D&D General Do genes exist in D&D?

BookTenTiger

He / Him

• Jan 27, 2021

• #1

Something I see brought up in a lot of recent discussions is the "genetic" differences between, say, halflings and minotaurs.

This makes me wonder - are there genes in D&D? Is there DNA?

In classic Greek Mythology, the Minotaur is obviously not a line of people but a single individual. He is not the result of generations of mutations, but instead a curse by an angry god.

In the Forgotten Realms, the dwarves did not become short, stout, and gain darkvision after hundreds of thousands of years of selective breeding. They were forged by Moradin on a giant anvil.

So do you think genetics exist in Dungeons & Dragons? Do germs? What about other modern discoveries that were mythologized in a medieval world?

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In my opinion, genes do not exist in D&D. Children are born with brown hair or darkvision or horns because that is the will of the gods, not because of dominant and recessive genes. A rooster can give birth to a cockatrice. Humans can give birth to tieflings not because their great grandfather had hooves, but because they made a bad deal with a devil.

That's my two cents, anyways!

(Please not this is a very different opinion than I have about real-life genetics!!!)

 

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TwoSix

Dirty, realism-hating munchkin powergamer

• Jan 27, 2021

• #2

BookTenTiger said:

(Please not this is a very different opinion than I have about real-life genetics!!!)

Click to expand...

I would hope so!

My personal thought is that the rules of "genetics" work pretty similarly to how they work here; parents have children who generally inherit traits that both parents have. "Heredity" is certainly a concept that exists within the fictional universe. I don't think that it works because of specific molecules inside the cells of the creatures, not in a universe where forces are controlled by invocations of symbolism and will.

And magical fluctuations can certainly cause all sorts of changes to offspring.

 

NaturalZero

Hero

• Jan 27, 2021

• #3

In Dnd land, a lot of things only exist because of magic. DNA probably exists, but it doesn't mean a whole lot in the big picture of diversity.

 

DND_Reborn

The High Aldwin

• Jan 27, 2021

• #4

I believe they do, because IMO there is no reason not to.

Consider dwarves. "Forged by Moradin" could be their mythology for their god creating them. Nothing says Moradin didn't use genes and science (i.e. magic or god-like power or whatever) to "forge" them.

The minotaur. A curse, certainly, in a world of magic. Nothing says the curse can't manipulate the genes and mutate them, just like how mutation happens with superheroes or even things in the real world.

So, does a fantasy world need genetics? Of course not, it's magic, after all, but IMO I see no reason not to have genes, DNA, etc. In the same line, it is why there is still gravity. Does "magic" make things fall down??? Probably not, but you could say so if you wanted, its your world.

 

jgsugden

Legend

• Jan 27, 2021

• #5

RAW - Uhhhhh....
RAI - Uhhhhh.....
RAF - Ask your DM.

In my homebrew world, they do. Real world science exists, and everything that goes with it. I factor in real world science when trying to figure out how magic works, although I often have to resort to 'magic overwrites' as an explanation.

 

Oofta

Legend

• Jan 27, 2021

• #6

That's hard to say. After all cotton came from the new world but while a lot of fantasy fiction is set in pseudo-medieval Europe they also have poh-tae-toes which were also from the new world. Add in the fact that the color blue was actually quite rare in dies, I'm not sure.

I mean, obviously they had pants. But pants died blue made of heavy canvas material that we would call jeans? I dunno.

Oh, wait. Genes not Jeans. Never mind.

 

Oofta

Legend

• Jan 27, 2021

• #7

Serious answer? I see no reason why genes wouldn't be a thing, it's just that magic can override science because it's magic. If there is no genetic material, there's going to be some magical replacement that effectively works the same.

 

D

Dausuul

Legend

• Jan 27, 2021

• #8

The existence of "half-races" which blend the traits of two different species suggests two things:

1. Heredity certainly exists in D&D, since the child has traits of both parents.
2. Genes, specifically, probably do not. The ability of wildly different species (e.g., humans and dragons) to interbreed is way outside the range of what can be explained by genetics.

So, heredity must be mediated by some other mechanism--a spiritual essence, probably, given that shapechanging magic doesn't affect it. (Again, see humans and dragons, who typically interbreed while the dragon is polymorphed into human form; yet the offspring inherits traits of the true draconic form.)

Edit: I suppose you could say that normal within-species reproduction is handled by genetics and inter-species reproduction is handled by spiritual essence, or that all shapechanging magic has a built-in CRISPR editor, but that seems inelegant. I prefer to have one single explanation that covers all cases.

 

Last edited: Jan 27, 2021

TwoSix

Dirty, realism-hating munchkin powergamer

• Jan 27, 2021

• #9

Dausuul said:

So, heredity must be mediated by some other mechanism--a spiritual essence, probably, given that shapechanging magic doesn't affect it. (Again, see humans and dragons, who typically interbreed while the dragon is polymorphed into human form; yet the offspring inherits traits of the true draconic form.)

Click to expand...

Exactly this. Most fantasy assumes that identity is bound to a deeper, more spiritual essence that transcends the material world. (A soul, a spirit, etc.) Creating offspring is a mingling of those two essences to create a new essence that is a blend of both, the material form then adjusts to match this essence.

 

N

NotAYakk

Legend

• Jan 27, 2021

• #10

D&D is obviously a post-singularity simulated world seed that the creator stopped playing with and forgot to turn off, so it continues to spawn agents which don't realize they are in a simulated world. The world's mechanics where built through an oppositional machine learning process that aimed to generate surface-level similarity to a traditional simulation (so people-shaped stuff walking around and talking, falling hurts, etc) while also supporting storytelling tropes and myths.

Due to the quantum ontological holographic principle, simulations indistinguishable from a reality along a membrane are that reality; see Permutation City - Wikipedia - thus, the eventual shutdown of the simulation did not end the reality of the simulated.

Nothing else makes sense.

 

Last edited: Jan 27, 2021