dnd

Now that we’ve taken a look at the changes to the fantasy races (Part 1, Part 2), let’s look at the backgrounds. Clearly this is one of the biggest areas of change since the start of 5e. There are a number of facets to look at these changes and I’m likely going to miss a few of them.

One D&D

Context

First, let’s look at what a background looks like from the start of 5e. I will leave out the flavor text

You have spent your life in the service of a temple to a specific god or pantheon of gods. You act as an intermediary between the realm of the holy and the mortal world, performing sacred rites and offering sacrifices in order to conduct worshipers into the presence of the divine. You are not necessarily a cleric — performing sacred rites is not the same thing as channeling divine power.

Choose a god, a pantheon of gods, or some other quasi-divine being from among those listed in appendix B or those specified by your DM, and work with your DM to detail the nature of your religious service. Were you a lesser functionary in a temple, raised from childhood to assist the priests in the sacred rites? Or were you a high priest who suddenly experienced a call to serve your god in a different way? Perhaps you were the leader of a small cult outside of any established temple structure, or even an occult group that served a fiendish master that you now deny.

Skill Proficiencies: Insight, Religion
Languages: Two of your choice
Equipment: A holy symbol (a gift to you when you entered the priesthood), a prayer book or prayer wheel, 5 sticks of incense, vestments, a set of common clothes, and a pouch containing 15 gp
Feature: Shelter of the Faithful
As an acolyte, you command the respect of those who share your faith, and you can perform the religious ceremonies of your deity. You and your adventuring companions can expect to receive free healing and care at a temple, shrine, or other established presence of your faith, though you must provide any material components needed for spells. Those who share your religion will support you (but only you) at a modest lifestyle.

You might also have ties to a specific temple dedicated to your chosen deity or pantheon, and you have a residence there. This could be the temple where you used to serve, if you remain on good terms with it, or a temple where you have found a new home. While near your temple, you can call upon the priests for assistance, provided the assistance you ask for is not hazardous and you remain in good standing with your temple.

Now, let’s look at the background of the same name in Unearthed Arcana:

Ability Scores: +2 Wisdom, +1 Intelligence
Skill Proficiencies: Insight, Religion
Tool Proficiency: Calligrapher’s Supplies
Language: Celestial
Feat: Magic Initiate (Divine)

You devoted yourself to service in a temple, either nestled in a town or secluded in a sacred grove. There you performed hallowed rites in honor of a god or pantheon. You served under a priest and studied religion. Thanks to your priest’s instruction and your own devotion, you also learned how to channel a modicum of divine power in service to your place of worship and the people who prayed there.

Equipment

Book (Prayers)	Calligrapher’s Supplies
Holy Symbol	Parchment (10 sheets)
Robe	3 GP

From Feature to Feat

One of the biggest shifts is the move from feature to feat. Most of the features appear to have been intended to connect characters to the world, to give them networks of folks that they could tap into for help and assistance. When 5e was released, there was a huge push for factions to help provide connections as well.

An issue I could see with the features as often written is that they often required a Dungeon Master to make flesh out those networks. Even many adventures didn’t necessarily provide tie ins for them. They were ambiguous and unclear, which can work great depending on player and DM but can also be frustrating or unused.

By moving to a Feat, things are now more defined. In the case of the Acolyte, it also addresses an issue often remarked upon which is that they cannot perform any divine magic unless they happened to take a class that allowed it.

Previously, feats were an optional rule that allowed the player to forgo an ability score improvement to take on a feat. Now, instead of adding a background’s feature, one can add a first-level feat related to the background.

If you’re interested in the shift for backgrounds that exist in both the Players Handbook and Unearthed Arcana Playtest, here’s what the shift looks like.

Background	PHB Feature	UA Feat
Acolyte	Shelter of the Faithful	Magic Initiate (Divine)
Charlatan	False Idenitty	Skilled
Entertainer	By Popular Demand	Musician
(Guild) Artisan	Guild Membership	Crafter
Hermit	Discovery	Magic Initiate (Primal)
Noble	Position of Privilege	Skilled
Sage	Researcher	Magic Initiate (Arcane)
Sailor	Ship’s Passage	Tavern Brawler
Solider	Military Rank	Savage Attacker
Urchin	City Secrets	Lucky

Ability Scores

As mentioned in previous articles, another big change is that it’s now backgrounds that provide ability score bonuses instead of the character’s fantasy race. This makes a whole lot more sense to me. What you do and what you apply yourself to shapes what you are good at.

Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything has an explanation of why ability scores were originally tied to the fantasy races and why they gave alternate rules for apply ability score increases.

The Ability Score Increase trait in a race reflects an archetypal bit of excellence in the adventurers of this kind in D&D’s past. For example, if you’re a dwarf, your Constitution increases by 2, because dwarf heroes in D&D are often exceptionally tough. This increase doesn’t apply to every dwarf, just to dwarf adventurers, and it exists to reinforce an archetype. That reinforcement is appropriate if you want to lean into the archetype, but it’s unhelpful if your character doesn’t conform to the archetype.

Now that we are moving away from using ability scores to help define archetypes, how can the game help create that sort of story within the rules? We get an interesting look into that in terms of the languages.

Languages

One of the more subtle changes is in how languages get assigned. Before we get into how languages help define the setting and create archetypes, let’s look at how language assignment via backgrounds has changed over the years in 5e.

In the Players Handbook, fantasy race typically bestowed about 2 languages to the character and 7 out of 16 of the backgrounds would add 1 or 2 more languages.

Book	Backgrounds with Languages	Backgrounds without Languages
Players Handbook	Acolyte (2 of your choice) Guild Artisan (1 of your choice) Hermit (1 of your choice) Knight (1 of your choice) Noble (1 of your choice) Outlander (1 of your choice) Sage (2 of your choice)	Charlatan Criminal/Spy Entertainer Folk Hero Gladiator Pirate Sailor Soldier Urchin

In later books, it’s interesting to see how few backgrounds don’t add languages.

Book	Backgrounds with Languages	Backgrounds without Languages
Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide	City Watch / Investigator (2 of your choice) Clan Crafter (Dwarvish or 1 other) Cloistered Scholar (2 of your choice) Courtier (2 of your choice) Faction Agent (2 of your choice) Inheritor (1 of your choice) Knight of the Order (1 of your choice) Uthgardt Tribe Member (1 of your choice) Waterdhavian Noble (1 of your choice)	Mercenary Veteran Urban Bounty Hunter
Curse of Strand	Haunted One (2, one must be Abyssal, Celestial, Deep Speech, Draconic, Infernal, Primordial, Sylvan, or Undercommon)	—
Tomb of Annihilation	Anthropologist (2 of your choice) Archaeologist (1 of your choice)	—
Wayfinder’s Guide to Eberron	—	House Agent
Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica	Azorius Functionary (2 of your choice) Boris Legionnaire (1 of Celestial, Draconic, Goblin, or Minotaur) Dimir Operative (1 of your choice) Golgari Agent (1 of Elvish, Giant, or Kraul) Gruul Anarch (1 of Draconic, Giant, Goblin, or Sylvan) Izzet Engineer (1 of Draconic, Goblin, or Vedalken) Orzhov Representatives (2 of your choice) Rakdos Cultist (1 either Abyssal or Giant) Selesnya Initiate (1 of Elvish, Loxodon, or Sylvan) Simic Scientist (2 of your choice)	—
Ghosts of Saltmarsh	Fisher (1 of your choice)	Marine Shipwright Smuggler
Acquisitions Incorporated	Celebrity Adventurer’s Scion (2 of your choice) Failed Merchant (1 of your choice) Far Traveler (1 of your choice) Gambler (1 of your choice) Plaintiff (1 of your choice) Rival Intern (1 of your choice)	—
Baldur’s Gate: Descent into Avernus	Acolyte (2 of your choice) Faceless (1 of your choice) Guild Artisan (1 of your choice) Hermit (1 of your choice) Noble (1 of your choice) Outlander (1 of your choice) Sage (2 of your choice)	Charlatan Criminal Entertainer Folk Hero Sailor Soldier Urchin
Acolyte (2 of your choice) Sage (Cobalt Scholar) (2 of your choice) Volstrucker Agent (1 of your choice)	Criminal (Myriad Operative) Grinner Sailor (Revelry Pirate) Spy (Augen Trust)
Mythic Odysseys of Theros	Athlete (1 of your choice)	—
Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft	—	Investigator
The Wild Beyond the Witchlight	Feylost (1 of Elvish, Gnomish, Goblin, or Sylvan) Witchlight Hand (1 of your choice)	—
Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos	Lorehold Student (2 of your choice) Prismari Student (1 of your choice) Quandrix Student (1 of your choice) Silverquill Student (2 of your choice)	Witherbloom Student
Spelljammer: Adventures in Space	Astral Drifter (2 of your choice)	Wildspacer
Total	47	20 (32 if we count each individual House Agent background)

Unlike in the PHB where approximately half of the backgrounds provided languages, across the remaining books, we’re looking at 47 backgrounds that do versus 20 or 32 that do not. So the move to just standardize that the background will assign one language makes a lot of sense.

The subtle thing is how they provide which language the background will assign.

Language	Backgrounds
Abyssal	Cultist
Celestial	Acolyte
Common Sign Language	Urchin
Draconic	Noble
Dwarvish	Guard Laborer
Elvish	Entertainer Sage
Giant	Guide
Gnomish	Artisan
Goblin	Soldier
Halfling	Farmer Pilgrim
Infernal	Charlatan
Orc	Gladiator
Primordial	Sailor
Sylvan	Hermit
Thieves’ Cant	Criminal

From this list, we have a bunch of world building, right? The strategies of goblinoid generals are widely studied by soldiers and are so revered that soldiers learn the Goblin language to study them. Elvish is key for recording and studying lore, whether in the form of books or ways of entertaining the masses. So much of the knowledge used by guards or stone masons is tied to the Dwarves and thus folks with those pursuits learn Dwarvish. This world building ties the different groups to trades or roles.

In addition to the language from the background, players get to choose one language from the standard list and provide their own reason for why their character knows it.

Skill and Tool Proficiencies

While all backgrounds in the PHB provided skill proficiencies, tool proficiencies were not universal. In the UA playlets, a core component for the background is adding a tool proficiency. This overall feels more like a tweak to make it easier to custom build backgrounds rather than a major change.

Likewise, while there are some changes in the skill proficiencies, most of them remain the same. Here’s a comparison of the backgrounds that are in the PHB and UA.

Background	PHB Skills	UA Skills
Acolyte	Insight, Religion	Insight, Religion
Charlatan	Deception, Sleight of Hand	Deception, Sleight of Hand
Entertainer	Acrobatics, Performance	Acrobatics, Performance
(Guild) Artisan	Insight, Persuasion	Investigation, Persuasion
Hermit	Medicine, Religion	Medicine, Religion
Noble	History, Persuasion	History, Persuasion
Sage	Arcana, History	Arcana, History
Sailor	Athletics, Perception	Acrobatics, Perception
Soldier	Athletics, Intimidation	Athletics, Intimidation
Urchin	Sleight of Hand, Stealth	Insight, Stealth

As you can see, very few of the skill proficiencies have changed. The ones that have are interesting. Artisans get “Investigation” instead of “Insight.” I like this because “Investigation” seems to be a rare trait and a lot of art is about experimentation and discovery.

The Sailor moves from “Athletics” to “Acrobatics” which is a good way to further distinguish sailors from soldiers.

Finally, the Urchin has “Sleight of Hand” move to “Insight.” The background talks about how they only resort to theft when nothing else has worked to get what they need, so having both Thieves’ Tools and Sleight of Hand was probably a bit too much.

Overall Thoughts

I went right into the details when discussing the backgrounds, in part because it was the easier part to discuss. Overall, backgrounds were given a bit of a promotion. There is a solid core that remains from the earlier version in that skill proficiencies largely stay the same, some of the equipment was shifted around, in part to give every one a tool proficiency, and while languages were expanded a bit, they were there in many backgrounds already.

The move of ability scores to background helps the game sidestep some of the issues around them being tied to fantasy race which helps the game feel lighter to me. I get that Tasha’s said to ignore it if it didn’t fit your concept anyway but not having to do the work of ignoring is much easier. And moving from the features that I always struggled to use at the table to a feat helps give it that oomph that makes me want to pick or create a background.

And that’s something we should talk about here, there are 3 ways proposed to use backgrounds:

• Use a prebuilt background
• Choose a prebuilt background and alter it
• Create your own background

It’s an extensible system to provide something for just about everyone.

Speaking of extensible, these suggested changes point to the flexibility of the 5e system. Using an older version that applies the ability scores? Either forgo the ability score increases from the older fantasy race or the ones from the background. But you can use bits from each.

What will be interesting is going forward, what gets the plain moniker of “Orc,” the original Player’s Handbook version or whatever comes from the play test.

I’ve been seeing a lot about the new Unearthed Arcana and the associated announcement of One D&D and want to explore what changes are being made.

One D&D

My understanding of what they are trying to do with the fantasy races is make sure that any crunch associated with each race is something that a member of that race would have even if they were raised by a different race and/or outside of the culture typically associated with that fantasy race.

This lets them do a few things:

• Under the theme of One D&D, a halfling in Forgotten Realms shares the overwhelming majority if not all of the same traits as a halfling in Eberron or Dark Sun. It’s less to remember as one shifts between settings, which is potentially even easier now with The Radiant Citadel and Spelljammer.
• It moves further away from some of the problematic elements of fantasy races, the ones that felt more like eugenics and racist/sexist psuedoscience than objective descriptions of fantasy races. Applying ability score changes based on fantasy race often reminded me of the attempts to measure skull shapes and the like between real world human races.
• Allows for so much more variation in characters and makes one’s background at least as important, if not more so, to character creation. The delineation appears to be if it’s something innate, it’s in the fantasy race description, and if it’s something that one learns, it’s based on your background, what you did and the culture you were around. This incorporates the reality that there is often more differences within a group than the differences between groups.
• With character race no longer defining ability scores, multi-race characters can be simplified. Just decide which parent race’s traits most defines you instead of trying to create full fantasy races for each pairing. We no longer have to pick between half elves being reviled or great at diplomacy and we can sidestep the traditional history connected to half orcs.

A few more things I noticed as I compared the Players Handbook version of each fantasy race with the Unearthed Arcana one:

• Not sure if because it’s not important in this round, but they removed the age of maturity in the switch from “Age” to “Life Span.” This could make sense as age of maturity is a cultural thing; not something innate.
• They also removed weight from “Size.” There can just be so much variation within each group, including weight never made much sense to me.
• They simplified speed. Instead of being tied to size, the base rate is 30 feet for all characters in this document. Now this could be a change that was actually made in one of the books after the Players Handbook, I haven’t kept up with the minutia of each book.

With all that, let’s look at what the changes actually entail. For this article, we’ll look at the key fantasy races of Dwarf, Halfling, Elf, and Human. We’ll look at Dragonborn, Gnome, Orc, and Tiefling in the next article.

Dwarf

Players Handbook	Unearthed Arcana
Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 2.	—
Age. Dwarves mature at the same rate as humans, but they’re considered young until they reach the age of 50. On average, they live about 350 years.	Life Span: 350 years on average
Size. Dwarves stand between 4 and 5 feet tall and average about 150 pounds. Your size is Medium.	Size: Medium (about 4–5 feet tall)
Speed. Your base walking speed is 25 feet. Your speed is not reduced by wearing heavy armor.	Speed: 30 feet
Darkvision. Accustomed to life underground, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.	Darkvision. You have Darkvision with a range of 60 feet.
Dwarven Resilience. You have advantage on saving throws against poison, and you have resistance against poison damage (explained in chapter 9, “Combat”).	Dwarven Resilience. You have Resistance to Poison Damage. You also have Advantage on saving throws you make to avoid or end the Poisoned Condition on yourself.
Dwarven Combat Training. You have proficiency with the battleaxe, handaxe, light hammer, and warhammer.	—
Tool Proficiency. You gain proficiency with the artisan’s tools of your choice: smith’s tools, brewer’s supplies, or mason’s tools.	Forge Wise. Your divine creator gave you an uncanny affinity for working with stone or metal. You gain Tool Proficiency* with two of the following options of your choice: Jeweler’s Tools, Mason’s Tools, Smith’s Tools, or Tinker’s Tools.
Stonecunning. Whenever you make an Intelligence (History) check related to the origin of stonework, you are considered proficient in the History skill and add double your proficiency bonus to the check, instead of your normal proficiency bonus	Stonecunning. As a Bonus Action, you gain Tremorsense* with a range of 60 feet for 10 minutes. You must be on a stone surface or touching such a surface to use this Tremorsense. The stone can be natural or worked. You can use this Bonus Action a number of times equal to your Proficiency Bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a Long Rest.*
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Dwarvish. Dwarvish is full of hard consonants and guttural sounds, and those characteristics spill over into whatever other language a dwarf might speak.	—
— (Originally part of just hill dwarf)	Dwarven Toughness. Your Hit Point Maximum increases by 1, and it increases by 1 again whenever you gain a level.

Key changes for Dwarves:

• The new version of the race has a couple of items that feel like they could be part of background/culture such as Forge Wise (which gives a tool proficiency) and Stonecunning (now the granting of tremorsense), but the description of Forge Wise lays the groundwork for it being innate. In this case, the character’s divine creator gifted the Dwarf race “an uncanny affinity for working with stone or metal.” Thus a narrative justification for it being innate and making a statement about the nature of dwarves.
• There are no separate classifications of Dwarf such as Hill and Mountain as in the Players Handbook. This could signify a go forward change or it could be that they want more time to figure out what makes those sub races key. The reason I say that is both Mountain Dwarf abilities are tied to things that should likely be part of culture/background (a strength ability score increase and the armor training) and one of the two items for Hill Dwarf was incorporated into the main race description (with the other being the ability score bump).
• May just be me, but Tremorsense is way cooler than a history check as something iconic to a Dwarf. It helps with the “dwarfiest dwarf” goal.

Elf

Players Handbook	Unearthed Arcana
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2.	—
Age. Although elves reach physical maturity at about the same age as humans, the elven understanding of adulthood goes beyond physical growth to encompass worldly experience. An elf typically claims adulthood and an adult name around the age of 100 and can live to be 750 years old.	Life Span: 750 years on average
Size. Elves range from under 5 to over 6 feet tall and have slender builds. Your size is Medium.	Size: Medium (about 5–6 feet tall)
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.	Speed: 30 feet
Darkvision. Accustomed to twilit forests and the night sky, you have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can’t discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.	Darkvision. You have Darkvision with a range of 60 feet.
Keen Senses. You have proficiency in the Perception skill.	Keen Senses. You have Proficiency in the Perception Skill.
Fey Ancestry. You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic can’t put you to sleep.	Fey Ancestry. You have Advantage on saving throws you make to avoid or end the Charmed Condition on yourself.
Trance. Elves don’t need to sleep. Instead, they meditate deeply, remaining semiconscious, for 4 hours a day. (The Common word for such meditation is “trance.”) While meditating, you can dream after a fashion; such dreams are actually mental exercises that have become reflexive through years of practice. After resting in this way, you gain the same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep.	Trance. You don’t need to sleep, and magic can’t put you to sleep. You can finish a Long Rest* in 4 hours if you spend those hours in a trancelike meditation, during which you retain consciousness.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Elvish. Elvish is fluid, with subtle intonations and intricate grammar. Elven literature is rich and varied, and their songs and poems are famous among other races. Many bards learn their language so they can add Elvish ballads to their repertoires.	—

Subraces

Drow

Players Handbook	Unearthed Arcana
Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 1.	—
Superior Darkvision. Your darkvision has a radius of 120 feet.	The range of your Darkvision increases to 120 feet.
Sunlight Sensitivity. You have disadvantage on attack rolls and on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight when you, the target of your attack, or whatever you are trying to perceive is in direct sunlight.	—
Drow Magic. You know the dancing lights cantrip. When you reach 3rd level, you can cast the faerie fire spell once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. When you reach 5th level, you can cast the darkness spell once with this trait and regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.	ou also know the Dancing Lights cantrip 3rd level: Faerie Fire 5th level: Darkness
Drow Weapon Training. You have proficiency with rapiers, shortswords, and hand crossbows.	—

High Elf

Players Handbook	Unearthed Arcana
Ability Score Increase. Your Intelligence score increases by 1.	—
Elf Weapon Training. You have proficiency with the longsword, shortsword, shortbow, and longbow.	—
Cantrip. You know one cantrip of your choice from the wizard spell list. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for it.	You know the Prestidigitation cantrip. Whenever you finish a Long Rest,* you can replace that cantrip with a different cantrip from the Arcane Spell List.* 3rd Level: Detect Magic 5th Level: Misty Step
Extra Language. You can speak, read, and write one extra language of your choice.	—

Wood Elf

Players Handbook	Unearthed Arcana
Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 1.	—
Fleet of Foot. Your base walking speed increases to 35 feet.	Your Speed increases to 35 feet.
Mask of the Wild. You can attempt to hide even when you are only lightly obscured by foliage, heavy rain, falling snow, mist, and other natural phenomena.	You also know the Druidcraft cantrip. 3rd Level: Longstrider 5th Level:Pass without Trace

Key Changes:

• Most of the changes to the base fantasy race are to remove things that belong in backgrounds now and to restructure some details (such as moving “magic cannot put you to sleep” from “Fey Ancestry” to “Trance”
• The key changes are in the lineages, streamlining them so each lineage gets a minor trait and a first level cantrip and then spells at 3rd and 5th level.

Halfling

Lucky. When you roll a 1 on the d20 for an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw, you can reroll the die and must use the new roll.

Players Handbook	Unearthed Arcana
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2.	—
Age. A halfling reaches adulthood at the age of 20 and generally lives into the middle of his or her second century.	Life Span: 150 years on average
Size. Halflings average about 3 feet tall and weigh about 40 pounds. Your size is Small.	Size: Small (about 2–3 feet tall)
Speed. Your base walking speed is 25 feet.	Speed: 30 feet
Luck. When you roll a 1 on the d20 of a d20 Test,* you can reroll the die, and you must use the new roll.
Brave. You have advantage on saving throws against being frightened.	Brave. You have Advantage on saving throws you make to avoid or end the Frightened Condition on yourself.
Halfling Nimbleness. You can move through the space of any creature that is of a size larger than yours.	Halfling Nimbleness. You can move through the space of any creature that is of a Size larger than yours, but you can’t stop there.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Halfling. The Halfling language isn’t secret, but halflings are loath to share it with others. They write very little, so they don’t have a rich body of literature. Their oral tradition, however, is very strong. Almost all halflings speak Common to converse with the people in whose lands they dwell or through which they are traveling.	—
—	Naturally Stealthy. You have Proficiency in the Stealth Skill.

Key Changes

• As with the Dwarves, the subraces of halfling have been removed and one of the traits of one of the subraces became part of the main fantasy race, in this case “Naturally Stealthy” from the “Lightfoot” sub race.
• Here is the first use in this document of a new term, “d20 Test.” This term defines certain d20 die rolls where inspiration points and luck may be used.

Human

Players Handbook	Unearthed Arcana
Ability Score Increase. Your ability scores each increase by 1.	—
Age. Humans reach adulthood in their late teens and live less than a century.	80 years on average
Size. Humans vary widely in height and build, from barely 5 feet to well over 6 feet tall. Regardless of your position in that range, your size is Medium.	Size: Medium (about 4–7 feet tall) or Small (about 2–4 feet tall), chosen when you select this Race
Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.	Speed: 30 feet
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and one extra language of your choice. Humans typically learn the languages of other peoples they deal with, including obscure dialects. They are fond of sprinkling their speech with words borrowed from other tongues: Orc curses, Elvish musical expressions, Dwarvish military phrases, and so on.	—
—	Resourceful. You gain Inspiration* whenever you finish a Long Rest.*
— (Matches variant rules in PHB)	Skillful. You gain Proficiency in one Skill of your choice.
— (Matches variant rules in PHB)	Versatile. You gain the Skilled Feat or another 1st-level Feat of your choice

Key Changes

• Giving an average life span for humans of 80 years is interesting. It keeps the maximum lifespan a mystery which could be nice for some characters (in our real world, we have humans who live past 110 years for instance). It also counteracts a lot of the assumptions about the world where folks want to apply a medieval life span of something like 40 years.
• I believe the ability to pick a different size than medium has been around for a bit now but again, makes total sense to include as we have real life humans who are under 4 feet tall. I’m wondering if this is part of the reason for the change to a base speed of 30 for most fantasy races, rather than having it based on size.
• Adding a link to inspiration as part of a human trait might signal trying to incorporate it more in the game. It’s been a while but I feel like inspiration was often seen as a bolt on system that folks might or might not use.
• Adding the two variant traits to the base race is really nice because it signifies more clearly the versatility and skillfulness of humans, rather than just bumping ability scores which might not have much if any affect, at least for early levels.

Thoughts so Far

I’m enjoying this restructuring of the core fantasy races and the intentionality around separating what is innate about a character versus what is more about life experience. I like that the non-human races all have a bit of magic to them. This should also help the races seem more distinct.

I also get why they can’t just get rid of races entirely. They were core to the start of D&D and are something that most players are expecting when they play.

On April 27th, OneBookShelf, in conjunction with Wizards of the Coast, Fantasy Grounds, and White Wolf, announced a Play It Forward Event, running from May 4th (Star Wars Day) until May 17th. During the event, community-created products on those companies will forgo their royalties on products sold on DMs Guild and Story Vault and instead, the creators of the content will get 100% of all revenue. This is intended to help the creators, many of who are struggling due to Covid-19.

In addition to this change of revenue sharing, the sites will be having a 20% sale on titles at least 30 days old and temporarily suspending the affiliate program.

Perhaps you, like me, are wondering about some titles to invest in and explore during this event. I did some exploring and would like to recommend the following:

The Corruption of Skyhorn Lighthouse

The Corruption of Skyhorn Lighthouse is an adventure for 8th-level characters expected to take about 5-7 hours. It may be run as a follow up adventure to The Secrets of Skyhorn Lighthouse, a 5th-level adventure that is available for free.

There's a lot to talk about with this adventure, specifically that it takes a bit of a different approach than most of the ones I've seen. Encounters by and large are kept to one page (with hyperlinks or printables to help cut down on page flipping). Embellishments and details are kept to a minimum. The idea is to allow a dungeon master to "run at a glance with minimal preparation and a natural delivery." To further aid with this, there is a short video walkthrough of the adventure.

Encounters are set up to resolve a dramatic question. Sometimes the expectation is that this will be around combat but often it includes a non-combat way to resolve the question. Once it is resolved, the idea is to move forward to the transition, which helps wrap up the current scene and kickstart the next. This is my first introduction to this approach and I rather like it.

If this interests you but you'd love to learn more before purchasing, the free 5th-level adventure follows a similar format.

To purchase: DMs Guild affiliate non-affiliate

Exit Pursued by Owlbear

Exit Pursued by Owlbear is an anthology of five adventures all inspired by the bard, Shakespeare. The Rose of the Fair State is inspired by Hamlet and is for a party of four 5th-level characters.

A Shrew’s Vengeance is for a party of four 3rd-5th level characters (with an average party level of 4) and is inspired by The Taming of the Shrew.

If We Shadows Have Offended explores A Midsummer Night’s Dream through a game.

Much Ado About Cookies takes its inspiration from Much Ado About Nothing and is for a party of four to six 3rd-level characters.

Finally, Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble delves into the world of Macbeth and is for a party of four 5th-level characters.

To purchase: DMs Guild affiliate non-affiliate

Budding Baba's Growing Hut

Have you ever wanted to have your own wandering hut like Baba Yaga's? If so, this is the title for you (and if you read this blog, I hope the answer is yes for you and your character!) This product contains rules for growing a hut including advancements, quirks, personality traits, some special abilities (like the ability to kick out unwanted guests!). I absolutely adore this one.
To purchase: DMs Guild affiliate non-affiliate

On April 27th, OneBookShelf, in conjunction with Wizards of the Coast, Fantasy Grounds, and White Wolf, announced a Play It Forward Event, running from May 4th (Star Wars Day) until May 17th. During the event, community-created products on those companies will forgo their royalties on products sold on DMs Guild and Story Vault and instead, the creators of the content will get 100% of all revenue. This is intended to help the creators, many of who are struggling due to Covid-19.

In addition to this change of revenue sharing, the sites will be having a 20% sale on titles at least 30 days old and temporarily suspending the affiliate program.

Perhaps you, like me, are wondering about some titles to invest in and explore during this event. I did some exploring and would like to recommend the following:

The Adventurer's Domestic Handbook

The Adventurer's Domestic Handbook is a supplement for all things hearth and home including love, marriage, children, household upkeep, divorce, and more. The book has 153 pages and includes new subclasses, stat blocks, marriage ceremonies, vehicles and upgrades, feats, and backgrounds. In addition, it has a whole section full of romanceable NPCs.

I haven't had a chance to read it in depth enough for a full review but one of the things that really stuck out to me is the care taken in terms of language and presentation. For example, multiple times gender is left out of pregnancy, preferring the wording of pregnant person. Likewise the book makes no assumptions on who might be rearing the child or children.

The apprenticing section also looks interesting, with slightly different mechanics depending on how old the character becoming an apprentice is. Likewise, the romanceable NPCs section provides a lot of inspiration for how to approach character design in a way that enables or enhances that direction of play. The non-romanceable NPCs are also interesting. For instance the idea of engagement tracks for employees seems useful for a dungeon master.

Finally, I really enjoyed reading through the marriage ceremonies section, especially since it's a great way to do world building and add variance to the world. And a number of the magic items made me smile, especially the Bassinet of Following (hello, Mandolorian).

Preview: Google Docs

To purchase: DMs Guild affiliate non-affiliate

Tales of Thelanis, Vol 1: "The Child and the Guardian"

"The Child and the Guardian" is the first volume in the series Tales of Thelanis, which explores areas within the Faerie Court in Eberron. Each volume in the series is expected to "explor[e] different story-themed domains in Thelanis and their archfey" with this one covering the Burning Grove and the Green Giant. In addition, it adds a new race and two subclasses.

I really enjoyed how the story weaved throughout the entire 12 pages. In particular, I loved the lair actions and regional effects that are tied to the archfey as well as the important figures for the area.

To purchase: DMs Guild affiliate non-affiliate

Harps and Harpies

Harps and Harpies is an adventure for 3-5 level 4 characters (tier 1) with an expected playtime of about 5 hours. It concentrates on the story of Stonetide, "a coastal town with a harpy problem." One of the townsfolk, Aegis Roulade, wants to learn what happened to his great-aunt, a person who used to keep the harpies at bay, and to return to his family her legendary harp.

I don't want to give away too much about the adventure, but, of course, there is more to the story than appears. The story promotes a large amount of exploration of a nearby island and includes aquatic-themed encounters and skill challenges. Finally, it asks us what family means.

To purchase: DMs Guild affiliate non-affiliate

A Dire Dalliance

In "A Dire Dalliance," a local noble woman asks the group to help her uncover the secret of a pair of guests at her recent balls. Both times, the guest left the party before answering her questions about their identity. Inspired by the story of Cinderella, the adventure unveils the truth behind their hurried escapes.

The adventure is designed for 4 characters of levels 3-5 and is intended as a short adventure. As with the above adventure, Harps and Harpies, it explores a number of themes including "love, identity, and breaking free from poisonous family ties." It carries a content warning of transphobia.

To purchase: DMs Guild affiliate non-affiliate