Ancestry and Heritage
This section contain general rules for ancestries and heritages in the game.
Innate spellcasting
Spells you learn through your ancestries use Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma for their spellcasting ability (your choice). You can cast these spells as described in the feature that grants you access to the spell as well as by using spell slots you have of the appropriate level.
Other Innate abilities and saving throws
Abilities and features you gain through your ancestries that require a saving throw (not spells) have a saving throw DC equal to 8 + double your proficiency bonus.
Creature size and movement
You size determines your ability to move around the battlefield as well as how much of an obstacle your are to others.
Medium creatures or larger. You can move through a non-hostile creature's space. You can also move through a hostile creature's space but only if the creature is at least two sizes larger or smaller than you. Regardless of hostility, you treat another creature's space as difficult terrain for you.
Small creatures and smaller. Creatures that are small or smaller can move through the space of any creature regardless of size or whether they are hostile or not. Any other creature can also move through the space of a small or smaller creatures.
Creatures of all sizes. Whether a creature is a friend or an enemy, you can't willingly end your move in its space unless that creature is tiny or it is at least three sizes larger or smaller than you.
Opportunity Attacks. If you leave a hostile creature's reach during your move, you provoke an opportunity attack. Tiny creatures have a reach of 0 and cannot make opportunity attacks.
OPTIONAL: Mixed Heritage
If you want to play a character that stems from two different ancestries, you can represent this by swapping the heritage feature of one ancestry with the heritage feature from another ancestry (e.g. you could play a half-elf, either by selecting an elf and selecting the human heritage feature from the human instead of their one of the elven heritage features. Alternatively, you could play a human and replace the human heritage feature with one of the elf’s elven heritage features).
You may also want to use mixed heritages to represent variation in your world; such as the tribe of humans that live next to the barren spell-plagued lands and who, as a result, replace their human heritage features with one of the genasi heritage features. Or to represent a human who has pledged his soul to the devil, replacing the human heritage feature with one of the tielfling’s heritage features.
However you use mixed heritages, make sure to discuss what your choice represents with the game master, to give the swap a narrative reason and not just a mechanical reason. If these choice were mechanical only, ancestries would all choose from the same list of heritage features.
