dmccoy1693
Adventurer
This week in my weekly blog talking about the D&D 5e playtest, I am looking at subraces and how subraces will provide structure when varying up a race. Also, I post two new subraces.
Please read them over and tell us what you think. Their descriptions are short, but if you like the basic concept, I can expand on them.
For those not wanting to click on the link, here is the post:
So How Many Different Kinds of Elves Can There Be?
One of the new mechanics that I do like in D&D 5e is subraces. With the exception of humans and half human races (although, I am hoping that the half humans get subraces as well later), all races have a base set of abilities and then a few others abilities that change depending on your subrace. So a high elf is good at magic while wood elves are good at sniping their target when in the woods. This means you can have your Dragonlance tinker gnomes as well as your Pathfinder-esque insanity gnomes with little trouble swapping out abilities. This in my opinion is far better than 3.5's kind of subrace bloat that was created in the D&D Compatible market. I mean many of the "new" races created were really just an existing race with a few haphazard abilities swapped out to the point where mist elves mechanically looked more like a cross between drow and gnomes than a standard elf. Now that some sense of structure is being provided, it will be easy to create a new subrace that feels both unique and balanced.
Here are a few that I came up with that you can use. Please tell me what you think of them:
Star Elves
Touched by the heaven, star elves believe that prophesy foretells their rulership of the night. No other kind of elf is as adept in the darkness as these.
Ability Score Adjustment: Your starting Charisma score increases by 1.
Darkvision: You can see in darkness within 60 feet of you as if it were dim light. When you do so, your vision is in black and white. Your low-light vision does not work when you are using darkvision.
Nightstalker: You gain advantage when you are attempting to move and not be observed when in dim light or in darkness.
Forge Dwarves
The flames of the forge are your home. You never feel entirely comfortable unless you are swinging a hammer against a piece of glowing metal, creating something of unequaled quality.
Ability Score Adjustment: Your starting Intelligence score increasesy by 1.
Metalic Insight: You know trade lore (blacksmith), which gives you a +10 bonus to ability checks relating to blacksmithing. Additionally, metalic armor does not give you disadvantage to hide or move silently. You can still gain disadvantage to your stealth from other sources.
What do you think? What kind of subraces would you like to see?
Sign up for my newsletter where we talk about Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition, our hopes for the new edition and where we discuss ideas for potential releases while we are waiting on licensing details. And be sure to follow us at JonBrazer.com.
Please read them over and tell us what you think. Their descriptions are short, but if you like the basic concept, I can expand on them.
For those not wanting to click on the link, here is the post:
So How Many Different Kinds of Elves Can There Be?
One of the new mechanics that I do like in D&D 5e is subraces. With the exception of humans and half human races (although, I am hoping that the half humans get subraces as well later), all races have a base set of abilities and then a few others abilities that change depending on your subrace. So a high elf is good at magic while wood elves are good at sniping their target when in the woods. This means you can have your Dragonlance tinker gnomes as well as your Pathfinder-esque insanity gnomes with little trouble swapping out abilities. This in my opinion is far better than 3.5's kind of subrace bloat that was created in the D&D Compatible market. I mean many of the "new" races created were really just an existing race with a few haphazard abilities swapped out to the point where mist elves mechanically looked more like a cross between drow and gnomes than a standard elf. Now that some sense of structure is being provided, it will be easy to create a new subrace that feels both unique and balanced.
Here are a few that I came up with that you can use. Please tell me what you think of them:
Star Elves
Touched by the heaven, star elves believe that prophesy foretells their rulership of the night. No other kind of elf is as adept in the darkness as these.
Ability Score Adjustment: Your starting Charisma score increases by 1.
Darkvision: You can see in darkness within 60 feet of you as if it were dim light. When you do so, your vision is in black and white. Your low-light vision does not work when you are using darkvision.
Nightstalker: You gain advantage when you are attempting to move and not be observed when in dim light or in darkness.
Forge Dwarves
The flames of the forge are your home. You never feel entirely comfortable unless you are swinging a hammer against a piece of glowing metal, creating something of unequaled quality.
Ability Score Adjustment: Your starting Intelligence score increasesy by 1.
Metalic Insight: You know trade lore (blacksmith), which gives you a +10 bonus to ability checks relating to blacksmithing. Additionally, metalic armor does not give you disadvantage to hide or move silently. You can still gain disadvantage to your stealth from other sources.
What do you think? What kind of subraces would you like to see?
Sign up for my newsletter where we talk about Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition, our hopes for the new edition and where we discuss ideas for potential releases while we are waiting on licensing details. And be sure to follow us at JonBrazer.com.
