Some longtime players are upset.
So… The same thing that happens every time a new edition is released.
I don’t hate D&D (as a player; I’ll never run it again myself), but I do wish people would try the better roleplay offerings out there.
Yep!
I grew up in the era of THAC0 and when the newest edition simplified everything, there were so many defenders who wanted to go back.
Like, you totally can. Those books still exist. Go play AD&D you whiner.
Exactly! And then you can get the books even cheaper.
Besides, the last ten or fifteen years have been the most inventive (in terms of mechanics) in the history of the hobby. Something like Wildsea or Blades in the Dark will have a similar level of “crunchiness,” but uses those systems to empower the players and GM to improvise an adventure that is, to me, far more exciting than a D&D story and gives solid, transparent mechanical consequences for success or failure.
They either needed to replace “race” with “species” or divorce traits from racial identity.
Instead they did both and I’m not sure it works? If a human is a different species from an elf, why shouldn’t elves be inherently better at magic? If they’re basically the same in terms of biological traits, what even makes them different species?
Elves do get extra bonuses in Magic beyond stats.
The article is unclear, because:
“Races” are now “species.” Some character traits have been divorced from biological identity; a mountain dwarf is no longer inherently brawny and durable, a high elf no longer intelligent and dexterous by definition.
…
“People really wanted to be able to mix and match their species choice with their character-class choice,” Crawford said, adding, “They didn’t want choosing a dwarf to make them a lesser wizard.”It sounds like the goal was to decrease the differences between the species. Looking at the pages you posted, it sure doesn’t seem like elves are actually any better at magic. They get a few spells from their heritage, more proficiencies, but a human spell caster and an elven spell caster would basically be the same. It looks like the changes are intended to make playstyles interchangeable between the different species - no species is a greater or lesser wizard than any other species.
I guess I don’t dislike it? It just seems odd to make species less different.
It’s not that all traits have been separated from species. Just the traits that come across as racist.
They didn’t just “come across” as racist. Racial traits were racist in previous editions, by definition, because it was about the differences between races. Tying differences to race is always racist, that’s literally what racism is. I like the change to “species.”
But if they’re different species, I don’t really think those differences are racist anymore? I don’t really see how “elves have more magic than mountain dwarves” is still racist when they’re entirely different species. I guess it can be problematic for there to be one species that specializes in Int, Wis, and Cha since they’d just be inherently smarter and more beautiful? There’s probably no way to make that work. But why shouldn’t the elvish species be greater spellcasters? It’s just an odd choice.
pretty much following pathfinders lead. Pathfinder gives the option of traditional or a standard selectable bonus. The stadard can still be advantageous as it has one additional boost to counteract the flaw whereas the standard optional just gives two boosts.
On the one hand, I do think this is actually a good thing. Now you can make an orc wizard if you want to without sacrificing casting power. What I think is wrong about it, however, is appropriating “inclusivity” as a buzzword to get brownie points from “the libs”. The old racial bonuses aren’t entirely based on inherent ability, but also on culture and upbringing. Dwarves don’t only have high constitution because they’re born sturdy, their culture is based around mining and building. Tieflings aren’t just fiendishly charming, they live in a society that discriminates against them and they’ve adapted by learning to be very likeable. Also, I think there’s a useful difference between race and species. Race refers to sentient creatures while species refers to animals. In all, I think this is a useful change for if you want to play a character raised outside of their culture. On the other hand, I think it’s wrong they’re calling this diversity and inclusivity. They’re fantasy creatures. Some of them are literally artificially created within the universe to perform certain tasks (eg war forged, golems). Of course some of them are going to be better than others at certain things
The old racial bonuses aren’t entirely based on inherent ability, but also on culture and upbringing. Dwarves don’t only have high constitution because they’re born sturdy, their culture is based around mining and building.
So de-couple that from species and move it into background. There are easy solutions.
Great. I kept having to explain to new players that race generally meant species.
It raises a question though - are half-elves fertile offspring, or sterile like a mule?
Roll a d20 for potency
Your world, your rules.
I’m running a campaign set in the Elder Scrolls. It’s weird.
The old system was restrictive and kind of boring. Playing off-type meant mechanical penalties, so you didn’t see a lot of orc wizards or paladins.
I mean who cares? If you just get a grab bag of whatever you want so what? DnD has had a stanky system for a while now. Its so bad that I’m finding games from the 70s are more flexible. If you want true customization go to like FFG or something where all these concepts are already divorced and theres no such thing as choosing a species, you just assign your points and you are. Who needs concepts like racial traits in an imaginary board game where the game engine is your friend anyway?
I played a fantasy setting where the gm used the hero system and champions. Basically magic was a variable power pool and you had to discover spells that he made and if you wanted to research spells he would see if he felt he could make something like what you wanted within the ruleset and then gave you feedback on it. it was great.
