Dungeons & Dragons Reveals New Racial Trait Rules Approach

Dungeons & Dragons has rolled out a new model for racial traits that follows up on the customization options detailed in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. Earlier today, Dungeons & Dragons released a new Unearthed Arcana playtest that contained rules for three “Gothic Lineages.” These new lineages were meant as an alternative to D&D’s traditional races and functionally overwrites a character’s racial traits for abilities that are more in line with their lineage’s origins. The document also contains a Design Note section that explains the mindset behind the new rules and provides some insight on how Dungeons & Dragons will address the concept of “race” moving forward.

The Unearthed Arcana design notes states that race options found in future D&D books will lack the Ability Score Increase trait, Language trait, Alignment trait, and any other trait that is purely cultural. Moving forward, racial traits in Dungeons & Dragons will only reflect the physical or magical realities of being a character who’s a member of of a “particular heritage.” Examples provided in the document include things like darkvision, innate magical abilities, or a breath weapon. However, it is no longer assumed that all elves speak a certain language or are proficient in a particular weapon or tool.

Assuming that the Design Notes appear in an official Dungeons & Dragons book, this confirms that Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything‘s character customization rules will be considered the “default” for future D&D racial rules. This means an emphasis on originality and individualism instead of being forced to lean into either stale or problematic fantasy tropes. It also means that players will have the option to optimize their characters using custom Ability Score Increases instead of having a character’s race either dictate their class or place them at a disadvantage compared to their optimized peers.

Obviously, Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything was only a first step in terms of Dungeons & Dragons’ much–needed revisions to their depiction of race. However, the design notes in the most recent Unearthed Arcana seems to not only take those rules and clarify that they’re the default option being used by D&D moving forward, they also take the rules a bit further by clarifying how Dungeons & Dragons will clearly delineate racial traits and cultural traits moving forward. We’ll see how much of these rules and design concepts make it into an official Dungeons & Dragons publication. You can check out the full D&D Unearthed Arcana rules at D&D’s website.