Top 5 Most BANNED Races In D&D

[@DnDShorts]

IMPORTANT: Some of these races have been updated in the new D&D Book, Monsters of the Multiverse! You can catch my video with all the updates here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bZCvoXZtndCdjK8

[@theiran]

Well let me run this by you. Warlock/Sorcerer. Pact of the Tome. Aspect of the Moon Invocation. You can use a bonus action to turn sorcery points into spell slots. These spell slots last until you finish a long rest. So convert your sorcery points into spell slots. Then turn your sorcerer spell slots into sorcery points and then into spell slots. Do the same with your warlock spell slots. Take a short rest and recover your warlock spell slots. Convert again. Rinse and repeat. So, while everyone else is taking a long rest, you can take 8 short rests and end up with about 20 temporary spell slots. The next time everyone rests, you can repeat. Effectively, unlimited spell slots.

[@Cats_on_fire]

It's called a coffelock

[@Reece8u]

@@theiran Now, do this as a warforged

[@theiran]

@@Reece8u not every Dm allows warforged.

[@zelandakhniteblade5436]

@@theiran Any experienced DM will not allow you to melt your warlock slots down for sorcery points. If you are taking advantage of an inexperienced DM to get this past them, shame on you.

[@grizzlyowlbear3538]

I thought about banning Aarakocras in my campaign, but then I realized 90% of the encounters would take place in a cavern

[@ConernicusRex]

Our DM hated that I had a magic item that would let me fly and eventually let it aggravate him to the point he started trying to hide info from the players that would be very obvious to the characters and it broke up the game when this happened: “On the other side of the door there seems to be some sort of wizard’s laboratory. There are stacks of notes and half potions strewn over a large workbench that circles half the room with the walls near the door you just came through covered in bookshelves packed with ancient tomes. As you step in the skittering figures of three homunculi turn toward you. Roll initiative.” Player 1(me): “Ok how high is the ceiling?” DM: “You don’t know.” Me: “Our half orc cleric isn’t doing math. I’m asking if there’s room to fly in here. Is the ceiling high or low?” DM: “You don’t know.” Other player: “are we blinded, is it dark? You just described the room I think he knows what size it is.” DM(Pissed now): “you fly to the ceiling hit your head and take (rolls) eleven damage.” Me: “I didn’t even declare an action, dude.” And like that we all got up and ended the game forever.

[@micham6753]

@@ConernicusRex holy fuck that's so cheap and poorly executed from the DM xD

[@caiusdrakegaming8087]

@@micham6753 The ironically funny part? The DM is the one that made that item be available. He was annoyed by a magic item he himself allowed the player to obtain. Like I can get maybe he didn't understand how strong flight was, but even then he should have manned up and accepted that this situation was on him in the first place.

[@BeginningGenesis]

Lol why is this just a nice thing to think about, like yes you can play any flying race, except the ceiling is always 10ft tall and it's an underground adventure campaign 😂

[@SouthofSalvation]

Aarakocras meet fire.. lol but yeah ban them

[@seleinathescorpio]

I had a dm that changed the world to take flying into account, big city's had barbed wires between tall buildings to discourage flying races to fly past entry gates, and specific areas on the map were no fly zones. He always made the reason make sense in the world/story

[@Dave90423]

deeeeefinitely not a DM here, but can you say some of these reasons? I like everything making sense in my campaigns.

[@seleinathescorpio]

@@Dave90423 we'll just like with real world no fly zones for security reasons, and to prevent flying individuals from being able to enter locations without permission, just like with real world travel.

[@Dave90423]

@@seleinathescorpio ah, thank you!

[@Dave90423]

@@seleinathescorpio and sorry, that felt obvious now.

[@seleinathescorpio]

@@Dave90423 lol it's ok, to be fair the security and no fly zone rules in rl don't take an individual being able to fly themselves into account lol

[@rowanjohnson6947]

“Most Aarakocra are monks” *nervously looks over at pile of Aarakocra Rangers*

[@melissawardjohns220]

Mine is a cleric. 😂

[@MsNathanv]

Def make better Rangers (or Rogues.) If you really want to take advantage of flight, you want the 600' longbow range to be able to take on anything. All you need is a high enough ceiling!

[@dracoargentum9783]

Warlocks can get 900' with eldritch spear

[@natjohns8015]

Mine is a fighter gunslinger, she's amazing and dm has been really creative with stopping her from flying. Annoyingly 🤣🤣

[@johnevans5782]

The one Aarakocra I made was a Bard/ Ranger. Very useful for a character whose main weapon was a blowgun. The main focus was on bard though, because I could just imagine a D&D version of one of Disney's 3 Amigos.

[@doctorcorvus1319]

A funny thing during a D&D session that was during a hardcore survival game one of the players wanted to play as a War Forged and the GM said that the only way to play a War Forged was that they have to keep their party alive or they die themselves since they are linked. It was neat!

[@TruthKeepersOfficialHD2]

Brilliant

[@d4rk0v3]

My DM designed an Aarakocra character with me that he was happy with in terms of balance. My character had been captured and tortured and in so doing his wings were injured severely. They never fully healed, and so, flight speed is limited to 30 and time is limited to 1 minute. As you level, this ability gets stronger. Speed and time increased every time you hit a feat / ability score increase. It was such a fun character. I didn't want to go monk with him. I went with a circle of the stars druid. Was tons of fun. Our campaign spanned (in game time) almost 1/3rd of his normal lifespan. I made it all the way to level 18 and gained the timeless body trait. That meant suddenly my character didn't have 20 years left to live. When that power suffused into his body, as my DM described it, he immediately gained an understanding of the new nature of his body and the way he ages. Suddenly he realized he had more than 200 years of potential life ahead of him. It was a really cool role playing moment.

[@DipUniversal]

Ah yes when you think you're going to die in a little under 2 decades, but end up with almost 200 years Must say that guy should come back as a NPC in your next campaign

[@hyzmarie]

Sweet! Sounds like such a cool character!

[@bouboulroz]

In addition to magic resistance, Satyrs also happen to be immune to anything that can only affect humanoids (such as charm/hold/dominate person) since they are Fey creatures.

[@mycatistypingthis5450]

Yup, read that and shook my head.

[@zankou5611]

I actually didn't know that they had that as a playable race now. It's kinda Kool. I think that I might try a Satyr ranger/bard multi class

[@--Cat--]

Lore wise they aren't "immune" to the charm effect. It just doesn't do what it should. Basically if you're a woman, the Satyr just becomes *even more* horny for you If you're a guy they decide to beat you up for dominance reasons, cause that's just the way of the goat bro.

[@bouboulroz]

@@--Cat-- I didn't say they were immune to charm effect. I said they were immune to spells reserved to humanoids. Charm Monster still works as usual.

[@--Cat--]

@@bouboulroz I was just dropping some lore knowledge my dude. I just thought it was a funny thing that charm *works* just in the exact opposite way it should. That includes charm monster. Goat bros are just either trying to sleep with you, or kick your ass then have a pint with you. There are no in-betweens. I just wanted to share that. 😔.

[@DnDShorts]

This video started out as a Top X MOST POWERFUL races in 5e, but I ended up spending a lot more time thinking about why some races were banned, so ran with it!

[@GhizTheKobold]

Flying races are fun killers, if there is a PC without flying with them in the team it suffers a lot, I am not saying that they are impossible to handle, but that the melee Figther of the team will have a hard time against hordes of archers, flying enemies and CC.

[@chillcannongames5758]

I play a warforged forge domain cleric, and i took a feat to get the druid spell good berry. Im made out of white oak and Ivory, by an elf who was in love with a dragon. Rar.

[@BURRDAWG_]

@@GhizTheKobold yeah my dm nerfs my owlfolk and they aren't even op like aasimir or that bird orokora I can't spell. But I don't abuse flying even when I was an aasirmir life cleric I barely flew unless I failed a str check

[@GhizTheKobold]

@@BURRDAWG_ I do not limit aasimars, I find that the little flight they have is more acceptable. Personally I prefer to ban rather than limit, I find limitations more frustrating than a simple no ...

[@BURRDAWG_]

@@GhizTheKobold yes. I like that alot. I think my dm doesn't ban cause he doesn't want to ruin the RP. Idk tho

[@atocanboi409]

Warforged can be reflavored as golems, so I don't think technology is that big a problem

[@sleepless_fox3995]

Another option could be some sort of animated armor

[@evandugas7888]

People who complain with them being to high tech have not looked at the monster manual...

[@Eliza_Stone]

Aren't they mostly wood already

[@arqueiroXD]

There are dms that don't allow it. So is not that easy. Some people are really difficult to give visual tricks even if they don't change a lot the lore

[@Ghilannugs]

Also as animated trees etc. literally says in their info that they dont have to be made out of metal. Hell it could be a warforged made from planks of a ship that got brought to life by a necromancer druid

[@Xani13]

The Aarakocra have had their flying speeds nerfed in recent updates to where it is only 30 feet now.

[@lukeplays9209]

But their walking went up, I prefered their original movement

[@Xani13]

@@lukeplays9209 Same. This new version doesn't fly with me.

[@darkpaw1522]

@@Xani13 lol underrated comment.

[@RedSunUnderParadise]

@@Xani13 Based.

[@lollgodz9965]

@@Xani13 you can always consult with DM to figure out what fly speed and walk speed are ok, if they say yeah 30 fly and 25 land is ok to them then so be it, 30/30 is bit much but its better than 50/25

[@mishtamoose8308]

As a DM myself, I don't like banning races. I'm pretty magic item generous, so flying is a thing that most of my players will get, so why not let them do it early? I enjoy thinking of scenarios to give the flying race a challenge. Also, RAW races are kinda boring. Let your Yuan-ti be good for all I care!

[@skullknight685]

Now this, this puts a smile on my face

[@jazminlopez7575]

Yay! Good Yuan-ti

[@mikeunderwood734]

It would certainly explain why your Yuan Ti Pureblood is away from all the other Yuan Ti it grew up with.

[@jazminlopez7575]

@@mikeunderwood734yes of course, you don't get something away of common lore without working for it in your character backstory

[@Druid4099]

If it is an official race it is therefore allowed in my game as well. I don't like when DMs ban too many things. The whole idea of D&D is to be diverse and have fun with what you have or are dealing with. In Monsters of the Multiverse Yuan-Ti got nerfed. I think the nerf was justified. Magic resistance to all things magical and immunity to poison (including the condition) at any level without magic items or spells as a passive ability is pretty broken. In Monsters of the Multiverse their magic resistance is now spell resistance and poison immunity is now poison resistance (advantage on saves against poison) which to me is a very fair trade. Still powerful but not broken. Just because your race is mostly evil doesn't mean you are evil. I like the idea of defying that nature and stereotype. It makes for excellent role playing. I think the custom origin of Tasha's is a fantastic way to bring that out. Having an half-orc raised among scholars and being book smart is a more interesting story to tell. I think the reason a lot of DMs ban custom origins is because they fear many players will abuse this feature and min/max like crazy. I can understand custom lineage being banned because having a free feat and darkvision is very strong. The idea of custom lineage is to allow a player or DM to officially homebrew a race without it being homebrew. It allows creative players to really have fun and feel unique. I have never met a DM who banned variant human. Variant human is good but it has its limitations (you are human after all). You naturally don't have darkvision, you need to rest full 8 hours, no resistances, or any other racial perks. As for Aarakocras I don't find them overpowered. Yes flight is powerful and helpful but it is not everything. It also depends on the environment you are in. Aarakocras don't have darkvision so that is something DMs can use to their advantage. Also flight comes at its own risks. If you get knocked to 0 hit points depending how high you are flying you could fail a death saving throw on top of the ones you need to roll. If you are subjected to wind effects such as a dragons beating wings then as a DM I would make you roll at disadvantage since you have nothing grounding you.

[@tacoman10]

Aaracokra also have a serious drawback that everyone should remember. Crippling claustrophobia. They are from the plane of air and are all but incapable of entering buildings and just forget about ever going underground. You know, where dungeons are.

[@B3RyL]

Well, yeah, but it's an RP thing. If the DM forgets to enforce it, then there's no mechanical drawback there. Personally I'd create some custom rules for how claustrophobia works, like upon going inside a confined, windowless space make a wisdom save (with DC varying based on the environment - easy in spacious halls and caverns, medium to difficult in dungeons, impossible in a winding cave system) and on a fail you have disadvantage on attacks and saving throws until a short rest or something like that. That would enforce the claustrophobia mechanically, making it impossible to just set aside the moment the fight breaks out.

[@taikathemagicfox9006]

Welp, my Aarcrokra druid is in a campaign in the Underdark so....im just gonna not do anything!

[@johnevans5782]

That WAS a mechanical Drawback in earlier editions. It was the same for Avariel (Winged Elves). In 5e, However, this mechanic has not been applied to either 'species' as a mechanical drawback. So, unless a DM wants to make it a House restriction, it's not normally an issue.

[@jackpinkerson5333]

As a dm i enforce that with semi-arbitrary will/wisdom checks and saving throws

[@sockmonkey6666]

They need a certain amount of space to actually use their flight, so low ceilings and thick woods means they're now just a giant chicken.

[@mylesdenton1819]

Love how you use the Chaos Ancient Gear Giant whenever you need a robot. As a big yugioh and dnd fan it's great to see the two combined.

[@danielramsey6141]

Love that too :D

[@connormcintyre9172]

my pride and joy of my deck. not to my friends though...shame

[@MasterpeaceYGO]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed

[@RoughGalaxyYT]

I adore my warforged oath of the crown paladin. His not needing to breathe has saved our butts in a recent stealth section. Shoved him, his steed, and the magic chariot he rides, into a portable hole so that I didn't disadvantage up the rest of the otherwise stealthy party of warlocks and monks. I would argue that a SINGLE warforged in a party mitigates the survival bypass nicely, as everyone else still needs to eat. Additionally it opens up a number of utlility options. Ship needs an anchor? I gotchu fam!

[@AzraelThanatos]

They're hilariously useful for the same reason in several adventures in DDO...so many water puzzles that are trivialized by having a warforged in the party

[@Ghilannugs]

I feel like its also ignores the part where is says that warforged doesnt have to be made from metal. It can be a wooden warforged made by a druid, maybe its a tree brought to life and instead of eatong or sleeping it needs water once a week and sunlight etc

[@Ston247]

Robots don't have souls.

[@123q3rqwe]

Haah! great points Galaxy

[@Zankaroo]

@@Ston247 In D&D some do.

[@OkyanusKarSen]

1:27 I feel like dying at 30 has the potential to be really good for role-playing; your team members will live much longer, and if the campaign is paced in such a way that people mature between arcs, it can give way to interesting party dynamics as the Aarakocra grows old and the others don't. If homebrewing is involved, the DM could come up with some stuff about how important family values and the oral tradition is to the Aarakocras (partly as an explanation for the fact that this society of Aarakocras, at least on some level keep up with the other civilizations that exist in the same universe as they do, despite their short life span and thus short social memory); we could even have highly traditionalists societies, with transcending notions of a "nest atop a mountain where the sun never sets", or ancient rivalries with other people around them that they call "egg eaters" or something, which would play really well into the roleplaying aspect as well. Though I suppose if you go in depth enough with any race/society, you're bound to make it interesting. So dunno if it counts. Definitely adding this version of the Aarakocras to my homebrew though.

[@burningcole2538]

Funnily enough, I built an aarokocra without realizing the life expectancy and put his age at 27. Once I realized the age thing, i ended up making him a crotchety old man who's adventuring to pad out his pension plan and to find the perfect retirement home on the way. it was the most fun I've had in a while

[@hyzmarie]

@@burningcole2538lol!

[@stolasamon-seere5319]

Challenge to DM's: Make a game with these five races in mind and have a five person group role play each race. Prohibit mixing of those races for player balancing.

[@andrewchilds8886]

Villain campaign, party is hunting dragons (flying ranged enemy with good magic and physical mix). Aracokra is fighting because dragons took over their ancestral lands, yuan ti is after the glory and materials, the construct was sent by a wizard to gather reagents, sayter is here because the dragons are burning down the Forrest and the variant human is pulling a Leroy Jenkins here.

[@zoruasnivy]

We have 2 of these races and 1 with the "choose +2 +1 or three +1s" and we have no issues finding ways to almost die, the variety is quite fun

[@alnu8355]

I only play races banned from Adventurer's League. Git gud Adventure League scrub DM plebs.

[@mrcheese2238]

One of my DM’s was against me playing an aarakocra until he saw my backstory… Part of an elite unit known as Terra Swoop Force, this aarakocra ranger/rogue was trained as a scout and hunter seeking abberations and undead that lurk in the underdark. Nimble, with keen eyes and experience surviving away from society in hostile environments, one could easily mistake Cricket for fearless… However, his passion for flight underground came from more of a stick motivation than the carrot of peace and valour. He is deathly afraid of storms and strong winds, something he can safely avoid underground. Thus, he is very much terrified of flying outdoors and in the open air. This lead to a hilarious incident in an early session where we were tracking an assassin across the rooftops, and the party were encouraging Cricket to fly up and spot them from a higher rooftop. Instead, he found a nearby ladder and climbed up much to the confusion of the party. Additionally when trying to jump between rooftops instead of flying, he rolled really badly and just fell off a roof. He then had to explain his fear to the party, but did get a nat 20 + 7 on his survival to find tracks and lead the way to said assassin.

[@genericpersonx333]

That is how you are supposed to deal with overpowered races for sure. The best players are those who know when a character needs to be changed, either because they are overpowered or underpowered in some critical way. A good-sounding character in one's head does not always work in practice. The downside, however, is that some groups will not forgive a player that intentionally nerfs a character when the nerf ensures everyone suffers. Sounds like you managed to avoid that by getting the good rolls that saved the day even when your refusal to fly would have solved everything much easier. Kudos!

[@martl8615]

Silverbolt from G1 Transformers was a jet with fear of heights. I always thought that was awesome. Your DnD character is awesome in the same way!

[@BrotherHood-xh9sg]

How did your DM handle the flight abillity when your character got over his fear enough to fly during none strong winds etc. or in caves?

[@mothichorror446]

@@BrotherHood-xh9sg sounds like they didn't. People don't just stop being afraid of things

[@BrotherHood-xh9sg]

@@mothichorror446 weird, cause yeah they basically do. I had a character who was terrified of the ocean. But in time he trusted his friends enough to sail over it. And eventually his sevond best friend was drowning, so as the healer of the group, he had to go in. This stuff is called character development mate. Fearless is feeling the fear, yet do it anyway.

[@thelaserman1183]

Personally, I think a warforged in a survival game could be really cool rp-wise, especially if it's in cold weather. Think about it, the warforged would be fine, but everyone else wouldn't be, which brings up a lot of emotional dilemmas. Warforged can't provide warmth, supply food (unless they go get it themelves), or much else, so they have to do their best as the ONE person who isn't affected by all this. Plus you could argue wear and tear on them due to prolonged exposure to certain elements if you really wanted to, then you'd have the one person who can function well slowly losing that function as they try to provide for everyone else. Bonus points if someone is injured and cant move.

[@TheOnceandFutureJake]

Now I'm getting whiffs of a "Nanny" Warforged character. A guide who ushers people through dangerous survival landscapes precisely because they're so well-suited to it.

[@Chraan]

Completely agree, I don't see the argument of banning them in survival games because the point is that the whole party survives.

[@SollowP]

Could play with the extreme cold making the limbs and specifically the joints on warforged to seize up. Ice and snow building up where all their joints are connected to one another. Doesn't say a single thing in their description that they're immune to things as extreme cold.

[@yarrowslakey1581]

That is actually a really cool idea, I can imagine the face of the warforged player when you tell him his shoulder joint is slowly rusting shut, and he won't be able to use one of his arms, or any other scenario of that kind. I'm absolutely giving my DM this idea lol

[@zankou5611]

I think that my favorite character was my Warforged Druid/Ranger that would shapeshift run ahead then stealth back in robotic ranger form.

[@PiroMunkie]

It's worth noting that the "you can switch proficiencies" kind of already existed in the base rules before Tasha's. The PHB states "if a character would gain the same proficiency from two different sources, they can choose a different proficiency of the same kind (skill or tool) instead" (PHB 125). This entry is under customizing your background, but the wording specifically states that it can be any two sources. Nothing in the book says you need to choose a class proficiency that you don't already have. Let's say you're a Lizardfolk and you take lineage proficiency in Animal Handling and Perception. Then you roll a Barbarian, pick Animal Handling and Perception as your class proficiencies, and then literally choose any skill you want based on the wording of the above rule. Basically laundering your proficiencies. You can do the same with Backgrounds, but you also have the ability to customize your Background already so the point is moot.

[@Pancakeli]

That's not the part of it that makes it powerful. That's a neat thing that lets you get some different stuff with a bit of investment, but you still end up with every single one of the skills you doubled up on. Where it gets a bit bonkers is doing something like switching weapon or armor proficiencies into tool proficiencies. Suddenly, a mountain dwarf can get 7 tool proficiencies, for free if they take a class that already gets the armor and weapon proficiencies they do. With all that on top of 2 +2's that can go anywhere, the only thing keeping them from being the most versatile and powerful race is the 25 foot walking speed. It's nothing entirely game-breaking, but it is a little silly to go rune knight or artificer and end up with expertise in half of all the tools, especially in combination with the stuff you can do in Xanathar's.

[@TheOnceandFutureJake]

@@Pancakeli Where are you getting two +2's? Neither of the rules in Tasha's allow you to do that.

[@Pancakeli]

@@TheOnceandFutureJake dwarf gets +2 constitution as a base, and the mountain subrace gets +2 strength. With Tasha's, you can instead put those anywhere else.

[@TheOnceandFutureJake]

@@Pancakeli So it sounds like your problem is actually with the Mountain Dwarf.

[@Pancakeli]

@@TheOnceandFutureJake I don't have a problem with it in the slightest, I just think that one thing you can do is silly, and I enjoy that it's a possibility. Like having a long jump that's a fifth of a mile or drawing 8 javelins in a turn. Custom origins is a good concept in general. I don't think it should be the standard like it's becoming, but I think it's a good option for every style of play. Whether you want to be an outlier from others for story reasons, or do some wacky stuff, like having proficiency in a huge amount of tools.

[@ratoh1710]

5:51 Minor correction, Changelings can start with an 18 in Charisma RAW since they get a +2 to CHA and a +1 to ANY stat, not any other stat like most other similar races like Warforged.

[@richardjberryiii]

I was about to comment this as well

[@lockwoan01]

Just checked, looks like a grammar issue.

[@Metrion77]

Per the Changeling page from Eberron: Rising from the Last War: "Your Charisma score increases by 2. In addition, one other ability score of your choice increases by 1." Per the new changeling from Mordenkainen Multiverse: "When determining your character’s ability scores, increase one score by 2 and increase a different score by 1, or increase three different scores by 1." In both cases, RAW indicates any OTHER stat, not ANY stat.

[@ratoh1710]

@@Metrion77 Looking it up and the Rising From the Last War was errataed and originally did allow stacking CHA. It was given an errata due to Tasha's and I had only read the pre-Tasha's version.

[@lockwoan01]

@@ratoh1710 Like I mentioned, looks like a grammar issue at the time.

[@RandomPerson-uf8dw]

I played a lawful neutral illithid rogue, and I loved it. It was probably one of my favourite races I have ever played, just goes to show that you can play as whatever you want, regardless of what they’re supposed to be.

[@TheClericCorner]

All the Aarakokra-fearing DMs now also have to deal with fairies....and then owlin with strixhaven 😅😬 The horror

[@mahe4]

and winged tieflings

[@BURRDAWG_]

I'm a owlfolk rn. And my dm hates it

[@zinogrevz7389]

those problems can be made more difficult by following the prejustic people have against rare exotic and monstrous races. A angry mob stands before the inn the party sleeps in. "HANG THE DEVIL AND THE BIRD, HANG THE DEVIL AND THE BIRD, HANG THE DEVIL AND THE BIRD!!! they sing.

[@boku-bokuchagama6157]

You can homebrew it like, when target is flying, every range attack have advantage against him. Or, when you end your turn in mid air, you must make dex save on the start of your next turn, to maintain balance, otherwise you will fall. Something like that. Feel free to think about it.

[@KimKimeraKimes]

@@boku-bokuchagama6157 Or ignore the flyers entirely and hit the squishies with their share of the attacks as well. If they are not their to soak up some of the damage, the rest of the party needs to do it.

[@xxGurdian]

I often just allow my players a feat at 1st level no matter the race; so I'm not stuck with a bunch of variant humans and I allow point buy to go into negatives below 8 to get additional points to spend then making the max cap 16 for points spend not including racial bonuses. Seems to have been working very well for the last couple years I've been doing it and allows me to boost combat difficulty a little.

[@Druid4099]

I like the free feat too! As a DM I give my players a free feat! I will allow variant humans and custom lineage to still get their feat on top of the freebie so they don't feel worthless. I give my players 85 points to spread out among their stats. I hate the idea of wasting feats for ability score boosts. Earning a feat is far more rewarding than getting a +1 or +2 stat boost.

[@TrigunnerX3]

The season 11 Adventure League rules not only dismissed the Plus 1 rule, but also legalized every race that can exist in Faerun. Including the Aarokocra.

[@AzraelThanatos]

When did they do that, they'd removed the EEPC from it (along with the SCAG) from character creation. The Aarokocra and Gensasi were only there for Faerun stuff...can't remember if Deep Gnomes were elsewhere as a race though. Still glad that older characters are available for things, so my Aasimaar Crown Paladin is legal...since Crown Paladins are SCAG

[@MiniCerberus991]

I think the reason Adventurer's League is unbanning it is now there are several races and classes with base flight, meaning you'd have to ban so much for something that could be easily countered with a "the cave isn't tall enough for that" or just... discussing things

[@LdyVder]

@@AzraelThanatos Deep Gnomes are reprinted in Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes

[@AzraelThanatos]

@@LdyVder Then SCAG still has the Ghostwise Halfling which is fun to play with for being a spooky character. Telepathy for the win there

[@archmagemc3561]

I remember there was a rule where if you DM'ed a certain module, usually at events, you got a credit to make an arrakokra character in AL. They got rid of that now did they? Interesting... Now lets see if they let us play Plasmoid xD.

[@gummybear8679]

One way I suggested my DM to solve the Aarakocra flight problem was to give it a crippled/missing wing. Its quest became one to heal/seek his lost wing. A flight spell of flight-like abilities would reconstruct that wing temporarily.

[@parallaxnick637]

Aaracocra can be fixed by one change: -2 strength and constitution to account for their hollow bones.

[@connormcgehee9349]

Also when in the air -2 dex as you can't turn that fast

[@curioussavagery802]

@@connormcgehee9349 what? bro, have you ever seen a bird fly?

[@connormcgehee9349]

@@curioussavagery802 some birds are extremely agile in the air. But as a general rule the larger the bird the slower they can change directions. Aaracocra are human sized so a -2 to dex while In the air is good in my opinion

[@curioussavagery802]

@@connormcgehee9349 you know even the largest birds can turn very quickly right? it simply doesn't make sense lmao. it'd make more sense to have detriments based on the weather. is the weather going colder? can't fly as well, takes a lot of stamina. is there a warm front with updrafts? congrats, you can fly longer easier. otherwise, start giving them exhaustion if they fly too long.

[@connormcgehee9349]

@@curioussavagery802 whatever you say man.

[@zorod5475]

Can you imagine building a campaign completely around a team of aarakocra

[@BlueTextingStories]

Imagine them being Monks and Rogues. The DM would want to die, probably

[@dudelsackonator4494]

Absolute nightmare fuel for any DM

[@GhizTheKobold]

A campaign with flying ships, and all aarakocra, would be great!

[@dudelsackonator4494]

@@GhizTheKobold I mean sure, it does sound great. But personally, I think three dimensional combat will be a pain to handle...

[@GhizTheKobold]

@@dudelsackonator4494 oh, yes

[@blazemcking]

Its funny I like the big bird men for there back story potential, almost ever one iv made normally starts the game as a clipped bird, it eliminated the hate of there flight and gave great rp moments for when they get new wings (via story or regenerate spell) or gain a spell that let's them fly. (Example of backstories, entertainer - circus clipped wings as a child to keep them around. Slave- well don't want the bird flying away. Criminal- ended up broken and unusable due to a deal gone bad. Just a few but solves a problem ^^)

[@slinelol]

Same! I played an aarakocra druid (fuck only living 30 years), to fit into society they were wearing a plague doctors mask and a big cloack(as a combined non atuned "magical"item), which restricted flight but was a buff to social encounters which lead to some great roleplay

[@blazemcking]

@@slinelol love this idea!!

[@kennysalty6019]

Pureblood Yuan-ti/Satyr + Oath of the Ancients Paladin is just the biggest middle finger to every single spellcaster in the game. I'm fairly certain a Yuan Ti or Satyr Ancients Paladin at level 8 could solo a lich with some decent rolls. Edit: If you REALLY hate enemy spellcasters. You can also multiclass 6 levels for lore bard and grab yourself counterspell. Because the only person who should be able to use magic to any major effect on the battlefield is you, obviously.

[@cloauldew]

Satyr are actually better anti-casters because they count as fey instead of humanoid for spell targeting, which means they're immune to Hold Person and the like! If you wanna be the ultimate anti-caster go Satyr Oath of the Ancients Paladin 8 (Feats: Resilient CON, Warcaster), College of Lore Bard 10 (Both ASI: +2 CHA; 6th Level Magical Secrets: Counterspell, Blinding Smite; 10th Level Magical Secrets: Circle of Power, Find Greater Steed), Hexblade Warlock 2 (Invocations: Eldritch Sight, Devil's Sight).

[@arqueiroXD]

@@cloauldew I will use this idea one day.

[@wazzledog1007]

Just watch out for protection from evil and good, magic circle, forbiddance and planar binding.

[@xogdo5260]

Fun fact, before I knew anything about DnD, the absolute first character I imagined was a Satyr Paladin (that really hated music). It's also one of the first character I created on DnDBeyond (and I chose Oath of the Ancient cause it was thematic). I never played him in a real DnD Game so I only just now realize it's an absolutely broken combo lol.

[@MrFForger]

Add in 2 levels of Hexblade Warlock and you can attack with CHA, have 2 short rest spell slots for extra smites, get the best ranged spell attack in the game (circumventing the paladin's weakness to deal ranged damage) and 2 invocations of your choice to further customise your middle finger towards enemy spellcasters.

[@Ivanyariymchuk]

As a person who decided to make my very first dnd character an Aarakocra I realized I had to make the race less OP, so I created a background for him in which he loses one of his wings and then creates a new one as an artificer and because of that he can't fly for too much time

[@nuyabuisness7526]

I always saw the custom lineage thing as a way of easily homebrewing races with balance already cooked in. Especially for stuff like variant tieflings it makes it super simple.

[@hyzmarie]

Yeah I used that at one point to make Kitsune… I eventually just ended up reskinning the changelings but it was fun to mess with

[@vsGoliath96]

*Listens to the section about Tasha's custom origins* Alright, my dream of doing a Goliath wizard can finally come true!

[@maeve615]

"Do it!" ~Emperor Palpatine

[@screamingopossum7809]

You could do it anyway if you didn't do standard array

[@himedo1512]

You could always do that. It was always allowed. Deadass with rolling you could still get 18 intelligence at the start.

[@vsGoliath96]

@@himedo1512 Make sure that the strength score was still really high though, just in case Goliath Wizard needs to cast FIST!

[@theuncalledfor]

@@screamingopossum7809 You could do it with a home brewed standard array, because the regular one is clearly crap.

[@StarfruitGamer123]

We were once doing a very dark survival session and the DM made sure not to tell us, and he got to know that I coincidentally made a warforged twilight cleric with a feat that gives him goodberry, and as a cleric he has access to create/destroy water and lesser restoration. Literally broke the session at level 4.

[@Nyrufa]

I don't think Goodberry is all that overpowered. Sure, it provides you enough nourishment for 24 hours, but it costs a spell slot to use it. Now, if it were a cantrip, that would be a different matter.

[@acetraker1988]

@@Nyrufa That only applies if DM limit time. GB > Long Rest = No Cost Survival. As doing this recovers the spell slot used.

[@kendrajade6688]

Well if you didn't want to break things you shouldn't have been a Twilight Cleric

[@NicxCoay]

@@kendrajade6688 He said the DM “made sure not to tell them” it was going to be a dark survival story, so he couldn’t have known beforehand he was “breaking” things by making that character.

[@kendrajade6688]

@@NicxCoay No Twilight Cleric breaks things in every kind of game

[@thajocoth]

8:00 - Warforged are based on golems. I remember in Dragon magazine back in 4e, they talked about them all having the word "truth" on their foreheads in Primordial and are most commonly made of stone, though sometimes there's metal and/or wood involved as well. In real-world myths, golems have the word "truth" on their foreheads in Hebrew and are most commonly made of stone. I just thought this might be interesting to share. I haven't seen 5e mention it anywhere yet.

[@sralow]

I could have sword there were no fourth edition dragon magazines. I'll have to recheck

[@thajocoth]

@@sralow They were weekly during 4e, and free online content. It was like UA is now, but more content more often with more lore as well.

[@MagpieManny]

Warforged have been made for Eberron. There their mark is called a Ghulra and they are all different. They are indeed "golems" made from various materials (in one warforged).

[@Ashebrethafe]

There's a manga about golems called Clay Lord, in which the mark is required to be a kill-switch, in case the golem goes rogue -- the initial 'e' of the word "emeth" must be breakable, and breaking it destroys the golem by changing the meaning of the word from "truth" to "death".

[@Nikaiss]

I'd also like to point out the Vedalken race for a singular reason. Advantage on ALL Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saving throws. Not just against magic but any saving throw. On top of having a 500~ yesr lifespan, a free d4 to one skill and toolkit of your choice, and 1 hour a day of free underwater breathing. They are fantastically broken for spellcasters with an already high average mental saving throw bonus

[@JohnSmith-qe6fb]

A big part of being a DM is to challenge players based off of their level, class, and race. There are no races that protect against everything. Magic Resistance doesn't do squat against a hard hitting Golem for example.

[@TheHunter_2525]

Why do I get the sneaking suspicion that if elves weren't in the PHB, they would absolutely be banned in Adventurer's League?

[@mitchcowan1446]

Right????!!!

[@Canadian_Zac]

That's why i get so annoyed when people bring up 'Elves should be able to finish a long rest in 4 hours since they only trance' You're already playing one of the strongest races. You don't need an extra buff

[@TheHunter_2525]

@@Canadian_Zac Except that IS how the RAW works. Every PHB printed since 2020 and all up to date digital sources describe trance as 'giving the same benefits as a human gains from 8 hours of sleep.' If you or your DM don't like how that plays out in your setting, that's fine. At the end of the day though, unless the entire party are elves, what are they really going to accomplish in those four 'extra' hours?

[@Canadian_Zac]

@@TheHunter_2525 A long rest isn't just sleeping. Humans only need 6 hours, and can spend the other 2 on watch. So Elves only spend 4 hours of it sleeping, and can spend the other 4 on watch, just chilling, reading a book, etc. But they should NOT get to finish a long rest in half the time. Part of a long rest represents taking some time, repairing equipment, bandaging wounds.

[@XperimentorEES]

Elves have been treated like they're just better humans ever since the lord of the rings books glorified them so blatantly, along with halflings. Yet dwarvs in dnd have been repeatedly nerfed between editions . . . Is wizards of the coast racist? lol

[@ageofblight754]

Warforged could be fit in a survival to be like they need to recharge or watered if metal or wood based, and they could rust so you need to be oiled

[@melissawardjohns220]

If you're looking at some of the unearthed arcana rules then going through salt water slowly turns you into the tin man. Also i had one in a DND campaign where mending healed me and cure wounds healed the others. Made it more fair since i got the racial feats that made my level one armor 35 but i couldn't use armors like the others.

[@obesus787]

I’ve always been miffed by alignment in D&D, particularly because of how evil is interpreted. Basically, if you’re good, you’re good because your guy does things out of the goodness of their heart, right? Not necessarily because you want to serve a greater good, and it can manifest as small gestures, and it doesn’t have to be in service of the greater good. You just have to do it because you think it will benefit someone else but yourself. Being neutral is basically minding your own business. But being evil is almost always treated as being evil for evils sake. Like, why can’t you just be evil cause you don’t give a shit about others? You’ll get it your way no matter how many corpses you have to walk over, no for some reason DMs just automatically assume and try to force you to play a murder hobo because they just can’t accept that evil characters can fit into and just be general dicks without being a menace. Like a Yuan Ti could be evil and be perfectly able to get along with everyone else until their own interests diverge from the group or society. Long story short, evil characters can work if you’re a good DM and not lazy.

[@maxinesenior596]

This is exactly my Neutral divine soul sorceress's philosophy. Fiends aren't "evil" inherently; they are simply planar beings who do what they do. Same with Angels. Those who are "Good" often call themselves that to disguise crimes. No one identifies with the term "evil" and if they do, its because "Good" has purposefully alienated them- not a particularly "Good" act.

[@Metrion77]

And the Yuan Ti even mention that "they have no problems being friendly and helpful if it means achieving their goals." They're not over-the-top monsters who burst into flame if they do a nice thing. They're sociopaths who have to question which will improve their chances of world domination, sacrificing an orphan to a demon, or raising the orphan and getting a loyal servant that they can always sacrifice to the demon later. Evil in DnD is the willingness to hurt others to achieve your selflish goals. Good in DnD is basically altruism, the willingness to sacrifice one's own resources for other people, not expecting a reward. Lawful is the belief that goals can be accomplished through the system and following a code. Chaotic is the disregard of systems and codes. A chaotic good creature can steal money from the mob and donate it to charity, because they want the poor to have a chance at a good life and the law isn't going to help. A lawful evil creature can also steal money from the mob and donate it to charity, because they want to control the city by bankrupting the existing mobs and want to run for mayor so donating the money is good publicity. A lawful good creature can also steal money from the mob and donate it to charity because they want to punish the lawbreakers and make sure that the poor don't have to steal to have a good life. A chaotic evil creature can also steal from the mob and donate to charity, because they get their jollies from stealing and don't care who gets the money, and may even plan to steal the money from the charity afterwards.

[@MeeesterBond17]

As long as your players are on board, yeah, evil can work. I... have experiences ranging from silly to terrible with PCs that have "evil" written anywhere on their character sheet. I should add that I'm friends with all the players in question: Our Cleric in Curse of Strahd - "Hmm, I'm gonna murder Ireena Kolyana and steal her soul because a Devil told me he'd let me learn Eldritch Blast." Campaign fell apart. A Necromancer in the first campaign I DM'd - "Ah, new player, do I make friends? Nah, Vampiric Touch because my character lost a magic item in combat, feels vindictive, and wants to take it out on someone." Campaign fell apart. Chaotic Evil Drow Fighter - actually not too bad, because the player didn't engage much. But it was difficult to keep immersion and not laugh when we had a Dwarf Cleric of Moradin who seemed perfectly fine with all the symbols of Lolth on her armour. One shot, so didn't matter. Maybe it's just me. xD

[@ExeErdna]

Truly the Yuan Ti are no better than a Satyrs, plus DM's that abuse poison only get mad at Yuan Ti player... Then the whole manipulation aspect that's no different from any Bard or Cha/leaning Rogue. If the "snake person" is "evil" then any chromatic dragonborn are too just to be petty...

[@ExeErdna]

@@Metrion77 Ironically Lizardfolk kinda roll "lore" wise like Yuan Ti they think WAY different than "civilized" races. Doesn't mean evil, yes eating falln foes in the town is a no-no yet you cannot call cannibal on one that isn't human

[@naturalone6529]

Even though this race isn’t banned, a strong race in my mind is the Scourge Aasimar. At level 20, with Radiant Consumption activated, you can be dealing an extra 30 radiant damage on top of whatever else you’re doing at the time, especially in melee.

[@Illianor123]

Being broken at level 20 is meaningless.

[@darkpaw1522]

Bro, that’s level 20. *You’re supposed to be broken at level 20.* Also 30 damage is nothing, that’s average damage for some classes levels 6-8.

[@MayHugger]

Level 20 is irrelevant, as the vast majority of games don’t go past level 12, everyone is broken at that level. 30 Damage is standard for a mid level character, that’s laughably pathetic for a max level character.

[@benjamintiede8289]

I find that creatively using my Changeling’s abilities can be broken for many encounters although, I have gotten my party in a few mishaps for changing into the wrong person.

[@troperhghar9898]

As a DM I allow any race, only requirement no crossing races they are different species and no Tyler I dont care if your half gargoyle/elf has the most in depth backstory the answer is no

[@natashasurvivallady8021]

This. I agree entirely, though it might be because I enjoy running high powered games. I love flying races and Yuan-ti, and every character I build uses Custom Origin, because NOT EVERY MEMBER OF THE SAME RACE IS GOING TO BE GOOD AT THE EXACT SAME THINGS. Otherwise whole societies would collapse as needed roles couldn't be filled.

[@dragonhearthx8369]

I saw someone do a half orc/half Goliath race. And he had all of the race features from both. He tried to agrue that he was only combining half of the features. He was counting age, size, alignment, and language as race features.

[@troperhghar9898]

@@dragonhearthx8369 I still would not allow it but I can wrap my head around it, I once had goliaths explained to me as "mountain orcs" so the idea of them having viable offspring is more believable

[@dragonhearthx8369]

@@troperhghar9898 I wasn't the dm. But I agree that it was over powered. Stone endurance AND relentless endurance. Yeah that's to much. Plus, savage attack and powerful build.

[@proxy90909]

@@natashasurvivallady8021 I mean... You didn't really got what stat increases are for then... Don't get me wrong having variety while remainimg "optimal" is nice, no reason not to have it gameplay wise, but the increases only speak well... Of your race. Not all orcs are strong right, but a smart orc would still be stroner than a smart human (ie 8 str orc gets 10 str but 8 str human gets 8), adventurers are all exceptions to their ow races and your stat distribution speaks of your own specific story. The racial bonus is just that, a racial bonus comes from your race just for being that, its like complaining "why are all sharks able to swim good?" They are sharks... Their bodies are made to swim. Orcs and other races are usually made by the literal hand of one of their gods for a general purpose, they are all meant to be good at roughly the same thing

[@HienNguyenHMN]

I wish airborne races were more limited in the early levels. Like, you must land on a solid surface by the end of your turn (or risk falling). That still gives them cool flight powers, but doesn't throw off early level encounters.

[@ericfelipe4198]

Shoot them with arrows

[@hericles10]

I've never had a problem with aarakocra PCs in my games, maybe more than one would be an issue but a single doesn't require that many changes.

[@gramfero]

Really just shoot the guy with a bow dude

[@Tusitala1967]

Right?? Who wouldn't want wings which let you jump? :-/

[@Sceadusawol]

My suggestion is looking at the Simic Hybrid's "glide" ability for levels 1-3.

[@rickthompson3843]

Yeah after many editions over the decades of humans being a garbage race to play, I'm thrilled with them getting something genuinely good like a feat. Variant human is fine as a default race.

[@DisingenuousJely]

Uh, humans have had a Feat as their racial bonus since 3.0 what editions are you talking about? They actually just initially took it away in 5e (for some reason). On top of that they have been generally thought of as the BEST race because they get the extra feat and can get in to many more options earlier than other races. I’m genuinely confused about your comment.

[@HenshinFanatic]

@@DisingenuousJely feats are technically options the DM can decide isn't used in their game, therefor they needed to balance the basic Human race around feats not existing. The fact 99.9999% of tables do use feats is irrelevant to that baseline assupmtion.

[@DisingenuousJely]

@@HenshinFanatic My confusion comes from the "many editions over the decades" part of their statement, nothing in relation to 5e's ruleset, I'm well aware of how 5e works. Either they are talking about different errata about 5e specifically, which doesn't seem likely because 5e isn't even a single decade old yet OR they are confused about the older editions of the game they have played because Feats aren't options in older editions (at least from 4e back to 3e I haven't played before that) they are a hard requirements. I appreciate your attempt at answering what you thought was my confusion but it is literally something only they could answer if they felt so inclined.

[@HenshinFanatic]

@@DisingenuousJely well you did write that the bonus feat was "taken away for some reason" in 5E. I gave you that reason. I wasn't at all presuming to speak for the OP.

[@rickthompson3843]

@@DisingenuousJely Hi! I can't speak for 4th ed as I missed out almost entirely on that. In 3rd edition EVERYONE started out with a feat, humans just got a bonus one. Since you got feats every three levels, that bonus, to me, feels significantly inferior to the abilities other races got. 2nd edition, which is when i did a lot of my playing, humans were just pointless. Possibly not fair to go back that far, but it's just my personal perspective on how far humans have come as a great playable race. :)

[@gongarcia8814]

My Yuan-ti Pureblood was an adaptation of a character I had created for a sort of book I was "writing" in my head. My DM suggested that race since it was the closest mechanically to what this character was able to do. While I was reading on Yuan-ti to see if they were a good pick I came across the issue of them being evil, to which my DM told me "don't pay attention to that". Me, being sort of a stickler for lore and all that stuff, came up with the idea of my character being lawful neutral because his moral code is the law of the country he works at, given that he is sort of a cop/detective. I ended up with a character that will lay down his life for the citizens as it is his duty, but has no qualms whatsoever about killing people, so long as they have been caught red handed doing something bad enough. It lines up pretty well with what I had planned for my original character, so it works for me.

[@ShirotoraGodsbane]

I feel the custom origin is the greatest adition to the game in regards to race. It means you can finally play that elf raised by orcs. It also makes custom races so much easier, as you can just take an existing race, use the custom origin to tweak them, add flavor, and boom. You got a new, custom race. Like, you want to play a bear man, who's people are one with the land? Take the half-orc, swap the CON boost for WIS, and the orcish language for silvan, and you have an easy custom race.

[@nobodybroda3826]

Honestly that's all it is, the people who hate it severely are the same people who get angry at other people for "not acting there race." They don't understand experiences shape us as much or more then bloodline!

[@francisorr2189]

The custom origin on a war forged however makes sense as they were made to preform a specific task so a war forged with a custom origin makes perfect sense

[@rodrigobueno8652]

Its unbalanced , bad for world building and the in unvierse explanations for it don't make any sense,..but it does resolve a bit 5e problems around atribute socres evolution,so we use still use in our table

[@ShirotoraGodsbane]

@@rodrigobueno8652 It opens up world building. The canon races are bad for world building, as they force you to keep those races exactly how they are in the Forgotten Realms setting. With this, you can have a world full of academic orcs and savage gnomes, if you want. And there is no "in universe explanation". You make your own explanation. They only give examples of what the explanation can be.

[@AlbertaGeek]

To each their own. I don't care for it. Zoologically speaking, I like the idea of biological specialization when it comes to "races" and subsequent ability scores and other quirks that can be chalked up to physiology. [allegory time] A greyhound can be raised by malamutes, but it's never going to perform like a malamute. It'll have to learn to use its inherent differences to overcome and adapt, making it unique and a standout among its people. The "fish out of water" trope may be hackneyed, but it makes for memorable characters.

[@BCTheEntity]

I do not have a problem with the Custom Origin myself. It makes sense that some members of some races differ greatly from their counterparts. What I struggle with is the races that come after this, who have precisely no inherent racial ASIs whatsoever, and moreover few other defining features of the race in question. Having a means to make a character who differs from the norm is great; having a race with *no* norm, or God forbid barely an ounce of lore to justify them, winds up making players feel less special for "not being with the norm".

[@coletrainhetrick]

This

[@Ghilannugs]

This! Like limiting a race to only ever having bonus in fex strength and constitution is boring and ignore the diversity you can find in a species. But having no lore or story whatsoever with what's more common in one? equally boring

[@Tulkash01]

Pathfinder solved this by giving races their standard array of ability increases AND one that can go wherever you want. So a Dwarf has +2con/+2wis/-2cha and +2 to any stat, while a human gets two +2ability increases to whatever they want.

[@dragonkin877]

@@Tulkash01 and that's why Pathfinder is just better.

[@scotth8408]

I think people forget its an actual 'race'. This is not just a differently colored human, its a totally different species. You can still have a human with a higher con than a dwarf, its just that on AVERAGE dwarves have higher cons. On average, races with certain stats boosted exceed the average of races without that stat boost. Different races would have different genetic makeups, different brain chemistry even (alignments influence here). Too often I see people treating alien races in fiction as if they were just funny colored/shaped humans when the biology is TOTALLY different. Can there be outliers? Sure. But the average still exists and their genetics will play a large part. If you want a weak race with a +2 str, then leave that stat at 10, bam, your kinda weak now, racially speaking your nearly a cripple among your kind. Despite what some people think, genetics is a thing.

[@thedwarvenlord5610]

SteelySam: Send him to sundown... Motivational Monty: Understood.

[@Krwzprtt]

I think that Custom Origin can be managed with easily. The whole point is to be a creature that doesn't fit in any preconcieved race (like, you want to be a mushroom man?). So as a DM, I would DEFINITELY ask for the chosen feat to be coherent to the newly-created race, and not just picked for min-maxing your class. As for varient human, I tend to authorize it because baseline human is just so...meh. Maybe just ban certain feats from getting picked?

[@Madwand99]

I just wanted to be an elf that started with a feat (elven accuracy).

[@maeve615]

I agree baseline human is the equivelant of blogna w/ mayo on white bread (not a bad choice, but rather boring) My cuff rule; I'll allow things as long as it has a consistent internal logic & isn't a min/max mad dash. E.G. If a character's back story is they grew up on a small island I'm fine with them having faster swim speed+breath holding duration & starting off aces at using a spear.

[@KimKimeraKimes]

@@Madwand99 does not work, you need to be of the elven race to get that feat, not through the custom origin. You may look like an elf, but you are not one.

[@Madwand99]

@@KimKimeraKimes Suffice to say I disagree, and so apparently does my DM. If my parents are elves, then my PC is also an elf.

[@joaoluizmoraesgomes7778]

Ban lucky, sharpshooter, HWM and tough should do it

[@CremeCheesus]

0:42 That absolute cutie of a Rainbow Lorikeet

[@ThePadsta108]

I once reflavoured a warforged into a dryad/treant type wood spirit, so technology and setting, as with many races, is just a matter of imagination.

[@cobaltblu4196]

one of my players reflavored their warforged to be a mech suit powered by a Axolotl, Isn't D&D fun? :D

[@kylekid10]

I honestly think human variant should be the default human race. When you have races like elves who require half the time to sleep while in a meditative state so you can’t be taken by surprise , some of the best and most versatile sub races in dnd, considering great bonuses in some of the best stats in the game and resistance to being charmed and immunity to sleep, aging to be nearly a century making you virtually immune to aging effects and INNATE CASTING….. who cares if humans get ONE feat Edit: to those saying that “oh sharp shooter, lucky, GWM etc.” Thats not the human’s fault. You can argue these feats at ANY point of the game is over powered. The cool thing about dnd is you are a DM… if you think a feat is too strong level 1 level lock it to level 4…. Having a few good feats should not be the reason humans should get LITERALLY nothing. Compared to other races who get almost everything to complement their kit. Everyone is trying to invalidate my argument by mentioning the most powerful feats when in reality they are probably gunna get that feat down the line anyway. Is it really THAT broken for a level 1 human to have the skilled expert feat? Or the chef feat if it fits their character. SMH I would hate to be in your game sounds like a no fun zone

[@ProfX501]

The one feat makes them one of the best races in the game lol

[@zinogrevz7389]

and dont get darkvision

[@Booklat1]

this is just non-sense The reason people rate human variant higher than those races and racial features you mentioned is because they're much fucking better Getting a cantrip is nowhere close to getting sharpshooter at lvl 1, or lucky, or any powerful feat for that matter ( nor is getting one or two lvled spells) . Sure half-elves, yuan ti and some other races have comparable racial features but plz don't act like fucking slow aging is a relevant mechanic in game, specially when balanced against feats

[@spiceyicey]

@@Booklat1 you're wrong, also halflings

[@evandugas7888]

@@Booklat1 A lot of race abilities are better then a feat. Elves get a bunch of goodies same with Dwarfs. Aasimar get a bunch of goodies to so do teiflings. I guess my point is humans get the feat since a lot of others get abilities as good as a feat.

[@Logan-ef8hq]

I've never minded flight too much. Granted it could get out of hand if they are sharpshooter rangers 600 feet in the air

[@natashasurvivallady8021]

Sharpshooter rangers can get out of hand, true. But, that's when you get to have fun with weather, air access, and unrelated flying predators that's see a lone meal hovering in the air. Personally I've found a rainy day to be the best way to humble the player that ttys to get that high up.

[@Logan-ef8hq]

@@natashasurvivallady8021 oh for sure.

[@dracoargentum9783]

only 600? I can get 900 with my aracockra sor/lock with eldritch spear, spell sniper and distant spell [technically, you don't even need the sorcerer with metamagic initiate]

[@IcsulX]

I allow Aarakocra in my games, with constitution saving throws when they get hit to keep flying and/or wing-arm hybrid, so they have to land to cast/attack.

[@pmester228]

Or maybe ranged attacks suffer a penalty because, you know, you're flying at like a 100 feet per turn.

[@tarkusvontortellini1877]

Thought about playing an Aarakocra monk who had his wings cut off in an goblin raid. This particular tribe of goblins realised that in ambushing Aarakocras and cutting off their wings, or at least maiming them as soon as possible, it would make fighting them easier. My character would have been one of a few survivors of this raid as he was a juvenile and hid away with his brother and sister. Now fully grown, he seeks to find a skilled artisan who can fashion prosthetic wings for him and his siblings, all the while learning the ways of the fist and talon to better defend himself on his journey. I feel like this is a great way for me to play the cool bird people race while avoiding the inherent issue with playing a bird person, while also allowing plenty opportunity for roleplay. - No flying speed, but stats still lend themselves to the monk playstyle - Makes sense to have met the party in the city, as he'd be looking for a skilled craftsman - Encourages urban exploration from a roleplay perspective - May have uncontrollable fear/aggression when facing goblins, a common enemy in most campaigns so its a flaw that actually comes up in play - Once he reaches level 12 or so, then that can be when he finds a craftsman skilled enough to make him a set of wings, could be a whole side quest for him to look out for materials and funds whilst adventuring and bring it back to the guy. For me the human/animal races are really cool, loxodons are another favourite of mine. So I'm kinda just throwing this idea out there as inspiration for character ideas that still let you play the race but gain flight at a more balanced time.

[@youtubecensorship842]

I love when people roll birds, because they never realize that any CC will send them hurtling to the ground to their instant death.

[@LupineShadowOmega]

If Warforged are "too technologically advanced" you might not want to have magic then. Because they're literally constructs that were given actual life instead of the semblance of it. It would be like trying to argue that it doesn't make sense for necromancers to exist in a fantasy world. Magic handwaves all the "technology" bits. And flavorwise you could do whatever you wanted. I've literally played in a homebrew game, where the end of the quest was to stop a ritual conceived by a rogue Priest of Moradin to create life. It created that settings version of the Warforged and basically fed off the lives of the living for fuel for the ritual.

[@VulpisFoxfire]

Indeed...I was listening to this and just thinking, "Why are they b*tching about golems?"

[@jbark678]

I've always had the idea in the back of my head to flavor them as bug people in a campaign.

[@ЖаркоШкребић]

Yeah, it would easyer to just say they are powered by magic. Like an artficer, they seem as a high technology, but are actualy just a part of a magic.

[@KimKimeraKimes]

You could also rebrand warforged as homunculi. Creatures created by alchemy just like the clone, create homunculus and create magen spells do. Now one is just a PC. The only problem I see is how to go about the warforged trait of Integrated armor.

[@himedo1512]

Yeah. Thats not the problem. Look a bit more into warforged. Yes, they're powered by magic but their bodies are still quite technological and a decent work of engineering

[@snappingshrimp235]

I really liked this video, seeing someone else that doesn't ban aracrocka but balances it is great. I forgot how broken it is tho. The rest of the races I never really checked and I'm happy you made this so now I know which ones I need to be prepared! Edit: all Tasha's adittions in my table are welcomed, since they give a lot of roleplay potential and build flexibility. I can also understand why people could dislike it tho, and yes newbies struggle a lot with that that's why I don't even mention it when they are beginning to familiarize with the game.

[@MrSpeakerCone]

As a DM, I'd love to have a fast flying PC. That level of verticality could really shake up the way I think about combat encounters. Kobolds with hang-gliders and nets maybe? Entangling Shot balistae on castle walls? homebrew gravity magic? or the ultimate counterplay ... low ceilings!

[@summermermaidstar756]

Isnt there gravity magic already?

[@istvanbrooks5319]

I gave some knights biplanes

[@MouldMadeMind]

Baloon pirates

[@MrSpeakerCone]

@@MouldMadeMind ... BALOON PIRATES! :D

[@WriterGirl90]

In an old game I played in, the DM ended up nerfing the Aarakocra sorcerer’s flying speed through a story plot point because of how he used it. Of course, he did nearly die in the first session because he flew about 100ft in the air and went to spy on a collection of bad guys (this was at level 1 🤦‍♀️) only to be spotted and shot down… I’ve never had a DM ban me from using a variant human but then I don’t really play a human character very often. My brother’s actually playing a Warforged in the game I’m currently running and it’s led to some REALLY good RP moments between the party.

[@DivineFalcon]

The uniqueness of a warforged can be an amazing story hook in a low-magic campaign. A whole campaign can be set around it's origins and why everyone wants it. Where did it come from? How was it made? What is its purpose? Are there more like it? Sounds like the seeds for grand adventure to me.

[@Noobie2k7]

Then someone casts summon construct or animate object and everyone goes "oh wait a minute!!"

[@matheusrocha9018]

Bring us more Warlock combos, please! I love your videos.

[@lockskelington314]

can I just say yuan-ti aren't that overpowered considering Gnomes have Gnome Cunning which is like Magic Resistance but only to mental stats

[@APerson-ws4cw]

Gnome cunning only hits 1 of the 3 important saving throws, while magical resistance hits 3. Gnome cunning is already excellent, so being 3x as good is ban worthy imo

[@MayHugger]

It was overpowered because it was just outright better, but they also got a bunch of other abilities, whereas Gnomes only had slightly less movement and Darkvision. Their sub races were neat but ultimately really meh, so that didn’t help. So Yuan-it were basically just better in every way, which isn’t exactly balanced.

[@lockskelington314]

@@MayHugger Yeah but lore wise they are above ground Drow. In Example they should be killed on sight cause they're all Slavers and Demon Worshipers. So you'd have to deal with NPC's not trusting your charater. And if your Yuan-ti had a heart of Gold every other Yuan-ti should hate them and hunt them down to the ends of the earth.

[@shoreknightseer3152]

I tend to ban Kenku in my games. Only talking through mimicking sounds fun and all, but I've found it gets real old real fast.

[@ЖаркоШкребић]

Yeah but...maybe you can find something to change a little bit their mimic so its not that much irritating to play. Maybe to change that they can copy/cut words they heard. Just an Idea. Still, the Kenku is a very good race and i do not think it should be banished

[@evandugas7888]

Don't ban it. You run the world. Just change up the lore with Kenku so they can talk or be more able to talk. Kenku are cute... and a lot of people may want to play one.

[@leavinglamancha]

Well that's just a limit of imagination. Ever thought of running a campaign of ONLY Kenku bards? The party is a cover band that has to adventure while also making ends meet covering better bands in the taverns they go to.

[@archmagemc3561]

Simple, have the Kenku start with about 10 less gold but they can speak normally. The reason? They paid someone to read out a dictionary to them and stole their voice.

[@funnyvalentinedidnothingwrong]

I tend to have my Kenku write/draw instead of speak. Much more fun and lets me describe my tiny crow man very intently scribbling in his little notebook and then turning it around to reveal crude scribbles of him stealing shiny objects with "good" written above it

[@lollgodz9965]

3:17 had me laughing so hard I had to rewind listen again and pause to continue the video, its a well put description

[@ItovaSythr]

Kobolds are very, very often banned because they can gain access to so much that a dragon can. Flight at level one(30ft but still flight is OP), natural weapons, innate sorcerer spellcasting, and epically powerful feats to name the most egregious violations.

[@TheAnon03]

8:44 The main issue I have is, to use that example, a half-orc could always have been basically anything, you could have a half-orc wizard with STR as your dump stat. I actually have a half-orc wizard character around somewhere. The idea that certain races can't do things because it wouldn't be min-max in a role-playing game is just daft. And believe me, I both like to minmax and I suck at role-play. It's trying to solve a problem that just wasn't there.

[@Zivilin]

Yes. I love making characters that doesn't adhere to the norm of their race's class strength. . 💜 Halforc wizard, dwarf sorc, strength based halfling cleric/fighter, grey orc shaman of eldath.

[@benjaminkingsley-jones7832]

Dependant on the campaign, poison immunity of yuan-ti (and grungs) is actually insane. I only got a short way in BG:DIA, and my player that played a grung basically halved or was entirely immune to about half the damage the party took. On a different note, I don’t feel variant human is OP. They don’t get a ‘free’ feat, they get that feat, and 1 of each type of proficiency. No special abilities, just normal feats a bit earlier. This doesn’t go for custom origin however, as it’s ability to give a +2 to a single stat results in it being able to get a stat to 20 up to 2 levels faster than any other build (and that’s with both builds min/maxing for 20 in said stat - it’s just generally better at min/maxing)

[@cobaltblu4196]

Trust me, I had a player who refused to play anything but a variant human because of how much he could break it.

[@silenceechoez1900]

Love your content so much bro! Keep up the great work!

[@roberteospeedwagon44]

3:43 Lizard? Us Yuan-ti went through some dark shit to become one with the snakes, we deserve the title of snake people

[@uiuelite]

Yeah lizardfolk ar the true lizard people

[@matthewporter7871]

Yuan-to purebloods are crazy strong and imo crazy interesting. I think having a yuan-ti in the party who is no longer associated with the empire and just in life for themselves can be really cool. I think the idea of a character having no emotions at all is interesting and is fun to role play. Being emotionless doesn’t mean you’re necessarily evil either, just that you probably aren’t some lawful good or chaotic good hero.

[@Aaron-cs3xl]

I think a Yuan-Ti that is both entirely selfish, but also uses that selfishness to drive their "good" actions would be interesting. There's a huge reward for saving the orphans from the witch? Let's do it. Finding the selfish benefit from following the party is fun roleplay opportunity. Plus there's often moments where the party needs to do something evil for their quest to continue, and the Yuan-Ti would do it without hesitation, while the rest might ponder. Evil characters are great additions to parties, so long as they're played correctly.

[@seanziegler477]

How to deal with each op race as a DM Aarakocra : Hold person spells, dungeons/caves etc that have no room to fly in, enemy aarakocra, etc. Pureblood Yuan-ti : Use spells that target non-magical things to deal damage. Enlarge/reduce your allies. use mundane means to restrain them/ Grapple + rope/manacles are great for this. Can't make use of your advantage on check/save if you are never made to make a check/save. Satyr : Same as above. Ram only works if they move in a straight line. Obstructions will make this more difficult to use. Custom lineage free feat : Get creative and pay attention to the feat they take and what benefits it gives. Heavy armor master? well that bbeg just so happens to have weapons/abilities that overcome that. Spells work just as well. Warforged : Two words, Rust monster.

[@uiuelite]

Or another thing for warforged Dm: you fall from the ship Warforged: i swim back Dm: no you cant Warforged: why Dm: because you ar made of metal so you drown and because you dosent need breath you dosent die good luck find your party

[@seanziegler477]

@@uiuelite they can attempt to swim, they just have major penalties depending on how they have built the character.

[@uiuelite]

@@seanziegler477 yeah but your speed his 0 and you have a -2 you can just float so if your teammate dosent save you you ar dead

[@Rockitfilm94]

Tasha's custom origin for me seemed as a good introduction to a nice mix up. It allowed to play a race in a class that usually never plays at. I used it to make an orc artificer with a backstory that matches it's stat changes

[@arikaaa69]

I think its cool because it lets you make almost anything you could ever want to play without asking the DM to make a homebrew. The game is balanced around character starting with a +3 to their primary stat, but if you don't roll a 16 and the race doesn't give you the right ability score, you either gotta change race or hope your DM lets you reroll. With custom origin, you don't have worry about that anymore

[@curtissmith4024]

I haven't seriously played board D&D in about 40 years and I have time to get into it now. You rock!

[@Ellehsdee]

This is the first video from this channel that has showed up in my feed. I literally thought this guy was Mesus. I was excited to learn Mesus plays DnD but I still liked this video. Mesus also has videos about banned races.

[@SilverFoxR]

Honestly, I don't see Tasha's Custom Origin being banned because it changes what races "should be". I feel like that's kind of a BS concept on it's own. What's wrong with playing against type? For example, in the case of the orc sorcerer... what if the orc character was born physically weaker but with magical gifts or, even better, was born into a line of shamans or mystics? There's nothing saying orcs wouldn't have the equivalent of Clerics trying to speak to their god/s or to divine/scry where the tribe would be more successful hunting or travelling. Sure, orcs TEND to be a physical and imposing race, but I think even they would see the benefits of those in their tribe who can tap into the fabric of nature and reality itself to bolster their ranks or rain death down in a large area. And even if not, having a character who's atypical can make for some awesome roleplay potential. Going back to the orc sorcerer again - what if their frail form and magical gifts made them an outcast from their orc tribe? What if they escaped before being executed for being weak and have been travelling alone, trying to become stronger? What if they're still being pursued to this day and have difficulty finding a safe place to rest as nobody trusts them, either because of their orc heritage or because everywhere they go, the orcs will find them and raise the town to try and kill the fugitive? There you go! I just wrote a backstory for our example character that uses the custom origin, but still plays into the races "should be" a certain way. Yes, the player character is different and it's BECAUSE of their difference that they are hunted by those in their race who are supposed to be the "right way". Also: Warforged best race.

[@worale1]

Its mostly ban because powergaming reasons. As in: you dont want to roleplay, you just want a +2 on your main ability and all those nice racial abilities. Does getting a 17 over a 15 changes how would you roleplay your character? But yeah, I can see where are you coming from, it differ from table to table :)

[@ЖаркоШкребић]

@@worale1 Yeah, it does sound an extremly cool to change it like that, but people will use it just for makimg a character more powerfull. Especialy if you are playing a mountain dwarf who already has +2 STR and +2 CON. But i will allow that you can change a language( If it stays with a character backstory). I dont know how could that make a game to break.

[@proxy90909]

Warforged indeed best race

[@ЖаркоШкребић]

I also like yuan-ti pureblood. There are to me very cool.

[@liveadhdtv]

heres how I see it. Let's take that half orc example alongside the standard array(15,14,13,12,10,8). The half orc is explicitly not human. He may be half human, but orcs are in fact a different species. Because of this, a half orc would have slightly stronger muscles than an untrained human, just as most predators in nature are usually stronger than humans. Even if you dump 8 to Str, hes still about as strong as an untrained human. Now his charisma is what you want to place your 15 in. You have worked hard all your childhood, and have put effort towards the mystic arts. However your orcish half encouraged you to do more physical things, and there was always some kind of disconnect when learning from the human mages. You're still more charismatic than most of your peers, but not as much as someone who's entire culture is defined by their charisma. In time you will become as powerful as your counterparts, but it might take just a bit longer. Until then, you're content with being 5% weaker

[@Friedpan1939]

They literally made everyone love Tasha's custom origin in one DND

[@temp7944]

I once made a Yuan-Ti general in an army. Theoretically he would be the perfect one since he didn’t know emotions, only logic. It worked relatively well. Also kind of ignored the evil bit.

[@dallaspark9100]

For the yuan ti: the most simple trick to use by the DM is the "enemy of my enemy is my friend" approach to story telling, make a villain who is so evil the good characters justify working with the yuan ti, and the yuan ti also see the villain as a threat.

[@Saraieth]

Don't forget the rarely mentioned (homebrewed) 3/4s Orc. Always a fun addition to a campaign

[@wwade7226]

Here we go with banning stuff instead of DM'ing the shit out of it using built-in game mechanics and tools. You, as a DM, have a full arsenal at your fingertips. If you can't handle OP races in the game, you don't need to be DM'ing.

[@HauntingSpectre]

I don't play, but it seems exceptionally stupid that things are banned in a role playing game that's entirely based on RNG. I mean, I understand you can optimize. But isn't the point of DnD the roleplaying and socialization? Like the combat is only important because it gets you more story. Not the other way around.

[@Metrion77]

@@HauntingSpectre Yes and no. Roleplay is a big part of DND, but a lot of groups like to have combat. "Minmaxers" are players who want to make a character who can do all this awesome stuff, like 1v1 against the big bad evil guy, and make it hard to balance against other characters who are building more realistically. If your variant human rogue fighter gets 5 crits and deal 150 damage on his first turn, it can be hard to build an encounter that's fun for the the tabaxi warlock who built her character to be a servant of the jaguar archfey, and her strongest attack is a 3d6 per turn.

[@Metrion77]

Have you ever DMed with random people as players? Most players get butthurt if you say "I'll allow anything!" at the start, and then keep stepping on their plans as they play "oh, that seems a bit overpowered. Take another feat." or "Uh, this cavern designed to make you climb through traps has a magic field that prevents flight, even natural flight..." Especially if you don't have the self-confidence to speak up. If you have to use your DM arsenal to nerf your OP players, you need to re-examine your DM'ing.

[@HauntingSpectre]

@@Metrion77 As the DM (or any managerial position) should be able to read and tailor a plan based on the team. No player is good at everything. A 1 dimensional character would be easily dealt with in other areas. So the big bad combo rogue fails a trap save and finds himself knocked unconscious for the first few rounds. Fails a persuasion roll and gets arrested / kidnapped. Angers a melee resistant creature with High AC who basically pins him combat wise until the casters deal with it. Etc. If the player can min max, the DM can and should as well. If the player complains about that. They probably aren't worth keeping in the group because their enjoyment obviously outranks everyone elses. Idk. Never DM'd but seems pretty simple to work around. I imagine DMing is a work heavy role. So whats another 15 minutes to make the encounter actually challenging?

[@bennwardhaugh3013]

@@Metrion77 If you haven't got the self-confidence to speak up when you are the DM then why are you the DM in the first place? More importantly, the whole point of having the DM arsenal is to make sure that the campaign doesn't get trivialised. As a DM you should always have some sort of retort to whatever the players throw at you, and vice versa. If there's no challenge to the player then what's the point of playing?

[@afasdfasafd314]

the custom lineage is also banned because it can be broken, i mean, imagine a mountain dwarf wizard, +2 to con and int and profiency with medium armor at level 1 is kinda broken for a wizard, with a dex of 14 and the shield spell they can reach an AC of 22

[@dudelsackonator4494]

I personally like the idea of tasha's custom origin and I allow it in my games under a few additional conditions: 1. you can only replace mental ability score improvements (Wis, Cha, int) with other mental ASIs. Same goes for Str, Dex, Con. 2. Languages can be replaced when there is a good reason for it in the backstory (it's a great motivation for players to think about their backstory). 3. Skills cannot be replaced, unless there is a hell of a good reason for it.

[@real_evin]

What's the reasoning for now allowing skills to be changed? Just wondering, that seems like one of the lesser impactful ones overall. I don't see an issue in a high-elf having proficiency in acrobatics or something instead of perception to start with.

[@dudelsackonator4494]

@@real_evin I guess the reasoning I had was that many skills are something you acquire through practicing (background and class) rather than just getting it because of your race. So if your race is naturally perceptive (with your example of an elf) I would probably stick with that. But maybe that doesn't make much sense now that I think about it, it did make sense to me when I thought of the system though :D

[@real_evin]

@@dudelsackonator4494 AH yeah I hear you. I think most players just like to use racial features as an additional way of building their character - it doesn't make much sense that some races are just born with the knowledge to cast certain spells too xD

[@Booklat1]

​@@dudelsackonator4494 i like that, fixes my biggest problems with post-tasha races (the fact wotc can't differentiate biological and cultural features) tabaxi are stealthy and perceptive because that's cat instincts, not because they grew up in a rogue family or whatever. What justifies a tabaxi having Arcana from their race instead? Shouldn't my background or class give me that if that's an acquired trait? It worked ok when they did subraces with cultural skills but adding them on the main race feels fucking bizarre oh and btw, we can change stats but not casting ability of innate casting features, because fuck players i guess. Tasha's rules are fucking half-assed

[@dudelsackonator4494]

@@Booklat1 Glad I could help :). I am a big fan of Tasha's myself, but there is plenty of stuff in there that I rule differently in my campaign, way more than any other source book.

[@GamerClipz01]

This had probably the funniest sponsored segments in a video ever 😂

[@chesfilms8584]

Ha! That Warforged holding the anchor is art I commissioned for a campaign. The artist is Gaston Garcia and he is brilliant! Unfortunately the campaign never got started but the premise for the character was very simple: He was lost at the bottom of the sea, inactive for a long time. He was accidently dredged from the sea floor by a dropped anchor. With no memory of his past, he served as the protector of the ship, took the name Anchor, and kept the anchor that found him as his weapon!

[@BloodyBerry369]

if you're an orc with +2 int, you're even more unique

[@PippoFrancoPippo]

I too love the tasha's custom origin, it is roleplay gold and can make for some really interesting characters

[@Ishlacorrin]

Roleplay does not care about stats though, so it's not needed in anyway. In fact having a character go against their racial norm is MORE of a roleplay then making them a re-skinned other race. Stats are not that important in the game that the level 1 boosts matter that much anyway, the only loss is a possible 20 in your chosen stat because of that +2 racial bonus.

[@ericlapointe597]

I've been using a variant of tashas custom lineage for almost as long as I've been dming. I feel like forcing certain races to be certain classes limits people's creativity when it comes to character building. And so what if some things seem broken? At the end of the day, all that matters is that my players have fun so if I have to work a little harder to balance encounters then so be it.

[@nvfury13]

Nobody is “forcing certain races to be certain classes”, one of my very beloved characters was a Half Orc Assassin, another was a Elven Fighter. The only people that think getting stat adjustments that aren’t optimal to your class “forces” you to take another class/use another race are the bad kind of power gamers and min-maxers.

[@Russellonfire]

Hey, I recognise that golden mankini at 8:25. He was Blonkar the barbarian, from my Frozen Sick game. Good times.

[@zoruasnivy]

All of our Aarakocra's near death experiences have involved falling from the air after getting hit and falling prone/taking damage. And they can't fly much while in dungeons or buildings which means that melee enemies will still be a big threat there. There is definitely room for abuse but I think it really depends on how both the player and GM play around it. For example when our aarakocra scouts ahead for danger, it comes at the caveat of they can also be seen by things on the ground, making an otherwise useful stealth skill more situational. We also have a custom lineage artificer that uses gun-type weapons & my kobold paladin is using the MMotM version which has Tasha's rules on stats, so maybe my opinion is different but our party hasn't had many issues getting into danger & almost dying regardless 😂

[@Shayma98]

Surprised aasimar aren’t here. Someone I play with bans them from games he dm because he considers them overpowered.

[@mahe4]

they can be pretty powerful. but i don't ban them, because 1. they aren't THAT powerful 2. my players aren't edgy enough to play an aasimar

[@WhyYouMadBoi]

They're not powerful, like at all really they're on par with tieflings maybe even a bit weaker depending on the type.

[@mahe4]

@@WhyYouMadBoi depends on your build. being able to fly for a minute and extra damage equal to your level can be really good. but yeah of course there are more powerful races

[@LupineShadowOmega]

Yes, an entire action to use their racial abilities and a small pool of healing hands...terrifying in the hands of players. XD

[@mahe4]

@@LupineShadowOmega see? finally some one understands me! xD

[@Anathyma-e6l]

I think that purely letting all races have a +2 to one stat and a +1 to any other stat makes character creation opens up the floodgates to all sorts of creative and unique characters that would never exist otherwise.

[@DankManPlays]

Exactly, I use this to make incredibly intelligent orcs

[@baileyface54]

"...the only reason to be a half orc beyond roleplay reasons..." Oh no, if only this game was more roleplay focused. Legit, I hear that compaint and I never get it "Now why would you play/do/get X now unless you wanted to" yeah...that's the point. It's a game meant to have fun. Why is that a problem?

[@stefanomartinelli7344]

My next character: Amerikroma (Eagle sound) becouse every action Is a free action (Eagle sound) Basically, a sorcerer with the variant for dragons, and the Quickened metamagic, to blast people from the Sky. Lvl 4 magic sniper, eldritch blast taken as cantrip and 72 meters blast Is unlocked, the terrore of the sky. (Eagle sound) I'm not going as an artificier for guns becouse we don't use that manual (yet).

[@LeonBlack666]

"they are basically mark Zuckerberg... The race" i died and reborn with this joke, spend about 3 minutes on the floor no shit

[@Brenilla]

I like Tasha’s custom origin, mostly the stat adjustment part, because for newer players it keeps them from feeling “forced” to play a specific race because “it’s for the best.”

[@cobaltblu4196]

or like how Kenku can talk now, it's super useful for people who just wanna play a little crow dude.

[@windwaker105]

My thing with the Yuan-Ti being evil, is that it is their society that is evil. Like how Roman society was evil. And a “Good Roman” would then have to be evil as well. Yuan-Ti aren’t without emotion, they think emotions are bad and you should not have them, source: a flaw for a Yuan-Ti character is that they feel emotions and are ashamed by it.

[@Unit-3D]

Honestly, I like Tasha's Custom Origin, which by the way also applies to character alignment too iirc, and also the errata removing those ridiculous minuses from races like Kobolds and Orcs, because it moves the narrative away from what TV Tropes calls "Unfortunate Implications." Simply put, if the writers are perfectly fine with the fantasy counterpart to your race or culture being universally stupid, weak, or evil by default, then it implies unfortunate things about said writer's perspective, like ignorance or outright racism. This is especially problematic at times because most of the conventional player races are most often clearly modeled after Western and Central Europe, while many of the unconventional and/or "monster" races commonly take inspiration from more "exotic" places like Africa, Asia, or the Americas. Generally, players who complain especially loud about Custom Origin also seem like the type who would be far happier playing AD&D for the sake of giving women -2 Strength on top of all that baggage.

[@vasudeanguy8523]

If you truly think that, then I think you might need to reassess why you play.

[@DeathsHood]

Can you give some examples? Because literally every time anyone I've talked with makes this argument, they default to stuff like "drow have black skin", "orcs are tribal", and other, equally ridiculous nonsense.

[@Razzerfly]

As of 5e and Volos Guide to Monsters, no race has negative stat bonuses, so I don't think your point really makes sense. Custom Origin just seems to be a powergamer choice to pick the best racial abilities with the best stats for your build, rather than just allocating stats better and having a less focused, more rounded character

[@argaveus]

In a similar vein to what Razzerfly said, just because you can have whatever skills and stats you want does not change the way the race is portrayed in lore. The only person who can change that is the DM, but if they change the lore then there isn't a need to distance your character from "problematic stereotypes"

[@MrBabbaTheGreat]

I don’t think that’s the point of Tasha’s custom origin. The thing people don’t understand is that with D&D’s last editions (I’m not talking about 1st or 2nd because we all agree they’re outdated and very limiting) your stats can still be wathever you want. If you’re an orc, getting a +2 in strenght, what stops you from also having 18 intelligence? The whole point of stat bonuses (I also liked 3.5e with its maluses, but that’s more of a personal preference) is to represent the physical characteristics of the race, not of a member of that race. What does that mean? That an orc ON AVERAGE is stronger than a gnome, and there’s nothing wrong with it, makes the game way more credible. That doesn’t mean that there couldn’t be a gnome stronger than an orc, but that they’re very hard to find. It means that even a weak orc is not THAT weak due to their mass and size. In my opinion custom origin should be a tool for DMs to think outside of the box and create a world where maybe orcs are ON AVERAGE very intelligent and EVERY ORC has a +2 int. And stop saying nonsense about racism, is it racist to say that a lion is ON AVERAGE stronger than a human? Because that’s how different D&D races are

[@momomomocensoredbyyoutube9085]

I just found this video today but I notice how starkly your opinion on races has changed with the recent One DnD playtester addition. I personally agree with this take over the new take.

[@calebboehler8102]

Currently playing a Yuan-ti Pureblood warlock. Couple clutch moments when i opened a wardrobe full of poisonous spores... rolled the save, remembered immunity, and rped it as shrugging it off with a sneeze lol. Then tanked a charge through a cave bottle neck into a mage's lair