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Now I think about it, I have seen an unbalanced PC in low level D&D, which the GM rightly banned before it even entered play. It was 2e AD&D and we all rolled our stats on 4d6/best 3 except Stan who pulled a PC out of his infamous folder with an 18/00 strength. EDIT: And full plate iirc.

Niche protection. That's a great point, Mort.

This doesn't go far enough. I want all the PCs to be balanced with one another whether I have a powerful PC, an average PC, a weak PC, or I'm the GM. For me it's part of what makes a good rpg, perhaps the most important part. If I have a character that I think is too powerful relative to the...

Lizardfolk don’t kill and eat humanoids because they have no other source of food. They do so because they like the taste. This goes back to OD&D, is continued in 1e, repudiated as "largely unfounded" in 3e, then brought back again in 5e. OD&D: "They are fond of human flesh, and they will...

I completely agree. Shamans in 1e and 5e (A)D&D don't look anything like real world shamans. They look like the racist and colonialist depiction of shamans in Robert E Howard's Conan. Lizard man/lizardfolk 'cannibalism' in OD&D and 5e doesn't look anything like real world cannibalism. It looks...

I think I've found the source for lizard men/lizardfolk, in Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan at the Earth's Core. Was planning a post connecting it with the treatment of cannibalism elsewhere in Burroughs. It could go in its own thread, as it is only weakly related to mana and shamans.

And if the PCs are too full to eat any more monsters or they've captured monsters that don't taste good then they can be sacrificed to the gods. The downside is that when the PCs interrupt a group of 'evil' cultists performing a human sacrifice, they can't do anything about it because that's no...

The main themes of D&D – heroic fantasy, Good vs Evil, zero to hero, flashy magic – are not Lovecraftian. But, to add to what @pemerton said, there are a number of Lovecraftian elements in the 5e D&D core rules: The "Great Old One" warlock patron, the Far Realm, Tharizdun, cultists, ghouls, and...

"Shaman" and its derivatives do not appear in the 5e PHB. But shamanic* concepts do, in the barbarian and druid class entries, and the spell, Druidcraft. "The Path of the Totem Warrior is a spiritual journey, as the barbarian accepts a spirit animal as guide, protector, and inspiration. In...

Which is why cultural relativism, applied only to stone giants and lizardfolk, makes no sense. I discuss it in more detail in this post.

This post compares the lizard man/lizardfolk entries in AD&D/D&D across editions from 1e to 5e. It finds a correlation between shamans/witch doctors and evil actions, in particular eating sentient beings. Likewise there is a correlation between druids/mystics and a lower incidence of...

This post covers shamans in the 5e core rules. The term is associated only with NPCs and monsters, not PCs. Shamanic religious practices involve the sacrifice of sentient beings (lizardfolk) and the ritual slaying and devouring of leaders (quaggoth). Cultures with shamans have very strange...

There is a druid in the 5e Monster Manual Appendix B: Nonplayer Characters. None of the other NPC names are class names. For example there is an "archmage" and "mage" (both with wizard spells), but not a "wizard"; an "acolyte" and a "priest" (both with cleric spells), but not a "cleric". This...

It seems to me there's two reasonable approaches to the problem of racism in D&D texts: 1) Avoid referring to real world peoples. 2) Refer to real world peoples but avoid predominantly negative portrayals. The first approach could be characterised as "find and replace".

@Helldritch The orcs and goblins in 1974 OD&D derive largely from Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit respectively. Orcs are divided into tribes and there is "inter-tribal hostility". They can have "strong leader/protector types" - fighting-man, magic-user, balrog, ogres, or trolls...

5e DMG (emphasis mine): "How do you avoid creating a boring play session of uninterrupted slogging across a rocky wasteland?" "Strict application of the movement rules can turn a potentially exciting chase into a dull, predictable affair." The second quotation's pillar is a bit tricky to...

The point is which pillar is this happening in, not who's responsible. I searched on the words "tedious", "boring" and "dull" in the 1e DMG. They are only ever applied to activities in the exploration pillar, never combat or social interaction.

In 1974 OD&D orcs don't have a fixed alignment. Like ogres and minotaurs, they can be Neutral or Chaotic. Goblins, hobgoblins, kobolds, gnolls, and trolls are always Chaotic tho.

1e AD&D DMG (emphasis mine): "Use actual time to keep track of game time spent exploring and mapping (somewhat tedious but necessary)." "Assume that your players are continually wasting time (thus making the so-called adventure drag out into a boring session of dice rolling and delay) if they...