Sure elves and dwarves are a staple. And drow and tieflings are edgy. But it's long past time to give love to long ignored races. Give us playable goblins and kobolds!

Yes give us races we "need".... so none/any. You don't "need" a choice of protagonist or customization to play a game. I believe what you mean to say is "Give 'me' the playable races 'I want'"

Well aren't you a gem. To start with, Baldur's Gate 3 dosen't "need" any races? Last I checked a selection of races was a part of D&D for as long as I can remember, so even under your very restrictive (and incorrect) definition of need you can make a case that it needs a selection of races to be a D&D game.

Second, if you crack open Merriam-Webster's dictionary, definition 2a of a need is "a lack of something requisite, desirable, or useful." Sinve, while mostly joking, I would find the presence of kobolds and goblins desirable, I am perfectly comfortable with my declaring them a need. If you are going to be so boorish as to respond to a pretty obviously humorous post with quibbles over word choices, please do everyone the courtesy of making sure you know what words mean first.

Perhaps next time rather than try to provide some humor and/or get us some novel playable character choices I will reiterate some variation of the turn based/it dosen't feel like Baldur's Gate/why u make DOS3? arguments and you will feel more at home.

I whole heartedly agree. I would love to make a team of all kobolds!

I reject that definition. As much as I reject the definition of the word "literally" meaning "used for emphasis or to express strong feeling while not being literally true."

One can't say the meaning of the word "literal" is "figurative" just the same one can not say the meaning of the word "need" is also "want." This is a major devolution of language. Language is meant to promote understanding between individuals so using words that don't mean what they mean is an atrocious bastardization of language. The original dictionary did have a funny definition of the word fiddle, but that fortunately was humorous and didn't devalue language.

Kobolds are just cats for dragons.

Tell me it wouldn't be fun to play as a dragon's mouser.

I would argue against implementing too many esoteric playable races. Considering Larian apparently will place non-origin characters (race/class) on somewhat equal footing with origin characters in terms of unique storytelling, each new race would require that much more work beyond graphics and possible voice acting. Resources are finite and there are many better ways to spend them in my opinion.

honestly i want all the PHB races.
Give people the ability to play any archetype they want, without implementing a gorillion races.

You dont need 80 elf races, you can probably play an kind of elf character you want if you have "Elf" and "Drow" as races.

likewise, i dont neccesarily need lizardfolk if we got dragonborn.

So its about the breath of archetypes available rather than the actual number.

Gnomes and Halflings dont need to be both present.
but if theres no halforcs ill riot

First of all: We need both halflings and gnomes so that half orc barbariens have different ammunition for throwing

But I agree that having a few races that are well implemented into the game, like it comes up in dialogue or stuff you are doing, is better than having tons of races and the only difference are slightly different stats.

I would argue that since resources are indeed finite it is a shame to waste them by including voice acting in an rpg, since not only does it take up time and budget, but so drastically limits other options such as dialog choices and character creation choices. As well as that if you are going to limit yourself that way it would be better (and bolder) to include races no other games let you play as rather than the same old same old. Although depending on how far along they are it may be a moot point with resources already being spent. On the other hand the majority of issues discussed on forums like these are already probably decided so might as well make the pitch.

I don't neccesarily disagree that fewer races done well would be better. But even then it would be nice to see a developer skip one or two of the expected races for interesting ones. As in goblin and kobold interesting.

Since there are a vampire spawn character, why not DHAMPIR race?

I am not sure how well I remember the video.
Did he use a normal spell/potion for healing?

In 5E, are undead still damaged by healing and healed by negative energy ( now called necrotic, I guess)?

Dhampir are gonna be in the next pathfinder game.
i dont think they exist in dnd

the point of my last post was mostly: i get that some racial archetypes are important for people.
Some people just want to play an Elf.
Some people want to play an orc barbarian, some people want to play a lizard person
But you dont need to have a huge variety of races within one archetype.

if you realy want to play an Orc, you can just play a Halforc, make him the largest sze and very green (or ... brown if we go dnd orcs anyway)
If you realy want to play a Gnome, you can make a halfling very short.
if you want to play a Lizardfolk, you can play a Dragonborn with acid breath attack.
Want to play a Wild elf? make a dark skinned elf.
Want a sun dwarf? make a dark skinned dwarf.
want to be a hobgoblin? make a scrawny half orc.
want a moon elf? make a light skin drow or a bluish elf.
want to play a vampire? play a pale skinned human necromancer / rogue multiclass

Sure its not the full thing, but youll never be able to integrate all fantasy races.

But the important bit is that you got a broad enaugh selection so you can be MOST archetypes.
So im against having several races of the "same" thing.

Halflings and gnomes for example.
You also dont need more than elves and dark elves.
you dont need Halforcs AND orcs.

Instead, let me not just have humans, elves and dwarves (and 800 variants of those), but also Have Dragonborn, Halforc and Gith.
Hell, id love to see thri kreen if were going spelljammer...
Just give me DIFFERENt archetypes.

because i cannot make a Dragonborn out of a Dwarf.
and i cannot make a Tieflng out of an Elf.
So those races that can pad out one particular archetype that no other race can pad out are more important.

I dont want race "slots" to be wasted on races that require extra work (and since all of them seem to have handcrafted faces, thats ALL of em) but that could esaily be represented by another race.

On Pathfinder Kingmaker, you have a undead companion that heals from negative energy and is hurted by channel positive energy. And she is a inquisitor. Some mods like race unleashed adds dhampir as playable race and it work like she.

Note that there are already a vampire spawn in the game. So just copy some of his traits to a race would't be that hard.

i think vampire spawn is only his backstory.
it appears that hes an elf and that beeing infected by the mindflayer essentialy turns him back into an elf (beeing able to walk in the sun etc.)

I know PK and I know that in pathfinder Dhampiers are living people but they behave as undead in terms of damage/healing fom negative/positive energy.
The character from PK was an undead elf, Dhampiers will be a playable race in the next pathfinder game.

I wanted to ask if DnD 5E has the same rule as previous editions regarding harm and heal spells work reversed for undead.

I do not know how are they going to manage it in BG3, but in D&D5e necrotic damage also damages undead, constructs,... basically almost everything (for reasons unknown) so if you cannot use "inflict wounds" "harm" or "chill touch" to heal undead beings as in previous versions, pathfinder, etc...

Necrotic damage not only harms, but also the target's hit point maximum is reduced by an amount equal to the necrotic damage taken. The reduction lasts until the target finishes a long rest. It´s crazy IMHO.

To heal undead, I assume spells like regenerate, hero's feast and goodberries, and XGTA "Negative energy flood" would do the trick; and the usual vampiric touch, etc as always, maybe?

I have to re-check the gameplay, but the vampire spawn does not seem to have problems to heal himself the usual way.

PD: And yeah, undead or dhampir does not exist in DND as a playable race.

Yeah. Undead characters no longer need negative energy to heal. They can be healed via the same heal spells and potions as anyone else, in 5E.

Dhampir's aren't a thing in D&D really, but Vryloka are, and they are very cool, IMHO the coolest race in all of 4e, because they were mechanically intetresting and had vampiric fluff that made them very different from Dhampirs, while playing in the same thematic sphere.

First off they were usual red heads, they could turn other humans that dead around them into Vrylokas, and they had unique twists on vampire lore, they background lore was great. I would love to see the race updated for 5e. Basically Vryloka were more living vampires like you have some MtG settings, but with a bunch of unique twists.

5e does have prototype Living Vampires in the Zendikar Planeshift Artivle, which while unofficial, was made by the developer of Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica and the upcoming Mythic Odysseys of Theros, as well as helping to write Eberron: Rising From The Last War. Ixalan's planeshift article also had its own version of living vampires.

And there are those of us expecting a Zendikar campaign setting book connected to Zendikar Rising Set coming this winter, most likely releasing in 2021. And if that is true, we will likely get updated rules for Zendikar's living Vampires.

I think alot of the posts in this thread are silly. First off of course both Gnomes and Halflings are in, as well as at least the main elf subraces, perhaps all of them. All the PHB races are going to be in the game, so posts saying we don't need both Halflings and Gnomes are pointless. And just be cause both races are short doesn't mean they are interchangable. Making sure all the PHB content that they can tranlate to a CRPG has been made clearly a priority, races, subraces, classes, subclasses, backgrounds, ect...

Now moving onto none PHB races, we already know some are going to be in, Githyanki is confirmed, which makes Githzerai extremely likely as well. Aasimar are very important to the Forgotten Realms setting and they have a long history in FR, including in some of the best CRPGs, like Neverwinter Nights 2 and Icewind Dale, so extremely likely to be in. And it doesn't matter if you think they shouldn't be in, because at thispoint odds are its a moot point. Genasi are likely in as well for the same reason, although hopefully Larian fixes their mechanical issues.

Beyond that it gets harder to pick, although I think Goblinoids (except for the Verdan), Lizardfolk, Orcs, Goliaths and Tabaxi have a really good chance of being in, but they are much better targets for debate because they are not as close to being certain to be in as the other races I've mentioned are, so use this as the starting point for debating instead of races that are pretty much far gone conclusions.

We need romanceable succubus companions too.

I would counter that the immersion gained by voice acting is immensely much more worth than the word salad which oftentimes is the result of an overemphasis on text. Almost without exception the added dialogue choices are there to provide an illusion of choice and/or are nonsensical time-fillers and adds little to a game, even detracts from it.

You make it sound like you haven't played neither BG nor DOS2. Even twenty years ago, Baldur's Gate had voice acting. Albeit somewhat limited, it was still one of the key features that made the game a classic. The voice acting in DOS2 was absolutely superb. The talking heads encounter alone is the most hilarious acting in any RPG/video game. A text delivery of the same would have been dry and wasted in comparison. DOS2, who was a Kickstarter game published by Larian themselves, featured one million words, 74,000 lines, and 1,200 different characters with 80 actors to do them all. This tally was added on by the Definitive Edition released about a year later free of charge to game owners. How "drastically limiting" do you imagine a million+ voiced words are? On the other hand, I can easily imagine falling asleep reading all of that. Besides, the budget of BG3 will be far larger than DOS2. This is a combat driven role-playing game, not a text adventure!

Voice acting is a separate field to programming and thus much less of a bottleneck, making it a matter of resources - not really of time. Resources well spent, as important or more important than outstanding graphics in my opinion. There are over 40 playable races in D&D 5e, then add subraces to that total. In order for your kobolds and goblins to be realistically added, then half a dozen more popular alternative races would likely be added before them. Dragonborn (will v.likely be implemented as part of PHB), genasi, goliath, aasimar etc. All requiring graphics, voice acting (likely) and a fleshed out storyline.

I've always been an elf/half-elf kind of guy but I'm going to be reall ybummed if we don't get half-orc as a race. They confiremd all PHB classes but not exactly the races which they seem to be picking and choosing. Adding GIthyanki due to the heavy mindflayer focus.

Oh, I had a Vryloka in 4E! Loved her so much. Had the best story for her, with assassins and treachery and a last living heir to protect and avenge. So much fun.

It'd be interesting to interact with Astarion as a Vryloka. I wonder if he could still feed on you.

The Vampire Class and Monsters could still feed on Vyrlokas in 4e, so I don't see why not.

But as 5e hasn't released an update Vryloka yet, I strongly doubt they will be in the game by official full launch.

I also think so, with "Guildmasters guide to Ravnika" they stated the guidelines of "Dhampir-like" races and guilds, so I assume if they create a half-vampire race It would be tied to the races and guilds of that setting. If they revive the Vrylockas those could be perceived as too similar to the ones in Ravnika (Yeah, I know they are not, but they are in a surface level)

Ravnica has more regular Undead Vampires and Mind Vampires, not the playable living Vampires like the Vryloka are more Zendikar, Innistrad, Ixalan, and maybe a few others. Although Vryloka is the Greek type of Vampires, so they in particular would fit on Theros.

Omegaphallic i think you are beeing overly optimisitc.
Theres a 0% chance for goblinoids or lizardfolk.

Githyanki are in because they are tied to mindflayers.
Im actually genuinly concerned that Halforcs and Dragonborn might not make it in

all of the races have different head modles, making races that look identical is exactly as much work as making races that look very different.

So no, having both gnomes and halflings is a drain on ressources.
And realy, is there a differnce?
Both only get picked as joke options by that guys.

the point of D&D is player choice.

yeah and i prefer the choice of more interresting races thant he choice between two literal joke races.

good thing your choice has nothing to do with anyone else's choice.

you do not choose for other people.

I'm fine with kobolds, goblins.....as long as we get an in-game option to genocide them.

I kind of agree. To not see dragonborn and half-orc(which is on every d&d video game) would be kinda bad in my opinion. Even gnome should be in the game, and I'm sure it will be since it's been on baldurs gate 1,2, and expansions.

It'd be cool to see aasimar make it into the game though.... since tiefling is already in the game..which is the opposite of what an aasimar is.

My first d&d character was a actually a kobold, sooo ya +1 for that race. Goblins straight up eat people...so no

Evil races.

What you find interesting and what the consensus of potential players find interesting are likely quite different things. There's a reason the races in the PHB were the first character races offered by Wizards when 5e came out.

I'm honestly surprised that dragonborn aren't already in EA. With as much of the DOS2 engine as they reused and the fact that their lizards are practically dragonborn anyway, it wouldn't take a ridiculous amount of tweaking their existing models to make them work for BG3.

Just to confirm - we are absolutely getting Gnomes, Ha'f-orcs, and Dragonborn. This is confirmed.

Everything else is up in the air. However, Duegar would make sense and I have heard whispers that they might show up.

Everything else would probably be a DLC, or a Mod. I have friends who want Kanku and Tabaxi and all sorts of odd things.

Just for my own interests (and without any offence or challenge intended), can you give me a source for that ?

Whether or not the source confirms these 3 races specifically (as opposed to a more general "all options from the PHB"), I don't fully remember where this may have been confirmed, whether it was a recent communication I missed, etc.

Last I heard the quote was more along the lines of "we're aiming to incluide everything from the PHB." I'd be happy to hear otherwise though.

not 100% official confirm. but datamined files say they are there.
[video:youtube][/video]

Thanks. Also, if someone can point me to the last time Swen/Larian mentionned aiming for the PHB, that would be great. (Was that during a Patch reveal/PFH ?)

Nexus mod site is very active...make a request.

I'm surprised Gensai aren't in (yet) given the fun design elements that could be used in their appearances.