D&D 5E Don't play "stupid" characters. It is ableist.

[Maxperson]

the way the person acts is inherently offensive

To who? An act cannot be offensive unless someone is present to be offended by it. Offensive is purely subjective and as such, requires a subject present to be offended. An act can't be inherently offensive, because that would make offense objective and not subjective.

, or the portrayal is a caricature and/or comedic that would offend them. Why is that ok as long as they are not around?

There is literally nothing you can do that won't offend someone somewhere. The simple act of you playing D&D is offensive to a lot of people out there. The act of having a cleric that follows a god is offensive to a lot of people out there. Should we stop playing D&D because it would offend them? Or should we understand that we we do in the privacy of our own home can't offend people who aren't there.

 

[payn]

To who? An act cannot be offensive unless someone is present to be offended by it. Offensive is purely subjective and as such, requires a subject to be offended. An act can't be inherently offensive, because that would make offense objective and not subjective.

There is literally nothing you can do that won't offend someone somewhere. The simple act of you playing D&D is offensive to a lot of people out there. The act of having a cleric that follows a god is offensive to a lot of people out there. Should we stop playing D&D because it would offend them? Or should we understand that we we do in the privacy of our own home can't offend people who aren't there.

You don't think that your attitudes in your home ever leave it?

 

[Maxperson]

You don't think that your attitudes in your home ever leave it?

Sure. Some do. Those would be the ones that I hold personally and am willing to express. They have nothing at all to do with a game. An attitude that I adopt as roleplay in a game will never leave the house. That's not me and roleplay cannot make it part of me.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

Well, I can tell that some people posting here have never had a relative classified as mentally handicapped or had a friend with a relative like that. Or maybe you did have a friend like that and did not know it and every time you did your ignorant impression of someone like that, you hurt that friend, and they just held it in. I had a mentally handicapped brother and if anyone at a game ever pulled that garbage, I would warn them and then kick them out if I was the DM and they did not get the message, or if I was a player, I would quit the group if they did not stop, maybe punching them in the nose on the way out.

And on a side note, I did not know that when someone blocks you, for probably stupid reasons, that you can still see threads they create and post in them.

 

[payn]

Sure. Some do. Those would be the ones that I hold personally and am willing to express. They have nothing at all to do with a game. An attitude that I adopt as roleplay in a game will never leave the house. That's not me and roleplay cannot make it part of me.

Lets look at it this way. You wont play a low intelligence person at the table if someone like that is present. Would you not play a fighter is if a body builder was at the table? A wizard when a highly intelligent person is present? Those portrayals seem fine and no issue, but the other...

 

[Charlaquin]

I will and do, 100%. But the OP didn't say be mindful of these issues, he just said dont play characters like this, under any circumstances,

Where?

and later backed this up by stating it wasn't a point of discussion.

What they said isn’t a point of discussion is whether or not ableism is bad. Do you disagree?

 

[Maxperson]

Lets look at it this way. You wont play a low intelligence person at the table if someone like that is present. Would you not play a fighter is if a body builder was at the table? A wizard when a highly intelligent person is present? Those portrayals seem fine and no issue, but the other...

It's the low stats that are a problem, because people often have low esteem about flaws that they have. A body builder isn't going to care if I play a strong fighter, nor is a highly intelligent person going to care if I play a wizard. A low intelligence person might care if I played a low int PC, because they might see some of their negative self-image reflected in my roleplay. Similarly a person who was weak due to a disease might be offended if I used ALS as the reason for my PC's 6 strength.

 

[BRayne]

Not commenting on the actual point, but I do find it interesting to see it made here while so much of Tumblr and Twitter are pretty enamored by the himbo and herbo archetypes for characters

 

[Charlaquin]

And on a side note, I did not know that when someone blocks you, for probably stupid reasons, that you can still see threads they create and post in them.

You can, but you can’t see any posts of theirs (apart from the opening post of the thread) and vice versa.

 

[Jfdlsjfd]

Both of these are traits I ascribe more to low Wis than low Int, and both are common features of the numerous low-Wisdom characters I've played.

Adventurers should be maxed at WIS 8.

School orientation advisor: "What is your intended carreer path?"
Pupil: "I'd like to work in a field where I am routinely at risk of being eaten by monsters, or worse, in the vague hope of killing enough kobold so I can get XP to enter a dragon's cave and try to steal its stuff unnoticed".
School orientation advisor: "You... need to see another kind of advisor".