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

[Scott Christian]

No. It can't. It can lift 15x18=270 lb. A centaur weighs at least 600 lb.

You lift body weight x cos (angle to the wall). The angle in the picture is about 7 degrees, which means our 600 lb centaur still has to lift 592 lb.

I would also add, at least for my "fantasy realism" it is as much about grip strength. The fingers are small muscles. Beasts deadlifting huge weights have special wraps because their grip is not strong enough. The forearms are also small muscles relative to other muscles. And don't even get me started on the biceps, which are always plagued by tendon strength as much as muscles strength. When someone climbs that way they are "curling" a portion of their weight. Use leverage and momentum on your side and you are still talking about a 200 pound one arm curl and maintaining grip strength all one to ten minutes.

At least for me, at my FR table, I'd allow it just to move forward with the game (unless there was another way up equally as feasible. But for my own mind, I would give the centaur an innate ability, like a tenser's floating disk or levitate that could decrease the amount of weight needed to pull up.

 

[Scott Christian]

I'm from a school of DM that the DM doesn't have different DCs for different characters. The DM gives everyone who won't autofail or autosuccess the same DC then applies bonuses or penalties.

Thanks for answering. Can I ask a clarifying question? What is the difference between giving them a bonus/penalty or modifying their DC. In then end, don't the two things do the exact same thing; one just occurs after the roll and the other occurs before?

 

[Scott Christian]

Heh. Just came across this: Archaeology news: Medieval Chinese coin discovered in Hampshire 'genuinely ancient'

Which does tie nicely into the thread. Just because the dm believes something to be true certainly doesn’t make it so.

So you folks who insist that the dm have last say - how do you feel when the dm is legitimately shown to be wrong?

I too am not sure what the coin implies.

But, if I am wrong, then we change the rule or use the new version next time. This happens in a game with 200 page rulebooks and that is also meant to be interpretive. I have never seen a table hold a grudge or take their books and storm off. It happens all the time. We just corrected our rogue on his damage for like the hundredth time. No biggie. No one cares. New ruling and then move on with the game.

 

[Minigiant]

Thanks for answering. Can I ask a clarifying question? What is the difference between giving them a bonus/penalty or modifying their DC. In then end, don't the two things do the exact same thing; one just occurs after the roll and the other occurs before?

Consistency.

The cliff is the same cliff for everyone. So if the DC is 15 for John, it's 15 for El Uke and Victory. Victory gets a penalty and El Uke gets a bonus.

You adjust the player's rolls vs an obstacle. Only if the obstacles changes does its DC change

Plus it is easier to have the players do the math and check to a single DC than you do the math and check vs multiple DCs.

 

[Scott Christian]

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.

Man, does everyone take everything so literally? Crazy that none of you can infer what Oofta means by this.

Maybe he is referring to Middle Earth style relations. Maybe he is referring to what it says in the 5e PHB about dwarves talking to elves:
"Slow to Trust"
"It's not wise to depend on an elf. No telling what an elf will do next; when the hammer meets the orc's head, they're as apt to start singing as to pull out a sword. They're flighty and frivolous..." It goes on and on.

 

[Oofta]

It's a common trope that dwarves and elves don't get along because they have a different philosophical view on life. Law vs Chaos and all that.

In my home campaign it will depend. In some areas elves and dwarves cooperate in others there have been wars and counterstrikes in the past so there's bad blood.

I was just using a commonly accepted example, one that is called out in the PHB as @Scott Christian pointed out. It could have just as well been a person from kingdom X trying to persuade someone from kingdom Y but nobody would know what I was talking about. I find it hard to believe that people aren't aware of the elves and dwarves not trusting each other trope.

 

[Scott Christian]

It's a common trope that dwarves and elves don't get along because they have a different philosophical view on life. Law vs Chaos and all that.

In my home campaign it will depend. In some areas elves and dwarves cooperate in others there have been wars and counterstrikes in the past so there's bad blood.

I was just using a commonly accepted example, one that is called out in the PHB as @Scott Christian pointed out. It could have just as well been a person from kingdom X trying to persuade someone from kingdom Y but nobody would know what I was talking about. I find it hard to believe that people aren't aware of the elves and dwarves not trusting each other trope.

Me too. Maybe I am a stone age Neanderthal and don't know it. It's possible. But, I just thought a common example in the 5e PHB and Middle Earth would be viewed in a common light. Who knows?

 

[Scott Christian]

Consistency.

The cliff is the same cliff for everyone. So if the DC is 15 for John, it's 15 for El Uke and Victory. Victory gets a penalty and El Uke gets a bonus.

Agreed. Consistency is key.

 

[FireLance]

It's a common trope that dwarves and elves don't get along because they have a different philosophical view on life. Law vs Chaos and all that.
...
I find it hard to believe that people aren't aware of the elves and dwarves not trusting each other trope.

I'm pretty sure there's an effort to avoid portraying racial discrimination as a norm in modern media. The Hobbit movies were careful to show that the bad blood between the dwarves and the elves was because the dwarves refused to give the elves the jewels they wanted and the elves refused to help the dwarves when Smaug attacked rather than a more general racial distrust. I think the racial preferences table was pretty much a 1e feature - I don't recall seeing it from 2e onwards.

 

[Azzy]

It's a common trope that dwarves and elves don't get along because they have a different philosophical view on life. Law vs Chaos and all that.

In my home campaign it will depend. In some areas elves and dwarves cooperate in others there have been wars and counterstrikes in the past so there's bad blood.

I was just using a commonly accepted example, one that is called out in the PHB as @Scott Christian pointed out. It could have just as well been a person from kingdom X trying to persuade someone from kingdom Y but nobody would know what I was talking about. I find it hard to believe that people aren't aware of the elves and dwarves not trusting each other trope.

It's a trope, alright. A very tired trope.