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

[EzekielRaiden]

You expect me to remember details of a conversation that happened 7 years ago? I can barely remember what I had for breakfast.

Or was it 3.5? It would have been the same gaming group. In any case, I remember talking about centaurs and climbing cliffs/ladders with the group and the questions about how things would be physically responsible.

But even if I just dreamt it (which would be why Little Jeff had a unicorn head*) this thread should be evidence that verisimilitude/believability would be an issue for some people.

I mean, unless you're just calling me a liar.

*I kid of course. But we did have Big Jeff, Middle Jeff and Little Jeff as part of our gaming group for public gaming. Mind you "Little Jeff" was probably closing in on 6', we just had an overabundance of Jeffs and the others were well over 6'.

There's no need to be defensive. I literally just noted that there was a factual error in your statement, which would have prevented the described discussion. I don't care what words you or others used, otherwise I would have asked for them. I just happened to know that that factual claim was false (it was something a number of people criticized about 4e, believe it or not) and felt I should say so. People make mistakes. But it is at least a little humorous that you happened to pick the one single numbered edition where centaurs were never officially playable, no? (Okay, maybe they didn't exist in 1e either, I'm not sure what the timing on The Complete Book of Humanoids was. But they did appear in BD&D, AD&D, 3e, and now 5e, at least by 1d4chan's records.)

 

[Azzy]

Yeah, I'm...very much in the same boat here. The response Oofta gave comes across as "of course any given Dwarf is going to have a harder time convincing any given Elf," which...no? I have no idea why that would be required.

Right? In my homebrew, the grey elves and mountain dwarves live in the same mountain range, whith the elves living on the mountain's surface below the tree line and the dwarves living in the interior of the mountain. They consider themselves a single nation with a senate composed of both races. Needless to say their relationship is friendly, respectful, and equal.

 

[Azzy]

Meh. I'd be willing to stretch the increased lift and carry capacity for the medium critter. If dragon-sized critters can fly and breathe fire, I'll let a medium centaur climb with a rope.

Agreed. A creature should be able to lift its own weight (unless it has below average Strength).

 

[FrozenNorth]

Doesn't get round the problem that a medium sized centaur isn't strong enough to lift it's own body weight, as per RAW, and therefore, unlike Batman, cannot do that.

Does this reasoning apply to the Str 8 Hexblade or just the centaur? Because I’m pretty sure that the Hexblade isn’t asked to be able to lift its own weight prior to making a climb check.

 

[Oofta]

Agreed. A creature should be able to lift its own weight (unless it has below average Strength).

A lot of people couldn't do a pull-up if their life depended on it, even if they have average strength. But if you use the rule (climb at 1/4 speed) to justify centaurs climbing cliffs it seems a bit odd to ignore the rules on how much weight you can lift based on strength.

Or just ignore it all of course because you think centaurs are cool and the imagery doesn't bother you.

 

[Oofta]

Does this reasoning apply to the Str 8 Hexblade or just the centaur? Because I’m pretty sure that the Hexblade isn’t asked to be able to lift its own weight prior to making a climb check.

If there's a climb check that means athletics check which uses strength.

 

[Oofta]

There's no need to be defensive. I literally just noted that there was a factual error in your statement, which would have prevented the described discussion. I don't care what words you or others used, otherwise I would have asked for them. I just happened to know that that factual claim was false (it was something a number of people criticized about 4e, believe it or not) and felt I should say so. People make mistakes. But it is at least a little humorous that you happened to pick the one single numbered edition where centaurs were never officially playable, no? (Okay, maybe they didn't exist in 1e either, I'm not sure what the timing on The Complete Book of Humanoids was. But they did appear in BD&D, AD&D, 3e, and now 5e, at least by 1d4chan's records.)

I was probably thinking LG instead of LFR. But really? Someone thought it was a good idea to create the shard mind race, a pile of sentient stone, but not centaurs?

 

[Azzy]

A lot of people couldn't do a pull-up if their life depended on it, even if they have average strength.

Perhaps a lot of centaurs can't, either, but a lot can. So, I dunno why that's a sticking point.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Does this reasoning apply to the Str 8 Hexblade or just the centaur? Because I’m pretty sure that the Hexblade isn’t asked to be able to lift its own weight prior to making a climb check.

A medium character with a strength of 8 could lift 120 lb, so, depending on race, they might have difficulty. As they should. You wouldn't expect weakings to be able to shin up a rope without a chance of failure. I know I can't climb a rope.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Perhaps a lot of centaurs can't, either, but a lot can. So, I dunno why that's a sticking point.

Centaurs weigh about four times as much as a human, but do not have four times the strength.