D&D 5E Dragonborn inter-species breeding?
- Thread starter Sezarious
- Start date
EzekielRaiden
Follower of the Way
I find it somewhat ironic that the Dragonborn Paladin who still lives in my head (because I have yet to really play him--one session before a campaign folded doesn't count!) is...not identical, but very similar to Mehen. He has two children (both girls, so they live with their mother/s), is totally a Team Dad type (it's an archetype I enjoy, and generally play well), and is also gay. And as Ryan North put it: "only he doesn't talk about it all the time, on account of having interests outside of being gay?"
It's interesting to me how authors feel they must go OUT OF THEIR WAY to make dragonborn seem alien, while doing almost nothing for Elves or Eladrin despite those characters being explicitly described, numerous times, as having a different outlook and behavior patterns, while dragonborn are never given such explicit descriptions (at least, none that couldn't easily be replicated by a real Earth culture, e.g. "driven to succeed, but also to participate in community"). I find you can easily achieve such things--at least at the table--simply through inflection, "ritual phrases," and having specific moral and personal values...that you just don't spell out explicitly. But perhaps I am not seeing the whole picture.
Many a dapper swain there be
If such comely bodies swayeth thee!
Carlsen Chris
Explorer
Evans actually has a pretty neat article about talking about races, how they both must be different from humans, but also human-like for readers/players to relate to them. It touches on pretty much all races. http://slushlush.com/2015/03/lazy-blog-1/
Though, I have yet to see any D&D author do a good job with the elves. Its ironic that I think Elminster is probably closer to one than Drizz't, despite the latter actually -being- a kind of elf. Dragonlance was the last set of D&D books where I actually thought they dealt with elves in any real depth. I'd sooner turn to Guild Wars, Warcraft, or some World of Darkness games before D&D books for elf inspirations.
S
Sunseeker
Guest
That's pretty typical writing suggestions there though. Different things need to be different but they cannot be so different as to have the human reader unable to associate with them. It's true for elves and dragonborn as much as it is true for elder gods of chaos.
evilbob
Adventurer
No. It's not. As soon as someone says "magic" or "dragons" (the latter being the title of the game) they lose all ability to draw on history to justify literally anything they're talking about.
NO. IT IS NOT. It is a side effect of horrible people trying to justify implacable positions through logical chicanery. The entire "but - history!" argument is a strawman at best and deliberate mind-f'ing at worst. In all seriousness: that sentence I quoted is one of the worst things I've ever read on these boards. Please do not believe that or let others believe it.
Yup.
Yup.
evilbob
Adventurer
No no no no no no no no no.
Rape is not, nor is it ever part of D&D. It's a part of some tables, maybe, but exactly 0% of D&D has anything to do with anything to do with that. I think several in this thread have already addressed why this is totally off-base.
evilbob
Adventurer
Sorry, I didn't see this post before my posts. I think this thread is already going in a direction that you are saying it shouldn't.
S
Sunseeker
Guest
So if I say "Medieval Europe had a strong belief in magic and mythology." I can't draw on history to talk about history?
I'm sorry, but you are wrong.
Your problem is not with me, it's with reality, and there's nothing I can do about that, nor do I really have any interest in trying.
I really detest when people crop what I say down to sound bytes. But it won't matter since I'll just put you on ignore.
You thought that barmaids were in the game so that PCs could capture them and then mate with them?
You now wish to extend that pattern to captured kobolds?
If you read carefully, you will notice that some of us think this isn't an OK thing to do to captured kobolds. Those of us who object to a PC forcibly mating with kobold survivors, will also object to a PC forcibly mating with human or demi-human barmaids.
When I'm running D&D, and the PCs walk into the "Freona's Teakettle" tavern in Phlan, the barmaids exist to (a) serve beverages, and (b) add some individual personalities to the setting. One of the PCs, a halfling rogue, tried to *flirt* with one of Freona's daughters, and that's RP of a *consensual interaction*. I used it as a story hook; when the PC was verbally puffing himself up as a mating display, the halfing barmaid asked if the PC could help find and rescue a friend who had gone missing (Valonna, a female gnome). Damsel in distress, sure, but that's different from imposing something on a captive.
The idea that females exist primarily for the purpose of male sexual gratification was common in the early years of D&D, but these days it has become a controversial position; in some circles, it's quite unpopular. IMO, the 5E fluff does not support "Chronicles of Gor" as a compatible setting.
You posted an indirect implication about barmaids, without using the R-word. There are wet-blanket killjoys (such as myself), who bring any such implication under direct scrutiny. If you boldly take a stance about the proper role of barmaids in D&D, I'll happily debate you on fair terms, here or elsewhere. When you're back-handed about it, though, I'm not impressed or amused by your cleverness.
Are you, perhaps, "Cheeto", from the Dead Alewives comedy sketch of a D&D session?
(It's best known for a passage about casting Magic Missile at darkness, and it's basically about adolescent boys.)
Here's a few lines from that skit:
DM: No, you're outside, by the tavern.
Cheeto: Cool, I get drunk.
(snip)
DM: You're not there! You're getting drunk!
Cheeto: OK, but if there's any girls there, I wanna DO them!
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