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

[Mistwell]

They had a bit about creating hybrid characters in the the Unearthed Arcana, and no indication that they don't plan something along those lines.

Right. I guess we will see, but we never really heard what they thought of the feedback they received on that topic from what I recall.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

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

While true, half-orc did not gain nearly as much cachet, despite being well ahead of its time relative to other media. It wasn't until Warcraft came along that orcish PCs started to really gain traction. Likewise, it wasn't until Drizzt made a pathway for 99.95% of all drow to be brooding loners-with-a-posse rebels-against-evil that drow really got traction. Etc.

Usually, D&D races need an archetype first, before they really take off. Tieflings already had that archetype because "half-demon child" has tons of precedent across myth and folklore.

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

Tieflings had been around well before that, and I don't really think 4e made them explode.

Dragonborn, on the other hand? Absolutely yes. They broke the mold--in part because, unlike pretty much every other similar thing, they didn't have a particular literary or folkloric archetype to draw from. Yet they absolutely took off in popularity, and have if anything actually become more popular in 5e (despite, ironically, being significantly weaker, almost-inarguably the weakest PHB race.)

The main reason for this, I think, was that dragonborn tapped into something with inherent cool factor (dragons), and that 4e actually gave them a legitimately interesting and worthwhile backstory (scions of lost Arkhosia, carrying on a proud, noble, but also tragic legacy). Unlike most attempts at creating a new race, which just sort of give them a skirt-length presentation, dragonborn arrived with a fully-fledged mythos to them, and it got more support with time.

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

From what I've heard, aardling is out, and the only "new" race is goliath. Giants are still cool, but perhaps not as cool as dragons (don't @ me, I'm just commenting on general cultural cachet). Aasimar aren't new and I don't think adding them to the PHB will make any meaningful/long-term difference to them.

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

It gives them prominence and legitimacy, but it doesn't guarantee that they stick in folks' minds. Gith, for example, have Dak'kon and now Lae'zel as poster characters, so if they were included in the 5.5e PHB, that might be a combo that resulted in substantially increased attention. The question is whether that attention has staying power. Dragons will always be cool because they represent power and majesty, regardless of what culture you look at; it is inherently a subversion to make a weak or cutesy dragon. Gith may not be able to sustain a PHB-driven boost, but certainly they'd get a boost, and probably never completely recede back to their old numbers, if they were added to the PHB.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

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

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

Yeah, the lore plus, y'know, dragons are why they have such staying power. They were new and different, but in a way that dovetailed well with what D&D had more or less always been.

 

[bedir than]

From what I've heard, aardling is out, and the only "new" race is goliath. Giants are still cool, but perhaps not as cool as dragons (don't @ me, I'm just commenting on general cultural cachet). Aasimar aren't new and I don't think adding them to the PHB will make any meaningful/long-term difference to them.

How are goliaths new, but not Aasimar?

 

[FitzTheRuke]

They had a bit about creating hybrid characters in the the Unearthed Arcana, and no indication that they don't plan something along those lines.

I hope that it'll be better than the UA version.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

How are goliaths new, but not Aasimar?

To the best of my knowledge, goliaths started in 4e. Aasimar, like tieflings, have been around since 2e.

Is this not true?

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Even in the D&D Beyond era we see a huge gap in use between PHB races and supplemental races according to the provided data.

While this is true, being PHB doesn't guarantee popularity either. Halflings aren't even in the top 10, for example, as of the last time we got full data, and dwarves were only barely hanging on. Even if you conglomerate subraces together, dwarves are barely hanging on to like 7th place, and all halflings combined barely exceed goliaths, a supplemental option.

 

[J-H]

To the best of my knowledge, goliaths started in 4e. Aasimar, like tieflings, have been around since 2e.

Is this not true?

Goliaths were in 3.5 Races of Stone. They had a Powerful Build trait that made them count as Large where it was advantageous, so they were useful for some specific strength based builds, including making it easier to get into Hulking Hurler so you could throw moons around.

 

[Clint_L]

Right. I guess we will see, but we never really heard what they thought of the feedback they received on that topic from what I recall.

it's not one they are going to budge on, so I don't think they addressed it further. Now you can make your character any sort of hybrid you want, call them what you want, and just pick which species they will take features from. But also, species have a significantly smaller impact on character creation now, so it's less of a big deal.

 

[Hussar]

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

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

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

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

Did they explode though? I know players are lay them but I question the notion that their visibility in settings has changed much.

Phandelver has no tieflings or Dragonborn. Saltmarsh had exactly one tiefling. Waterdeep Dragonheist has no tieflings or Dragonborn. Hoard of the Dragon Queen has neither appearing.

So on and so forth.

For all the noise about having them in the phb, they’ve made pretty much zero impact on settings.