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Again, not to sound like a broke record here, but, so much of this depends on the assumptions of the setting. The notion of mobility, for example, depends on how things are actually traveling. If you have anti-gravity effects, then size no longer is realistically a limit. Or, another example...

To be fair, I know it's true in 5e. I was more or less presuming that 5e simply carried forward the 4e rules. 3e had wonky rules for subdual, but, again, you couldn't do it with energy damage. 2e and earlier did not allow for non-lethal attacks in any form (other than against, strangely...

That's actually not true. You cannot choose to not kill something with a fireball (or any energy attack). You ALWAYS kill if you reduce anything to zero HP with an energy attack. The minion rules require you to ignore the specific - a PC can always choose to have the attack not kill - in...

Like I said, fair enough. It's a bit of a stretch too far for me. But, then again, it is very much in keeping with most of the criticisms of systems that I've seen over the years. 6 impossible things before breakfast is perfectly fine, but that seventh one? Hoo Boy, that's a bridge too far...

Yes, well, as I said, I've only sort of tangentially followed the discussion. But, don't they discuss their discomfort in terms of colonialist narratives? But, in any case, like I said, not liking minions as a mechanic is fine. I don't really get it, but, whatever floats your boat. I mean...

So, let me get this straight. My PC kills fifteen orcs with a fireball, and that's perfectly, morally acceptable. My PC kills fifteen orc minions with a fireball and that's morally bad? That's some REALLY fine hairs to be splitting. Back in the AD&D days, a fighter with a high strength could...

My honest guess for Dark Sun? They are going to punt on it entirely and leave it up to individual tables. They are going to present the setting without any actual moral issues - just the barebones facts - and dodge it completely. Which is going to lead to all sorts of criticisms of vanilla...

I will freely admit to skipping over most of the wall of text posts on this topic. Mostly because it has largely gone way over my head. I'm rather with @AlViking on this one. In a game where violent solutions are a core part of the game, it does seem rather odd to call out any specific ones...

No version of D&D hews to the morals of ancient or medieval cultures. Never has. Look at the definitions of Law and Good in any edition and that is most certainly NOT ancient or medieval morality. Not by a long shot. But, the argument that we shouldn't have minion mechanics because it's...

Ok, what? The people in Dragonlance know what dragons are. It wasn't that long ago that dragons left. One bow? This is a fifth and sixth level party at this point that has been through multiple combats with enemies with bows. Raistlin has Web by this point. Good grief, every character...

Honestly @Minigiant, I don't think we're all that far apart. I mean, in your example of a dwarf/halflign/gnome community, if we rejigger the demographics a bit, the culture would change. IOW, culture is created by the mixture of the people in that culture. If instead of gnomes, we had...

Hey, you can ignore the text of the module all you like, but, that’s the point, you’re cherry picking what the dragon does. 🤷 the pcs have no need to go there, no reason to stand around while the dragon attacks, and more than enough resources to badly hurt the dragon in the three rounds it acts...

I get that but again, they are going to share a lot, just as your cetaceans do. They live in houses of some sort. They are all omnivores. They are basically the same physiologically- two arms, two legs, etc. they all have similar senses. Humanoids all communicate in the same way. In other...

Whereas to me I would just have an Arctic Culture where the people in that culture would be distinctly from that culture as opposed to that other culture over there. Sure individuals within a culture will be different and have different views but their views will be far more similar to each...

Don’t care about level up to be honest. You are focusing on chargen and not world building.

But there’s the point in your cetacean cultures. They have languages. Their techniques might vary somewhat but they are all pretty similar. And there is a hell of a lot bigger difference between a bottle nose dolphin and a blue whale than there is between an elf and a dwarf. Differing...

Sorry, you lost me. Game mechanics? What does culture have to do with game mechanics? To me, biology plays so little role in developing a culture that it's not really worth mentioning. Not when D&D humanoids are so close biologically anyway. They all eat the same food, have similar goals...

Well, that's a bit tricky to do - keep politics out of gaming - since your concept here is grounded in some pretty solid political statements made for a fair length of time. That certain groups of "people" don't really have a culture at all. I mean, how orcs and goblins have been portrayed is...

Well, I'd say in the real world, without any different species (that we know of) on the planet, we still manage a pretty broad range of cultures. A culture is defined by geography as much as anything. A group of sentient beings (mixed species) that lives in a far north, cold, tundra...

At the end of the day, so long as people are buying stuff for either 2014, or 2024, does WotC even care at this point? Everything they sell under the 2014 umbrella is pretty much straight profit by this point. Those books have long since paid for themsleves many times over. If adoption of...