All playable races in Monsters of the Multiverse: D&D 5e

[@TreantmonksTemple]

Quick note on Air Genasi. I say that not needing to breathe remains the same (which it does) then later I say it's a new feature, it's not.

[@LithmusEarth]

For those who are interested the correction is at 28:12.

[@O-D-X]

Wondered if you would catch that, see that you caught it right away.

[@fledgling9097]

Is the bugbear ambush ability now just an attack roll? So it would include spells like scorching Ray on a war magic wizard?

[@JugglingAddict]

@@fledgling9097 That's what it looks like to me. Warlocks eldritch blast snipers are going to be enjoying this a LOT.

[@fledgling9097]

@@JugglingAddict I was thinking about war magic wizard with scorching Ray and Jim's magic missile. A scribe wizard would be better but war magic wizard adds intelligence to initiative.

[@artificerprime4154]

The spellcasting ability of the Light cantrip is relevant, because it can cause a DEX save: "If you target an object held or worn by a hostile creature, that creature must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw to avoid the spell." It doesn't come up nearly as often as just using it for utility, but there you go.

[@JugglingAddict]

What happens if they fail? and how would you exploid it? (are they blinded?)

[@ddrew1973]

@@JugglingAddict tag a person in a dark setting with it and your archers now have something to shoot at.

[@joshuawoodfolk8202]

@@JugglingAddict For the races with sunlight sensitivity, which are only drow using this book, if you force the light spell onto them then they can never get away from it.

[@The_Crimson_Witch]

@@joshuawoodfolk8202 Monsters retain the trait, just not players. So unless you're PVPing, it works on tge usual suspects.

[@joshuawoodfolk8202]

@@The_Crimson_Witch ahh, even better then

[@jbw065]

The change to Changeling - creature vs individual - is likely because you may know what a bugbear looks like from a painting without having ever seen one in person and thus be a generic bugbear but you couldn’t shapeshifter into Bob the Bugbear without seeing them in person as the slight differences in facial features, posture, etc would be impossible to get any other way than seeing them first hand.

[@O-D-X]

Exactly my thoughts, too.

[@meowzebub9667]

The change also implies more directly that you are able to mimic a specific individual's appearance rather than appearing as a generic member of a certain race, which was less clear from the original wording. Though they still stopped short of stating it explicitly.

[@MoonBoi101]

It's not a dealbreaker imo, but a more of a clarification, it could also make some really interesting backstories, since if there is preferred face that a shapeshifter takes, you KNOW that is a person they've atleast met

[@johnevans5782]

OR... and this would fit with the new theme of the book/game... They are going to start using the term 'Individual' for targets in spells, instead of 'creature' as some players might have issues with their characters being termed 'creatures' versus being termed individuals.

[@jbw065]

@@johnevans5782 Maybe, but that would be sooo pedantic as to be insane. Everyone is different I guess. I don’t get too worked up about my own imaginary characters so I can’t really judge others.

[@ShadamAran]

Were kobolds ever cowards? They think nothing of sacrificing themselves in battle for the sake of their tribe. In fact if I recall Kurtulmak immediately lets them reincarnate as a kobold in their same tribe for doing so. Their so called weakness was more of how other races saw them rather than how they see themselves. Also pack tactics is good, but cantrips are too, especially when you wouldn't otherwise have access to one. the least sensible thing to me is making hobgoblins "nice"

[@TreantmonksTemple]

Perhaps, admittedly I'm weak on kobold lore.

[@archmagemc3561]

Kolbolds are and aren't cowards. It really depends. They will cower if you are intimidating right next to them, but they will gladly try to kill you if they aren't right in front of you/can fight you in their trap lair/can lure you into traps. They're like that person who REEEEEEs on the internet. They're cowards if confronted to their face, but will try to do anything to hurt you until then.

[@greenerseyes]

Kobold are cowards, but despite their pride they will pretend to be cowards for advantage. And although I never saw a PC kobold go down this path draconic cry could still be flavored this way, with the Kobold pretending to cry in fear

[@ShadamAran]

@@greenerseyes they really aren't tho, cowardice and guerilla tactics are not the same thing. Go read up on kobold lore. I recommend 3.5 draconomicon kobold lore, mr rhexx has a really good vid on them as well. they are far from grovelling cowards. they wouldn't think twice to make an outsider think they are, if it gave them some sort of advantage, but willingness to die for your tribe without hesitation does not translate to cowardice.

[@LuxTheSlav]

@@ShadamAran Nothing in the "Grovel, Cower and Beg" feature explicitly says they are cowards - it says exactly what you say, that they're willing to feign patheticness to gain an edge. The old features fit kobold lore to a T - and I'll 100% keep using them.

[@ThreeOttersInATrenchcoat]

Sea Elves are close friends with the High Elves. The High Elves refer to them as "Water Mellon". /ducks the thrown tomatoes/

[@micahswerens2472]

You have my like.

[@MrTheSisco]

*yeets banana*

[@arcanavoresmanavault2637]

**yeets respect**

[@johnevans5782]

@@arcanavoresmanavault2637 What do Yeets respect? For that matter, what are Yeets?

[@arcanavoresmanavault2637]

@@johnevans5782 There is this thing called google where you can type in anything and learn about it. Let me just waste my time and google that for you ❤❤❤❤

[@keeganpogue1856]

27:00 I believe that the “and vegetation” clarification is intended to differentiate between plants that are creatures (like shambling mounds) and plants that are ordinary (like trees).

[@TreantmonksTemple]

So "plants" means plant creatures, then vegetation means plants that aren't creatures? OK, but that wasn't clear. I didn't get that when I read it.

[@JadeHarleyCoffeeMug]

capital P plants and vegetation

[@theichthyophile8836]

Yes, I interpreted this to distinguish Plants (creatures) and inanimate flora.

[@ClarkyClark]

@@TreantmonksTemple I totally thought they meant like mushroom people, as those aren't plants, but fungi. But then, that would be a little pedantic wouldn't it

[@zipzip4562]

@@TreantmonksTemple the introduction in the Monster Manual states that, “Plants in this context are vegetable creatures.” I assume they did this because of a possible reading that you can only talk to plant creatures, but I don’t know that anyone read it this way before.

[@fredflintstone556]

So glad you were able to review this early. Thank you to the patron who loaned you their copy of Monsters of the Multiverse.

[@PlanetOfTheApes999]

Thanks for covering every race. It was a ton of work, and we very much appreciate it.

[@TreantmonksTemple]

You're welcome, and thank you! We're being so nice and friendly to each other, it's like we're hobgoblins!

[@tibot4228]

@@TreantmonksTemple This is the best comment and it OOZES salt, I love it XD

[@alanschaub147]

A Bugbear can squeeze into the 5 foot cube of a Minor Illusion spell without “effectively going Prone”, as Jeremy Crawford phrased it.

[@jypsridic]

19:40 meaning you could turn into a human even if you've never seen one, but couldn't turn into James the Smith from Shrieveport rd. without actually knowing him.

[@Stray7]

A note about the hobgoblin lore changes: "Magically compelled reciprocity" does *not* equal "nice and friendly." Not if you look into actual, real world lore about the Fae, whom you *never* want to uncritically accept a gift from without questioning the strings attached, even accidentally. Because they *will* take what they feel they owe from you, and what they feel you owe them may not be in kind with what was given. Fey gifts are usually fucking traps, because *nothing* is free to the fae. Also, "Communities with deep ties to one another" does not equal "nice and friendly" either. The scariest people in Eberron are the gnomes of Zilargo for this very reason -- they only *look* friendly. Zilargo is a fucking surveillance police state that will disappear you with a smile if they think you might disrupt the peace.

[@snazzyfeathers]

Most people reading that aren't going to understand the lore behind the specific wording though. I read it and thought the same.

[@Stray7]

@@snazzyfeathers Sure. I get that, and I'm probably biased because I've run plenty of games involving the Fair Folk and tropes around them. I'm not arguing that mot people *won't* read the wording and come away with "happy huggy friend hobgoblins". I just wanted to point out that the verbiage here can be interpreted a lot of different ways and doesn't *have* to be interpreted as "hobgoblins are becoming happy huggy friends".

[@snazzyfeathers]

@@Stray7 Oh for sure. You could take any race you wanted as a DM and make your own twist on what they do and how they act that's contrary to the books to surprise players. I was saying that if you look at the previous description of Hobgoblins and then this one, they seem weirdly different. The previous printing made them out to be lawful evil fey that were strict military tacticians, and then you look at this one and its like wildly different for some reason.

[@desmondnomad9844]

Zilargo reminds me of Sandford from Hot Fuzz, seemingly perfect town, filled with people who look nice but will happily murder you over the slightest of inconveniences.

[@kardellious]

I wanted to put this. 9 times outta 10 the fey of our world will steal ya child and leave you with an old fairy disguised

[@paytonmiller768]

You talk about the possibility of WoTC taking away short rests and how that would impact classes like Warlocks. It’s of my opinion that the intent was always for warlocks to have their pact slots ready every fight, so if they go this route, I think they’ll change it so that pact magic comes back either when you roll initiative, or when you spend 10 minutes outside of combat.

[@seacliff217]

Also possibly being able to restore Spell Slots PB times per long rest.

[@burningwp]

So glad they are working on taking away short rests. I have been in three groups and all of the DMs use long rests quite frequently and never put us in situations where we can use multiple short rests.

[@nathansmith9597]

@@burningwp I hear you. I DM two relatively large groups of players (5 pcs and 6 pcs) and both groups have PCs representing an almost even mix of classes that really want short rests and those that don't really care about them. The house rule I run - which I didn't come up with - is that short rests take 10 minutes, players choose if they want to benefit from them during 10 minutes of downtime (so it is a player-to-player choice, rather than a party choice). However, you can only benefit from 2 short rests in between long rests. (Note: I tend not to make my players go through long gauntlets in between long rests; if your adventure leans toward being a meat grinder, you probably should make it 3 short rests in between long rests.) I have found that 10 minutes really is the magic number. The rogue investigates the room, the barbarian who is still high HP stands watch, the battlemaster fighter and warlock take short rests, the bard can either help keep watch or investigate, or take a short rest, or cast a ritual. Resolving all of those things on a scale of ~10 minutes completely makes sense and flows naturally in terms of the narrative. In those 10 minutes, there is a small but non-negligible risk that the "dungeon state" will change in a way that is disadvantageous. However, in terms of the narrative, both in flavor and in all practical matters, 10 minutes is much easier to run than 1 hour. If you want to allow short rests by RAW, you have to be ready to justify a semi-random, arbitrary break in the action that lasts 60 minutes in game time. That just... sucks. It makes things so much harder than they need to be. This, I think, is why a lot of DMs don't handle it well. Some are being dicks, maybe, but I'd bet that most of them are trapped and hamstrung by the rules that are supposed to help and guide them. On the flip side, 10 minutes is long enough that if two encounters _should_ happen back to back, without time to rest in between, you can justify that. One minute is not long enough to do that, really. And there should be some encounters, in some dungeons, that occur back-to-back. Like I said, 10 minutes really is a sweet spot. They nailed the time for ritual casting, but somehow missed that this same length of time was perfect for short rests. Just put a hard limit on the number of SRs per LR - because it is a critical, structural element of gameplay, which absolutely should not be treated as blurry and half-arbitrary. In my experience, this house rule completely fixed the single biggest problem of 5th edition. (Regardless of the rules you use for short rests, if you like to run random encounters during travel, I'd also recommend treating it as a montage sort of thing with its own separate resting rules: X number of encounters happen in a row, in between short bits of DM narration about the progress of the journey, and opportunities for short rests and quiet moments for role play among the PCs. Note here that encounter does not mean "combat," and especially when traveling it is a good idea to have more social encounters and skill challenges, or little set pieces that introduce lore about the setting that is not strictly plot-relevant, etc.)

[@VALUST17]

@@nathansmith9597 I think you are spot on. Just prepare to feel the hatred of a thousand dim bulbs who get enraged at the thought of using the same length of time for a short rest as 4th edition…

[@stefanoanselmi12]

@@nathansmith9597 That was the 4th edition style of short rest, never understood why they had to make that change in 5th edition: it made balancing the adventuring day much much harder.

[@indigoblacksteel1176]

I agree that something is definitely going to happen with short rests. My guess with something like the Warlock (where proficiency per long rest isn't an option) is that they'll gain their spell slots back when they roll initiative, like a high level monk does with Ki. They'd have to conserve some slots to use between battles, but warlocks tend to blow their slots during battle and use their invocations between battles anyway (unless they enhance eldritch blast). Same with bards and their Bardic Inspiration. You could probably do Hit Dice either on initiative or right after battles. On initiative is consistent, but right after a battle (or trap) makes more sense.

[@JonathanMandrake]

I think if this was what Mon got and the Capstone changed to be similar to the Barbarians (+4 Wis and +4 Dex, with a maximum of 24), it would actually help Monks quite a bit to be better

[@jonathanchapple9651]

I think they are going to get rid of short rests entirely and just make it twice proficiency bonus per long rest for short rest mechanics. That way some of your short rest powers will be baked into long rests. Also for things that were done during short rests(attunement, arcane recovery, songs of rest) will get buffed/nerfed based on how changing it to long rests. Attunement will probably be long rest, but maybe you can attune, un-attune multiple items during same rest. Wizard arcane recovery will be either an action or some time frame less than or equal to 10 minutes. Finally song of rest will get buffed cause healing to full on long rest will probably be gone, now you heal on long rests the way your healed on short rests, and only recover hit dice if you dont spend them. Something like that I imagine. They could make warlocks have twice-thrice as many spells slots as they do now but on long rests. I think warlocks would be cooler if they get "spell like abilities" and just removed spells entirely from them, lean more heavily into invocations. Like 3rd edition did.. Monk give them 3 times the current ki and make it come back on long rests. Action surge half prof bonus per long rest. At 18 it becomes proficiency bonus per long rest, etcetera...

[@micahiwaasa9304]

The idea of short rest recharges being replaced by blank-times-per-day-uses reenforces the 8 minute work day, where PCs blow all their resources and immediately go back to camp, but that's been baked into D&D for decades - as much as any tradition the game has.

[@miguelangelus959]

When I saw the Shadar-Kai, I noticed that the "sleep immunity" had been moved to the Trance feature, and just now I understood that it's because they are giving the Fey Ancestry trait to a bunch of different creatures but didn't want that power being passed around

[@Duranous.]

I don't like that they removed all cultural mechanics. I think it was cool that some races options had things like weapon training and now this makes the background feel weaker. I hope they update backgrounds so they can cover areas that used to be covered as cultural components of the race or upbringing.

[@TreantmonksTemple]

As a player you can re-skin this stuff (by rules as written as of Tasha's), so if I was to play a hobgoblin for example, and want the old thematics, I would re-skin fey gift to "battle commander" and then have the bonus action help/additional bonus be benefits given by my commands in combat.

[@leodouskyron5671]

I find myself but agreeing and not. The background on the Aasimar was well thought out dovetailed into the mechanics. It was broad enough to be used many ways or ignored (outside of the stats). Meanwhile, the Drow (I know not in this book) we’re all evil from one city in the underdark and basically was another way of saying “Drizzt clone” and that sucked. While we are all better off without the pigeonhole they put the Drow in that did not give nearly enough player and DM agency to make their own stories that is not true of the Aasimar. Our favorite Drow Ranger’s books will never go out of print, the “couple pages” flavor of the Aasimar will disappear.

[@PlayWatch_616]

I am glad they did it because if you wanted to be a moutain dwarf orphan raised by high elves it would get tricky to explain why you have all this stuff that your parents didn't teach you, but at the same time i too hope they revise the backgrounds, it looks like they might because the newer backgrounds from Strixeven and the latest Unearthed Arcana also give you feats and in 5.5 they might revise all backgrounds to give feats or specific proficiencies in weapons and armor in addition to the usual skills languages and tools

[@johnevans5782]

@@PlayWatch_616 The backgrounds do not give you Feats. They give you ACCESS to Feats. I lOVE the idea, but it will not last long, because there will be players who don't want to have to take the Background in order to get access to the Feats. They will say that restricting the Feats to those who take a specific background is limiting them. Frankly, I'm amazed that they are even trying this, because they have at the same time been working to remove anything from the game in all other areas that could constrain players in any way. I honestly believe that the only reason Backgrounds are not a contention at this point was because Wizards included the Custom Backgrounds option. Everyone could choose what they wanted and mixed and matched to get the benefits they wanted, which actually made Backgrounds are mostly just a way to get abilities, rather than having any real effect on the game. Players want to create their own backgrounds and give them the features they like.

[@chrisblake4198]

@@johnevans5782 you are incorrect about the backgrounds. They do give you the Initiate feat, stated clearly "you gain the Strixhaven Initiate feat and must choose within it" Anyone can take that feat with a regular ASI, but the BG gives it free. The Mascot feat requires the Initiate feat as a prereq.

[@brianhalligan9268]

Given these changes I think we can safely assume some changes coming to any re write to the PHB or a 5.5e that we assume is coming. I would imagine Drow losing sunlight sensitivity and the movement speed being standardized to 30ft (doesn't make sense that deep gnomes move faster than normal gnomes for example.).

[@TreantmonksTemple]

Yes, I think all the universal stuff here will almost certainly be applied to PHB races in the upcoming revised book.

[@Galastan]

Since flavor is free, feel free to use my rewording of Fey Gift in your own game to keep hobgoblins within your preferred flavor! Since I'm of the exact same mind as you on your preference for the legionnaire sort of feel for them. Fey Gift -> Military Mind Hospitality -> Bolster Passage -> Engage Spite -> Overbear

[@spencereades]

This is pretty much what I was looking for, thank you! We're just about to start a campaign and I picked this race specifically because I wanted to be a belligerent fantasy Klingon, not so I could skip through the Hundred Acre Wood picking flowers 🤣 Not that I mind changes or believe this new version doesn't deserve to exist or anything like that, but the flavor in Volo's was what drew me in to this character in the first place.

[@TreantmonksTemple]

Absolutely, in fact these changes allow you to alter the set theme if you want to, but you can easily flavor them to fit the initial themes if you want to as well. I'm actually a fan of giving players that freedom, despite my mocking tone on some of these.

[@LordZeebee]

In all fairness the new flavor is way closer to the folklore origins of the Hobgoblins. They were essentially household spirits who'd do chores around the abode while the family were asleep. As long as they weren't insulted that is. Closely related to the Brownie and possibly also the Nisse of scandinavian folklore, tho with more of an affinity for practical jokes. The spread of christianity sorta corrupted peoples' view of them as they were seen as pagan superstition and therefore evil, as is pretty common with basically all folklore christianity has ever touched. Being helpful IS the core of what a Hobgoblin is, i personally found it a bit strange how they made them all essentially military generals but i kinda just brushed it off as their helpfulness and guile making them naturally very useful leaders. I can see an argument that their previous characterization made them more unique but honestly i don't mind the change.

[@spencereades]

@@LordZeebee That's really interesting. I figured they were just writing whatever flavor they could to make a theoretically "good" or "lawful" hobgoblin play against the cultural stereotype. I didn't know they were bringing it back to the creature's roots. As I say, both versions absolutely deserve to exist and more options are better, even as I say I think I still personally prefer the D&D hobs ;)

[@willbrolley262]

@@LordZeebee counterpoint: D&D has typically laughed at the origins of many of their monsters, and altered it to suit their needs. The main difference is that most people either don't know or accept that it has moved away from the roots. Gorgons/Medusa and golems are prime examples, for instance, if you know much of anything about Greek or Jewish mythology.

[@brentrushton21]

Duergar's Dwarven Resilience and Yuan-ti's Poison Resilience are worded identically in Monsters of the Multiverse.

[@ThunderLocke]

I feel like the new poison resilience is more balanced. If you have advantage and resistance, then it trivializes the monster's attack. Poison is super common and the resistance already makes them easier to deal with. Taking half or a quarter damage is great. Having advantage on that naturally feels broken. No other element gets that. Tieflings, genasi, and dragonborn have resistance to damage, but not advantage on saves against the damage. I think it's more consistent with other races

[@matthiasdindorf1466]

@@ThunderLocke the old wording was based on how poisoned attacks from monsters is worded most of the time. For most it is one roll to determine both if they take full damage and(!) if they get poisoned. Now with the new wording they have broken the game if they don't change all those monster attacks. Since it's one roll to determine two effects (damage + condition) we have a problem. Either the DM forces two saves (slows down combat), the DM handles it like the old version or the DM is strict and doesn't allow the feature to work for such attacks (making it way more worthless).

[@authorindisguise5173]

Bugbear, Earth Genasi, and Githzerai got some build defining tricks Shadar-Kai, Hogoblin, Kenkus, and Kobolds have some interesting effects now, though the last lost something dramatic. Longtooth shifter still provide a bonus action attack that has no restrictions, and that has been improved. The yuan-ti lost poison immunity, which is unfortunate for the friendly fire immune team I had been imagining.

[@JugglingAddict]

Grung still works.

[@authorindisguise5173]

@@JugglingAddict Completely forgot about them! Thank you

[@indigoblacksteel1176]

You mention that they've removed cultural/taught things from these races. Makes me wonder if they'll add some of these things into backgrounds instead in the 2024 version, which is where they probably really belong. I generally pick a background to get me the skills that I think I might need for the adventure or possibly because the flaws, etc, fit my character best. Otherwise the background itself seems fairly useless. It'd be interesting to get battleaxe proficiencies, abilities to make tools/weapons/shields from bones, and other learned skills that were removed from the races from a background and make them more thematic.

[@TreantmonksTemple]

I would be completely satisfied if they do that.

[@Ditidos]

To be honest, the crafting stuff was a very cool flavour-based feathure from the lizardfolk and I'm sad that it is no longer something that can be done in the game in general. However, if it became the feathure of the Outlander background it would make be very happy as I think that particular feathure is incredibly overpower instead of flavourfull like other background feathures.

[@Torthrodhel]

@@Ditidos I was just gonna comment this too! I'm actually excited for the possibility that other races could pick it up, though. Hopefully some new feats are on their way to fill these holes back in.

[@midshipman8654]

I kinda wish they at least listed major cultural/taught stuff as part of race description. because there is stuff that is STRONGLY tied to races even if not biologically innate. Maybe as an optional sidenote or recommendation. “Dwarves are often known to read dwarvish.” Outlying the rule, but not excluding exceptions, both setting wise and indivigual wise. Like maybe a dwarf knows dwarvish and underdark, but not common.

[@midshipman8654]

@@Ditidos Going off my previous point maybe under race something like this could be written: “recommended skills:x, y, z” making it obvious that its not innate/required, but not ignoring many staple elements of creature culture in wider fiction.

[@godminnette2]

I think because plants are a creature type, some DMs argued you could only talk to the plant creature type, not plantlife in general.

[@alexandergarber7521]

Thank you David for lending your copy to Chris! And thank you Chris for continuing to create the best D&D content on KZbin!

[@dementedchicken1]

Funny enough, the Tortle gaining the ability to hold their breath for a long time out of water is INACCURATE when compared to real-life turtles, which can be underwater for long periods only due to their ability to extract oxygen from specifically WATER through their cloaca. So overpowered!!! :P Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enteral_respiration

[@deforestdelpech7528]

Oh, cool!

[@kardellious]

Yes because comparing a magic tortle to a real life turtle is exactly what they wanted you to do. Ever thought it might just be a mix or turtles and tortoises? There is a desert species as well

[@parheliaa]

Is a ninja subclass published somewhere already in 5e?

[@kardellious]

@@parheliaa long answer is yes and no. There's no outright subclass that says ninja but you could use monk and go shadow route. There are a few rogue subclasses that'll have you feeling like a "ninja". Arcane trickster, soulknife, etc etc

[@Jpteryx]

Not all turtles can necessarily do this; just certain river turtles.

[@Year2047]

I just started a campaign and I told the players they could use the old version, the new version or (with approval) the UA version. I also took the sunlight sensitivity removal from the new Kobold and added it to the old one. Oh and talking about a disappointment. They took away the uniqueness that made the Kobold the Kobold. Its now just a tiny dragonborn with better leadership skills. Is that enough to make you want to use it over a Dragonborn? I'm not sure it is. This is a conundrum. Normally a mechanically superior version (which it probably is) would be an improvement but if it strips the flavor away? Is it?

[@TreantmonksTemple]

I mean, re-skinning is RAW since Tasha's, so you can still play the old kobold thematically with the new rules. Removing sunlight sensitivity from the old version and keeping pack tactics is pretty crazy, not sure I would do that. Pack Tactics might be the strongest racial feature in the game.

[@Year2047]

@@TreantmonksTemple 100% I'm curious though. When talking about playing them the way the old one was are you referring to the lore, flavoring the new abilities to be like the old ones, or both?

[@TreantmonksTemple]

@@Year2047 Both.

[@ShadowGeek12]

​@@TreantmonksTemple Well not rolling nat ones as a halflings is neat too

[@Year2047]

@@TreantmonksTemple That makes a lot of sense and I think it will be useful for a lot of people. I wish I was one of them. My thing though isn't so much the flavor as it is with all of the mechanical options you now get. Its no longer a single great item on the menu, its a buffet. Nothing about the Kobold stands out anymore because you can do anything with it and you no longer have to worry near as much about the situational conditions of where pack tactics or Grovel Cower and Beg (Thank goodness they got rid of that terrible name) could be used. The always on pack tactics wasn't always usable and the penalties of sunlight sensitivity were also situational. I think we might see less kobold players now because its now to much of a good thing.

[@pWasHere9]

Huge fan of what they did with the Kenku and while I can understand why some people are scratching their heads with the Hobgoblin changes, I do think they are a more mechanically interesting race now. Both great reworks IMO. Currently playing a bugbear Hexblade and I will definitely be trying to get my DM to let me switch when the book is on dndbeyond. Regarding centaurs, I wish they didn’t even try to cater with the art to people who try and fit everything into a logical box in this high fantasy game. I have a centaur wizard that I determined weight and height using actual horse statistics. He is over 7 ft tall, weighs 950 lbs, is medium sized and guess what? No one has batted an eye.

[@O-D-X]

I mean now that they have removed nearly all differences between medium and small sized creatures, why do the insist on no large creatures. A large creature in game would only be an issue if you have a dick DM.

[@keeganmbg6999]

@@O-D-X tbh, idk why they don’t just say something along the lines of “When grappling a creature your size is treated as if one size larger than normal” for Minotaurs or Goliaths as well. If they really don’t want them to be large, they can at least enhance other aspects that give the flavor and feel.

[@midshipman8654]

idk man, have you seen a riding or a work horse irl? they are usually pretty big, like so big it can be inconvenient. Its kinda hard to appreciate when not face to face. i dont think its too far for things to reflect this or it being unnecessary realism. Its just intuitively awkward in terms of volume. I think being large and intimidating is kinda part of centaurness. Same reason why a knight on a warhorse might be more intimidating than just a knight. the sear amount of bulk behind it. No offense, but rp wise, if noone draws attention to it people might not blink an eye either if a literal giant for some reason was classified as medium too.

[@tanyanikolaevagizdova6571]

@@midshipman8654 I've seen pretty small horses too.

[@midshipman8654]

@@tanyanikolaevagizdova6571 True, thats why I stipulation riding or work horse, rather than ponies (in my mind traditional centaurs are more like these). I think the image given in the book does a good job at making centaurs medium creatures, by making them kinda like ponies/miniature horses.

[@LesbianWitchAcademia]

The one change I find myself really hating is to the Duregar. They've just taken away basically everything it means to be a Dwarf from them. I know Stonecunning wasn't very good, but it's an iconic dwarven ability, and even if they're trying to take away any "learned" traits, Duregar still hail from the Underdark, so it still makes perfect sense for them to be really good with stonework.

[@O-D-X]

I despise the removal of cultural abilities. Really what defines the difference between Duergar and Dwarves or the differences between Drow and High or Wood Elves but the cultural differences. Also that change to Dwaven and Poison Resilience flat out sucks. The attempt to homogenize everything is stupid. Why don't we just say all races use the human template and race just determines flavor.

[@keeganmbg6999]

@@O-D-X I bet the backgrounds will be more integral for cultural changes going forward. That would be the logical course tbh.

[@jasonsumma1530]

@@O-D-X This is what my beef of Tasha was because it sounded like that your "race" was a gray blob that you could mold into whatever you wanted.

[@MrRDRII]

@@O-D-X I also think taking negative racials away stops the chance for some dynamic play by a player that knows beforehand about the racial and still chose it anyway.

[@Thorn99855]

So ignore those changes. Leave them in.

[@Milenos]

The short rest vs proficiency per long rest is a mix bag. It lets the player choose when to spend their power and not rely on nap time as often, but also if they blow all their thing too quickly they will have to wait for the next long rest. I think its not that good for newers players that might not think about ressource like that. But it simplify group making.

[@TreantmonksTemple]

I think it also really helps when you have tables that take lots of short rests as well as those that take few or none. So many characters would either rely on multiple short rests or not get anything back, so it evens it out.

[@aprinnyonbreak1290]

Eh. On the flip side, I feel like it increases the pressure for long rests, which, I mean, unless you have players on the crazy train with no stopping, it's pretty hard to definitively say "actually you can't remain here for 8 hours." without inventing swarms of interdimensional bears. Short rests are a good compromise to a dinged up party taking a chill.

[@maximiliantagher8290]

I like the flexibility-sometimes it’s just awkward/unrealistic/throws off the dramatic pacing for a day to have short rests, like in a big battle scene, prison escape, even in most dungeons. It also lets you have more situational abilities, or just save them up for the best moment like a boss fight

[@KinMusicUK]

I think it kinda works at mid levels (maybe) but I don't like it at level 1-3 and the top levels. Shadar-Kai and Eladrin get two teleports at level 1 (seems a bit too powerful) and then getting 5 or 6 free teleports above level 13 also seems pretty mental. (a level 13 wizard would only have 3 2nd level spell slots, so getting 5 free misty steps is insane)

[@maximiliantagher8290]

I’m excited about the new Hobgoblin. I’m planning to use it for a support/commander focused Battlemaster, along with the interception fighting style and maneuvers like maneuvering attack, commander’s strike, rally, and menacing attack.

[@PiroMunkie]

My main problem with what I've seen from this book is that most of the changes are lateral; almost nothing is a direct _buff_ . However, there are nerfs and those nerfs are pretty huge. That combined with how homogenous they seem to be making everything leaves me with a feeling of disappointment. I wonder, did they change lore entries under commonly "evil" lineages like Duergar and Githyanki? I'm trying to wrap my head around the lore changes to lineages like Hobgoblins, and I'm thinking part of it is that they don't want to create situations where the default NPC reaction to PCs playing these lineages (or vice versa) is hostility.

[@IronShinsDicello]

Shifting ability scores around, being able to choose casting stat and spells being added to prep list are all buffs. These can open up some cool options and more versatile spell lists for PC's.

[@Thorn99855]

I would say as the DM, to treat all of this is "possible suggestions." None of this will be treated as canon.

[@joshuawinestock9998]

Not having "evil races" is their attempt to deal with the baggage of fantasy lore, I guess. Like, the idea that some humanoids are just bad, and the stories about fighting foul creatures in exotic lands that get told as a result, kinda descend from archaic, xenophobic perceptions of the world (Tolkien's Orcs are analogous with evil Asians invading purest Europe, and it's not a stretch to connect fantasy goblins to the racist stereotype of the vicious spear-weilding African savage with a bone through their hair). I guess in real life there are no thinking beings who are fundamentally evil, and they wanted D&D official lore to reflect that and be a little more thoughtful. The problem for me is that the player's handbook has never been the issue; the monster manual will always be full of goblins and orcs to endlessly murder, and they can't really avoid that without seriously evaluating the genre they want to occupy, so they dodge the question with content like this

[@liamhogan4369]

@@joshuawinestock9998 Well said.

[@nico-3060]

Yeah I plan on skipping this book myself... I am not really happy with many of these changes- the reason some of my players liked kobolds was due to pact tactics and overcoming the challenges of sunlight sensitivity. What I find annoying was also removal of spellcasting traits from statblocks. I like being able to upcast spells in the trait, or changing them out depending on how combat with the players goes- it keeps combat against spellcasters dynamic instead of this new linear "X thing for 3 times a day"

[@Antimonium]

Effects that would consider you a goblinoid would be like favoured enemy, arrow of slaying and such

[@brenrosam]

Also the racial feat, Like a Boss, from the "web-enhancement" for XGtE.

[@francisxavier8374]

my head canon is that new kobolds are dragonwrought kobolds, so they're really just smalll dragons

[@chrisragner3882]

Changling “Individual vs Creature” is extremely important because it says to the GM that one can take on the appearance of a specific person not just a race. I butted heads with GMs in the past on this.

[@jjsquidbeard4831]

Technically, the Light cantrip spellcasting ability matters if the same character used an item with spellcasting, but relies on YOUR spellcasting ability

[@PiroMunkie]

It feels likes they forgot the "You can use this trait once per combat" line on the new Bugbear Surprise Attack. I really want to do a new Bugbear as soon as I'm able.

[@micahswerens2472]

Time for a gloomstalker/fighter/assassin rogue build

[@nathanfraga7538]

Time to create a Bugbear assassin 3 / echo knight 3 / gloom stalker 3 / paladin 2 / sword bard 6 boys

[@JugglingAddict]

@@micahswerens2472 I would gravitate more towards swashbuckler as they also have a build in initiative booster and you no longer have to rely on a DM to allow surprise. Consistant good damage is better than once or twice amazing damage. I do think almost every bugbear involved build will be very interested in getting the alert feat.

[@insanekirby1]

You’re right. We CAN just call Little Giant something else. At my table, I think I’ll go with “Little Giants (1994) starring Rick Moranis.”

[@Ciberbuster]

I have mixed feelings, many races received good upgrades and clarifications, but I actually liked the old cultural traits. Especially in the case of the hobgoblins, Fey Gift is pretty cool, but I really like the martial training, those armored wizards!

[@jacksonletts3724]

Just a small point among the many changes, but I like the change to dwarven resilience you brought up at the end. It’s always been weird to get advantage against the save (usually for half damage) and then to halve the damage again with resistance.

[@TreantmonksTemple]

I agree. I pointed out it's worse, I meant worse mechanically.

[@greygramarye7872]

I hadn’t realized that before and went to check the Infernal Constitution feat- apparently that one always worked this way. Resistance to both damage types, advantage on saves against the poisoned condition only.

[@Dinodudematt]

I always assumed PHB dwarven resilience worked kind of like it does MotM. I never noticed it’s worded to include saving throws against poison damage. 🤦‍♂️

[@davidb7406]

For some of your questions, I came up with some possible answers. Regarding the Bugbear, if it isn't a mistake and they mean small, it might be related to them being fey now, as certain stories of mischievous or sneaky fey have them being capable of magically shrinking temporarily to fit into very small spaces. The fact that Minotaurs get Labyrinthine Recall makes me think that they also did a lore based mechanic for the Bugbear As for the changeling, the wording change is probably to indicate that they were referring to singular creatures instead of whole types of creatures. The vegetation bit on the Fribolg is probably to indicate that they are referring to all plant based life, and not just stat-ed out creatures of the Plant type. I haven't read the book, but the part you read never specifically said they were friendly or nice, just that they form community bonds and appreciate reciprocity. Both those traits are common among fey, but that doesn't always make said fey friendly or nice, and half the time if a fey smiles like that hobgoblin is, there isn't necessarily friendliness or kindness behind it. Remember, most fey aren't truly evil, but they are for the most part still huge dicks. For the Tortle, most species in real life that have digging claws, turtles and tortoises included, can at least do a little bit of harm with digging claws even if they don't also use them for defense. I'm almost certain that a lot of the extra wording and specificity are in reaction to the old stuff and as further weapons for the DM against the worst kind of Rules Lawyers. Being specific now allows you to beat the table's Johnnie Cochran to the punch. Although that Kenku accuracy bit makes me think they're also planning for DM Dickishness as well. I can understand you not liking the term "Little Giant", totally, but it does sound like the kind of thing an actual Giant might condescendingly but affectionately refer to a Goliath as. As for Kobolds, while I like the idea of a character being such a sniveling coward that they can literally use it to their advantage, I can also agree that applying that over an entire sentient race could be seen as more than a little "yikes", especially since we haven't started calling your race your species yet, so intentional or not, this still ties in to one of the most contentious social constructs ever developed by humanity. Totally with people on losing Pack Tactics stinging, though, as the name in and of itself refers to something that is more intrinsically biological than racial/cultural. Ants and wolves lack race and culture, but still use real life pack tactics. But then again, I'm pretty sure most monsters that have Pack Tactics are in the lower range of CR's, so maybe giving something that can become as dangerous as a PC super easy advantage is a wee bit OP.

[@TreantmonksTemple]

These sound like pretty good answers to me.

[@Raubk0pierer]

Using paragraphs might increase the chance people will actually read your comment :D

[@Ditidos]

Kinda weird that the tortle has a claw attack instead of a bite attack. Turtles and tortoises have nasty bites, but considering the lizardfolk bite deals slashing damage, I bet is possibleto reflavour the claws as a bite without much issue (albeit there is probably a need to explain why it isn't possible to bite while holding stuff).

[@davidb7406]

@@Raubk0pierer Thought I did, turns out I only hit enter once on each break. To spoiled by spacing options in word processors, I suppose. Should be fixed now.

[@davidb7406]

@@Ditidos It's a long term issue as well, as in the 2nd edition monstrous manual, the torte only has claw attacks, despite the illustration featuring a clear beak on the Tortle. Though it does also feature the Snapper, a lawful evil sea dwelling variant with a claw/claw/bite attack pattern thats clearly a fusion of sea turtles and snapping turtles.

[@shadowmagus4602]

Fantastic Summary Video Chris. Many thanks to you and your patron who lent you the book :-)

[@shanem8145]

They're planning on revamping backgrounds more. I can feel it.

[@TreantmonksTemple]

I hope so, I like the idea of backgrounds being more impactful than they are now.

[@shanem8145]

@@TreantmonksTemple you can tell they were testing the waters with the strixhaven ones. DMs had a knee jerk reaction to them of course. A wizard or sorcerer from witherbloom is a scary thought.. but I still see it going in that direction regardless. They'll just wait for reaction to die down + see results of playtesting and then fine tune it. I assume this is already happening behind the scenes.

[@muskrat7444]

Easy trick to reduce typing. Microsoft office lens will scan documents with your phone which you can then save as a docx. The formatting will be a little off but you will have all the words. Then it's just a simple copy paste what you want and less typing by hand. Awesome content as always Chris!

[@orleanswarrior1834]

I liked the concept of the hobgoblins of the fey wild, but replacing the old ones is kinda sad, they were really cool

[@WoollyLuke]

Wait-trance is a long rest in 4 hours?? I thought they didn’t ever allow long rests without the full 8…? 24:35

[@pablovegaarroyo5713]

David is a legend!

[@jessie-buns839]

I played a level 4 bugbear battlemaster this week. INSANELY powerful. She dual wielded axes and was able to clear SIX goblins in the opening round (Each attack went into a sweeping attack, and while I imagine it's going to become quite the debate, most people I asked, including my DM, rule that a sweeping attack manoeuver does qualify for the 2d6 bonus since it's still a comparison of attack roll vs ac and JC tweeted that "effects that apply to all attacks apply to sweeping attack"

[@gordonexperience4859]

Personally, I like most of the changes here, and one thing I hadn’t thought about was that Shape Water, Mold Earth, and Gust weren’t in the PHB, as I was curious as to why the Air and Water Genasi didn’t get them this time until you pointed that out. One of the things I like the most about some of these changes is that for stuff like the Kobold, well, flavor is free. Your Kobold’s Draconic Cry could very well be them groveling and begging, with the advantage coming from them causing distractions and their own advantage coming from misdirection, kind of a sneak attack situation. Similarly, the Hobgoblin changes could still fit the sort of militaristic legionary vibe, with the bonus action help being them commanding others to help them maneuver for attacks, hit weak spots (hence the disadvantage from Spite), etc. A lot of these changes remove some of the stuff that Carries a sort of implicit judgement of that race and character while still allowing for the player to describe things as they’d like, which I think is cool. I also kinda like the Goblinoid changes just because of how in a lot of the older myths and stories, most goblins were fey spirits and creatures, with some of them even being types of spirits that could help out around the home or in mines and such, and so some of these changes, especially for the Hobgoblin, kind of reflect that better, especially since the concept of goblinoids as being just spooky monsters that go bump in the night is a relatively recent idea folklore wise (iirc, is became more of a thing in the late Renaissance and in Romantic literature, but it’s been a while since I read about it).

[@TreantmonksTemple]

Someone told me that they were going to flavor "Draconic Cry" as the kobold crying. I loved that.

[@tanyanikolaevagizdova6571]

@@TreantmonksTemple The book states that the draconic cry can express any emotion, iirc !

[@cubicengineering4715]

28:26 A note on Earthwalk: Could ypu double check again if the new version is only for difficult terrain caused by earth and stone? Because my source doesn't have that so I think it's now applicable to all difficult terrain on the ground. So I suppose it just won't protect you if you're flying through a Web or Sleet Storm etc which is a significant upgrade on that feature I'd say

[@Syraphym]

As a Changeling: The Dreaming/The Lost player, I really like the re-flavor of hobgoblins. Definitely fits with the fae "caveat emptor" style of bargaining. And I think the re-flavored Kobold does a lot to provide what the old Hobgoblin did, for those who preferred that. Adds more uniqueness to those races.

[@cameronkirby9479]

Treantmonk, I think you missed something with Earth Genasi's Earth Walk. The change "if you are using your walking speed on the ground or a floor" is instead of "made of earth or stone" rather than in addition. So if you're crossing ground or floor not made of earth or stone you still ignore difficult terrain. That might be uncommon but it includes ice, snow, deserts, wooden floors in buildings and ships etc some of which might come up a lot in certain campaigns. It's also useful if you've a really fussy DM ("You're standing on the vegetation not the earth underneath it!").

[@HisaKumini]

Honestly, I feel like some of the removals hurt the system more than it helped it. Namely subraces - It condenses a lot of a race down to make it a subrace. Especially if, canonically, it IS a subrace. It seems to me like a step backwards, to a time where all 101 elf types had to repeat the same basic elf kit just to make it obvious that it's an elf subrace. Especially since they have to add wording that you count as your "main" race for the purposes of any effect that references it. I'm neutral at best to the idea of "removing" short rests, I think they serve a decent narrative niche, but players don't use them as much as I would like. Making all the short rest features long rest based is a buff for some, but a massive power nerf to others, some of which really didn't need the nerf. Some of the removed cultural features though make the races feel too generic. If they were going to add a culture layer to character creation (which would bloat it too much imo but I digress) then it'd make sense, but as it stands, it neuters a decent amount of the flair of playing those races. Otherwise, honestly, the buffs are appreciated, though I feel like some of them are misplaced. Overall, I'm not pleased with the book. Probably only going to get it for the statblocks rather than the player content.

[@TheRawrnstuff]

I believe the addition for "and vegetation" for Firbolgs is to clarify that the design intention was to include all vegetation, not just creatures that are of the plant type. The creature type "plant" refers to a different thing than the plant in "you see someone watering a plant". This has been clarified with "plants and vegetation".

[@chopcooey]

Thanks for sharing this with us, I wouldn't have access to the book for a while either. From how I see it, the Pros: everything related to spellcasting is very nice, and enables new builds due to access to spells with races. General balance is also good, now if only they could delete variant human and custom lineage.. Cons: Im not a fan of the 30 ft walking speed minimum. I kinda liked the diversity with some races being slower which could be adjusted by getting more different features instead. Also, why, why did they not keep the hover feature on the fairy (from UA) when they released it? It was fun and unique and could've come at the expense of a slower speed or something else. Same with yuan-ti poison immunity. Keep what makes it unique and put the axe somewhere else if the race is too powerful.

[@shawnpeterson2523]

"now if only they could delete variant human and custom lineage". Yes, and hopefully they will make the feats more accessible for ALL builds.

[@jasonsumma1530]

@@shawnpeterson2523 As much as they SHOULD be removed, I can actually see the "races" gravitating closer to them. From some of the videos I've seen with variant human build, the race is too OP.

[@joshuapicaro8726]

Your enthusiasm was refreshing.

[@jamesgasik3424]

I will miss immunity to Poisoned on the Yuan-Ti, it is surprisingly how many effects inflict that condition that you wouldn't think have anything to do with poison. When I played one for the Curse of Strahd tie-in for AL, I was constantly annoying the DM by ignoring the big feature of several monsters outright (ironically, actual poison damage didn't come up often at all). So when they change the PHB, I think the Mountain Dwarves are going to get majorly nerfed- apparently they no longer want Wizards with free armor proficiencies (but Tortle Wizards are just fine!).

[@aprinnyonbreak1290]

Not gonna lie. I would have preferred keeping poison immunity and losing the spells and magic resistance. Being totally poison immune gives fantastic roleplay opportunities.

[@jamesgasik3424]

@@aprinnyonbreak1290 I imagine that, with the nerfs to magic resistance, it's really more of a ribbon ability anyways. While there are, as Treantmonk has pointed out, monsters that retain spellcasting, since it now clearly only works against spells, it's going to come up less often over the course of a game. Not a ribbon ability, but definitely more on par with having advantage on saves vs. sleep or being charmed. The spells have always been kind of meh- the save or negation on poison spray makes it nearly useless, and, of course, a there are monsters are immune or resistant to poison. It's the prevalence of poison, and the overused poisoned condition that I think really chafes DM's hides- most games are low level, and poison and things like troglodytes and ghast are generally a low level threat. It's the same reason Warforged were so reviled in 3.5- they had the utter gall to be immune to things you can solve by 7th level at 1st! All day flying, annoyingly enough, is considered AOK though.

[@williambennett7935]

Little Giant sounds like a Disney movie with a talking mouse

[@gregbowen2477]

On the pronunciation of centaur/minotaur, some English dialects distinguish the /ɑ/ vowel (as in "cot") from the /ɔ/ vowel (as in "caught"), while others (including my own) merge them to /ɑ/. The merger is especially common in New England and western America. Centaur and minotaur both contain the /ɔ/ phoneme, so the correct pronunciation is going to depend on whether or not you distinguish those sounds. For me, it is indeed [sɛntɑɹ] and [mɪnətɑɹ], but for those who maintain the distinction (and for most dictionaries), it'll be [sɛntɔr] and [mɪnətɔr].

[@Teroh00]

My guess with "and vegetation" is that it is added to clarify that it does not only refer to the plant creature type.

[@bardloveschimes4359]

Still miss having races with negative stats. Every table I’ve been at all characters never have a flaw are never the run of the mill adventurer. Plus feel like all new race lore is this group the most fun and loving folk no scary war band groups anymore.

[@Xerxes2005]

I agree, especially the physical stats. To me, it made sense that the average Elf would be more agile than the average human, or that the average gnome should be less strong than the average human, or that Halflings would be slower on their short legs.

[@benchwizards]

Yep they're straight up blind-folding themselves for the biology for what really isn't different races but rather different Species, being so varying. Insanity, really.

[@Seeber420]

Man, they just have to make everyone friendly and nice, no one can have any edge.

[@TinyLadyKris]

no one says u can't play an edgy or mean orc! you can still be evil! they just got rid of the stupid inherent moral stuff that made it so everyone *had* to be evil or else they'd be weird or odd.

[@zicko42]

Wow... The hobgoblins... What happened there... Btw, I totally have the same idea about the hobgoblins, I always thought they were some highly trained warring race, the honor and glory seeking, the victory or valhalla kind of race.

[@ADT1995]

They were until this came out My guess is a lot of people play goblinoids and MMotM took the opposite approach VGM did... VGM was leaning into the "monstrous hero" archetype and MMotM is like "actually you aren't monsters anymore"

[@Similacrest]

You missed Changelings getting their type changed from Humanoid to Fey. It's a general buff (unaffected by humanoid-targeted enchantments) but a specific nerf to their thing (they are now detected by Detect Evil and Good)

[@lockwoan01]

Personally, when I get the book, or if someone brings in the Expanded Rules Set, I plan to just treat these as if they were variants, and let folks make up their own choices.

[@ADT1995]

Honestly I will probably do the same, and just let them know I'm using legacy lore in my world. If they really want to lean into the new lore I'll absolutely let them, but it will apply to their tribe, not the world as a whole. Like the hobgoblins for instance, the monster hobgoblins that you will fight will be the same lawful evil hobgoblins they always were, but if a player comes in wanting to use the new hobgoblin and really leans into the new lore then they could be of a tribe that escaped Maglubiyets initial conquest by travelling to the feywild, and generations spent there influenced them and gave them the fey ancestry trait and other changes.... I'm just spitballing here, obviously the player would have a lot of input for this.

[@lockwoan01]

@@ADT1995 Nothing wrong with one player doing the old, and one doing the new - as stated, I just see them as variants. Granted, this one guy I know, who is a veteran of 3.5, is worried that race will become nothing more than a skin, with no real benefits or drawbacks, and now halflings will become strong barbarians instead of dexterous rogues, and half-orcs will become intelligent wizards instead of strong barbarians. To be fair, I've never been one for Lore, as it were - started playing in 2019 in a homebrewed setting, and I've never really delved into all the stuff that is Lore. I mean, I like the idea of unexpected heroes, like Yuan-Ti, Hobgoblins, Orcs, and so on.

[@raycojosecanogonzalez8016]

Thank you for your insight on this!

[@jackofblades501]

Another change to elven trance is that you now stay conscious during the trance instead of semiconscious, meaning elves are that much better at keeping guard at night.

[@chadbrochill19]

Elves are just Mom and Dad's with teenager's now who sneak in late.

[@nookleer]

At 27:07 you make an error. "Vegetation" includes molds and fungi.. while "plants" does not. They added vegetation since mushroom people and mushroom zombies are now a thing. At 1:02:20 you ask if turtles have claws. Yes. They have claws that are almost as long as their "hands". Yes they hurt. The damage reflects that even if they aren't meant for offense, 4 inch long bony claws will do damage. Amazing video

[@greygramarye7872]

The Bugbear damage bonus works on all attacks, by the way, not just weapon attacks. Fiend Pact Bugbear using Eldritch Blast and Scorching Ray isn’t a bad idea. I know it’s controversial on this channel, but you could also lean into the spooky monster in the dark and go with a Shadow Monk with a Fighter dip to try to get yourself some powerful stealth and shot at a surprise round.

[@TreantmonksTemple]

Any boost to any monk is universally approved on this channel.

[@greygramarye7872]

Also I would say Kobold is a top tier race. As you note, they basically get Fighting Spirit as a racial feature but for their whole party. I think they came out of this better than they were for the average game where Sunlight was a factor. Honestly they might be the single best race now.

[@andrecosta8680]

I guess that will ger an errata

[@DrXtoph]

Thank you! Love your content!

[@bluesman2050]

Removing weapon proficiencies from races has a negative effect on certain classes and subclasses. Nature, forge and life clerics all really benefitted from races with martial proficiencies, as did monks. You can't automatically play your duergar forge cleric with a battle axe. That kind of sucks.

[@CharlesUrban]

I would rule that Forge Clerics could use warhammers and mauls. If normal smiths use hammers, badass holy smiths can use badass holy hammers.

[@patrickdargel4684]

Firbolg & Speech of Plants and Leaf: All Plants are vegetation but not all vegetation are plants. Vegetation also contains Lichen and Fungi, so I guess that was included for the Circle of Spores Druids and similar character concepts.

[@WoollyLuke]

1:08 Turtles can definitely have claws. I grew up on a farm & there were a few times that a snapping turtle would take up residence in our pond, & would eat our ducklings & goslings. We would eventually catch it, & omgod those claws looked deadly to me as a teenager! Couple inches long, straight & thin looking… yeah, probably made for digging, but if I remember the incident correctly, the time I got scratched, it barely touched me but it was messy, & full of infection…!

[@Chris_the_Nerd]

Just a thought I had on the Hobgoblin, but I don't think we need to think of the reflavor of them being concerned with reciprocity as being friendly; the designers might have intended something akin to the ancient Greek concept of Xenia, which is one of the recurring narrative themes of The Odyssey (I'd argue it's probably the main theme)- where hospitality and reciprocity are understood as moral obligations. Given that it's so central to The Odyssey, that would at least let players say that the motivation is one rooted in a warrior culture, rather than general friendliness at least.

[@adriel8498]

I think the earth walk clarification was made to avoid mounted movement and for when climbing ( using spider climb spell for example)

[@shanem8145]

If they change pact magic. I expect to see compatible spell slots.

[@chadbrochill19]

Can refresh spell slots per number of proficiency likely.

[@RedrumZombies]

12:37 Healing Hands kinda sucks worse now... Rather it be a weaker lay on hands. Like, 2 points per level and it only heals/closes wounds. At a long rest it comes back, and during a short rest you can expend up to 2 hit dice and roll them to gain Healing hands points back. You may use this ability amount of times equal to your proficiency, until a long rest. Yes it is more tracking... But it is more functional and less OP as Lay on Hands or early levels. Short rest shouldn't be removed...

[@ricardoweber5744]

D&D players I recommend calling the lame 'little giant' Goliath ability to the more awesome 'Inner Giant' There ya go WoTC. Did your job for ya, you can send the check to my mail box

[@HazySkies]

For the Firbolg specifying vegetation. I'm pretty sure they were clarifying that it didn't mean communicating just with creatures of the "plant" type. So it means overall you can speak with beasts, plants, and any regular non-creature vegetation/plant life.

[@mattgopack7395]

For the gith, I do find them stronger now - githyanki losing medium armor proficiency hurts, but the misty step spell being learned is a nice consolation. Githzerai getting shield known is very nice - for both of them, making nice druids or clerics now I think Big fan of the removal of sunlight sensitivity, and the new kobold option. Pack tactics was - imo - way too powerful, and made the whole thing difficult to balance. The new feature is still quite potent, and being more limited in uses means it's not going to be as problematic as pack tactics - along with always being on. That said, personally as a DM, I would just let players choose whichever version they choose (rather than enforce all one or the other). Lets people have the choice - and especially for the kobold & its large change, I think allowing both is nice. Lets people play the cowardly kobolds or the more courageous ones. Oh, and the light cantrip *does* have a tiny use for the saving throw - if you cast it on the item held/worn by an enemy they get a save, though I can't think I've ever had that come up in a game.

[@thebitterfig9903]

RE: Pack Tactics - Unlimited features that are limited by geometry and battlefield conditions are really awkward to balance. I'm also glad it's changed.

[@thoroughlyjordan]

28:25 They didn't append to the old Earth Walk feature, they entirely reworked it. The EEPC earth genasi ignores difficult terrain made of earth or stone. The MotM earth genasi ignores difficult terrain *of any sort (including magical difficult terrain)* while walking on the ground.

[@opheliaquinn4680]

Can you talk about the UA Races such as Thri'keen?

[@Year2047]

Bless that beautifully broken thing. Its like hey, the fighter is already super effective. You know what it needs? A crossbow expert build that still gets to hold a shield and a sword at the same time.

[@TreantmonksTemple]

I generally only talk about official stuff on the channel.

[@michellejean11]

The culture and stats for each race gave them uniqueness and a reason to choose a race you liked or gave you the bonus you needed. I expect I will not be using the new races stop buying anything after TCoE.

[@coachron5033]

100% AGREE. I've stopped purchasing their garbage since Tasha's Cauldron.

[@milanmarkovic2721]

Why did Yuan Ti lose their immunity? There is lore reason for them having it. Now they are just as resistant as drunk people (sorry for dwarf mains). Me and my buds decided to frankenstein the races so that they would have good stuff from old and new books.

[@Year2047]

They upped another ability. So that was the "balance" they put in place

[@fredflintstone556]

If they were gonna nerf them, they should have axed their spell resistance. Their poison immunity was their coolest feature.

[@milanmarkovic2721]

@@Year2047 What? Size thing? The only reason anyone cares about it is because of martial weapons. Honestly Pathfinder makes actual mechanical bonuses and penalties for all sizes.

[@milanmarkovic2721]

@@fredflintstone556 Satyrs also have magical resistance and so do Ancient Paladins and Abjuration Wizards.

[@TreantmonksTemple]

There's an interesting comment on this video saying that Yuan Ti got boosted since they're now less likely to be banned.

[@francisxavier8374]

18:53 i dont think changelings are Fey typed in the eberron book

[@96samcosmo]

I was kind of sad not to see the Kalashtar in this book. I think that race is seriously powerful, but I don't hear people talking about it.

[@thejohnsaye]

the happy hobgoblin art made my day

[@eXyliad]

Getting rid of short rest recovery mechanics is gonna mess up the gritty realism rest variant. I was hoping to run a Dark Sun campaign with gritty realism :'(

[@TreantmonksTemple]

It will make it even more gritty I suppose.

[@ricardoweber5744]

Psst. You are the DM. You make the rules. Run the campaign and abilities as you see fit

[@The_mekboy_you_deserve]

I'm actually more sad about cunning artisan being removed from the lizardfolk than pack tactics. Yes I know, that feature was GOOD, but also this feature was useful and was actually quite fun, imagine having the fighter sad because they lost their shield and you just give 'em one back made from the shell of that rust monster who destroyed it, and in general other stuff, it was actually a pretty fun gimmick to have

[@JonathanMandrake]

I would love if it became part of the Hermit or Outlander background, it would fit so much better

[@ThunderLocke]

I feel like this is a simple nature/survival check with maybe a bonus if you have some appropriate tools with you. Like, there's no reason a ranger with leatherworker's tools couldnt do the same thing.

[@JonathanMandrake]

@@ThunderLocke Yeah, but that would need to be part of the rules or the DM could simply say you can't do it

[@UnknownArtistComics]

Actually a tragedy that they lost it for nothing. Super sad, it was cool.

[@MarianoPingitore]

@@JonathanMandrake if you are playing a character that is interested in that type of crafting, you should talk to your DM in advance and communicate your wishes. If said DM shoots down the possibility of using your survival or tool proficiency to be able to craft simple objects then I'd say that's a red flag. But, as it often happens, inexperienced DM's have lots of thing on their plate as is to come up with rulings for those sorts of things on the fly. Talk to them before game, manifest your wishes, maybe even come up with a possible ruling for that kind of activity so it's not "extra work" for your Dm and I'm sure in 90% of cases they will be delighted by your proactive approach, the flavor it can add and the fact that you're taking the game seriously and will allow it no problem.

[@richardreumerman5449]

Jesus wept, that hobgoblin artwork :o

[@KingSparda]

I will not be changing any of my Hobgoblins, ever. WOTC can pry my Roman Legionnaire's from my cold dead fingers. I wont stop my players from playing nice hobgoblins but my Hob PCs and Lore are mostly Lawful Evil.

[@TreantmonksTemple]

I mentioned this to someone else, but the new Hob is pretty easy to flavor as a Roman Legionarre. Replace the name of Fey Gift as "GET BACK IN FORMATION SOLDIER!" - boom, done.

[@KingSparda]

@@TreantmonksTemple Yup, I 100% agree, and I'm gonna keep the martial proficiency. I will just make a feat on DND beyond or whatever I need to do if they don't add these changes as optional. Thanks for covering the content! I love the "monster" races and such like Minotaur and Hobgoblins, my favorite races. So im a but on the negative side when it comes to the Hob change. But I like the slight Minotaur change with Labryinthian recall. My tempest cleric Minotaur will enjoy that

[@jcmadcat82]

the thought of how hobgoblins are now "nice guys" just going out of their way to give hugs makes me feel ill. my poor goblinoids..... what have they done to you :'(

[@sohkaswifteagle2604]

If yuan-ti as so Overpowered, why no optimizer ever used them (except when they are doing 12 different wizard build, so using Vhuman 12 time become redundant so they use Yuan-ti for one of those build for some variety) in 99% of non gimmicky build (a build that rely on a gimmick, like a build made around the bug bear reach will use a bug bear obviously) it's always Variant human or custom lineage for the free feat or an elf for elven accuracy (and usually half elf for the extra stat distribution)

[@EntropicDecay_42]

They tend to be banned in many tables and adventurer's league if i'm not mistaken, so that might explain.

[@stephenb2817]

Good news for my Centaur fighter! Happy to see it hasn't changed much.

[@torvus249]

The Minotaur really annoys me. They're by far my favorite fantasy race, and they're done really dirty in 5e. They gave Labyrinthine recall, or rather, a much, much worse version of it, they don't have darkvision (which makes sense for minotaurs, since, ya know, dark labyrinths), and all their racial abilities are just... really boring. And they indirectly nerfed the minotaur by giving other races a 1d6 damage die, so that's one less reason to choose a minotaur over any other unarmed strike race, if that's something you're going for.

[@TinyLadyKris]

try to homebrew? I bet ur dm would be fine with testing it out with you, or if *ur* the dm, you would be able to come up with something good!

[@hubertsghost8184]

"tortoise have digging claws not attacking claws" Humans have carrying and grabbing hands not punching hands

[@TreantmonksTemple]

That's true. Fair.

[@hubertsghost8184]

@@TreantmonksTemple haha thanks for the acknowledgement. Love your videos

[@coldfusion230]

With the nerfs to the powerful classes, I fear future characters will only have the choice between pink human or blue human.

[@andrecosta8680]

What you mean haha

[@ADT1995]

What is the blue human?

[@ewabrzakaa6395]

while I would agree that they are clearly trying to remove races, it probably could have been worded clearer.

[@highdie84]

With firbolg, the speech of Beast and Leaf, the reason they added vegetation is because plants is a creature type, so it is a clarification, though very minor clarification. As for earth gensai, for earth walk, the reason the clarified walking speed on the ground or floor, is because you can run into difficult terrain while climbing

[@roninhare9615]

I believe that the way they are approaching these new races and even with how they did lineages back in van rictons, that the asimar, genasi, and shifters should be eligible to have other racial origins. You can be born an asimar and born from two elven parents, yet even being raised with elves and having your whole ass parents being elves, you are a asimar… to me it would make sense that they would be eligible for certain racial benefits. Of course this would all have to discussed with the dm, however it feels like a lost opportunity. Same thing with a dhampir or undead…. You were born an elf… yet you can no longer benefit your elven Heritage.

[@Duranous.]

I think if they are going to keep these changes, they'd better update how backgrounds work to cover implications of culture and upbringing.

[@roninhare9615]

@@Duranous. I imagine backgrounds will play a bigger hand in character come 5.5/5eA, and I believe strixheaven was a testing ground for it. This is a taste, but it doesn’t mean we can’t point out what we think ought to be there. There is still a lot of time between now and 2024, a lot can happen.

[@bleddynwolf8463]

well that last point about elves and other races with strong ties to their heritages losing traits was explained by the process of becoming undead more or less gutting you of your ancestry and ties to your history, your physical form is the same, but what you were is truly lost

[@acetraker1988]

I now want a meme of Goblin Slayer mass murdering Hobgoblins that are being "nice guys."

[@sneedfest3399]

Press F for hobgoblin lore, never seen a race gutted as hard

[@keeganpogue1856]

Actually, what the heck happened to them 🤦‍♂️

[@sneedfest3399]

@@keeganpogue1856 Went from brutal but honourable japan-expy goblins with a focus on military might to fey descendents with "hospitality" and "passage" as defining characteristics because neo-dnd players don't like scary things like evil races or brutality so every race needs to be a whimsical happy go lucky mess

[@greygramarye7872]

Alright, I’ll be the defender. The Hobgoblins you know haven’t changed. They’re the ones who were conquered and conscripted into the service of Maglubiyet and became his chosen commanders. And by the way, I’m pretty sure that was always their lore - Maglubiyet conquered the goblinoids’ old gods and took over those races, making them his army. Treantmonk is being pretty glib about their new lore outside of Maglubiyet; they aren’t necessarily friendly helpful buddies. They’re the Fey folk most associated with etiquette and reciprocity; that means they are suited to managing households or armies or businesses, and they may well be very cruel toward anyone who knowingly or unknowingly breaks the rules of Fey etiquette. They are Lawful, not Good. They’ve always been Lawful, Maglubiyet made them Evil. If you want to play that, you still can - this lore explicitly includes the classic hobgoblin. If you have a different take, this lore opens that up.

[@danielchasek3626]

You know what’s great about ttrpgs? You can do whatever you want including ignoring any lore changes. Never understood the outrage over a company changing things in a game that you and your table ultimately have creative control over.

[@JadeHarleyCoffeeMug]

@@errantbard937 that's not the implication, that's your interpretation. of which you and your ilk immediately choose bad faith ones

[@SilvrSavior]

If I'm reading the Kobold "Draconic Cry" right then at small/medium you affect 24 squares, at large you affect 32 squares, and at huge you affect 40 squares. Also I read this ability to mean only the enemies need to be in those squares and your allies can be wherever in the combat. Therfore I wonder how good a Kobold Rune Knight controller build with enlarge cast on it would be.

[@CharlesUrban]

A gargantuan kobold is basically a kaiju. "It is Kojira. We must run!"

[@blackpeoplestorytime802]

The Genasi changes really bother me. They made them more powerful but also more generic. Why does everyone get darkvision, the fire genasi had a kind of thermal vision before so it fits and made it unique. I can see an argument for the water Genasi but why air genasi and why lightning. What about being from the plane of air means lightning hurts less. They could have gave it half damage on fall damage with blindsight out to 10 feet. Earth genasi is the most annoying because it's could have been so unique but they dropped the ball in an attempt to keep the resistance thing and made this weird bonus action blade ward. They should have gave them a +1 to AC and tremor sense out to 10 feet instead of darkvision. And the spell list they gave it could have included mold earth, earth tremor, pass without trace.