D&D General "Red Orc" American Indians and "Yellow Orc" Mongolians in D&D

[CleverNickName]

Pure evil.

If he ever figures out how to grip that hammer, we're all doomed.

 

[Zardnaar]

Pure evil.
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If he ever figures out how to grip that hammer, we're all doomed.
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If they evolve thumbs we're screwed.

 

[Umbran]

So what are we arguing about? I don't think we are. You suggest that mind flayers must eat brains in order to live, which would give the story a race that is perpetually in conflict with those of an opposed moral structure.

No. Incorrect. Wrong. Stop.

I'm saying it would give the story a race that is perpetually opposed with others no matter the moral structure, conflict separate from the moral structure.

 

[CleverNickName]

No. Incorrect. Wrong. Stop.

Can do.

 

[Malmuria]

In other threads on alignment, racial ASI, and the like, I see people say they want elves and dwarves and the like to be truly alien (not sure how ASI accomplishes that, but that's neither here not there). Of all the creatures in the game, ilithid and beholders are set to actually have alien mindsets. Why would they operate under the same morality? Pigs are fairly intelligent, and yet humans raise and kill 1 billion of them every year, often in awful factory farm conditions. Perhaps the mind flayers similarly view humanoids as somewhat intelligent but more importantly delicious?

 

[Gradine]

BEHOLD..... BEYOND BRAINS!!!!!!111!!!!!

Made with CORN! Muahahahahahahaha! Feeling a little peckish? Get all the great taste of BRAIN with none of the fat, cholesterol, or MORAL AND INTESTINAL DISTRESS!!!

Fun fact: the plate is also made of corn

 

[Gradine]

Another fun fact: In Droaam (in Eberron) the primary staple food is a sustainably sourced and magically nutrified ground troll meat product known as "grist". Since trolls can re-grow their heads, there's your sustainable source of brains right there.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

Fun fact: the player is also made of corn

And commenter Gradine of Enworld came unto me
Snatching me up from my place of slumber
And took me on high and higher still
Until we moved to the spaces betwixt the air itself
And he brought me into the aether of the Spelljammers
And as we descended cries of impending doom rose from the men of corn
One thousand nay a million voices full of fear
And terror possessed me then
And I begged Gradine of Enworld what are these tortured screams?
And Gradine said unto me
These are the cries of the Corn Men, the cries of the corn!
You see, when you have vegetarian Mind Flayers
Every day is harvest day and to the Corn Men it is the holocaust



One way or another, it ALWAYS comes back to corn.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Why would a mind flayer "need" to eat brains in order to survive, though? It's fantasy, we can describe them eating whatever we like. (Personally, I figure if they can engineer a squid that can fly through the vacuum of space at near-lightspeed, they can engineer vegan brains...if for no other reason than brains might become scarce in the light-years of travel through the galaxy.)

This is why I can't really argue that side. For that argument ("it's not wrong if it's food") to carry weight, you first have to invent a reason for that argument to carry weight ("mind flayers only eat brains"). Why would you go there in the first place, if it's going to cause a problem?

Because it wasn't perceived as a problem by most until very recently.

 

[Faolyn]

Is not wanting to starve to death wrong though?

Like is it a choice on the part of the mindflayers that they were designed stupidly to prey exclusively on animals that whine about being eaten?

Vampires who can live on animal blood but don't make sense to call out; they've made an individual choice and they choose to be monsters about it. A mindflayer who is an obligate sapient hunter doesn't. They're a threat, an antagonist, but they're just trying not to starve -- like the tiger.

There's a discussion to be had about that brain fungus, but one has to wonder how widespread that knowledge is and how feasible it is to cultivate.

In Spelljammer, there were "oortlings," small humanoids with enormous brains that had been magically gengineered with limited intelligence that were used as a food source. Humanoid cows, effectively. It may be feasible to have non-Spelljamming mind flayers breed them.