Advanced Race Guide (5e)
There are various issues I've wanted to deal with concerning races in 5th Edition D&D. On the whole¸ the races are rock-solid¸ both mechanically and thematically. That being said¸ the simplifying of some areas--like senses-- is a bit too overdone for my personal taste. Additionally¸ some items seem to be valued quite highly that I value very low (such as natural weapons and exotic languages). With this guide¸ I am showing what I use for the races in my own games¸ including the expanded senses that are available (and the implications such senses have on a game world¸ such as races with the ability to see ultraviolet light or changes in temperatures). The aarakocra--one of the most divisive races simply due to being a flier--was the first race redesigned throughout this process¸ and once they were in a good spot¸ every other race was pulled up to be in line with them ¸ rather than trying to pull the more powerful races down to match the overall average races. While not presented in this guide¸ there's a lot under the hood that went into making this guide. The races presented do have values assigned to basically everything they gain¸ and all fall in-line within a narrow window of acceptable ranges of value. There are 45 races in this guide¸ most modified versions of existing races from official Dungeons & Dragons materials such as the Player's Handbook ¸ Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes ¸ and Volo's Guide to Monsters (along with a few other supplements). A handful--the aranea¸ cansin¸ cryion¸ darfellan¸ fairy¸ frogfolk¸ gnoll¸ mul (half-dwarf)¸ mechantrix¸ serpentfolk¸ tari (ratfolk)¸ thri-kreen¸ wilden¸ and zenythri--have not been presented in any official products that I'm aware of as PC races. There are also 26 new feats¸ 3 modified feats¸ 3 new weapons¸ and 18 new spells (some of which you might recognize from my Air¸ Earth¸ Fire¸ and Water cleric domain supplement). There are also two conditions--the anosmic and odorless conditions--which do for smell what blinded and invisible do for sight.