D&D's new 2024 Player's Handbook will have 10 species to choose from including goliaths, and drow will be closer to their Baldur's Gate 3 version
Wizards of the Coast has said the upcoming Dungeons & Dragons rules revisions will be compatible with 5th edition rather than a replacement for it, and is calling the revised core rulebooks the «2024» editions. If you're a veteran of the edition wars, they seem more like 4th edition's «Essentials» line than 3rd edition's complete replacement by 3.5.
The latest update on D&D Beyond covers the 10 species players will be able to choose from in the 2024 Player's Handbook. While mostly familiar, there are a few options that weren't in the 2014 rulebook. Aasimar and goliaths are both core choices now, and half-orcs have been replaced by just plain orcs.
Aasimar are mortals of celestial descent, and though never as popular as their counterpart tieflings—mortals of fiendish descent—it makes sense to have both in the same book. And the upgrade from half-orcs to orcs fits with the removal of half-elves as a mechanically distinct choice. In the playtest, players who wanted to play characters of mixed descent were advised to «determine which of those Race options provides your game traits: Size, Speed, and special traits. You can then mix and match visual characteristics—color, ear shape, and the like—of the two options.» That may change in the final version, of course.
Goliaths, who are related to giants, get to choose an ancestry. «For example,» says the blog, «a descendant of Fire Giants can add an additional d10 of Fire damage to an attack roll. A Goliath with Stone Giant ancestry can use a Reaction when you take damage to roll a d12, add your Constitution modifier, and reduce your damage by that amount. Each of these types of traits can be used a number of times equal to your Proficiency Bonus.»
The more familiar options have also been tweaked, with an emphasis on removing weaknesses. It was always a bit of an oddity, and presumably a leftover from editions with a different design philosophy, that some species had glaring restrictions while others did not. The dark elf's
Read more on pcgamer.com
