Editing Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition (section)

===Volo's Guide to Monsters===
Though officially a kind of Monster Manual 2, Volo's Guide earned extra interest by promising to contain fully-fledged monstrous PC races. In mid-September, it was revealed that the book would feature roughly a dozen "deeply detailed" monstrous PC races, and an undisclosed larger number of monsters given "quick rules" for PC use. However, this turned out to be WoTC playing it vague and the end result was that there were only thirteen races in it, one of which was effectively a reprint. In fairness to them, that's still a pretty large amount for what isn't a dedicated PC book, but still, fans were expecting Volo's Guide to be the 5e "Complete Book of Humanoids" and were... disappointed in a lot of ways.

The Monstrous Adventurers mark the first return in 5th edition of racial ability score penalties, something that brought a lot of [[rage]] and [[skub]] from those who hated this idea and those who loved it. Not helping is that of all the races in the book, ''only'' the orc and the kobold get these penalties. The designers essentially tried to sidestep some critiques of flagrant balance issues with the "monstrous" races by saying that they are not intended to be truly balanced, and that all DMs have free reign to modify or ban them.

Ironically, despite the fact that [[gnolls]] have been a playable race in every edition since 1e's "The Orcs of Thar", and were in fact first introduced in 3e as a PC race in the both the "Unapproachable East" splatbook for Forgotten Realms and the core Monster Manual, they received no stats in Volo's Guide. In fact, they were officially called out well before its release as ''not'' getting the PC treatment, due to being "too demonic," thanks to the lore that they're literal creations of a demon prince. Now, most fans of monstrous humanoids called bullshit on this reasoning, since 5e's lore was essentially the same lore as was used in 4th edition and they still got a PC writeup ''there'', without the lore trying to claim they're unable to defy their evil nature like orcs. Hell, the yuan-ti pureblood got a writeup, and ''they're'' power-hungry manipulative sociopaths who only see other races as meat!

The rejection of gnolls did get a little more justified when the book came out and revealed the official 5e lore for gnolls was essentially 4e's lore, but doubling down on the demonic corruption angle and completely removing all the stuff about gnolls having free will and being able to reject [[Yeenoghu]]. Of course, this change in lore from 4e was met with huge amounts of [[skub]].

* [[Aasimar]]
Very, very different from their DMG examples. They're a multitudinous species divided into three subraces, Protector, Scourge and Fallen, rather than having switchable variant racial traits like the tiefling does. All Aasimar get +2 Charisma, are Medium sized with normal speed (30feet), have "Celestial Resistance" (Radiant and Necrotic resistance), can cast Light at will (Charisma) and once per day can heal another character with a touch, restoring HP equal to the Aasimar's Level. Each of the three subraces, at 3rd level, gets an "angelic manifestation", a transformation they can enter as an action and which lasts for 1 minute or until they end it, with bonuses depending on the subrace. Protector Aasimar get +1 Wisdom and their "Radiant Soul" gives them wings (30ft fly speed) and the ability to inflict bonus Radiant damage with attacks. Scourge Aasimar get +1 Constitution and their "Radiant Consumption" causes them to glow, automatically inflict Radiant damage on everyone within 10 feet (including themselves!) and inflict bonus Radiant damage like a Protector. Finally, Fallen Aasimars get +1 Strength, cause a fear check in anyone who sees them transform, and can inflict bonus Necrotic damage with their attacks whilst transformed.

* [[Firbolg]]
A really surprising entry confirmed in the product announcement; firbolgs are a race of giant-kin from [[Advanced Dungeons & Dragons]] which can be roughly summed up as "generally benevolent 10ft tall [[Vikings]] with a bundle of druidic spell-like abilities". Naturally, they had to undergo a fair amount of changes, since 5e wants to avoid letting PCs be Large. +2 Wisdom, +1 Strength, the same Powerful Build trait as [[Goliath]]s, [[Bugbear]]s and [[Orc]]s, Detect Magic and Disguise Self (with "appear as a human-sized being" as an extra option) once per short rest, turn invisible for 1 turn once per short rest, and talk with animals & plants.

* [[Goliath]]
Although they already appeared in the Elemental Evil Player's Guide, they got an official printed release here. Many grumbled about what the need for this was, given we'd already gotten perfectly good stats for them earlier, especially when it turned out that, unlike the aasimar, they'd received no changes of any kind. Not even in cultural information.

* [[Kenku]]
A surprisingly popular and requested choice, their presence in the book was first revealed as part of the D&D ExtraLife Twitch marathon of September. +2 Dex and +1 Wisdom, Medium, Normal Speed and Vision, Advantage on checks to produce forgeries and duplications, free proficiency in any two skills from a list of Acrobatics/Deception/Stealth/Sleight of Hand, and the ability to mimic sounds. Which is useful as you can't speak except through your mimicry trait, which is pretty much the only downside to the kenku - although if you think about it, if you live amongst humans for some years, you simply can tell everything by mimicing. Just like small children learn their native language.

* [[Lizardfolk]]
Lizardfolk got quite a beefy racial writeup; +2 Constitution, +1 Wisdom, the ability to bite instead of unarmed striking, can digest what they bit off once per short rest for some temp hitpoints, Swim speed of 30 feet, hold breath for 15 minutes, free proficiency in any two skills from a list of Animal Handling/Perception/Nature/Stealth/Survival, natural AC of 13+Dex modifier, and can craft their own shields, clubs, javelins, darts and blowgun needles during a short rest if they can acquire raw materials.

* [[Catfolk|Tabaxi]]
When the existence of a "catfolk race" was teased on reddit, people really began to wonder, but it was eventually revealed in the D&D ExtraLife Twitch marathon of September that they were specifically going to be Tabaxi, a race of jaguar & leopard people first introduced in 1e's Fiend Folio, and then native to Forgotten Realms' tropical regions, most prominently [[Maztica]]. +2 Dex, +1 Cha, Medium, Normal Speed, Darkvision, the infamously leaked "Feline Agility" trait (double your speed for 1 turn, cannot use this trait again until you spend a turn without moving, because this is not considered an action you could argue that you can dash as well on the same turn, effectively quadrupling your speed for one turn), 1d4+Str modifier slashing damage with unarmed strikes, and free proficiency with Perception and Stealth. With the long-running stigma against [[furry]] races in D&D, plus the Tabaxi's lore as a highly chaotic, impulsive, curiosity-driven race, you just know there's going to be people turning them into nubile savage style dark-skinned blonde [[catgirl]]s sooner or later...

* [[Triton]]
A minor aquatic elemental race, the triton is probably going to be the closest we'll get to a 5e [[merfolk]] race, since they're like the Zendikaran merfolk and use legs rather than the awkward-for-land-adventuring tail. They are surprisingly fitting, since they were first introduced as a player character race in the Forgotten Realms setting. They're one of the few races that get +1 to three stats - Strength, Constitution and Charisma - instead of +2 to one stat and +1 to a second. Medium sized, 30ft land and swim speeds, amphibious, can cast Fog Cloud at will and Gust of Wind (at 3rd level) and Wall of Water (at 5th level) once per day with Charisma, telepathically talk to water-breathing creatures, are Resistant to Cold and immune to deep water environments. They don't have Darkvision, what, if you think about it, makes them kinda hilarious, because the depths of an ocean is dark, while full of water - duh - so no option for fire. How exactly they see, or even exist then down there?

====Monster Adventurers====
Again, they're generally very much a subset of the "normal" races, with many having drastic power-differentials from the "core" races. Exactly which ones are broken is and forever will be [[skub]], but general agreement is that the would-be orc and kobold will be ''far'' happier using re-colored half-orcs and halflings as a template, respectively, and that the yuan-ti pureblood is gob-smackingly powerful enough to make even the [[half-elf]] blush.

* [[Bugbear]]
Stealthy but powerful bruisers, bugbears get +2 Str and +1 Dex, are Medium with 30ft land speed, have Darkvision, have +5 feet of reach with melee attacks, Powerful Build, free Stealth proficiency, and the ability to, once per combat, deal +2d6 damage to a creature on the first turn if they successfully pull off a surprise attack. Essentially, you've got a natural fighter base with a built in level of rogue.

* [[Goblin]]
With how strongly they dominated the polls for new races, it shouldn't be surprising that goblins were one of the most advertised entrants to Volo's Guide. They're actually surprisingly powerful; +2 Dexterity, +1 Constitution, speed 30 feet, Small, Darkvision, can do bonus damage equal to their level to a creature that's bigger than they are once per short rest, and retain their Nimble Escape feature from the Monster Manual. Many think a goblin [[rogue]] is kind of redundant, although actually it's just a case of good synchronization; being able to Disengage or Hide as a bonus action is hugely beneficial for any hit-and-run fighter.  Goblins also make good defensive casters, as well, as they benefit from the added action economy and disengage.

* [[Hobgoblin]]
The D&D [[Star Trek|Klingons]], essentially; +2 Con, +1 Int, Medium, normal speed, Darkvision, and free proficiency with light armor and 2 martial weapons of your choice. One of the only monsters ''not'' to get their core racial power: instead of their faux-sneak attack, they get the "Saving Face" racial trait, which lets them, once per short rest, reroll a failed attack, ability score check, or saving throw with a bonus equal to the number of friendlies they can see (max +5). It's become memetic that "hobgoblins are wizards now!", since their stat bonuses are a lot more useful for wizards than they, technically, are for fighters, and their free armor & weapon proficiency are not much use to a fighter. But +2 Con is good for anyone, and hobgoblins have always had a strong arcane tradition to them anyway.

* [[Kobold]]
/tg/'s memetically beloved [[shortstack]] [[furry|scalies]] have finally made the leap into the game! ...Unfortunately, their stat blocks are rather less than fun as, much like in [[Pathfinder]], they've been kind of gimped. +2 Dexterity, -2 Strength, Small, 30ft speed, Darkvision, can Grovel once per short rest to cause all enemies within 10 feet to give Advantage to all of your allies, have Sunlight Sensitivity, and retain their Pack Tactics trait from the Monster Manual. It's hard to say which has elicted more complaints; the triple-Jeopardy of negative traits (Small, Sunlight Sensitivity, -2 Strength) or the Grovel trait. In all fairness, Grovel is kind of powerful - a 10ft burst of combat advantage for allies once per encounter is seriously buffing them - but the flavor text is infuriating for anyone who, y'know, ''doesn't'' want to portray their kobold as a [[/pol/|cowardly]], [[SJW|snivelling]] joke character (might be worth trying to convince your gm to let you [[counts as|re flavor]] it as a subsonic howl). That said, Pack Tactics is incredibly strong due to ANY form of advantage cancelling out disadvantage. What makes a kobold powerful is not that they have access to Advantage, but that they can pretty much never have Disadvantage when near an ally. This opens up a GWM kobold, or a long range sniper kobold as actually viable options. Put a Kobold on a Wolf mount for extra shenanigans.

* [[Orc]]
Exactly how pureblood orcs were going to work in 5e when we already had Half-Orcs was anyone's guess... and then it turned out that they were basically inferior to Half-Orcs. +2 Str, +1 Con, -2 Int, Medium, Normal Speed, Darkvision, their Aggressive trait from the MM (can move as a bonus action IF you use it to move towards an enemy), free training in Intimidation, and the Powerful Build trait.  The bonus move action is probably their most salient feature; a great boon if you can make use of it, but with less to work with if you can't. 

* [[Yuan-ti]] [[Serpentfolk|Pureblood]]
Perhaps the most surprising reveal, but not entirely unwarranted; Pureblood Yuan-ti have always been the most "human" of Faerun's snake-folk, and did in fact get a PC writeup in the Serpent Kingdoms sourcebook for that setting back in 3e. As for their crunch... put it like this; there's powerful, there's overpowered, and there's "holy fuck, what were you fucking ''thinking'', WoTC?!" Yuan-ti fit pretty firmly into that last category: +2 Cha, +1 Int, Darkvision, Medium with Normal Speed, Poison Immunity, Poison Spray cantrip spell-like-ability, Suggestion 1/day, permanent Animal Friendship (snakes only) and, the cherry on top, "Magic Resistance: You have Advantage on all saving throws caused by spells and magical effects". Sweet crunchy christ...