![]() What if types were based on the very basic shape of the creature with minor/major traits, with the subtypes re-defining major traits, but types/subtypes were functional, as opposed to defined? It didn't start as alive and become undead, sure, but the Avatar type would demonstrate that it was an embodiment of its subtype-no origin necessary, it just is. A nightwalker doesn't fit here, sure, and that's why I proposed the Avatar type. Meanwhile, a vampire is not a distinct creature: it is an existing creature that has been changed. While they may look and function similarly, a horse is a horse, and a unicorn is a unicorn. A unicorn isn't a horse that happens to have magical powers, it is a unicorn: its own distinct creature. While they may be "an avatar/elemental that happens to be undead", a unicorn is "a horse that happens to have magical powers", so "an avatar/elemental that happens to be undead" is by your own logic insufficient justification for it to be typed as Avatar/Elemental (Undead). Nightwalkers aren't "an elemental that has become undead", or "an avatar that has become undead", they started as undead. I get that you proposed that earlier, but it doesn't fit your current argument. Gelatinous cube? Can't forget that, looks like we need an Ooze type! They all have a long history in D&D, so they were considered important enough to define as creature types. There are so many kinds of undead creatures, and fighting against undead has been such a big part of the history of D&D, that we got the Undead type. Animals exist so we got the Animal type, and so on. Most of the playable races are similar enough to humans that they all fell under the Humanoid type. So, knowing that dragons are a really big part of D&D (it's in the friggin' name!), we got a Dragon type. Therefore we can say that creature types were designed to define the main communal traits of a broad swathe of similar creatures while subtypes were created to establish sub-groupings within a particular creature type (such as devils and demons both being Outsider-type creatures). ![]() ![]() Keep in mind that the more drastically modifying subtypes (swarm and living construct) did not originally exist in the edition, and they are exceptions to how much power a subtype normally has. In fact, a lot of the problems in 3rd arose from the authors trying to maintain the D&D legacy despite building an entirely new game system. ![]() I think the answer to this question essentially boils down to legacy-based design methods. ![]()
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