Maybe not backgrounds but I do see that being a balance thing. All classes just get simple weapon proficiency and if they get martial weapons, it is either complete martial weapon proficiency or martial weapon proficiency in certain categories of weapons. Being able to bypass this restriction with your species choice would unbalance the classes or make certain level one choice points (Druid, Cleric) meaningless.
@@XanderHarris1023 Yeah that makes a lot more sense, especially since even classes like Sorcerer and Wizard are going to have just Simple Weapon proficiency. I can see them adjusting Weapon Master to be a higher level feat and having it also grant Mastery to the options it provides.
I don't get why every species needs 30ft of movement, never mind the fact nearly every one has dark vision now. There is nearly no point to light spells now, dungeons become harder to do surprises, it doesn't make sense for every species to have it. At first I liked the change but more I play with it more I'm iffy.
Not really. Darkness is still considered dim light, so say hello to permanent disadvantage to perception and investigation checks. Also, that pesky shadow now has +6 stealth and can hide as a bonus action even if there isn't any cover.
Surprise itself has been even more nerfed, too. Disadvantage on Initiative, and that's about it. Forget doing ambushes... or avoiding them, as it's a really pretty tiny bonus now.
@patrickrannou1278 Considering the amount of abilities, spells, and reactions require the creature to be aware of the threat, I wouldn't say ambushes are not worth the effort.
A lot of monsters have a grappling effect to their attack, so I think having them be able to end or avoid it with advantage is pretty good, and worth the exclusion of athletic proficiency
I still argue the biggest thing missing from dragonborn is the gem dragon option. It is a bit surprising that they removed the draconic resistance since all three category options from Fizban had it. They included the flight from gem dragons instead of the chromatic warding or metallic breath weapon, giving two options for weapon damage. It doesn't make any sense to streamline some of the species and still let others have the sub options. Do they expect humans, dwarfs, and dragonborn to intermarry so much that there is only one type while other species have remained separate from their respective sub lines?
it sells more books if you make more books and sell them unfortunately we're gonna see a lot of "but they already did this better?" moments from now on
It's because this was meant to be an upgrade to the 2014 Dragonborn, not a replacement to all Dragonborn options. You can still use the Fizban's options which will still have their own strengths and weaknesses compared to this. Honestly we basically have been given 4th strong option for Dragonborn. Now you can get flight as a Chromatic or Metallic dragonborn if you want that instead.
Wood Elf changes are a nice w, those spells all rule lol. Losing Mask of the Wild stings but lets be real, we rarely used it. Was wondering if Wood Elf Magic would come in as an origin feat, turns out its part of the species now!
You can also take Magic Initiate as an Origin feat to get 2 cantips and a spell with 1 free use per long rest. Only from Druid/Cleric/Wizard lists but you can choose the spellcasting ability no matter what list you pick.
I’m not sure I’m going to like the ability score bonuses being tied to the backgrounds. Seems like people will be stuck picking optimized backgrounds rather than what fits their character’s backstory.
@@mikecrane2093 Not from what I’ve heard. Some people are speculating that the option will be presented in the DMG but it’s not in the Player’s Handbook.
@@gregoryfloriolli9031 who cares? The book is a guideline and if you ever made a custom background before your DM should have no issue with you doing that with origins since they’re essentially the same.
I like the new species, but it made sense that elves had certain weapons because it takes them a century to reach maturity. Would have had an origin feat for it
Watch Dungeon Dads vids on missing dragons like Yellows, Orange, Purple, Grey? Also check out Dragonborn Nexus mods. The one with said dragonborns inherenting those said dragon breath weapons/ elements? Yeah. I used those as inspiration to homebrew them to D&D tabletop. Yellow dragonborns spew a hail of concentrated, grainy saltwater that pierce or bludgeon their foes AND have a chance to blind😁 Resistant to fire ( since yellows are found by coasts sun and sea )
Acid Splash is still an action to cast if I'm not mistaken so you could do breath weapon plus weapon attack without extra attack feature but acid splash seems weak for the extra attack feature but situationally beneficial.
I do feel like by streamlining a lot of the flavours for these races are being sanded down, its a shame. I also don't like how many features are just being replaced with spells.
Well, they sanded down racial differences with ability score differences being removed They sanded down the unique flavour for them as well I imagine 7e will just be “here’s a list - pick a few things - that’s you’re ‘species’ I guess”
Half-orcs need a lore update imho… in the current setting they’re almost exclusively born from rape… dunno if that’s the best idea going forward, so I feel like it’s fair to exclude them until a book specific to them were they can get a lore overhaul that they (imo) deserve.
@@guyfawkes8873 your talking about 50yrs or so of established lore . you cant really change half orc lore until you change orc lore and thats gonna have cascading ramifications seeing how orc raids have effected and helped shape human civilization for thousands of years, not to mention their prominence as a staple enemy in many adventures and modules. thats a lot revisions to do to for no reason, when most people either like the established lore of forgotten realms or dont know it and dont really care bc a decent dm would accommodate a half orc player that didnt wanna be a rape baby. Really in my mind as a kid that grew up reading stories about Drittz, the whole idea behind a PC playing a traditionally evil or monstrous race is the adversity they face, if you dont want that dont play one or play in a setting like ebberon where everyone is more morally grey and everyone has strange bed fellows. they(wotc) could come up with a new setting w/ lore that checked all the boxes of sensitivity readers, god knows they have been trying to retcon anything potentially "problematic" in their eyes since halfway through 5e but even if they were not artistically bankrupt and put out something "decent" its not like it would fly off the shelf for reasons ive mentioned already and im pretty sure they have a half baked system for making half races already so thats probably why we didnt see any in the phb, that or they nixed that idea in favor of racial purity bc thats where the left seems to be headed these days.
Regarding Dragonborns and Tieflings🐲😈 Very happy too see Tieflings be of three MAJOR Fiend lineages, then neuance from there. Demon, Cthonic, Devil. From say Devil it branches out heritage from the 9/10 Archdevils. Princes/ Princesses. ⚠️Dragonborns are always so darn neutered and whimpy. Without making them too " OP " they should inherently have ( rather scale-down with homebrew below from strong official stats than vice versa ): 1: Darkvision. Obvious trait from true dragons 2: Scaled breath weapon and preferrably as bonus action x prof. Bonus. Glad they can choose Cone or Line regarding situation. Dmg is decent 3: GEM dragonborns and their elements. They are no worse or better than the other 5. 4: Dragon Fierceness. Ability to multiattack claw for say 2d6 and bonus action bite for 1d10. Was a trait from Xanathar 5: Dragon ToughnessGet flat AC bonus +1 due to scales and + 1 or two HP per level. Was a trait from Xanathar. Could add dragon Fright too They keep on fudging certain species and classes. Ranger, no Gem dragonborns/ maybe not even in the new MM oh yeah and doubtly did they add gem dragon ancestry for Draconic Sorcery😂 SURE can homebrew it. But it got more weight and its relieving to see it in official material!
Nope. You can choose to role-play a character with mixed heritage if you like, say a half-elf, but rules wise, you'll be functionally a human or an elf.
They specifically wanted a counterpart for tieflings. The main goal for the book was to display opposites you see it in the sub classes as well. I think the other one was Goliath and dragonborn to mirror giants and dragons
Probably because they wanted to have a celestial inverse to the teifling's more demonic options, and all the earlier proposed playtest fuzzy celestial species went over like a lead balloon. Instead of having to start from scratch they used something off the shelf.
I'm with you, other than Goliath and Aasimar which I thought would be good additions to the PHB, I also think other species synonymous with the brand were goblin and Warforged (who doesn't want to play a robot), with Gith as an HM due to BG3. They probably didn't add them though since it would be weird not to add Hobgoblin and Bugbear with them.
Great video. Might sound nitpicky but using "species" in a fantasy RPG just sounds wrong and alwaus will. Lineages is so much better. Don't really like a lot of these changes that eliminagte the old subraces. Definitely going to be bringing the Stout, and Ghostwise, and Mountain and Hill back to the table.
Why? An orc is a different species from a dwarf. Both share similar mammal traits but that’s about it. Lineage makes beyond 0 sense. Also kenku and kobold to human, those are 3 entirely different species, not lineages. And the term species makes perfect sense in a fantasy setting with dozens of species that each have their own sub races in those species.
@davidcrocker846 It kinda doesn't work when you start throwing Genasi, Gith, Dampir, Aasimar, or Tiefling into it, because these ARE humans (or whatever), but they have some extra planar origin sprinkled in. There's several options that just fit poorly into the more scientific terminology Species implies. Is a Water Genasi Dwarf a different species than a Dwarf? What about a Dhampir Orc? A Gith is just an evolved human, are they the same species? And what about the half dozen elf subtypes? Why are these given the same berth as what flavor of cosmology stardust is in your veins, or if you're a mammal or a reptile or a fish, or something with an entirely different biological makeup like a Warforged or a Mycanoid? Why aren't Dragonborn of different colors different species, but an Elf is a different species depending on if they live in the woods or in your house? What about the entire goblinoid family; including every time an evil wizard gets a weird idea and makes a new type of goblin, is that a new species, if goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears are all now separate species? What about things with even more highly varied traits that are now barred from the system logically, like simic hybrid? These are all questions that have to be answered because Species is terminology that begs it. And THEN, Species as a term INHERENTLY implies reproductive incompatibility between different entries, when that's just not the case. Like, as long as there's not an argument over eggs or seeds or something, USUALLY a player character and another player character are compatible, and even then, Humans have sometimes figured out how to do it. This shouldn't be possible if Species is used, except with rare exceptions that make the kinds of cross breeds we REALLY don't want to talk about in a property that is already being squeamish about the term "Race". Remember that time breeding Humans and Dwarves made a cross breed that was noted as being exceptionally good at manual labor, extraordinarily vacant in the head, placcid, and obedient, and incapable of further reproduction, being literally a humanoid mule? So, let's not do that. I understand wanting to change the term from race, but Species is a VERY poor fit. It implies and suggests a level of definitive, scientific accuracy that just doesn't work with the anything goes nature of what a person is in D&D. Lineage, Ancestry, things like this work much, much better because those don't even necessarily inform what you look like. Species means if you say you're a Half Elf, what the book says you mean is you're an Elf, and now your character has been marginalized out of existence by the weird, awkward writing of Current Edition. There is now, rules as written, no difference between a Half Elf, an Elf that says they're a Half Elf, and a basic Elf. Lineage/Ancestry INHERENTLY implies that there may be a disconnect between your heritage and your immediate, obvious appearance, says that there may be an entire story here, and immediately smoothes out the quirks of personhood and categorical ability differences between them, and is much, much, much more congruous with the interbreeding and occasionally outsider genes that manifest in D&D. My heritage is X, Y, and Z. I manifested capabilities more similar to a Dwarf, my brother has more active Aasimar features, my sister is a bit more Human, but also a bit more draconian, so she manifested sorcery. THIS system better encapsulates the more fluid nature of the subject better ANYWAYS, being a much more fluid, descriptive system, as opposed to the more rigid and prescriptive nature that the term species implies. Species is way, way colder and more divisive, on top of being a tonal mismatch, and technically messy. It can work, but not in a setting like D&D where there's such inconsistency in what it even is. Species is a term of cataloging, Lineage or Ancestry is a term of storytelling; which is this game even about again? The only reason whatsoever to NOT use a term like that... is because Pathfinder did it, and WotC is still seething over it, at the cost of their future work, which is hilarious. Or they're just a skeleton crewed corp who didn't think for more than the second it took to avoid the R word AND figure out how to write less with one neat trick. I think the former is funnier, and would prefer laughter over depression, but take your pick as you will.
The word "Species" just irks me for some reason. I much prefer pathfinder 2's term for it, "Ancestry", which I think does a better job of implying "Maybe not human, but still a person".
@@mikecrane2093 if they are races you should allow any combination of racial traits, from centaurs to tortles, since thats what ‘races’ implies as opposed to species only occasionally being similar enough to create fertile offspring.
@@brilobox2 that may be a modern biological definition, but from the fantasy lore standpoint that is absolutely not true. I like the race term in rpg simply because it gives a bit Tolkien vibes. and reminds me of gandalf's voice. Species is probably an accurate term but doesnt sound very fantasy; still if they are all different species, why are the differences smaller than ever? How the fuck can a gnome ever compete with a Goliath when it comes to strenght? Humans cant wrestle gorillas. Inter species differences imply HUGE gaps in terms of physical and mental ability as its superunlikely, that different species randomly evolve to all have the same skill/powerfloors and ceilings.
@@Garnichgutt "superunlikely, that different species randomly evolve to all have the same skill/powerfloors and ceilings" evolution can sometimes be driven by random mutation, BUT only if there is no outside pressure for certain traits. And species evolve to have similar traits all the time! It is called convergent evolution, and is quite normal, when different species are put under similar outside evolutionary pressure.
@@DanishHellhound I am well aware of that, but convergent evolution usually involves very few traits, like "use wings- to fly" or "use metatarsals to elongate legs for fast running" And even then it still varies ALOT most of the time and the capability ceilings between Birds and Insects f.e. vary drastically despite both evolving "wings". Most of the time a certain design allows for certain advantages, that are very hard to achieve using a different design. I mean everyone can run stuff however they want, but personally I like meaningful consequences to playerchoices and species should be one of the early, defining choices. It gives awesome opportunity for roleplay to play into stereotypes or to wrestle with them; and the old ability score improvement being bound to race was a good compromise imo between representing a diffferent physiques and having somewhat fair gamemechanics. Obviously it sucks for minmaxing and I understand people wanting to chose freely for that reason
I don’t necessarily have a problem with the term species, but it implies that they can’t reproduce to create fertile offspring. That could be annoying, but could also add some interesting aspects to your character
That is not, and has never been, part of the definition of species. The reason that some species can not hybridize to produce fertile offspring is because of the number of chromosomes. For instance, horses have 44 chromosomes and donkeys have 42. That leaves mules with 43 chromosomes and organisms with odd numbered chromosomes are infertile. Another reason is incompatible blood rhizomes. Meanwhile, lions and tigers can produce fertile offspring and they're not even from the same continent. Alpaca and llamas also can and they're from opposite sides of the planet
@@GojiraXR9 Female ligers can have offspring with both lions and tigers. Other fertile hybrids include camel/llama, zebra/horse, buffalo/ox, narwhale/beluga, coyote/wolf, dogs with both coyotes and wolves, jaguar/lion, grizzly/polar bear, duck/goose, duck/pheasant.
@@AndrewJohnson-oy8oj “a group of living organisms consisting of similar individuals capable of exchanging genes or interbreeding. The species is the principal natural taxonomic unit, ranking below a genus and denoted by a Latin” I may be misunderstanding it but that’s one definition
@@jonathanthompson4077 I really hate what they’ve done with backgrounds, if the bits I’ve pieced together from interviews is correct. They confirmed you can’t create custom backgrounds, which might also mean that you can’t make any decisions about what ability score modifiers you get without making a trade off for the flavor of the background. h8 h8 h8
Do "little sized" species (like gnomes) still have disadvantage when using "heavy" weapons? And do they have some kind of malus when grappling with medium sized creatures?
From what I remember, they changed heavy in the UA so that it causes disadvantage if you don’t have a 13 or higher in strength or dexterity (based on whether it’s melee or ranged) instead of being based on size
@@dew-it8744 Thanks. I wonder if the size also has some kind of impact on things like "Push" (both weapon mastery and Maneuver), since it can be used on "Large and smaller opponents". I guess we'll see.
Attacking with heavy weapons now only requires you to have 13 Str (melee weapons) or 13 Dex (ranged weapons) to be able to swing it and aim it respectively. Grappling and moving grappled creatures is still more limited for small PCs.
Its absurd smaller species to be as strong as larger ones🤔 As homebrew I kinda lessen smaller species like gnomes, halflings, kobolds, goblins, tomter ( non evil red caps ) to have less hit points by 2 after rolled with Hit Dice, less movement by - 5 and inherent evade or stealth
office workers gotta make they paycheck for the corpo bosses :) dnd died when went from being nerds hanging out around a table, to suits around a conference call tryin to make everything as general as possible to sell a minimal amount of paper for the maximum amount of money
Jeremy Crawford did an interview style video here on RUclips to answer a lot of those questions. IMO his answers still came across a lot as them just being arbitrary.
Drow not having light sensitivity doesn't make sense with 5e adventure books like "Out of the Abyss" so it's not true that 5.5 is compatible, although I suppose you can just ignore a lot the new rules that you don't like
they're still in the game, they just may not be in the Player's Handbook. all your other 5e books still apply. The rule is, if it's in there you apply the PHB24 rules. If they're not you use the most recent Mordenkeinen's or whatever has them in it.
I still am confused as to why they are introducing more division between the options by going with "species." The scientific and logical side of my brain absolutely hates all of this, because it clearly wasn't thought out. As such, it feels like it is just a PR move, rather than actually trying to improve the game environment. Kingdom>Phylum>Class>Order>Family>Genus>Species "Race" is a social delineator within the classifiction of a single species (specifically Homo sapiens IRL), and has everything to do with heritage. All humanoids in 5e are the same species, and they are further delineated by race. It is ironic that by trying to be more politically correct they have actually introduced stronger cannonical reasons for the classic trope of "XYZ group hates ABC group *because* they are ABCs and for no other reason." WotC added a whole half-xyz system (intended to be able to combine any "species" with any other "species") in the playtest, but in the same hand brought in a directly contradicting issue. Inter-species offspring can exist, but are not always viable with any parental coupling; even if they can reproduce together, the offspring can be infertile as rule. An inter-racial offspring is as viable and as fertile as an intra-racial offspring because the parents are of the same species.
If they are all ‘races’ they should all be able to interbreed and create fertile offspring. They could not, as you basically never saw half-halflings/gnomes/dwarves/dragonborn/etc and who’s the other half? Is it only humans? Why do humans and elves even exist separately in cities after thousands of years living together? Why aren’t there entirely half-communities all over the place where 2 races have been living together for a long time and basically made a new race? Species straight up makes more sense in the world they’ve written. If you want to have half races be extremely common then you can explain them as races rather than species, but I’d rather have a table to mix n match traits if I’m going to say they’re actually all the same species (which they weren’t because theres dozens of ‘races’ in subsequently released content which clearly were different species and would never be able to interbreed.
If they are races you should have seen a half-tortle-half-dragonborn, but you haven’t because thats stupid and evidently only humans elves and orcs were similar enough to interbreed. Ergo those were races and everyone else was a different species.
I mean each species/race have completely different origins. Elves are in no-way remotely "related" to humans. Frankly none of the species should be able to interbreed, but they just allowed it because somone once thought it'd be cool. So here we are, trying to apply science logic to a magical world where Gods created half the species via magic.
"All humanoids within 5e are the same species"? No, they're not. Not even close. Dragonborn are reptiles. Warforged are constructs. They don't even have common ancestors. A biologist should know better. Most are barely even within the same clade as humans.
@@AlexanderMartinez-kd7cz if people arent desensitized to virtue signaling by 2024 then thats a skill issue imo. Its really not the huge world altering issue i see a lot of people talk like it is
@@videogollumer ooohoho i beg to differ! Ever work for/with a middle manager? I much prefer the online variant, much easier to tune out. As an added bonus, you dont lose your job after telling them to shut up followed by you walking away.
Yeah I would intentionally avoid the small races often cause I tend to be in more high skill games where players and DM's are very smart with placement. 5ft less per turn adds up and becomes costly very fast. There were other ways they could've balanced it, but it's the simplest way to make it even.
So happy proficiency is gone from races now. Was working on that anyway. Never made sense that you were 'born knowing things. Ideally each race has different background choices as halfling may not have nobles. Stupid that ability score modifications are gone though.
I feel like it makes sense mechanics wise, but I feel there should have been a chart for how half-blood characters could receive useful abilities from both of their parent races instead of the half-bloodedness being purely thematic.
I think they already said there will be a build-a-bear option, where you can choose features from any combo of species. You'll be able to make half-whatever you want now.
I remember when the playtest came out they said you could pick whatever parentage you want, but you still use the stats of the one species. And in a recent interview, it was either Dungeon Dudes, Ginny Di. or Pack Tactics, Jeremy Crawford seemed to imply half species may come in later books, as they wanted to focus on base options, since you already have elf and orc, they didn't want to "double up," and wanted a tight 10 species
“Each species was shaped with an eye towards the fantasy” WotC literally butchering lore and culture for their races and classes, says this in their new books.
Something about the term "Species" just really squicks me out. "Species" feels like it leans harder into biological determinism than "Race" did. Something like Lineage, Ancestry, or Heritage would have felt a lot better, IMHO.
Well elves are not humans, and humans aren’t dwarfs… you know what we call animals that aren’t the same? Different ‘species’. Species is the only term that really makes sense in the forgotten realms. If you make a setting where every species is in fact a hominid primate, maybe ancestry is better, but even then, unless your world has dwarves and elves as close to each other as humans are to… other humans… species is probably still the more accurate term.
@@guyfawkes8873 Species is such a word of the animal kingdom. We might talk about how Minke Whales behave as a species, or Grey Wolves, or Bluejays. It's not absurd to discuss the migratory patterns of Monarch Butterflies, or the mating practices of Arctic Foxes. But then we get to Elves and Dwarves, and it just feels wrong to me. Because Species is mostly used in the real world with non-human animals, ones we wouldn't consider sentient, there's something strange about the word being used for sentient beings, with agency and self determination. A lot of the reason why alignment has been sidelined, particularly when it comes to racial alignment (that is, Orcs are no longer an Evil Race) is that WotC rightly decided to removes a lot of the "determinism." Species works against that wise decision from WotC, replacing cosmic determinism with biological. Species invites descriptions of ingrained behavior, migratory patters, mating practices, in a way that "Heritage" or "Ancestry" don't. Those to are about history, not biology.
@@guyfawkes8873 theBitterFig is right! We're talking about different peoples! Species is NOT a term for different peoples, not unless the setting is one where everyone's been brainwashed by cold emotionless science! D&D is primarily a game about swords, magic, castles, and monsters; NOT laser guns, nuclear weapons, electronic technology, and space aliens! Calling it "species" instead of race is arguable MORE offensive! People who WANTED the change are only creating MORE derogatory terms; we might as well be calling Orcs neanderthals! Is that what people wanted?! To make different peoples feel INFERIOR to one another?! I DIDN'T THINK SO, but that's EXACTLY what they're gonna get; because they're to dense to approach things with common sense or sound reasoning!
IRL all the races are homo sapient, and that is our species. In Faerun the different 'species' and much more biologically different. Widely different lifespans, max/min heights, features like tusks etc. You don't end up with those sorts of differences through migratory drift and societal constructs. It makes no sense that we don't have ability score modifiers for those reasons, gnomes and halflings by no means should have the same strength on average as medium races. This is a game balance choice, not a realism choice.
I wonder,.. RAW UA CHaracter Origins: Elf: Starting at 3rd level and again at 5th level, you also gain the ability to cast a Spell with this trait. Once you cast the Spell with this trait, you can’t cast that Spell with it again until you finish a Long Rest*; however, you can cast the Spell using any Spell Slots you have of the appropriate level. High Elf: Detect Magic that Spell is a Riual Spell but with this wording you CAN`t cast it as a Ritual ?
I think these are all good changes. Though, did they remove the Dragonborn's darkvision? It was in both playtests, but it is not mentioned at all here.
I… did not remember that they had Darkvision in the playtest. Only the Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount versions have Darkvision in official rules, so I just assumed they were keeping it the same from before.
@@brilobox2 Pointing out the obvious does not make you smart either. the guy was just making an observation, perhaps those are his favorite races to play.
Also stupid that getting larger gives you more speed but getting smaller doesn't. Makes zero sense. Hate that disadvantages for races are now gone completely robs me of rp opportunity.
@@20storiesunder totally missed the point. Their logic and reasons for doing certain things are inconsistent and flawed. Making race completely meaningless. Just grey goo 1 vs grey goo 2.
@@michaeldunlap3742 totally missed the point. Their logic for making small races faster is contradicted by making the bigger Goliath also faster. Basically it comes down to players whining and then they get catered to instead of just making the best of what they have.
species just sounds really stupid, still not clear on why they even changed it. Also hate that they got rid of the half elf and half orc. Just seems like the developers are mostly interested in turning D&D into more of a video game, which makes some sense nowadays since a lot of people only play using VTTs like Roll 20 and Owlbear Rodeo.
Nothing. Is. Removed. Use the older content of you want. If they are races you should have seen a half-tortle-half-dragonborn, but you haven’t because thats stupid and evidently only humans elves and orcs were similar enough to interbreed.
It was either redundant or you want to pick up Weapon Mastery (and proficiency with Con saves) through a Fighter dip anyway. That said, it would be nice if the Weapon Training and Weapon Master feats where condensed into an origin feat, so you could pick up a martial weapon and use it's weapon mastery without multiclassing.
Ancestry>Species>Races. If they are races you should have seen a half-tortle-half-dragonborn, but you haven’t because thats stupid and evidently only humans elves and orcs were similar enough to interbreed.
I mean taxonomically, different species (of the same genus) _can_ interbreed, but the child would be sterile. So if we decide to apply real-world rules to a setting with magic, for fertile half-elves and half-orcs you would need humans, elves, and orcs to _all_ be members of the same subspecies.
Different species can’t always mate, but I feel like all the options in 5e can mate, so race does feel more accurate. Ancestry makes the most sense to me but Pathfinder got there first, so I feel like that’s why they’re staying away from it.
@@Tanglangfa If they are races you should have seen a half-tortle-half-dragonborn, but you haven’t because thats stupid and evidently only humans elves and orcs were similar enough to interbreed.
@@Tanglangfa No, not dwarves. We don't see any half-dwarves, and why are the half-races always half-human? Only humans, elves, and orcs would be the same race.
Screw Hasbro and their DEI agenda, shaming the original creators and by extension everyone who has loved the game for decades. Seriously, not another dime. I'll be playing better games from better companies.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: REPRINTING THE REPRINTS IN MOTM IS A WASTE!!!!! Seriously WotC you wasted 3/10 slots on Aasimar, Goliath and Orc when you sold everyone on the creation of MotM as the definitive answer to bringing things lost to other books up to speed for the revision. Yet you put 3 races in here that were printed in there. Why didn’t you just errata those and use the spots you saved for other things?! Or ya know just left them alone because you already changed them two years ago?
The negatives outweigh the positives 10 to 1. The flavor for many of the races (yes, I'm still calling them races) is ruined! Aasimar being able to CHOOSE between the three states at any time instead of having fixed ones? 👎 Dragonborn having innate flight, even if temporary? 👎 No Innate Tool Proficiency for the Dwarves? 👎 No Trance Weapon Proficiency for the Elves 👎 Goliaths having 5 extra ft. of movement, the innate ability to grow large, NO damage resistance, and NO Athletics Proficiency? 👎👎👎👎
@@WizardVolovik Yeah honestly, completely forgot. Maybe they forgot to list it as a change. And it doesn’t really matter if one is “worse” or not. If you want to be part angel, you play Aasimar. If you want to be part dragon, you play Dragonborn.
No powerful build?? Awww I love being big. Let me wrestle giants and use oversized weapons! Like how’s this: Powerful Build: you count as one size category larger to determine your carrying capacity and when grappling, being subjected to the grappled condition, and when escaping the grappled condition. You may wield weapons sized for creatures one size category larger than you but may only use their regular damage die. You may double the damage die of your weapon attack a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus per long rest.
Hey Ted, normally let the ads play but for the love of God I've got to keep skipping these Policitally donation request ads. other than that Orcs are replaying half-orcs (fine with me) but no Half-Elfs seems poor choice.
All the different kind of Tieflings were in Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes with Winged variant being in Sword Coast Adventure’s Guide
I had a player want to play succubus lineage Tiefling. Just adjusted the spells to...
1-chill touch, 3- Charm Person, 5- Alter Self. Goes with concept
These have been lost since MotM though so it’s not new. It was honestly hopium to believe they’d be in here.
The removal of weapon training from species is probably so they can fit it into the backgrounds with feats like Weapon Master.
I don’t think weapon master is an origin feat, at least its not listed in the chart on the Origins article they posted.
@@brilobox2 True, I commented that before watching all the way through
Maybe not backgrounds but I do see that being a balance thing. All classes just get simple weapon proficiency and if they get martial weapons, it is either complete martial weapon proficiency or martial weapon proficiency in certain categories of weapons. Being able to bypass this restriction with your species choice would unbalance the classes or make certain level one choice points (Druid, Cleric) meaningless.
@@XanderHarris1023 Yeah that makes a lot more sense, especially since even classes like Sorcerer and Wizard are going to have just Simple Weapon proficiency.
I can see them adjusting Weapon Master to be a higher level feat and having it also grant Mastery to the options it provides.
@@XanderHarris1023it really wouldnt, giving a class 1 more damage per attack ain't a big deal.
I don't get why every species needs 30ft of movement, never mind the fact nearly every one has dark vision now.
There is nearly no point to light spells now, dungeons become harder to do surprises, it doesn't make sense for every species to have it.
At first I liked the change but more I play with it more I'm iffy.
Not really. Darkness is still considered dim light, so say hello to permanent disadvantage to perception and investigation checks.
Also, that pesky shadow now has +6 stealth and can hide as a bonus action even if there isn't any cover.
something else thats often over looked is the fact dark vision isnt in colour.
Surprise itself has been even more nerfed, too. Disadvantage on Initiative, and that's about it. Forget doing ambushes... or avoiding them, as it's a really pretty tiny bonus now.
@patrickrannou1278 Considering the amount of abilities, spells, and reactions require the creature to be aware of the threat, I wouldn't say ambushes are not worth the effort.
@@mappybc6097 in every game they are but in DND now
A lot of monsters have a grappling effect to their attack, so I think having them be able to end or avoid it with advantage is pretty good, and worth the exclusion of athletic proficiency
I still argue the biggest thing missing from dragonborn is the gem dragon option. It is a bit surprising that they removed the draconic resistance since all three category options from Fizban had it. They included the flight from gem dragons instead of the chromatic warding or metallic breath weapon, giving two options for weapon damage. It doesn't make any sense to streamline some of the species and still let others have the sub options. Do they expect humans, dwarfs, and dragonborn to intermarry so much that there is only one type while other species have remained separate from their respective sub lines?
it sells more books if you make more books and sell them
unfortunately we're gonna see a lot of "but they already did this better?" moments from now on
It's because this was meant to be an upgrade to the 2014 Dragonborn, not a replacement to all Dragonborn options. You can still use the Fizban's options which will still have their own strengths and weaknesses compared to this. Honestly we basically have been given 4th strong option for Dragonborn. Now you can get flight as a Chromatic or Metallic dragonborn if you want that instead.
I'm actually pretty happy with 5E and homebrewed rules thanks. I don't feel the need to reinvent an already good wheel.
Wood Elf changes are a nice w, those spells all rule lol. Losing Mask of the Wild stings but lets be real, we rarely used it. Was wondering if Wood Elf Magic would come in as an origin feat, turns out its part of the species now!
You can also take Magic Initiate as an Origin feat to get 2 cantips and a spell with 1 free use per long rest. Only from Druid/Cleric/Wizard lists but you can choose the spellcasting ability no matter what list you pick.
I’m not sure I’m going to like the ability score bonuses being tied to the backgrounds. Seems like people will be stuck picking optimized backgrounds rather than what fits their character’s backstory.
that is an option: you're also able to choose where what goes.
@@mikecrane2093 Not from what I’ve heard. Some people are speculating that the option will be presented in the DMG but it’s not in the Player’s Handbook.
@@gregoryfloriolli9031 who cares? The book is a guideline and if you ever made a custom background before your DM should have no issue with you doing that with origins since they’re essentially the same.
@@brilobox2I’ve met people who play by the books like they’re holy scripture, though they’re definitely a minority
I like the new species, but it made sense that elves had certain weapons because it takes them a century to reach maturity. Would have had an origin feat for it
Oh it would be cool to be an EK Dragonborn and do a breath weapon+Acid Splash for a bunch of AOE
Watch Dungeon Dads vids on missing dragons like Yellows, Orange, Purple, Grey? Also check out Dragonborn Nexus mods. The one with said dragonborns inherenting those said dragon breath weapons/ elements? Yeah. I used those as inspiration to homebrew them to D&D tabletop. Yellow dragonborns spew a hail of concentrated, grainy saltwater that pierce or bludgeon their foes AND have a chance to blind😁 Resistant to fire ( since yellows are found by coasts sun and sea )
Acid Splash is still an action to cast if I'm not mistaken so you could do breath weapon plus weapon attack without extra attack feature but acid splash seems weak for the extra attack feature but situationally beneficial.
@@alexkleine9737 right, Eldritch Knights get the Bladesinger extra attack feature now at level 7
@@pederw4900 Correct, also Valor Bards at 6
I do feel like by streamlining a lot of the flavours for these races are being sanded down, its a shame. I also don't like how many features are just being replaced with spells.
Well, they sanded down racial differences with ability score differences being removed
They sanded down the unique flavour for them as well
I imagine 7e will just be “here’s a list - pick a few things - that’s you’re ‘species’ I guess”
Same with the background feats being replaced by actual feats no more researcher for sage or boat passage with sailors.
Super weird no Half-Elf or Half-Orc!
Half-orcs need a lore update imho… in the current setting they’re almost exclusively born from rape… dunno if that’s the best idea going forward, so I feel like it’s fair to exclude them until a book specific to them were they can get a lore overhaul that they (imo) deserve.
@@guyfawkes8873 do they though?
no one seems to mind Illithids using people's skulls as incubators.
@@guyfawkes8873 your talking about 50yrs or so of established lore . you cant really change half orc lore until you change orc lore and thats gonna have cascading ramifications seeing how orc raids have effected and helped shape human civilization for thousands of years, not to mention their prominence as a staple enemy in many adventures and modules. thats a lot revisions to do to for no reason, when most people either like the established lore of forgotten realms or dont know it and dont really care bc a decent dm would accommodate a half orc player that didnt wanna be a rape baby. Really in my mind as a kid that grew up reading stories about Drittz, the whole idea behind a PC playing a traditionally evil or monstrous race is the adversity they face, if you dont want that dont play one or play in a setting like ebberon where everyone is more morally grey and everyone has strange bed fellows.
they(wotc) could come up with a new setting w/ lore that checked all the boxes of sensitivity readers, god knows they have been trying to retcon anything potentially "problematic" in their eyes since halfway through 5e but even if they were not artistically bankrupt and put out something "decent" its not like it would fly off the shelf for reasons ive mentioned already and im pretty sure they have a half baked system for making half races already so thats probably why we didnt see any in the phb, that or they nixed that idea in favor of racial purity bc thats where the left seems to be headed these days.
Maybe they will include a way of create mixed "species" in the book
@@caranostalgico9249 in playtest you pick what you look like and take the features from 1 of your parents iirc so prolly that.
The thought of a Gnome having the same starting strength as a Half-Orc is still cracking me up lol
Regarding Dragonborns and Tieflings🐲😈
Very happy too see Tieflings be of three MAJOR Fiend lineages, then neuance from there. Demon, Cthonic, Devil. From say Devil it branches out heritage from the 9/10 Archdevils. Princes/ Princesses.
⚠️Dragonborns are always so darn neutered and whimpy. Without making them too " OP " they should inherently have ( rather scale-down with homebrew below from strong official stats than vice versa ):
1: Darkvision. Obvious trait from true dragons
2: Scaled breath weapon and preferrably as bonus action x prof. Bonus. Glad they can choose Cone or Line regarding situation. Dmg is decent
3: GEM dragonborns and their elements. They are no worse or better than the other 5.
4: Dragon Fierceness. Ability to multiattack claw for say 2d6 and bonus action bite for 1d10. Was a trait from Xanathar
5: Dragon ToughnessGet flat AC bonus +1 due to scales and + 1 or two HP per level. Was a trait from Xanathar. Could add dragon Fright too
They keep on fudging certain species and classes. Ranger, no Gem dragonborns/ maybe not even in the new MM oh yeah and doubtly did they add gem dragon ancestry for Draconic Sorcery😂 SURE can homebrew it. But it got more weight and its relieving to see it in official material!
lookin forward to seeing what they actually got, nice overview. LOVE the beard!!
Did I miss it, or are there no longer any half-races? Halfelves, halforcs, etc.
Nope. You can choose to role-play a character with mixed heritage if you like, say a half-elf, but rules wise, you'll be functionally a human or an elf.
@@mappybc6097boooooo
@@crownfinger943agreed
Boo indeed
Why did they decide to make Aasimar a core PHB race but not goblins?
They wanted a mirror for the trifling and the arguing failed the playtest.
They specifically wanted a counterpart for tieflings. The main goal for the book was to display opposites you see it in the sub classes as well.
I think the other one was Goliath and dragonborn to mirror giants and dragons
Probably because Tieflings were a player race, and Aasimar are very similar.
That and having goblins as a default player race is a Paizo thing.
Probably because they wanted to have a celestial inverse to the teifling's more demonic options, and all the earlier proposed playtest fuzzy celestial species went over like a lead balloon. Instead of having to start from scratch they used something off the shelf.
I'm with you, other than Goliath and Aasimar which I thought would be good additions to the PHB, I also think other species synonymous with the brand were goblin and Warforged (who doesn't want to play a robot), with Gith as an HM due to BG3.
They probably didn't add them though since it would be weird not to add Hobgoblin and Bugbear with them.
Great video. Might sound nitpicky but using "species" in a fantasy RPG just sounds wrong and alwaus will. Lineages is so much better. Don't really like a lot of these changes that eliminagte the old subraces. Definitely going to be bringing the Stout, and Ghostwise, and Mountain and Hill back to the table.
I actually like it and don't understand why it wasn't used from the begining.
Why? An orc is a different species from a dwarf. Both share similar mammal traits but that’s about it. Lineage makes beyond 0 sense. Also kenku and kobold to human, those are 3 entirely different species, not lineages. And the term species makes perfect sense in a fantasy setting with dozens of species that each have their own sub races in those species.
@@davidcrocker846literally species was chosen to appeal to the woke mob
@davidcrocker846
It kinda doesn't work when you start throwing Genasi, Gith, Dampir, Aasimar, or Tiefling into it, because these ARE humans (or whatever), but they have some extra planar origin sprinkled in.
There's several options that just fit poorly into the more scientific terminology Species implies. Is a Water Genasi Dwarf a different species than a Dwarf? What about a Dhampir Orc?
A Gith is just an evolved human, are they the same species?
And what about the half dozen elf subtypes? Why are these given the same berth as what flavor of cosmology stardust is in your veins, or if you're a mammal or a reptile or a fish, or something with an entirely different biological makeup like a Warforged or a Mycanoid? Why aren't Dragonborn of different colors different species, but an Elf is a different species depending on if they live in the woods or in your house? What about the entire goblinoid family; including every time an evil wizard gets a weird idea and makes a new type of goblin, is that a new species, if goblins, hobgoblins, and bugbears are all now separate species? What about things with even more highly varied traits that are now barred from the system logically, like simic hybrid? These are all questions that have to be answered because Species is terminology that begs it.
And THEN, Species as a term INHERENTLY implies reproductive incompatibility between different entries, when that's just not the case. Like, as long as there's not an argument over eggs or seeds or something, USUALLY a player character and another player character are compatible, and even then, Humans have sometimes figured out how to do it. This shouldn't be possible if Species is used, except with rare exceptions that make the kinds of cross breeds we REALLY don't want to talk about in a property that is already being squeamish about the term "Race". Remember that time breeding Humans and Dwarves made a cross breed that was noted as being exceptionally good at manual labor, extraordinarily vacant in the head, placcid, and obedient, and incapable of further reproduction, being literally a humanoid mule?
So, let's not do that.
I understand wanting to change the term from race, but Species is a VERY poor fit. It implies and suggests a level of definitive, scientific accuracy that just doesn't work with the anything goes nature of what a person is in D&D. Lineage, Ancestry, things like this work much, much better because those don't even necessarily inform what you look like. Species means if you say you're a Half Elf, what the book says you mean is you're an Elf, and now your character has been marginalized out of existence by the weird, awkward writing of Current Edition. There is now, rules as written, no difference between a Half Elf, an Elf that says they're a Half Elf, and a basic Elf.
Lineage/Ancestry INHERENTLY implies that there may be a disconnect between your heritage and your immediate, obvious appearance, says that there may be an entire story here, and immediately smoothes out the quirks of personhood and categorical ability differences between them, and is much, much, much more congruous with the interbreeding and occasionally outsider genes that manifest in D&D. My heritage is X, Y, and Z. I manifested capabilities more similar to a Dwarf, my brother has more active Aasimar features, my sister is a bit more Human, but also a bit more draconian, so she manifested sorcery. THIS system better encapsulates the more fluid nature of the subject better ANYWAYS, being a much more fluid, descriptive system, as opposed to the more rigid and prescriptive nature that the term species implies. Species is way, way colder and more divisive, on top of being a tonal mismatch, and technically messy. It can work, but not in a setting like D&D where there's such inconsistency in what it even is. Species is a term of cataloging, Lineage or Ancestry is a term of storytelling; which is this game even about again?
The only reason whatsoever to NOT use a term like that... is because Pathfinder did it, and WotC is still seething over it, at the cost of their future work, which is hilarious. Or they're just a skeleton crewed corp who didn't think for more than the second it took to avoid the R word AND figure out how to write less with one neat trick.
I think the former is funnier, and would prefer laughter over depression, but take your pick as you will.
Goliath grappling Monk, can't wait.
I wonder if WOTC means a Goliath can add fire damage to ranged attacks or just melee?
The fact that Fire Goliaths DON'T have RESISTANCE to fire damage is just plain stupid!
The word "Species" just irks me for some reason. I much prefer pathfinder 2's term for it, "Ancestry", which I think does a better job of implying "Maybe not human, but still a person".
@@mikecrane2093 if they are races you should allow any combination of racial traits, from centaurs to tortles, since thats what ‘races’ implies as opposed to species only occasionally being similar enough to create fertile offspring.
@@brilobox2 that may be a modern biological definition, but from the fantasy lore standpoint that is absolutely not true. I like the race term in rpg simply because it gives a bit Tolkien vibes. and reminds me of gandalf's voice. Species is probably an accurate term but doesnt sound very fantasy; still if they are all different species, why are the differences smaller than ever? How the fuck can a gnome ever compete with a Goliath when it comes to strenght? Humans cant wrestle gorillas. Inter species differences imply HUGE gaps in terms of physical and mental ability as its superunlikely, that different species randomly evolve to all have the same skill/powerfloors and ceilings.
@@Garnichgutt "superunlikely, that different species randomly evolve to all have the same skill/powerfloors and ceilings"
evolution can sometimes be driven by random mutation, BUT only if there is no outside pressure for certain traits.
And species evolve to have similar traits all the time! It is called convergent evolution, and is quite normal, when different species are put under similar outside evolutionary pressure.
@@DanishHellhound I am well aware of that, but convergent evolution usually involves very few traits, like "use wings- to fly" or "use metatarsals to elongate legs for fast running"
And even then it still varies ALOT most of the time and the capability ceilings between Birds and Insects f.e. vary drastically despite both evolving "wings".
Most of the time a certain design allows for certain advantages, that are very hard to achieve using a different design.
I mean everyone can run stuff however they want, but personally I like meaningful consequences to playerchoices and species should be one of the early, defining choices. It gives awesome opportunity for roleplay to play into stereotypes or to wrestle with them; and the old ability score improvement being bound to race was a good compromise imo between representing a diffferent physiques and having somewhat fair gamemechanics. Obviously it sucks for minmaxing and I understand people wanting to chose freely for that reason
Does this mean elves no long have darkvision? I don't see it listed there.
This list just shows the changes made. Elves should still have darkvision.
I don’t necessarily have a problem with the term species, but it implies that they can’t reproduce to create fertile offspring. That could be annoying, but could also add some interesting aspects to your character
That is, if they reproduce with different species
That is not, and has never been, part of the definition of species. The reason that some species can not hybridize to produce fertile offspring is because of the number of chromosomes. For instance, horses have 44 chromosomes and donkeys have 42. That leaves mules with 43 chromosomes and organisms with odd numbered chromosomes are infertile. Another reason is incompatible blood rhizomes. Meanwhile, lions and tigers can produce fertile offspring and they're not even from the same continent. Alpaca and llamas also can and they're from opposite sides of the planet
Ligers are infertile, too.
@@GojiraXR9 Female ligers can have offspring with both lions and tigers. Other fertile hybrids include camel/llama, zebra/horse, buffalo/ox, narwhale/beluga, coyote/wolf, dogs with both coyotes and wolves, jaguar/lion, grizzly/polar bear, duck/goose, duck/pheasant.
@@AndrewJohnson-oy8oj “a group of living organisms consisting of similar individuals capable of exchanging genes or interbreeding. The species is the principal natural taxonomic unit, ranking below a genus and denoted by a Latin” I may be misunderstanding it but that’s one definition
Damn, sad to see half-elf go, it was my favorite species to play.
iTs RaCiSt
Eh you can still play it cause backwards compatible, just the bonuses come from Background instead
@@jonathanthompson4077 I really hate what they’ve done with backgrounds, if the bits I’ve pieced together from interviews is correct. They confirmed you can’t create custom backgrounds, which might also mean that you can’t make any decisions about what ability score modifiers you get without making a trade off for the flavor of the background. h8 h8 h8
@@deProfundisAdAstra cant you just do whatever you want though? who cares what the backgrounds are/say - this isnt new
@@deProfundisAdAstra Custom backgrounds are an optional rule in the DM manual to use with the DM permission/guidance, but you can do it.
Do "little sized" species (like gnomes) still have disadvantage when using "heavy" weapons?
And do they have some kind of malus when grappling with medium sized creatures?
From what I remember, they changed heavy in the UA so that it causes disadvantage if you don’t have a 13 or higher in strength or dexterity (based on whether it’s melee or ranged) instead of being based on size
@@dew-it8744 Thanks. I wonder if the size also has some kind of impact on things like "Push" (both weapon mastery and Maneuver), since it can be used on "Large and smaller opponents".
I guess we'll see.
Attacking with heavy weapons now only requires you to have 13 Str (melee weapons) or 13 Dex (ranged weapons) to be able to swing it and aim it respectively.
Grappling and moving grappled creatures is still more limited for small PCs.
@@SortKaffe Makes sense, thank you.
Its absurd smaller species to be as strong as larger ones🤔 As homebrew I kinda lessen smaller species like gnomes, halflings, kobolds, goblins, tomter ( non evil red caps ) to have less hit points by 2 after rolled with Hit Dice, less movement by - 5 and inherent evade or stealth
I would love to hear from WOTC the reasons why they made the changes on these. Some feel arbitrary.
office workers gotta make they paycheck for the corpo bosses :) dnd died when went from being nerds hanging out around a table, to suits around a conference call tryin to make everything as general as possible to sell a minimal amount of paper for the maximum amount of money
@@joseywales6168 shut up
Jeremy Crawford did an interview style video here on RUclips to answer a lot of those questions. IMO his answers still came across a lot as them just being arbitrary.
Great vid, keep them coming plz!
11:34 Sword Coast Adventure’s Guide. I have it lol. Kinda wish Winged Tiefling was an option
One of the few actually OP options in that book. Maybe a new version in the future.
Drow not having light sensitivity doesn't make sense with 5e adventure books like "Out of the Abyss" so it's not true that 5.5 is compatible, although I suppose you can just ignore a lot the new rules that you don't like
Light sensitivity should only be around if ur playing level one
Were all the origin feats in the article? Or are there others in the book?
Unclear.
The races in the book are great
Goliath became a Lot powerful in comparison
And it sucks; it TOTALLY ruins the traditional Goliath value of fair play!
Species? Yeesh. Those sequels. Ouch!
I’ll be happier when they add Svirfneblin and Duergar.
they're still in the game, they just may not be in the Player's Handbook. all your other 5e books still apply. The rule is, if it's in there you apply the PHB24 rules. If they're not you use the most recent Mordenkeinen's or whatever has them in it.
@@Drophinoia I mean updated versions. Jeremy and RUclipsrs have explained how to use old stuff ad nauseum.
A lot more surface invasions from the Drow then :)
Ted; have a good GenCon.
I still am confused as to why they are introducing more division between the options by going with "species." The scientific and logical side of my brain absolutely hates all of this, because it clearly wasn't thought out. As such, it feels like it is just a PR move, rather than actually trying to improve the game environment.
Kingdom>Phylum>Class>Order>Family>Genus>Species
"Race" is a social delineator within the classifiction of a single species (specifically Homo sapiens IRL), and has everything to do with heritage. All humanoids in 5e are the same species, and they are further delineated by race. It is ironic that by trying to be more politically correct they have actually introduced stronger cannonical reasons for the classic trope of "XYZ group hates ABC group *because* they are ABCs and for no other reason."
WotC added a whole half-xyz system (intended to be able to combine any "species" with any other "species") in the playtest, but in the same hand brought in a directly contradicting issue. Inter-species offspring can exist, but are not always viable with any parental coupling; even if they can reproduce together, the offspring can be infertile as rule. An inter-racial offspring is as viable and as fertile as an intra-racial offspring because the parents are of the same species.
If they are all ‘races’ they should all be able to interbreed and create fertile offspring. They could not, as you basically never saw half-halflings/gnomes/dwarves/dragonborn/etc and who’s the other half? Is it only humans? Why do humans and elves even exist separately in cities after thousands of years living together? Why aren’t there entirely half-communities all over the place where 2 races have been living together for a long time and basically made a new race? Species straight up makes more sense in the world they’ve written. If you want to have half races be extremely common then you can explain them as races rather than species, but I’d rather have a table to mix n match traits if I’m going to say they’re actually all the same species (which they weren’t because theres dozens of ‘races’ in subsequently released content which clearly were different species and would never be able to interbreed.
If they are races you should have seen a half-tortle-half-dragonborn, but you haven’t because thats stupid and evidently only humans elves and orcs were similar enough to interbreed. Ergo those were races and everyone else was a different species.
I mean each species/race have completely different origins. Elves are in no-way remotely "related" to humans. Frankly none of the species should be able to interbreed, but they just allowed it because somone once thought it'd be cool. So here we are, trying to apply science logic to a magical world where Gods created half the species via magic.
"All humanoids within 5e are the same species"? No, they're not. Not even close. Dragonborn are reptiles. Warforged are constructs. They don't even have common ancestors. A biologist should know better. Most are barely even within the same clade as humans.
Would have liked more choices on some but otherwise i like most of it.
People are either REALLY coping with the term change, or they just really dont like change of any kind
people don't like changing things for no reason.
or if you're cynical they REALLY don't like change for virtue signalling reasons.
@@AlexanderMartinez-kd7cz if people arent desensitized to virtue signaling by 2024 then thats a skill issue imo. Its really not the huge world altering issue i see a lot of people talk like it is
@@randyrandy2460 Holier-than-though attitudes are not something that one is simply "desensitized" to.
@@videogollumer ooohoho i beg to differ! Ever work for/with a middle manager? I much prefer the online variant, much easier to tune out. As an added bonus, you dont lose your job after telling them to shut up followed by you walking away.
So i say again, skill issue.
Mostly fine with just a few “Huhs?!” thrown in there.
Why Halfling’s got so much movement for little guys 😆
~_~
Because having slightly less movement than everyone else is extremely annoying even if its flavor.
The proficiencies are Background now.
..They were background before, now they are origin.
i like most of these changes to species though i find it weird that everyone's speed got set to at least 30 feet
Yeah but I get it. It’s not as fun for the shorter races to be shorter. It makes sense for them to be slower but, I get it
@@EpicRandomness555 yeah im on the same page as you. i get it but it just feels weird lol
They wanted remove feel bads from species options. That is also why they don't have disadvantage with Heavy weapons as long STR score is high enough.
@@XanderHarris1023 That was a goated change. Makes the word “Heavy” make way more sense.
Yeah I would intentionally avoid the small races often cause I tend to be in more high skill games where players and DM's are very smart with placement. 5ft less per turn adds up and becomes costly very fast. There were other ways they could've balanced it, but it's the simplest way to make it even.
we got Wings of Fire on the damn dragonborn
So happy proficiency is gone from races now. Was working on that anyway. Never made sense that you were 'born knowing things. Ideally each race has different background choices as halfling may not have nobles. Stupid that ability score modifications are gone though.
Goodwin Hill
Reilly Light
Cornell Dale
Still hate that they removed Half elves and half orcs.
Only purebloods allowed? 😅
I feel like it makes sense mechanics wise, but I feel there should have been a chart for how half-blood characters could receive useful abilities from both of their parent races instead of the half-bloodedness being purely thematic.
I think they already said there will be a build-a-bear option, where you can choose features from any combo of species. You'll be able to make half-whatever you want now.
I remember when the playtest came out they said you could pick whatever parentage you want, but you still use the stats of the one species. And in a recent interview, it was either Dungeon Dudes, Ginny Di. or Pack Tactics, Jeremy Crawford seemed to imply half species may come in later books, as they wanted to focus on base options, since you already have elf and orc, they didn't want to "double up," and wanted a tight 10 species
NOTHING. IS. REMOVED. YOU CAN STILL USE OLDER CONTENT! Almost any possible backwards compatibility issue is covered by bridging language.
Slytherin-approved. 😉
Hackett Overpass
Tanya Stravenue
“Each species was shaped with an eye towards the fantasy”
WotC literally butchering lore and culture for their races and classes, says this in their new books.
Sorry I couldn’t watch the whole video! can anyone tell me if old races from previous 5E content is cross compatible?
Something about the term "Species" just really squicks me out. "Species" feels like it leans harder into biological determinism than "Race" did. Something like Lineage, Ancestry, or Heritage would have felt a lot better, IMHO.
That's stupid real-world demographic politics for ya! They ruin everything they touch!
Well elves are not humans, and humans aren’t dwarfs… you know what we call animals that aren’t the same? Different ‘species’. Species is the only term that really makes sense in the forgotten realms. If you make a setting where every species is in fact a hominid primate, maybe ancestry is better, but even then, unless your world has dwarves and elves as close to each other as humans are to… other humans… species is probably still the more accurate term.
@@guyfawkes8873 Species is such a word of the animal kingdom. We might talk about how Minke Whales behave as a species, or Grey Wolves, or Bluejays. It's not absurd to discuss the migratory patterns of Monarch Butterflies, or the mating practices of Arctic Foxes.
But then we get to Elves and Dwarves, and it just feels wrong to me. Because Species is mostly used in the real world with non-human animals, ones we wouldn't consider sentient, there's something strange about the word being used for sentient beings, with agency and self determination.
A lot of the reason why alignment has been sidelined, particularly when it comes to racial alignment (that is, Orcs are no longer an Evil Race) is that WotC rightly decided to removes a lot of the "determinism." Species works against that wise decision from WotC, replacing cosmic determinism with biological. Species invites descriptions of ingrained behavior, migratory patters, mating practices, in a way that "Heritage" or "Ancestry" don't. Those to are about history, not biology.
@@guyfawkes8873 theBitterFig is right! We're talking about different peoples! Species is NOT a term for different peoples, not unless the setting is one where everyone's been brainwashed by cold emotionless science! D&D is primarily a game about swords, magic, castles, and monsters; NOT laser guns, nuclear weapons, electronic technology, and space aliens! Calling it "species" instead of race is arguable MORE offensive! People who WANTED the change are only creating MORE derogatory terms; we might as well be calling Orcs neanderthals! Is that what people wanted?! To make different peoples feel INFERIOR to one another?! I DIDN'T THINK SO, but that's EXACTLY what they're gonna get; because they're to dense to approach things with common sense or sound reasoning!
IRL all the races are homo sapient, and that is our species. In Faerun the different 'species' and much more biologically different. Widely different lifespans, max/min heights, features like tusks etc. You don't end up with those sorts of differences through migratory drift and societal constructs. It makes no sense that we don't have ability score modifiers for those reasons, gnomes and halflings by no means should have the same strength on average as medium races. This is a game balance choice, not a realism choice.
Heaney Station
Gibson Drive
Wendy Junction
Try some art/pics. We can read wiki
Malachi Cape
Feeney Junctions
Stephanie Walk
Nader Villages
Bruen Knolls
Ephraim Hill
Frami Divide
Willms Locks
And as time goes on,more and more l, every species are nothing more than reskinned humans.
Yeah thats what being able to fly, shoot ice from your mouth, and innately cast magic reminds me of: humans.
Idiotic take.
Nina Haven
I wonder,..
RAW UA CHaracter Origins:
Elf:
Starting at 3rd level and again at 5th level,
you also gain the ability to cast a Spell with this
trait. Once you cast the Spell with this trait, you
can’t cast that Spell with it again until you finish
a Long Rest*; however, you can cast the Spell
using any Spell Slots you have of the
appropriate level.
High Elf: Detect Magic that Spell is a Riual Spell but with this wording you CAN`t cast it as a Ritual ?
No, but at least you can cast it with an Action as opposed to the Wizard that doesn't prepare their rituals
I think these are all good changes. Though, did they remove the Dragonborn's darkvision? It was in both playtests, but it is not mentioned at all here.
I… did not remember that they had Darkvision in the playtest. Only the Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount versions have Darkvision in official rules, so I just assumed they were keeping it the same from before.
@@EpicRandomness555 They did have darkvision in both UAs.
They playtested several buffs. Maybe Darkvision didn't create as much excitement as the other buffs, so they only implemented the latter?
Being able to fly wasn’t enough? They should just remove Darkvision from every species so people stop obsessing over it.
One D&D is just a terrible version of 5E.
I hate to say it; but it's true. 😞
Boehm Turnpike
Runte Mews
Jeez, how many ads can one video have?
Change it back to races
German Cove
Nice synopsis
Half-Elf and Half-Orc are not there.
They are in older books, ergo you can still use them. Pointing out the obvious doesn’t make you smart.
@@brilobox2 Pointing out the obvious does not make you smart either. the guy was just making an observation, perhaps those are his favorite races to play.
Without any specifics... can you give a 👍 or 👎on the Dungeon Delver feat?
Also stupid that getting larger gives you more speed but getting smaller doesn't. Makes zero sense. Hate that disadvantages for races are now gone completely robs me of rp opportunity.
It is realistic tho
"Oh woe be me, how can I roleplay without a -5 feet speed?"
Literally just ask your dm to homebrew you more speed
@@20storiesunder totally missed the point. Their logic and reasons for doing certain things are inconsistent and flawed. Making race completely meaningless. Just grey goo 1 vs grey goo 2.
@@michaeldunlap3742 totally missed the point. Their logic for making small races faster is contradicted by making the bigger Goliath also faster. Basically it comes down to players whining and then they get catered to instead of just making the best of what they have.
Lopez Linda Martin Edward Martinez Sandra
This is about races, I guess?
species just sounds really stupid, still not clear on why they even changed it. Also hate that they got rid of the half elf and half orc. Just seems like the developers are mostly interested in turning D&D into more of a video game, which makes some sense nowadays since a lot of people only play using VTTs like Roll 20 and Owlbear Rodeo.
They literally changed it because they think races being called a race is somehow racist, same reason they didn't put in half-races.
Nothing. Is. Removed. Use the older content of you want. If they are races you should have seen a half-tortle-half-dragonborn, but you haven’t because thats stupid and evidently only humans elves and orcs were similar enough to interbreed.
I don't like that elvish and dwarven armour/weapon training are gone and there isn't a good origin feat way of fixing it.
It was either redundant or you want to pick up Weapon Mastery (and proficiency with Con saves) through a Fighter dip anyway.
That said, it would be nice if the Weapon Training and Weapon Master feats where condensed into an origin feat, so you could pick up a martial weapon and use it's weapon mastery without multiclassing.
@@SortKaffe sure, but it was cool a elven wizard knowing how to use a bow or dwarven cleric knowing how to use an ax
@SortKaffe I agree it was redundant
@guilhermemelo3760 so far it looks like all classes get proficiency with simple weapons, so you can do a Wizard with a shortbow.
Races>Species
Ancestry>Species>Races.
If they are races you should have seen a half-tortle-half-dragonborn, but you haven’t because thats stupid and evidently only humans elves and orcs were similar enough to interbreed.
Turtle? Dragonborn? Those RACES don't exist in my world.
I mean taxonomically, different species (of the same genus) _can_ interbreed, but the child would be sterile. So if we decide to apply real-world rules to a setting with magic, for fertile half-elves and half-orcs you would need humans, elves, and orcs to _all_ be members of the same subspecies.
I mean Races is just not as accurate. Different 'sub-types' are actually what should be referred to as races. Aka Drow are a race of elf.
Nothing is actually stopping you from using the term Race.
Hate this new term for Races. So asinine. such an unnecessary change.
Different species can’t always mate, but I feel like all the options in 5e can mate, so race does feel more accurate. Ancestry makes the most sense to me but Pathfinder got there first, so I feel like that’s why they’re staying away from it.
agreed
@@Tanglangfa If they are races you should have seen a half-tortle-half-dragonborn, but you haven’t because thats stupid and evidently only humans elves and orcs were similar enough to interbreed.
@@brilobox2 so race would be right for elves, dwarves, etc, and species for tortles, Dragonborn, etc.
@@Tanglangfa No, not dwarves. We don't see any half-dwarves, and why are the half-races always half-human? Only humans, elves, and orcs would be the same race.
Too many Ads mate.
You can use the SPECIES from Mord. Multiverse just not the abilities scores.
@@mikecrane2093 nerd.
@@brilobox2 We're ALL nerds! It's nothing to be ashamed of!
Dragonborn will continue to be a fail in my eyes until they give it darkvision and divorce the breath attack from relying on con mod for the DC.
they do have darkvision now
@@NerdImmersion well we’re half way there then!
Screw Hasbro and their DEI agenda, shaming the original creators and by extension everyone who has loved the game for decades. Seriously, not another dime. I'll be playing better games from better companies.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: REPRINTING THE REPRINTS IN MOTM IS A WASTE!!!!!
Seriously WotC you wasted 3/10 slots on Aasimar, Goliath and Orc when you sold everyone on the creation of MotM as the definitive answer to bringing things lost to other books up to speed for the revision. Yet you put 3 races in here that were printed in there. Why didn’t you just errata those and use the spots you saved for other things?! Or ya know just left them alone because you already changed them two years ago?
These changes overall are awful, sadly HASBRO WOTC failed again and I know this will show when sales for this tank
not a fan
The negatives outweigh the positives 10 to 1. The flavor for many of the races (yes, I'm still calling them races) is ruined!
Aasimar being able to CHOOSE between the three states at any time instead of having fixed ones? 👎
Dragonborn having innate flight, even if temporary? 👎
No Innate Tool Proficiency for the Dwarves? 👎
No Trance Weapon Proficiency for the Elves 👎
Goliaths having 5 extra ft. of movement, the innate ability to grow large, NO damage resistance, and NO Athletics Proficiency? 👎👎👎👎
Oh, no! They took away Dragonborn's darkvision! This is so sad. Now the race just seems a worse Aasimar.
They never had Darkvision.
Despite what the post says I have heard the contrary I can't remember where the source was but I definitely saw it on the one dnd reddit.
@@EpicRandomness555 they had on the UA's version :(
@@WizardVolovik Yeah honestly, completely forgot. Maybe they forgot to list it as a change.
And it doesn’t really matter if one is “worse” or not. If you want to be part angel, you play Aasimar. If you want to be part dragon, you play Dragonborn.
Pretty sure they'll still get Darkvision. These articles aren't always completely comprehensive.
Awful. Overpowered, uninspiring and restrictive.
2024 5.5e makes 4e look attractive by comparison.
I actually liked a lot of the 4e options.
To be honest I kind of liked it despite its goofy mechanics. At least it had heart.
No powerful build?? Awww I love being big. Let me wrestle giants and use oversized weapons! Like how’s this:
Powerful Build: you count as one size category larger to determine your carrying capacity and when grappling, being subjected to the grappled condition, and when escaping the grappled condition. You may wield weapons sized for creatures one size category larger than you but may only use their regular damage die. You may double the damage die of your weapon attack a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus per long rest.
Yeah.
The power creep in places is real.
An it's all because of people that are bad at playing & running the game and greed of wizards of the coast.
Species? You mean races.
No, he doesn't; but he should.
Hey Ted, normally let the ads play but for the love of God I've got to keep skipping these Policitally donation request ads.
other than that Orcs are replaying half-orcs (fine with me) but no Half-Elfs seems poor choice.
Welp, DND is gonna suck more now.