D&D (2024) The 10 Species in "Your Ideal 2024 PHB"

[Tales and Chronicles]

Paradox Entertainment on line 2...

Okay...

Dhampir
Forsaken
Lost Dreamer
Fallen
Sin-Eater
Resurrected
Ascended
Created
Primordial
Vigilant

Fool proof!

 

[Hussar]

Let me ask you this: what is the difference between the new Elf and the new Tiefling?

Darkvision? Both get 60 ft.
Spells? one cantrip, one at third, and one at fifth (exact spells determined by lineages)
Resistances? tieflings get one energy resistance, elves get resistance to charm effects
Ribbon effects? tieflings get thaumatugy, elves get trance.
Origin? Tieflings are influenced by the lower planes, elves by the feywild.

Conclusion: elves and tieflings should be combined into a planetouched race. There is practically no mechanical difference between them.

How does that work? One planetouched race to represent tieflings, aasimar, genasi, elves, etc?

Except that elf is the second most popular race, so, not interested in shooting myself in the foot there.

But, even in your example, elf and tiefling share virtually nothing. Certainly a heck of a lot less than elf/half elf where the only difference was a skill proficiency.

And thaumaturgy and trance are not related in the slightest. I mean sure, they are both races. D&D already largely standardizes how races are built so, it's not terribly surprising that there are similarities here.

Your concern seems to be that people will only power game if given choices -that players won't make choices based on the aesthetics of their race but will only take the "best" options unless forced not to. I have a far less jaded opinion of players.

 

[Remathilis]

Except that elf is the second most popular race, so, not interested in shooting myself in the foot there.

But, even in your example, elf and tiefling share virtually nothing. Certainly a heck of a lot less than elf/half elf where the only difference was a skill proficiency.

And thaumaturgy and trance are not related in the slightest. I mean sure, they are both races. D&D already largely standardizes how races are built so, it's not terribly surprising that there are similarities here.

Your concern seems to be that people will only power game if given choices -that players won't make choices based on the aesthetics of their race but will only take the "best" options unless forced not to. I have a far less jaded opinion of players.

Tieflings are amazingly popular and it's not stopping people from adding them to a generic planar species.

And elf and tiefling share a lot. Too much IMHO. The only thing that isn't similar is the cantrip and the shorter long rest. They certainly share more than aasimar and tiefling does in the new book. Halflings and gnomes share nothing but size but people are Frankensteining them together.

My concern is that a "planetouched" species removes the aesthetics and story of the options they are replacing and only leaves them as mechanics. The species are all too similar to begin with, making them all one blanket species further dilute them. I want more lore and more diverse abilities, not less.

 

[mellored]

Plasmiod
Tortle
Kenku
Tri-Kreen
Warforged
Loxodon
Shardmind (import from 4e)
Yuan Ti
Genasi
Centaur

Play something different.

 

[Peter BOSCO'S]

Human (Imperial, Solomani, Vilani, Zhodani), Vargr, Aslan, K'kree, Hivers, Droyne (includes Chirper), Vegan, Uplifted Ape, Ithulkur, Dandelion.

 

[Tonguez]

Plasmiod
Tortle
Kenku
Tri-Kreen
Warforged
London
Shardmind (import from 4e)
Yuan Ti
Genasi
Centaur

Play something different.

London? I can play an entire city? it would be like a huge plasmoid -at what level do I get Cornurbation?

 

[Hussar]

Tieflings are amazingly popular and it's not stopping people from adding them to a generic planar species.

And elf and tiefling share a lot. Too much IMHO. The only thing that isn't similar is the cantrip and the shorter long rest. They certainly share more than aasimar and tiefling does in the new book. Halflings and gnomes share nothing but size but people are Frankensteining them together.

My concern is that a "planetouched" species removes the aesthetics and story of the options they are replacing and only leaves them as mechanics. The species are all too similar to begin with, making them all one blanket species further dilute them. I want more lore and more diverse abilities, not less.

If you'll hunt back for my list, I didn't even include gnomes or halflings on my list. Would not break my heart at all to see them out of the PHB.

Tieflings, OTOH, do share a LOT with other planar species. Like I said, there's so little difference between fire genasi and tiefling that I've seen players be honestly confused as to which is which.

But, I do think you're conflating a couple of things. Mechanics =/= aesthetics. They have virtually nothing to do with each other. And, I don't want fifteen different variations of the same sort of thing (here we have a dog headed humanoid, there we have a cat headed on, over there we have a racoon head) spread across a bunch of books.

I'd much rather have broader options and let the players bring the lore and flavor to the table than have to buy three or four different books just to get the options out there, most of whom will never see the light of day. So, yeah, I'd much, much rather have broad "template" style races in the PHB which cover pretty much all the bases than individualized, tight packages where you have to hunt through a bunch of different sources.

Put it another way. Do we really need grung, grippli AND bullywugs as PC races?

 

[Tonguez]

Tieflings are amazingly popular and it's not stopping people from adding them to a generic planar species.

And elf and tiefling share a lot. Too much IMHO. The only thing that isn't similar is the cantrip and the shorter long rest. They certainly share more than aasimar and tiefling does in the new book. Halflings and gnomes share nothing but size but people are Frankensteining them together.

My concern is that a "planetouched" species removes the aesthetics and story of the options they are replacing and only leaves them as mechanics. The species are all too similar to begin with, making them all one blanket species further dilute them. I want more lore and more diverse abilities, not less.

I agree - Elf

 

[jmartkdr2]

Let's see:

For mass use:

human
dwarf
elf
gnome
halfling
dragonborn
tiefling
goliath
aasimar
genasi

For just me:

human
elf
goliath
tiefling
aasimar
genasi
dragonborn
hengenyokai
shadar-kai (no longer elves)
centaur

Edit, for silly:

Sun elf
Moon elf
Dark elf
Sea elf
Snow elf
Desert elf
Wood elf
Half elf
Eladri
Shadar-kai (still elves)

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I would rather have more species options by putting all of the abilities into a single DMG section, similar to the PHB section on feats, with lots more options than we currently have. And then, with your DM and maybe the whole group, build your own species. And then go nuts with aesthetics as a separate process -- seemingly every table has a player who clearly yearns to go write 5,000 words about what song elves, or whatever, are like.

Because, yeah, fire genasi are mechanically a lot like 2014 tieflings. But in play, they're quite a bit different.

So support both sides of that equation: Add more mechanical bits for groups to build their perfect versions of genasi (Are they jinn descendants? Humans who were changed by exposure to fire magic? A servitor race of elementals who broke free of their masters?) and normalize, in the PHB, lots of glorious lore and color about the premade species.