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

[Voadam]

I remember the minotaurs because I painted special minis just for them (one for me, one for my wife) right before the direction change. I had so many puns lined up that they could have used. It would have been a moooving experience. Oh well.

I was in a party where a pixie bard had a power to give someone a charge attack and flying, used it on the minotaur barbarian who critted a flying dragon with his huge magical axe, decapitating it. There was a lasting nickname of the ballistic moosile for a while after that.

 

[Gammadoodler]

Then I repeat my question: is this a centaur-specific ruling or is it applied to the 140 lb Str 8 Hexblade?

Because I have seen a lot of Str 8 PCs weighing more than 120 lbs, but I have never seen a DM say “No, you can’t roll an Athletics check to climb, because you are unable to do a pull-up”.

And further is there anything that governs how much a character must weigh? I understand there are some guidelines under PC creation, but if I've understood correctly, those are 100% optional.

And as far as I know, this would be the only mechanical interaction with character weight used anywhere outside of moving a corpse.

 

[Oofta]

And further is there anything that governs how much a character must weigh? I understand there are some guidelines under PC creation, but if I've understood correctly, those are 100% optional.

And as far as I know, this would be the only mechanical interaction with character weight used anywhere outside of moving a corpse.

We normally don't care because it doesn't come up all that often. I had a game session not long ago where the 40 lbs halfling walked across the ice and the dwarf in plate weighing more than 5 times a much broke the ice. To each their own of course.

But I don't see how you could get below the minimum weight unless your centaur looks like

 

[Remathilis]

So as a follow-up, who wants to argue why dragons can't fly?

 

[Oofta]

So as a follow-up, who wants to argue why dragons can't fly?

Dragons can fly because they full of hot air. Much like many people that post to this forum, myself included.

Or because they're inherently magical.

 

[Remathilis]

Dragons can fly because they full of hot air. Much like many people that post to this forum, myself included.

Or because they're inherently magical. [emoji2369]

I dunno I just imagined a dragon full of helium and trying to use it's breath weapon and exploding... [emoji33]

 

[Gammadoodler]

I dunno I just imagined a dragon full of helium and trying to use it's breath weapon and exploding... [emoji33]

Nah man. Dragons full of helium (the Noble dragon') would just talk funny, that's why I give all Noble dragon PCs in my campaign disadvantage on charisma checks.

Hydrogen (or Ignoble) dragons on the other hand, have dramatically lower lifespans for reasons you've noted, though this does depend on the nature of the breath weapon.

 

[Gammadoodler]

We normally don't care because it doesn't come up all that often. I had a game session not long ago where the 40 lbs halfling walked across the ice and the dwarf in plate weighing more than 5 times a much broke the ice. To each their own of course.

But I don't see how you could get below the minimum weight unless your centaur looks like
View attachment 130903

I'd argue it doesn't usually come up, because there are no places where the rules mention that it should come up, which is why we don't care.

It's almost like character weight is intended to be used for flavor rather than mechanics. And this is because all mechanical interactions related to a character's dimensions are already baked into character size.

 

[Scott Christian]

Am I meant to ignore that Tritons in 5e are amphibious with a swim speed? Because if not, the DC 5 check is stranger than the DC 15.

I wouldn't ignore that at all. They are using a skill check (swimming) because of the breakers. Just because something can swim does not mean they can swim against a riptide or not get slammed to the bottom with crushing waves. My bad, I thought that was clear that this was the reason they were having to make a skill check.

But even accepting that the dynamic DC approach makes sense, it would only seem to work where DCs are stated to the players at the table. I'm not sure how common this is, but it's not something I've encountered in my games.

I do not know how common it is, but for skill checks where there is a pass/fail (like climbing, you either do or do not), and not nuanced (like history, you may get a piece of the history but not all), I have seen it quite a bit. This is true for DMs at conventions too. I think it is equivalent to "sizing the challenge up." Basically the DM saying, you step in the river and it is swift and full of debris. This is going to be difficult. You will need a 20 on your athletics (swim) check. This way they can decide (as their character) whether to take the plunge or figure a safer route across. But, that's just my experience. I know everyone differs.

I realize advantage/disadvantage functions in a somewhat equivalent way, bit it at least allows for apples to apples comparisons at the table.

Well said.

 

[Scott Christian]

So has anyone considered that the centaur climbs Batman '68 style?

View attachment 130893

I did. Then the weight thing got me again. The grip strength needed is just too much for my mind to overcome. But, I wouldn't fault anyone for thinking that way.