As we finish up our round-up of playable species, we come to the Alliance. The Alliance faction is generally the more traditional, classically heroic of the two factions. As such, the Alliance is also where you find more of the traditional heroic fantasy peoples, starting off with a rough equivalent of the Tolkien quartet as their first four member species, if you kind of squint (Azeroth doesn't have Halflings, which makes Gnomes the closest we have to Hobbits, though... also Gnomes are very different from Hobbits).
The Alliance of Lordaeron was originally formed in response to the destruction of the Kingdom of Stormwind (alternatively known as the Kingdom of Azeroth, though that gets very confusing given that it's also the name of the planet, and at one time was also applied to the Eastern Kingdoms. Look, is this all true in-game and not just a result of Blizzard retconning their world over and over until they got things more locked down? Who am I to say?) by the Horde. The other six human kingdoms that had originally comprised the Arathi Empire banded together to face off these extraterrestrial invaders (extraazerothian?) The humans were aided by the Dwarves and Gnomes of Khaz Modan, and then also the High Elves of Quel'thalas, and won the Second War.
However, decades later, the Undead Scourge devastated the Kingdom of Loradaeron (which had been the greatest power within the Alliance,) and in the aftermath of the Third War, the old Alliance underwent something of a transformation, its center of power relocating to the rebuilt Stormwind, and the previously-unknown Night Elves across the world joining it.
The Alliance as it exists now is far larger and more complex than the original coalition formed to fend off the Horde, with many new peoples joining the fold.
Draenei:
The Draenei look like demons... except actually, it's demons who look like them. The Draenei were originally the Eredar, a magically and technologically-advanced people who lived on the planet Argus. 25,000 years ago, the Dark Titan Sargeras came to the leaders of the Triumvirate, the three leaders of the Eredar, and offered great power and knowledge if they would serve him. One of the members, Velen, was granted a vision of what would happen if they took this deal, seeing how his people would be turned into demonic fiends. As his colleagues happily embraced the deal, Velen and a large population of loyal followers fled the planet as it descended into demonic evil.
Leaving their home planet behind, they renamed themselves Draenei, or "Exiled Ones." Velen's vision had been granted by the Naaru - celestial beings of pure Holy Light, and the guidance of the Naaru has been central to Draenei culture, providing wisdom and comfort but also multiple times aiding them in escaping the demonic brethren who would see them slaughtered for their dissidence.
The Draenei are the longest-lived peoples in the World of Warcraft. Velen, for example, still leads his people twenty-five millennia after their flight from Argus, and several other Draenei were born on their lost world. After a thousand-year period on the Orc homeworld that the Draenei called Draenor, the original Horde launched a campaign of genocide against the Draenei, which killed off 80% of their population (sadly, not the only species to endure a horror of such magnitude). Eventually, after an Alliance expedition to the shattered remnants of Draenor, now called Outland, drew the Draenei to make one last journey to Azeroth, where they found and eagerly joined the Alliance.
Both on Argus and Draenor, some Draenei suffered from cursed shadow magic, warping them into kind of mutated forms, and are now known as the Krokul, or "Broken." Velen has sought to reintegrate these victims into their society, and some have found new spiritual purpose through shamanic practice, which they have taught to the rest of the Draenei.
Another off-shoot, the Lightforged were zealous Draenei who turned back around, rather than fleeing Argus, and sought to fight back directly against the Burning Legion. Guided by the fanatical Naaru X'era, the Lightforged undergo a ritual to infuse themselves physically with the Holy Light, among other things changing their customary blue skin grey and their hair white, the golden light shining from their eyes. The Lightforged form the backbone of the Army of the Light, a cosmic force that seeks to fend off evil and darkness across the Great Dark Beyond.
Finally, the Penitent Man'ari are demonic "Man'ari Eredar" (Man'ari meaning "corrupted") who, after the defeat of the Burning Legion, sought to reconcile themselves with the Draenei and repent their eons of evil and cruelty. Seeking not forgiveness, but a chance to prove they have moved beyond their wicked ways, the Man'ari have been given tentative permission to try by Velen.
Darkvision: You have darkvision out to 60 feet.
This I think is fine - I mean, they're so tied to the Light, it makes sense they'd be able to see in the dark.
Heroic Presence: When you cast a spell granted by your Eredar lineage, if you don't have Heroic Inspiration, you gain it. You can gain inspiration this way once per short or long rest.
I don't know that I feel like this needs to be so limited - Zandalari get inspiration any time they roll a natural 1.
Eredar Lineage: You choose from one of several lineages, which give you supernatural abilities. Each grants a benefit at level 1 and then a spell at 3rd level and another at 5th level. You always have the spells prepared, and can cast each without a spell slot once per long rest. You choose Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma as your spellcasting ability.
Draenei: You have resistance to Necrotic damage and know the Spare the Dying cantrip. At level 3, you get Healing Word, and at level 5, you get Prayer of Healing.
Healing word is nice to have, and quite great to have on a spellcaster who can't normally cast healing spells, like a Wizard. Prayer of Healing is probably not going to see as much use, but can be nice to have. This, of course, represents the standard Draenei, associated with the Naaru ship Exodar, which crash-landed on Azeroth. (The Draenei rarely land safely on any planet, though maybe that's more of a Naaru issue, as they're really the ones piloting these things.)
Krokul: You have resistance to Poison damage. You also know the poison spray cantrip. At 3 you get Ray of Sickness, and at 5 you get Hold Person.
Another note: this isn't playable in the MMO, though the "Broken" have been established since the Draenei were first introduced (actually, truly, even going back to the Frozen Throne expansion for Warcraft III, when the only Draenei we met were Broken, and there was no established connection between them and the Eredar demons, which actually caused a bit of an embarassment for Chris Metzen, the creative director at Blizzard, as he had accidentally created a continuity error when working on the lore for the Draenei). But mechanically - poison's not so reliable given that so many monster types are immune to it, but resistance to it is also often great to have.
Lightforged: You have resistance to Radiant damage. You also know the Sacred Flame cantrip. At level 3 you get Guiding Bolt and at level 5 you get Aid.
Some solid spells here, though it's very rare that Radiant resistance will come into play, as that's more a damage type used by players.
Man'ari: You have resistance to Fire damage. You also know the Fire Bolt cantrip. At 3 you get Hellish Rebuke, and at 5 you get Darkness.
Like the Amani Trolls, this option - the "Penitent" Man'ari who had become demons but sought to prove themselves worth of reconciliation following the defeat of the Burning Legion - is represented in the MMO as just alternate cosmetics for the Draenei. Ostensibly, they ought to count as Fiends, but they don't. The spells are fine - and Fire resistance is pretty good all around.
Dwarf:
The Dwarves are the descendants of the Earthen (see my Neutral species post) who succumbed to the Curse of Flesh. Most Dwarves descend from the Earthen who, upon detecting the curse within them, went into hibernation within the Titan facility of Uldaman, to be guarded by their Mechagnome allies. While the Mechagnomes also succumbed to the curse, the stasis did nothing to prevent them from becoming flesh-and-blood mortals, and eventually, their Gnome friends woke them, and the two peoples traveled west to build homes in the mountains of Dun Morogh.
The Dwarves built the great city of Ironforge, but eventually, the three most prominent clans fell into civil war after the death of the last Anvilmar King. The Bronzebeard clan emerged victorious, while the Wildhammers and Dark Irons left in exile.
However, in recent years, all three of these clans have reunited, even with some nasty history (particularly given that the Dark Irons summoned Ragnaros the Firelord to the Redridge Mountains, turning most of the range into a charred wasteland and forever marking their clan with signs of this fiery elemental power).
There are other dwarf populations, where different groups of Earthen also transformed via the Curse of Flesh, like the Frostborn in Northrend, though most known Dwarves are from Khaz Modan.
Mechanically, Dwarves, even the Dark Irons, simply use the PHB dwarf stats.
Elves:
As I mentioned before in the Horde post, the Elves are likely descended from a group of "Dark Trolls" who settled on the banks of the Well of Eternity, where they were transformed into the first Night Elves. (I had been sure that the Haranir were the so-called Dark Trolls, but evidently not? Though the Night Elves, Trolls, and Haranir are all descended from the same ancestors.)
The Night Elves are the oldest of the elf peoples, and many living Night Elves were actually alive before the other elf lineages branched off, thanks in large part to the fact that, after the War of the Ancients 10,000 years ago, the Night Elves' sacred tree of Nordrassil was blessed by the Bronze Dragonflight to give them immortality (at least in the not-aging way). However, Nordrassil was burned at the end of the Third War to defeat the demon Archimonde (one of Velen's former colleagues in the Triumvirate,) which lost them this blessing (even as the tree regrew). The Night Elves lived for most of those ten millennia in isolation in their forests, but accepted membership in the Alliance to help fend off the Horde's efforts to consume their homes for lumber.
The High Elves are the descendants of the Highborne Night Elves, the aristocratic elite who were taught arcane magic by Queen Azshara. Those who rebelled against her when they discovered her complicity in the Legion's invasion during the War of the Ancients briefly rejoined Night Elf society, but when their magic was banned, they left in exile. Over time, distance from Nordrassil led to a physical diminishment. They landed on the northern tip of the Eastern Kingdoms and founded the kingdom of Quel'thalas (a region that did sort of already belong to the Amani Trolls). Their magical kingdom flourished, and they allied with the humans to the south against their common Troll enemies.
However, after Quel'thalas was devastated during the Third War, Prince Kael'thas Sunstrider renamed his people the Blood Elves and cut ties with the Alliance. While the vast majority of the High Elves went along with Kael'thas, a small few remained loyal to the Alliance, and went into exile as Silvermoon joined up with the very Horde they had fought in the Second War.
More recently, a group of Blood Elves underwent an expedition to study the Void, led by Magister Umbric. The experimental expedition was struck by a catastrophe, and everyone on the expedition was infused with void energy, chaging their bodies and tying them to the cosmic void. Fearing the power of the void, these new Void Elves were banished from Silvermoon. However, with the return of the long-missing High Elf hero of the Alliance, Alleria Winderunner, who had studied the void herself in her time-dilated thousand-year war fighting with the Army of the Light, Alleria helped to bring the Void Elves back into the Alliance.
Again, the base "Elf" species is used for these, but with new lineages. Except for the High Elf. (Though the High Elf is actually the only non-playable elf in the MMO - except that, like the Amani and Man'ari Eredar, you can achieve the look of a High Elf with some cosmetic options for both Void Elves and Blood Elves, the latter being more or less physiologically the same, though of course the wrong faction).
Night Elf: You have proficiency in Stealth, and if you are in dim light or darkness, you can take the Hide action as a bonus action. At level 3, you get Longstrider, and at level 5, you get Pass Without Trace.
A skill versus a cantrip is debatable compared with the other elves. But I will say that Pass Without Trace is a really cool spell to be able to get - the spell that gives you low-Dex, heavy armor-wearing Paladin a chance to be sneaky. Note that these spells are both what the Wood Elf gets, though the 1st level feature is different. Much like Blood Elves are more or less the equivalent of High Elves, Night Elves are more or less WoW's Wood Elves, but with enough unique flavor that it makes sense to do something different here.
Void Elf: The range of your Darkvision increases to 120 feet. You also know the Mind Sliver cantrip. At level 3, you get Entropic Embrace (a new spell) and at level 5, you get Misty Step.
While there are so many subclass features now that grant a Misty Step-like effect, it's still a really great spell to have, and one that I will always try to get if I can. Also, Mind Sliver is a great cantrip, given that it targets Intelligence. Now, what is Entropic Embrace?
Entropic Embrace:
1st level Necromancy (Void Elf, Warlock)
Casting Time: Reaction, which you take when you make a d20 test with advantage or disadvantage and roll the same number on both dice.
Range Self, Components: V, Duration: 1 min.
You are empowered by the Void for the duration, swathed in shadow and taking on a dark-blue or purple color. You gain the following:
Preternatural Calm: You automatically succeed on Con saves to maintain Concentration.
Shadow Shroud: You are shrouded in shadow, making your space Lightly Obscured.
Touch of the Void: Once on each of your turns, you can deal an extra 1d4 Necrotic damage to one creature when you deal damage to it, or you can restore an extra 1d4 HP to one creature when you heal it.
When upcast, you add a d4 to Touch of the Void for each level slot above 2.
So, that reaction is nuts. It means that we're probably not going to be able to cast this spell very often. When rolling two dice, the chance of getting the same number on each is 1/20, so it's not unheard of. But this is not something to build around, because it's so profoundly unpredictable.
Gnome:
The Gnomes are a diminutive people descended from Titanforged Mechagnomes created by the Keeper Mimir to build, engineer, and maintain the complex machinery that kept Titan facilities running on Azeroth. A large group of Mechagnomes accompanied the Keeper Archaedas to the Uldaman facility when they and their Earthen brethren began to suffer the effects of the Curse of Flesh. While the Earthen went into stasis to try to slow the process, the Mechagnomes stood guard, and ultimately succumbed, becoming mortal beings of flesh and blood. When the Earthen emerged, transformed into the Dwarves, the two brethren people journeyed together to Dun Morogh.
There, the Gnomes built the technological wonder of Gnomeregan, a capital city. However, after the city was invaded by murderous Troggs (which are actually mutated Dwarves whose Curse of Flesh transformation went far more poorly, or perhaps better if you consider the goals of the Old Gods,) a desperate plan to irradiate the city's depths wound up a catastrophe, killing or mutating a majority of the Gnomes and only making the Troggs radioactive and more dangerous.
While the situation in Gnomeregan is somewhat settled now, and efforts to cleanse the lower parts of the city are underway, the Gnomes were welcomed into Ironforge as a safe harbor while they worked on recovering from this disaster.
Far away, in the archipelago of Kul Tiras, a group of gnomes founded a separate city called Mechagon. Learning of the Curse of Flesh, they sought to study how to reverse it, embracing the technology of cybernetics to try to restore themselves to their Titanforged origins. While it's not quite like the surviving Mechagnomes you'd find still active in some Titan facilities, they have managed to change their nature in quite profound ways.
Mechanically, the standard Gnomeregan Gnomes just use the Gnome stats from the PHB, though I'd think that they adhere much more closely to the Rock Gnome lineage.
Mechagnomes are a wholly new species, though there are certainly some overlapping features with the Autognome from Spelljammer.
You are a Construct. Also, you are Small.
Being a Construct now has some precedent. Obviously, we had the Autognome in Spelljammer, but now that healing spells will work fine on you (and resurrection spells too, which the undead Forsaken need to figure out a workaround on) there's really no downside here. The Warforged from Eberron also got this update in 5.5. It does feel like the Earthen ought to be Constructs too, especially given that the playable Mechagnomes, both here and in the MMO, are really more like cybernetic humanoids than from-the-ground-up-constructs, which the Earthen are.
Built for Success: You can add 1d4 to one d20 Test you make, and do so after rolling the die but beofre resolving the effects of the roll. You can do this PB times per Long Rest.
I think in practice this will wind up probably being one of those things where your DM will let you add this even after you find out you failed a roll. This is straight from the Autognome.
Emergency Fail-Safe: When you become Bloodied, you can take a reaction to spend one hit point die, roll it, and heal for the roll plus your Con modifier (minimum 1 HP). You can do this once per short or long rest.
The interesting little nuance here is whether you can use this if you go straight from not-bloodied to 0 HP - does the damage knock you unconscious before this can go off? I also feel like these "when you become bloodied" features ought to be able to work even if you are already bloodied, like "if you take damage, and after the damage is applied, you are bloodied." I might even make this no action required given that it's still only once per short rest. But regardless, it's a minor emergency heal. Not going to be huge.
Mechanical Nature: You have resistance to Poison damage and advantage on saving throws to avoid or end the Paralyzed or Poisoned condition. You don't get exhaustion levels from dehydration, malnutrition, or suffocation.
Again, while the poison and exhaustion stuff is what you'd expect with a Construct (the Warforged gets this too,) the paralyze thing is another straight copy of the Autognome.
Sentry's Rest: You don't need sleep. You can finish a long rest in 6 hours if you spend those hours in an inactive, motionless state, during which you retain consciousness.
Again, straight from the Autognome, but there's something I hadn't noticed, which is that unlike the Warforged, magic can put you to sleep as a Mechagnome (or Autognome) even if you don't typically sleep.
Specialized Design: you gain proficiency with two tools of your choice.
Not huge, though when we eventually go over the new crafting rules in this book, you might take greater interest in this (basically they made crafting work better, though I honestly need to re-read that chapter to make sure I understand it. It's still pretty downtime-intensive).
Human:
Ok, I've been letting myself get verbose here. I did a whole post on Humans (which included Worgen and Forsaken) so I'll cut to the chase: the humans covered here include those from Stormwind, Stromgarde, Kul Tiras, Dalaran, and the Arathi Empire - not the ancient one, but the new Arathi Empire across the Storming Sea, whose inhabitants are kind of half-elves. Where is their Empire? We don't really know yet - apparently some other continent that we haven't explored (though I also feel like I'm getting weird alternate universe vibes - the book claims that it's nothing so extreme).
Humans use the Human species in the PHB, but there are three new Origin feats exclusive to humans (who can grab these with their bonus feat feature).
Arathi Heritage:
You get Fey Ancestry and Lethargy Resilience, the latter of which, if you didn't remember it from the Khoravar from Eberron, lets you choose to succeed on a failed saving throw to avoid the unconscious condition once per 1d4 long rests.
So yeah, this is kind of a different way of achieving the "Half Elf" species that was taken out of the PHB but sort of reintroduced in Eberron. To be fair, Arathi are more like "90% human, 10% elf" for the most part, so it might make sense to do it this way.
Child of the Sea:
You're from Kul Tiras. You can hold your breath for a number of minutes equal to 2 plus your Con modifier (minimum 1 minute). Also, you get a swim speed equal to your speed.
It ain't water breathing, but a swim speed can come in clutch if you get into a fight in the water, enabling all weapons to work without disadvantage. Hopefully your DM will give you some underwater stuff to make this actually useful.
Will to Survive:
This represents your "standard" Human from Stormwind, or potentially from Stromgarde (I think you could also apply it to unchanged survivors from Lordaeron or Gilneas, the latter of which is still like half the population).
When you have the incapacitated but not the unconscious condition, you can ignore the condition on your turn, but when you do, you gain 1 level of Exhaustion.
This is a dangerous bargain, but could be really clutch. It's a little ambiguous: I don't think the condition ends, actually, but you can basically take on exhaustion to purchase your actions back (also, only on your turn). How often do you get incapacitated?
Worgen:
It's WoW's werewolves. The Worgen curse was the result of Druidic experimentation gone wrong, and then a desperate strategy to fight the undead Scourge. However, thanks to the Night Elf Druids and their Ritual of Balance, the Worgen of Gilneas now have their old human minds, and can even transform back into their original human forms.
I'll note that we just got the Lupin in Horrors Within, who will look on a cosmetic level a lot like the Worgen, though mechanically, these are pretty unique.
Darkflight: As a bonus action, you can shape-shift to assume a more bestial appearance. This transformation lasts 1 minute or until you revert to your normal appearance as a bonus action. When you enter your bestial form, you gain Temp HP equal to 2 times your PB. You can enter this from PB times per long rest.
Before we get into what this actually does, the implication here is that the vast majority of the time, we're going to just look like humans. That's ok, but just on an aesthetic level, I prefer how in the MMO, you can choose to look like a big hulking werewolf all the time, and just turn back into a human for RP purposes, though if you get into combat, you'll automatically go back into wolf-mode. I think we can take broad license from the term "more bestial appearance" and say that we're only more bestial when this is active. But if we do flavor it this way, I'd also say as a DM that you should let your player appear human as well as long as they're not using this feature, and just let them freely swap between forms in that case.
Increased Speed: Your speed increases by 10 feet.
Reactive Movement: You can take a reaction to move up to 10 feet when a creature ends its turn within 5 feet of you, and this does not provoke opportunity attacks.
Note that this could be a friendly creature. But it's also going to be a nice way to get away from foes, though you do have to wait for the end of their turn, after they've probably attacked you.
Necrotic Resistance: You have resistance to Necrotic damage.
Feels weird that this only works when we're transformed.
Darkflight winds up being a pretty cool buff. At PB times per long rest, we can probably expect to be able to use it in every combat (maybe a bit more limited in early levels). We'll also see how it'll be easier to use it when we get to a later feature.
Darkvision: You have darkvision out to 60 feet.
This one feels fair. I mean, werewolves get it, right?
Instinctual Shift: When you roll initiative and have one or more uses of Darkflight remaining, you cna immediately use the trait to shape-shift (no action required).
I love this: a great way to ensure that we activate the buff even if we're a bonus-action dependent character. It also kind of feels of a piece with the automatic transformation we get in the MMO when we get into combat.
I think my only real beef with this is that the species gets so little when we're not in Darkflight mode - giving us Necrotic resistance at all times would hardly have been unprecedented for a species trait. Still, the buff is pretty nice (the Temp HP is pretty small, but not nothing).
And there you have it!
That's all the Alliance species covered, and with that, all of the WoW species.
This book is dense, with a lot of really new ideas - some implemented really interestingly and some maybe disappointingly (ahem, Shadow Domain). But what it does mean that there's a ton to cover.
I think we'll continue a focus on character options, looking at things like feature alternatives for classes or new eldritch invocations.
