D&D General No More "Humans in Funny Hats": Racial Mechanics Should Determine Racial Cultures

[Scribe]

Yep! And it's great!

At least in my heart it is...

Well I am glad you enjoy it.

 

[Yaarel]

As an example, there is the Samurai archetype for fighters. Samurai isn't a generic term. It conjures up a specific image of, well, a samurai. We all know what samurai are, even if we rely on a purely cinematic image of one. If you go by the name of the archetype, it becomes more difficult to fit into specifically curated worlds. I've been waffling on eventually taking this archetype for my duelist (swashbuckler rogue 6/fighter 1), because mechanically it works, but flavor-wise, it doesn't.

I looked up the Japanese etymology of Samurai.

It literally means, "attendant", "servant", in the sense of to wait on.

In this way it parallels the etymology of Knight.

A Knight (Old English cniht) literally means, "lad", "youth", whence the meaning, "servant".

Both the Japanese and the English are warriors who attend to a prominent leader.



If you are going for a Samurai concept in a different regional setting with a different culture, you can use the translations, "knight" or "attendant" instead.

When I think of a "knight", the concept of a "knight in shining armor" might come to mind. But the term knight (as a title addressed as knight, sire, sir, or dame, madam) can be different kinds of knights doing different kinds of tasks.

 

[Vaalingrade]

I feel like this whole thing is another 'what the rules are trying to do is not the same as what you want them to be trying to do' thing. The traits given in the PH are for PCs. PCs are exceptional members of their species. They don't have to conform to what their species is and their species aren't all built like PCs.

Then there's the weird obsession lately with not being 'humans with funny hats' that doesn't seem to understand what it's asking. The few playable species that aren't basically human are... annoying. The speech copying kenku and pragmatic emotionless lizard folk are rarely played as such because they're both hard to play and kind of obnoxious to play with.

 

[DEFCON 1]

As far as I'm concerned... any game where who you are as a sentient creature gets represented mechanically by like four small features that barely get used... whereas your job-- merely what you do for a living-- gets 95% to 99% of ALL the mechanical differences between you and someone else in the game...

...tells us that your race/ancestry/lineage does not matter. The game does not care. Mechanically... all races are thought of as humans with funny hats, because when a PC's mechanical expression is taken on the whole... they might as well be. Your entire life-- your physicality, your thoughts, your beliefs, your truths, your soul, who you ARE-- ALL OF IT-- is distilled down to something as inane as "you known how to use axes" or "you can hide behind tall people" or "you don't need to sleep". That's how stupid racial mechanics are to creating a three-dimensional character. And thus why anyone getting bent out of shape when the designers take away or change these practically useless mechanics they've placed in it for paying lip service to racial distinction... is a completely and utter waste of time and energy in my opinion.

You want elves to be different than humans in the game? You have to roleplay them that way. Cause you sure as hell ain't gonna get it from the game mechanics.

 

[Steampunkette]

Butting in: no. Because generic means you can then flavor it however you want, whether you are running kitchen sink or walled garden or some blend of the two.

It goes back a bit too the premise of this thread: walled gardens have a hard time including new options because everything already has a place.

You both grabbed a single bit and latched onto it, but if you'd only read a bit further you'd see where I was actually going with it:

Or, perhaps, it doesn't benefit anyone, since the Kitchen Sink relies on external narrative sources and the Walled Garden has no issue overwriting something they don't like to fit something they do like into their setting... like Athasian Elves being -vastly- different from the elves of other settings.

I think the bland melange is just WotC's way of trying to avoid controversy in the most basic and corporate way possible: Make everything flavorless and hope no one complains about the spice.

Rather than, y'know, giving things their own flavor -without- the loaded real world politics tied to it in order to make a truly exceptional dish.

The point I was actually making is this.

"Bland and Generic" helps neither camp. It doesn't help those who like a bit of everything in their game because it lacks flavor and texture, and it doesn't help those who like to keep a strict idea of what they want in their game because it lacks flavor and texture.

Both groups can -add- Texture and Flavor to try and make it work for what they want, but lacking it in the first place serves neither side.

I mean, you hand me a series of racial traits and a name and ask me to put it into a campaign setting with no understanding of what you want it to be through description, artwork, identity, or culture, and I can build one from scratch to fit into my setting... But it almost certainly won't be what you were expecting or -want-, there. Or I can decide I don't wanna spend that time and discard it, entirely.

Meanwhile if you give me the description, art, identity, and culture I can decide whether or not it fits, change it -to- fit, or discard it entirely.

Bland and Generic doesn't help anyone.

 

[Umbran]

I'm even more tired of grognards pulling at their neckbeards ...

Mod Note:
The insults are unnecessary, and don't enhance your argument. Next time, leave them behind, please and thanks.

 

[Undrave]

You never need to sleep, because of TRANCE

Their favourite music! Why didn't I think of that?

Casinos are designed for you not to recognize the passage of time as is.

Is there anything more 'Fey' than a Magical Land of Sound and Lights filled with Entertainment and Food where you "lose track of time"?! Casinos are Feywild AF.

I'm surprised this isn't an angle taken for Elves somewhere? Elves are way too often just Fantasy Vulcans...

 

[Faolyn]

You both grabbed a single bit and latched onto it, but if you'd only read a bit further you'd see where I was actually going with it:

I did read the whole thing. You misunderstood my reply.

Let's say that I'm the head writer for D&D or some other game and I create a archetype or race or whatever that is deliberately "bland and generic." I want you to change it to fit your world. It doesn't matter if it's not what I am expecting. In fact, the more unexpected, the better, because it means you're taking my tools and using them to build something unique for your game.

But if I create a fully-fleshed out whatever, then that's me saying "This is what it's supposed to be. Like it or lump it."

 

[Faolyn]

Their favourite music! Why didn't I think of that?

Is there anything more 'Fey' than a Magical Land of Sound and Lights filled with Entertainment and Food where you "lose track of time"?! Casinos are Feywild AF.

I'm surprised this isn't an angle taken for Elves somewhere? Elves are way too often just Fantasy Vulcans...

Yoink! I've been looking for an angle for some elves in a setting I'm working on that I'll probably never end up running. Thanks!

 

[Undrave]

Yoink! I've been looking for an angle for some elves in a setting I'm working on that I'll probably never end up running. Thanks!

Be my guest!