D&D (2024) How did I miss this about the Half races/ancestries

[MGibster]

As I drove to pick up some hibachi chicken and shrimp for dinner, it suddenly occurred to be that the D&D movie had racial prejudice. Doric did not like humans believing them to be liars. She was only willing to work with humans to defend the only people she was able to find acceptance from.

 

[Hussar]

What game are you playing?

I'm serious. When is the last time you cast a Sleep spell on a PC? How many monsters actually have a Charm spell of any kind? Sure, there are some like harpies or whatnot, but, the overwhelming majority of monsters don't have any sort of charm effects.

I just finished a 16 level Candlekeep campaign. I'm struggling to think of a single adventure, of the ten or twelve that I've just run, that has a single creature with a charm effect in the entire module. The last campaign I ran was Ghosts of Saltmarsh - again, zero charm effects. Before that I played in a Storm King's Thunder campaign - zero charm effects.

I'm actually struggling to think of the last time I use or saw used by another DM a charm effect.

 

[Incenjucar]

1. Really? So, my half-elf has elf traits is remaining pure, despite Dave's half elf having human traits? Considering stat bonuses are floating now, and many of these traits allow for choices - such as free feats or whatnot, two half-whatevers, despite having the same halfness, might have completely different stats.

IOW, instead of every half-whatever being mechanically identical, they are now all different. How is that a "pure" thing? If they were pure, then they would all be the same right?

Which chromosome carries the longsword gene?

 

[Hussar]

As I drove to pick up some hibachi chicken and shrimp for dinner, it suddenly occurred to be that the D&D movie had racial prejudice. Doric did not like humans believing them to be liars. She was only willing to work with humans to defend the only people she was able to find acceptance from.

Yes... and?

No one, and let me repeat that in big bold letters, NO ONE is saying that racism or prejudice should never be in the game.

What IS being said is maybe we shouldn't describe entire races that people want to play as being routinely victimized and targetted by racism. You'll notice that not one character in the D&D movie mentions that Doric is a Tiefling? No one refuses to talk to her or serve her in a bar. She isn't subject to stares or different treatment by anyone - main character or not.

 

[Faolyn]

You picked the Berries of Power. You picked the blessing from a God of Strength. Then you complained that they shouldn't be needed.

As for the rest, you're assuming your own conclusion: "the only possible reason for Strength caps to exist is sexism, so everyone who likes them must obviously be motivated by hate and sexism." I was trying to have a discussion about simulationism vs. narrativism and the value that realism can bring to a game, but you can't even hear me over your own assumptions.

Oh, for pete's sake. I was showing things that could have happened in the character's pre-game background, not gifts from an oh-so-generous GM during gameplay to get around a sexist and hypocritical rule.

 

[Faolyn]

When does the voluntary aspect kick in? If it's in the book, and you choose to pick up the book, you're volunteering for it. Right?

So, I recently read a post on r/rpghorrorstories that was your standard jerk DM. Player said "I look around the room. Can I roll Perception to see if anything is out of the ordinary?" The DM said "nah, you don't need to," then called for a Dex save to avoid a trap on the ceiling, because the player hadn't said they were looking at the ceiling and because the DM really wanted to spring that trap.

So, if this happened in your game, did you volunteer for this? It's technically RAW, after all; the DM could have made the save DC so high that there's no way anyone could have detected it. It's just a jerk move.

Or would you have said "no, this isn't cool and you need to be a better DM"?

 

[Hussar]

If the only thing simulation is doing is making the game look sexist then simulation can take a long walk off a short pier.

Ten thousand things in the game that aren’t simulating anything but we have to fight tooth and nail every single time some “simulationist” element of the game is apparently threatened?

 

[Faolyn]

I'm serious. When is the last time you cast a Sleep spell on a PC? How many monsters actually have a Charm spell of any kind? Sure, there are some like harpies or whatnot, but, the overwhelming majority of monsters don't have any sort of charm effects.

I just finished a 16 level Candlekeep campaign. I'm struggling to think of a single adventure, of the ten or twelve that I've just run, that has a single creature with a charm effect in the entire module. The last campaign I ran was Ghosts of Saltmarsh - again, zero charm effects. Before that I played in a Storm King's Thunder campaign - zero charm effects.

I'm actually struggling to think of the last time I use or saw used by another DM a charm effect.

I did once cast enemies abound on a PC, but that was homebrew.

Although to be fair, this was in a homebrew sidequest thing I stuck in CoS, and I'm pretty sure Strahd can charm people (we didn't actually finish the adventure).

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Ten thousand things in the game that aren’t simulating anything but we have to fight tooth and nail every single time some “simulationist” element of the game is apparently threatened?

It's the other way around in fact. Narrativism is mainstream; but if you happen to mention that you might like a bit of simulationism in your games in the form of e.g. giving Str +1 or whatever to human men, Con +1 or whatever to human women and all dwarves, and Dex +1 Con -1 Int +1 to elves, people get incredibly emotional, see above. Especially people who dislike rolled stats to begin with.

Have no fear: no one is going to attack you, Hussar, for NOT mechanically distinguishing halflings from humans. They might call WotC out for not bothering to write rules that support interesting things, but they won't attack you for not wanting those rules, or at least I won't and I don't think anyone else will either.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

What IS being said is maybe we shouldn't describe entire races that people want to play as being routinely victimized and targetted by racism. You'll notice that not one character in the D&D movie mentions that Doric is a Tiefling? No one refuses to talk to her or serve her in a bar. She isn't subject to stares or different treatment by anyone - main character or not.

There's definitely some anti-Thayan prejudice though, and Forge's dialogue suggests that Soufina would be subject to stares and different treatment if she didn't hide the fact that she is Thayan.