The next Dungeons & Dragons book will offer new options for the race rules, as promised a few months ago when developers publicly stated that they were rethinking how race will be handed in the game. In Dungeons & Dragons, each character is created from a combination of different factors, including race, class, and background.
In every edition of Dungeons & Dragons, a character will receive different benefits (and sometimes, penalties) for playing as a specific race. Humans are generally the all-rounders, while elves are swift and smart, dwarves are brave and durable, half-orcs are strong and fierce, gnomes are cunning and witty, and halflings are fast and lucky. There were even some classes that were race-specific, like the overpowered Bladesinger from second edition or the Dwarven Defender in third edition.
It was revealed back in June that Wizards of the Coast was going to rethink how race is used in Dungeons & Dragons. Wizards of the Coast recently announced that the next Dungeons & Dragons rulebook will be Tasha's Cauldron of Everything, which will make good on its promise and add new rules for character creation that can be used instead of the race rules in the Player's Handbook. These rules are totally optional, but Jeremy Crawford (the principal rules designer of Dungeons & Dragons) believes that many groups will switch over to the rules presented in Tasha's Cauldron of Everything.
How D&D's New Book Changes Race Rules
Tasha's Cauldron of Everything will contain rules for lineages and origins, which will allow players to eschew the standard racial modifiers that are present in the Player's Handbook. These include the racial stat penalties introduced in Volo's Guide to Monsters, which will also be replaced over time. This means that players won't be stuck with the standard elf or dwarf when creating their character, allowing for greater depth in terms of storytelling and more options for builds.
The concept of racial modifiers is something that has been met with skepticism from fans in the past, especially in the older editions of Dungeons & Dragons when they were far more restrictive than they are now. The developers of Dungeons & Dragons want to change how the concept of race is used in the game to a degree never seen before. The only question now is how exactly these rules will function, as they won't be fully revealed to the public until November when Tasha's Cauldron of Everything is released to Dungeons & Dragons players worldwide.
Tasha's Cauldron of Everything will be released on November 17, 2020.