D&D General Wildly Diverse "Circus Troupe" Adventuring Parties

[Neonchameleon]

Considering the thread, that's genuinely a positive to a majority, built for the circus troupe!

And given the existence of off the top of my head (a) Stargate, (b) Warhammer Tomb Kings, and (c) Necrons it seems pretty common and popular to want a mix of Ancient Egyptians and either androids or stone golems.

 

[Azzy]

Which is the problem - I hate Golarion. It's a pastiche of the Forgotten Realms with all the interesting rough edges filed off, is incredibly expensive to keep up to date with, and tries to cram a multiverse-worth of different themes onto one planet, so it's not unusual to see androids fighting ancient Egyptians and other ridiculousnesses.

Brad and Janet

 

[Remathilis]

In fact, I have the perfect analogy here. You're saying everyone should switch to Macintosh computers, or go all the way to Linux--that Windows shouldn't be used by anyone, ...

Not at all. I'm saying that if Microsoft made a bunch of different and vaguely compatible versions of Windows and then tried to support all of them at the same time, it would be a harder on customers (which version do I buy?) and software designers (is this software compatible with all versions?) not to mention Microsoft trying to give each of them attention.

If you were an enthusiast (and let's not pretend we all aren't) you could cite the differences between the different distros and determine the best fits for yourself and others. But the public who doesn't know computers would not understand why they can't install Steam on the ARM version of Windows or why where the start menu went.

The trade off for choice is complexity. D&D has opted for larger choice at the cost of increased complexity. For us, that's not a ln issue because we accept that complexity. But for others, well there is a certain charm to "turn it on and it works out of the box" computing that Apple provides.

But you can't argue Windows forums are full of the kind of technical support questions that you don't see as much on a Mac forum. And right now, we're a bunch of PC enthusiasts who can't understand why so many users do basic stuff wrong. Because most people can't handle much beyond a Mac level of complexity but use Windows because it's the industry standard. And so we are cursed to have the lore equivalent of "how do I find my file?" Over and over again ...

 

[Remathilis]

Murder cultist is easy enough to refluff to suit different settings. Blood of Vol in Eberron for example.

That still requires the DM to look at the subclass and create whole new lore for it. Lots of DMs simply won't. And to be fair, they shouldn't have to.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

That still requires the DM to look at the subclass and create whole new lore for it.

Subclasses are a set of mechanics, lore has nothing to do with it. I’m quite happy to work with players to refluff whatever they want so it fits into the narrative.

 

[Remathilis]

Subclasses are a set of mechanics, lore has nothing to do with it. I’m quite happy to work with players to refluff whatever they want so it fits into the narrative.

You are quite willing, but plenty of DMs aren't. Look how many people resist the idea of refluffing Dragonborn and Goliaths as dray and half-giants.

 

[Neonchameleon]

That still requires the DM to look at the subclass and create whole new lore for it. Lots of DMs simply won't. And to be fair, they shouldn't have to.

Or the DM to ask the player how it works.

 

[Mistwell]

I think it's a meaningful issue, and when I DM I've tried to address it through setting choices if the players are wanting to run a lot of different species.

If you're running a Planescape campaign based on Sigil, nobody will blink twice that the party is composed of a radical array of species. So I chose that for one campaign.

I also ran a homebrew campaign very loosely based on a Hogwarts sort of magic school, where students from across the world and even other planes would come to for schooling. That too was a setting where it wasn't unusual for students at the school to be of varying species, though it didn't free students from negative views from a certain segment of racist students (minor antagonists, somewhat like Slytherin in the Potter books).

But if you're choosing a setting where the PHB species dominate the population, I expect it to be a meaningful issue in the campaign. Players should be told this during session 0, so they can make decisions to lean into this or choose a species that will be less susceptible to it or include in their backgrounds something about this aspect of the setting and their character.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

You are quite willing, but plenty of DMs aren't. Look how many people resist the idea of refluffing Dragonborn and Goliaths as dray and half-giants.

Those are a very small number of people who make a lot of noise. “You may not change a jot or tittle” nonsense. Most players don’t care.

 

[saviirkad]

That still requires the DM to look at the subclass and create whole new lore for it. Lots of DMs simply won't. And to be fair, they shouldn't have to.

Assuming the best of both parties, or just at the very least that they're not each stereotypical caricatures, I would expect this DM to have a conversation about it. A DM who doesn't is waving their own red flag just like the player who hears and agrees to the setting and tone pitch waves their red flag by insisting on a character that breaks it.