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D&D (2024) Elves without racism [+]

Yaarel

🇮🇱He-Mage
There need to be similar “cultural” benefits for other species, that they lose if they decide to be “raised by elves”
I hope so.

Generally, every prominent community can offer its own background Feats, including Human communities like Neverwinter, Water Deep, and Baldurs Gate, and their respective regions. Less urban regions would be a comparable geographical area, such as Icewind and Hartsvale.

Strixhaven is an example of community-specific Feats.

Theros is an example of how a sacred community can offer a community-specific Feat. Forgotten Realms would go nuts if it had each of its sacred communities offer its own Feat with divine magical benefits and background cultural contacts. We might see something like this in the soon-to-come Planescape.
 

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Bagpuss

Legend
Warhammer was where I first got into the genre from. Learning that orcs were not british was a shock.

I mean, if literally every race in Warhammer can be racist and it not be a problem, I don't know why D&D has an issue with a little bit of racial animosity between dwarves and elves.
 



Yaarel

🇮🇱He-Mage
Ah so to be one of the traditional elves, you are taxed your background feat to get what you would have got previously?
For clarification.

An Elf gets a free Mythal Feat as part of the species traits. (Default Moon Mythal.)

An Elf can also use a background to gain a second Mythal Feat, and this might be important if the player wants to build a character who expresses two different elven communities, such as Sea Elf and Uda Elf, whose parents meet in an Underdark lake.

A Non-Elf who is a member of an Elf community is part of the communal magic, and can use a background to get a Mythal Feat.
 

I mean, if literally every race in Warhammer can be racist and it not be a problem, I don't know why D&D has an issue with a little bit of racial animosity between dwarves and elves.
ngl I have wondered where the warhammer species fall into all of this sometimes. Especially as the entire setting is set up with every faction being the bad guys doing things so evil that they can't even be mentioned in DnD anymore.
 



Bagpuss

Legend
For clarification.

An Elf gets a free Mythal Feat as part of the species traits. (Default Moon Mythal.)

An Elf can also use a background to gain a second Mythal Feat, and this might be important if the player wants to build a character who expresses two different elven communities, such as Sea Elf and Uda Elf, whose parents meet in an Underdark lake.

A Non-Elf who is a member of an Elf community is part of the communal magic, and can use a background to get a Mythal Feat.

So if they were part of a Wood Elf community they would only be able to get one of the two Mythal traits....

so they would be sort of a half-elf? Erm....
 

Yaarel

🇮🇱He-Mage
Judging by the Forgotten Realms fansites, there are examples of Udadrow cities who overthrew the Lolth faction. But these are anomalous situations where the cities transformed into patriarchies. We dont ever see what an Udadrow culture looks like, when it is a functional Good matriarchy.

In the Uda city of Sshamath, the male Wizards launched a successful coup against the female Clerics of Lolth. Men in power. Afterward, other sacred traditions flourished thus diluting the influence of the Lolth cult. And arcane magic − and even any species that is able to learn arcane mage − gained a sacred legally protected status. In this way, on balance, men rule Sshamath.

In the war between the two cities, the Lolth-controlled city of Menzoberranzan ironically disempowered the Lolth Clerics of Sschindylryn, by forcing them to demilitarize. With the female Clerics unable to aggress, there wasnt enough "chaos" to please the demon Lolth. So the female Clerics of Sschindylryn ended up killing each other. In the power vacuum, the male merchants quietly and peacefully established absolute power, a plutocratic patriarchy, with the females serving as puppet figure heads.

Recently, the known world discovered the existence of Aevendrow and Lorendrow. Even now, not much is known about Aeven, and even less about Loren. But the impression is, neither of these Drow cultures feels "Drow", because they arent Udadrow. Aeven is an egalitarian local democracy − which is commendable − but "not a Drow matriarchy".

There is no example of how Uda matriarchal culture functions when it is healthy, when a demon isnt twisting it.

I am comfortable with the kinky dominatrix vibe from the Lolth Clerics. It can be prurient fun. Menzoberranzan can be a place known for it. ... But not for an entire culture. Overall, the moral of the story is, it is evil if women have power. The D&D Drow Elf traditions come across as misogynist, in addition to other difficulties.

When there is a narrative that literally demonizes powerful women, there is an ethical responsibility to also present a counter-example, of powerful women who are doing well. The problem isnt the women. The problem is the demon.

It helps for Forgotten Realms to have one or more examples of an Udadrow city where the matriarchy is healthy and beneficial. As a speculative game, it is anthropologically interesting to think about how this Uda matriarchal culture can function.
 

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