D&D General Greyhawk Humanocentricism?

[TwoSix]

Krynn is a really interesting place if you ignore Ansalon and focus on Taladas.

Heh. I had to double check that this wasn't @Ruin Explorer.

 

[pemerton]

does any story become less serious because the existence of tortles?

I know almost nothing about D&D tortles - they weren't a part of my B/X play, or any AD&D play, or my brief experiences with 3E, or my 4e play.

Torchbearer 2e does have Turtloids in a "denizens" chapter (Lore Master's Manual, p 260):

Clever and cruel, the turtloids inhabit swamps, marshes and wild bogs on the fringes of civilization. A proud stock, despite their hard shells, turtloids feel keenly the barbs of disapproval from other peoples. Their pride leads them to vengeful cruelty.

Turtloids tend to travel in groups of two or three. Should the opportunity arise, they will drag a child into the swamp and drown it out of spite. Or capture travelers who stray too close to the water’s edge. Turtloids adore candlelit dinners and are known to force their captives to entertain them with recreations of the luxuries and riches of the great metropolises in their humble marsh dwellings. . . .

Nature 4 (Turtling, Creeping, Snatching (with the Claw))
Might 4 [this is more than an adventuring PC, and the same as a Bugbear]
Precedence 0
Type: Folk
Instinct: Always creep from behind and watch creepily. . . .

Marshfield: In their home marshes and bogs, turtloids are granted +1D to creeping and snatching tests.

Turtlocracy: Larger turtloid nests are led by a horned turtloid who is Nature 5, Might 4 and Precedence 1. A swamp that hosts many turtloid nests will be ruled by a Great Terrapin who is N6, M5, P2.​

Turtloids also figure in some examples of play in the Scholar's Guide, including these ones (pp 38, ):

Anthony’s elf ranger, Thor’s magician and Dro’s thief are digging a ditch to try to flood a turtloid lair. Anthony tests Laborer while Thor and Dro help by describing their efforts. Anthony fails the test, so the game master indicates that the ranger is exhausted from the effort, while the magician and the thief are merely angry that their vast talents are being wasted in this wretched swamp. . . .

While camping in a storeroom in the turtloid lair, Myrgan the thief and Ban the Magician have two checks between them. They decide to pry open a locked chest they found, but they now must take great care as they’re surrounded by lurking enemies. Dro fails the health check to pry open the stubborn container. Luke, the game master, describes the wrenching noise that echoes through the dungeon. A pair of turtloids soon arrive to investigate, ending camp before Ban can spend his remaining check.​

I feel like this stuff is trying to push Turtloids hard as serious antagonists. I haven't yet tried to see if it works in play . . .

 

[Voadam]

TMNT associations loom pretty large over D&D tortles.

 

[TwoSix]

TMNT associations loom pretty large over D&D tortles.

I'm shocked. (Shell-shocked?)

 

[billd91]

TMNT associations loom pretty large over D&D tortles.

As does Master Oogway, a fact that also lends a bit of ridiculous humor to tortles.

But the nature of your TMNT associations may vary depending on whether or not your main experience with them is based on the comics or the cartoons/movies.

 

[Voadam]

I found that in reskinning warforged to be the mechanics for a full robot PC in my 5e Iron Gods game that the partially living nature of warforged came up in game. Warforged have advantage on poison saves and resistance to poison damage which means they can still be poisoned and take poison damage, which can narratively be a disconnect at the table for a fully inorganic construct concept.

Usually it works fine as a mechanical reskinning chassis, but some specifics cause some friction.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I found that in reskinning warforged to be the mechanics for a full robot PC in my 5e Iron Gods game that the partially living nature of warforged came up in game. Warforged have advantage on poison saves and resistance to poison damage which means they can still be poisoned and take poison damage, which can narratively be a disconnect at the table for a fully inorganic construct concept.

Usually it works fine as a mechanical reskinning chassis, but some specifics cause some friction.

This is why I prefer one of many 3pp takes on the created species, or make my own.

 

[Remathilis]

It is an interesting issue - does the theme, the race or both make something more or less serious?
i.e. does any story become less serious because the existence of tortles?

It really depends on if the source is playing it straight or using it for comedy. Tortles are inherently a little silly, but that alone doesn't make them unserious. When used as a denizen of a world that already has lizard people, bird people and frog people (among others) they aren't a problem. When people play them as ninja turtles, they get silly, but no more than a hundred other joke characters people seem to think are still funny. I would still prefer a tortle PC over a tinker gnome or kender PC nine times out of ten.

 

[Voadam]

The PC tortle in my 5e Iron Gods game went for a bit of a TMNT inversion, he is specifically a cranky old man non-ninja tortle. TMNT is present in the negative space.

He also leans into a Gamera motiff as a hexblade with his eldritch blast being radioactive breath blasts and his fly spell manifesting as his limbs retracting into the shell and him spinning through the air.

His background is an alien baby dragon turtle captured by alien scientists then later surgically altered with orc limbs instead of turtle legs by paranoia style docbots.

 

[Parmandur]

I have no problem with the idea of allowing a Warforged PC in Greyhawk, because honestly I can think of tons of possible origins for an individual. But unlike the "new" PHB Species, I don't feel compelled to put a large population of Warforged in the Setting. Less because I think it is a problem for Greyhawk, and more out of respect for how distinct a story Eberron has there, and not wanting to take away from that.