First, all this is mostly food for powergamers who absolutely want to be able to combine the stats increase with the powers that go well with their classes and archetype (whereas people who mostly want to play the game and explore combinations of race and class and other factors did not really have a problem with the racial stat bonus not being perfectly optimised). Honestly, I find all these debates annoying in the extreme (especially since the same words are repeated over and over with each new supplement since Tasha, with no valuable addition to the concept). If I didn't already have another campaign lined up after the 2 I'm currently DMing, I think I'd include this. Even though very few PCs ever have kids in game, it may also cut interest in playing some of those races, just like I never heard of anyone actually playing that Eunuch Warlock from somewhere in 3rd edition. divination spells - and yes, I'm thinking of The Mule from the Foundation books. The removal of a possibility of generating offspring might even give them advantage on saves vs. It might create some interesting social quirks if mundane (non-Outsider) crossbreeds like half-elves were sterile like mules or ligers. lions and tigers can make Ligers, vampires and humans can make dhampirs or whatever, but that doesn't mean they're the same species. I think they could have saved themselves a lot of headaches by just saying "Species," and that's generally what I've done in the games I'm DMing.Įven if humans seem to be cross-fertile with everything. "Lineage" is a word I (otherwise) only hear when talking about someone's family heritage and ancestry, specifically around nobility. Likewise the monster variants share the same statblock format and may or may not fill it out with the same features. The race variants use the same race format but may or may not fill it out with certain same features. The chromatic, gem, and metallic are all variants of the dragonborn lineage, and are equally a dragonborn.Ī setting might only have stats for wood elf and astral elf, and they are equally an elf.
#D&d 5e monster races full#
The human lineage includes many race variants and monster variants.īy analogy, the various statistical variants for an elf are all equally an elf: a full member of the elf lineage. Meanwhile the various monsters for the human lineage that a DM can choose from, including archmage, bandit, or potentially even a baker if necessary, are equally human. Both variants are equally and fully human. But if a player wants the featless human variant stats, that option exists in our campaigns too. In our campaigns, we like feats and take them for granted, so our player humans exhibit a feat. One is with a feat choice and one without. There are two different variant race stats that a player character can choose from when choosing the human lineage. In the current terminology, D&D 5e has a human lineage. In a way, the "new" format is what has always existed in the Players Handbook and other core books, since 2014. Each variant may or may not share certain features with other variants. There are many ways to stat a lineage, including race variants (like high elf or astral elf, or gem dragonborn or metallic dragonborn), as well as monster variants (like spring eladrin or drow arachnomancer). Overall, the impact of the formatting decisions, appears to make the concept of a lineage more fluid − without a defining essence. There is also an official custom lineage that gives a player some limited tools to design a new lineage that isnt one of these. There are official lineages, including elf, dwarf, dragonborn, and tiefling. Each lineage can include variants for race stats and variants for monster stats.
![d&d 5e monster races d&d 5e monster races](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/blackbandos-homebrew/images/1/14/Scare_Crow.png)
A "monster" refers to the statistics that non-player characters can use.
![d&d 5e monster races d&d 5e monster races](https://www.belloflostsouls.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/theros-hydra-stars-horz.jpg)
![d&d 5e monster races d&d 5e monster races](https://blizzardwatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/Theros-DnD-WhipMonsterFight.jpg)
Technically, a "race" only refers to the statistics that a player character can use when choosing a lineage. When we talk informally about a "race", we are actually talking about the "lineage". This thread explores the implications of the format update. However there are still "variants" of a race. This race format discontinues and replaces the subrace format. Recently, the 5e designers updated the format for races.