D&D 5E What is the appeal of the weird fantasy races?

[Maxperson]

There is still the issue of the stairs. Average tread depth is less than 12." A large inn presumably has rooms on the second floor. The centaur can go up the stairs but damn if he isn't going to have a bitch of a time coming down the stairs.

And fitting through the door. Medium or not, the centaur is going to be considerably wider and longer than a humanoid.

An inn would require a special setup for centaurs and that would only happen in areas where they are common enough to make the expense worthwhile.

 

[Oofta]

There is still the issue of the stairs. Average tread depth is less than 12." A large inn presumably has rooms on the second floor. The centaur can go up the stairs but damn if he isn't going to have a bitch of a time coming down the stairs.

Stairs in many older buildings tend to be quite shallow to the point of verging on being ladders.

When it comes to centaurs and climbing, there are times when movement will be reduced because it's a steep slope. But for me, and many of my players, there are just places that a person could climb that would just look goofy and break verisimilitude if a centaur were to attempt it.

Where people draw the line varies by group and preferences.

 

[FrozenNorth]

As a player I want to be engaged both mechanically and dramatically with the campaign. The more you funnel my mechanical options into fewer buckets than 5e has to offer the more you take away the only power I have for half of the gametime at the table. No amount of "but my story is awesome" will make up for the fact I'm bored playing yet another human fighter when roleplaying ends and the dice and minis come out.

I would add that having been “that” DM in the past, DMs tend to vastly overrate how awesome their stories are and how important it is that certain things remain secret from players.

 

[embee]

And fitting through the door. Medium or not, the centaur is going to be considerably wider and longer than a humanoid.

An inn would require a special setup for centaurs and that would only happen in areas where they are common enough to make the expense worthwhile.

How real do you want to move the slider?

Can centaurs use a chamberpot? Because if not, the innkeeper is more likely to make a centaur stay in the stable.

 

[Chaosmancer]

If the DM has final say as it states in the rules (including the option to change the rules), then I don't see what the issue is or why we're closing in on 200 pages. I think that when you say "Yes, Kelly, I want to join your campaign" you are accepting that Kelly is the referee and has final call on rules, house rules and restrictions. A player can always ask for a change, the DM can say "yes", "no" or something in between, but the DM makes the final call. The DM can and should ask for feedback, what they do with the feedback is up to them.

And this was what we were trying to advocate for in the beginning. And this is what we keep getting told we don't actually want.

Because it seems that after we agree to join Kelly's campaign, nothing they do should be seen negatively. Any attempt of ours to press against the limits Kelly tells us should be seen negatively.

But what we really want is just an honest conversation, where Kelly is willing to bend. Maybe they don't. That is a possibility. But every time I've asked the question "why shouldn't the DM be willing to bend?" I've gotten the response "Why would the player even ask the DM whose put in so much work to bend in the first place?"

If we can't even get the possibility of the DM changing to be an option on the table, without it turning into a "how dare you mere players question me" then is it really an open and fair conversation? And I'm not saying you do this Oofta, I'm not judging your campaign, I'm not calling you a bad person, I'm not saying your players don't love your game, I'm not saying that you are any of those bad words that you think I'm calling you. This is not an attack.

But inevitably, the conversation always seems to pivot into "well, players will accept nothing less than submission of the DM" and we are back on the back foot, instead of just everyone agreeing that having conversations where all possibilities are at least on the table, is a perfectly fine thing.

 

[Twiggly the Gnome]

How real do you want to move the slider?

Can centaurs use a chamberpot? Because if not, the innkeeper is more likely to make a centaur stay in the stable.

Do centaurs have to frock their horsey bits in order to comply with local indecency laws?

 

[Chaosmancer]

1) Perhaps you've missed the multiple times where I've this has happened over my entire time playing D&D, so 37 years.

2) they are size large, not medium. I do not run Ravnica or Theros.

So... just because you don't run Ravnica, the only rules for the playable race Centaur don't apply?

There is no playable large Centaur. It doesn't exist. If you want a playable Centaur in 5e, they are the fey, medium-sized ones from the Ravnica book. The Theros ones are a reprint it looks like.

I guess if you want to argue about how your homebrew Centaur race works, go for it, but I'm going off of the rules that exist, not the homebrew you are making up.

Things that I have said? I'm sure that you will have no difficulty quoting me saying that I would put centaurs in the stables,

Referencing the things you said regarding Fantasy Racism in your worlds. Like the Tabaxi argument. Should think that was obvious, since I repeated it later in the same post.

That would be up to the centaur PC. Are you going to expec that all my inns fit giants and dragons, too?

Deflection

Nope.

Yes.

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There is still the issue of the stairs. Average tread depth is less than 12." A large inn presumably has rooms on the second floor. The centaur can go up the stairs but damn if he isn't going to have a bitch of a time coming down the stairs.

Maybe, but just because it isn't easy doesn't mean they can't do it.

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How about you slow your snarky roll there, dude. It isn't constructive.

Ravnica has Medium sized centaurs. D&D Beyond, however, lists centaurs and horses as Large creatures, in general. You should probably leave some room for folks to be dealing with the inconsistency.

But we've being talking about the player race the entire time. Not the monster race. We've been specific this entire time that we are talking about the Player Race, the Fey Centaur, the only option that players can play.

And that one is medium.

I admit, I got snarky, but we've been very clear on what we are talking about, the player option. Not the Monster Manual creature. Just like with Goblins I'd call people out for saying the player's shouldn't gain access to Nimble Escape. They don't, that is the monster version. The player version is different.

 

[embee]

Do centaurs have to frock their horsey bits in order to comply with local indecency laws?

"Help! Constable! That centaur is walking around with his bits exposed!"

"Which centaur? The one over there in a chain shirt, who has two glowing swords, a longbow, a quiver of 20 arrows, and is there with his similarly-armed friends? That centaur?"

"Errr... yes."

"Okay, lady. I'll get right on that. Watch how fast I rush to start trouble with him."

 

[Maxperson]

How real do you want to move the slider?

Can centaurs use a chamberpot? Because if not, the innkeeper is more likely to make a centaur stay in the stable.

Not that real. I don't deal with chamber pots for any PCs. However, obvious and glaring issues like size and shape would be expected by everyone in my game.

 

[Gammadoodler]

There is still the issue of the stairs. Average tread depth is less than 12." A large inn presumably has rooms on the second floor. The centaur can go up the stairs but damn if he isn't going to have a bitch of a time coming down the stairs.

I guess the thing with this type of argument is that it seems to assume that centaurs also have the brain of a horse, memory of a horse, etc.

Unless I've missed something somewhere, they are considerably more intelligent than horses, which means they can do things like train themselves and each other how to do difficult things, build and deploy tools to help themselves, etc.

And, unless they live in complete isolation, they would have a lot of incentive to spend time making themselves more capable in bipedal society.

Edit: basically it seems folks get so hung up on physical limitations brought in by the horse part that they're missing the mental contributions from the man part.