, with the Norse Dragon (Dreki) being a playable species. It is born as a snake, and soon sheds skin, sprouting horns (like teething). At puberty it sheds and forms forearms, while still slithering. It somewhat resembles the D&D Lindorm and Salamander, At adulthood gains breathweapon. It can shed and form wings at a higher tier, as a feat.

The desire to play a dragon has been around since early D&D.