Dungeons and Dragons 5e has an issue when it comes to its racial mechanics.
As much was addressed by the game’s creators, Wizards of the Coast, back in June 2020 when they released the Diversity in Dungeons and Dragons article on their site.
In the article, they acknowledge that “some of the peoples in the game — orcs and drow being two of the prime examples — have been characterized as monstrous and evil, using descriptions that are painfully reminiscent of how real-world ethnic groups have been and continue to be denigrated,” the article states.
“That’s just not right, and it’s not something we believe in.”
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W0tC went on to outline their plans to improve racial representation, including the presentation of orcs and drow in a new light in Eberron: Rising from the Last War, and Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount.
The orcs of Eberron and Wildemount reflect where our hearts are and indicate where we’re heading.
— Jeremy Crawford (@JeremyECrawford) June 12, 2020
The company also noted that recent reprints of both Curse of Strahd and Tomb of Annihilation have revised text that had originally been racially insensitive. The article also mentioned an unannounced publication coming later in the year (which we now know as Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything) that will offer the players a way to change how race affects a character’s ability scores, languages, and proficiencies.
The drow, Vistani, and many other folk in the game are on our radar. The same spirit that motivated our portrayal of orcs in Eberron is animating our work on all these peoples.
— Jeremy Crawford (@JeremyECrawford) June 12, 2020
Most recently, the Gothic Lineages UA included a Design Note on Racial Traits, stating that the UA follows in Tasha’s footsteps by ensuring that ability score improvements, languages, alignment, and any other trait that is purely cultural will not have cemented ties with race.
“Racial traits henceforth reflect only the physical or magical realities of being a player character who’s a member of a particular lineage.”
These traits include a dragonborn’s breath weapon, darkvision, and other innate magical abilities. Alignment suggestions will no longer be tied to race.
The most recent UA also gives players the opportunity to choose a Gothic Lineage that replaces the Ability Score Improvements and Languages that their character may have had from their initial race, and allows them to do so at any point in a campaign — with a DMs permission, of course.
To end off, the design note states that “going forward, the term ‘race’ in D&D refers only to the suite of game features used by player characters. Said features don’t have any bearing on monsters or lineage, since monsters and NPCs in D&D don’t rely on race or class to function,.”
“Moreover, DMs are empowered to customize the features of the creatures in their games as they wish.”
The June 2020 Diversity in Dungeons and Dragons article ends off on a hopeful note for changes to come.
“This part of our work will never end. We know that every day someone finds the courage to voice their truth, and we’re here to listen. We are eternally grateful for the ongoing dialogue with the D&D community, and we look forward to continuing to improve D&D for generations to come.”
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