the fact that half-elf and half-orc are officially ‘species’ now is so funny to me (everything else aside)
I’m a D&D-disliker but I don’t think stripping away biological advantages for species is a good thing. IMO if you’re going to have weird folks in your game, there’s no harm in having them literally being built different. If Dwarves are made of ores, for example, having resistance to fire (and tying that into doing well with forges) is perfectly viable. Same thing with giant species have increased strength, underground species having lesser sight and increased hearing, etc. Its just that D&D has been historically pretty shallow and misaligned with its creative processes.
I always wonder about the application of mixed races, species or cultures in games, because even when they’re really trying to make it sensible (The Foundling in Avatar, for example), I still feel they’re not accurate.
I wonder if things couldve gone down differently if they had just changed the word from “race” to “species” like 10 years ago. Maybe they wouldve retained some more of the gameplay buffs.
Can’t say I feel great about “species” either tbh but my expectations for D&D are consistently low, so.
I’ve mostly just stopped considering D&D at all. I get annoyed when people still think it’s the default game and I really dislike it. But also, I don’t think I ever have to play the game ever again in my life.