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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Azgulor" data-source="post: 3980128" data-attributes="member: 14291">Actually, I was referring to a statement made at the 4e announcement or in one of the early announcements that followed where they stated that conversions weren't recommended, not the half-orc blog.[The remainder of this post is not directed at Dire Bare]I understand that in these days of pre-4e, it's seemingly unpopular to have opinions that don't clearly fall into the pro- or anti- camps.  Here's one last attempt to re-state the issue I had with the blog:1. Half-orcs don't HAVE to be a product of rape.  WotC dropped gnomes from the PHB and radically altered their appearance & in-game mythology (if the gnome in the recent cartoon  "interview" is any indication).  Clearly, they could have done the same with the half-orc.  WotC is choosing  not to come up with a more "pleasant" reason for the existence of the half-orc.2. As with the gnome, if WotC doesn't want the half-orc in the PHB, it's ultimately their call.  However, the cited reason of the "their unpleasant origin" rings hollow to me due to the inclusion of the tiefling.3. Tieflings, deriving from some yet-to-be-fully-told infernal connotation  is, at least to the more G- and PG-minded audience , an "unpleasant origin".  4. I believe both the tiefling's and the half-orc's "default origin" can be easily relegated to backstory and largely ignored/forgotten for gamers who wish to do so.  However, if exploration of either  origin is examined in-game in a dark, mature-themed game (ala Book of Vile Darkness) then both have the potential to be inflammatory.  I never said they were at parity, as that would be dependent upon one's beliefs and/or personal experiences.  I also never said that the tiefling had no place in D&D.5. In true 4e-debate "objectivity" (a criticism that applies to both sides of the aisle), my tiefling comparison was dismissed by some who view diabolic/demonic influences/pacts as "fiction" that couldn't possibly be comparable to the "reality" of rape.  Aside from potentially insulting millions of people of different faiths, there is a huge difference in having a character's origin stem from rape and including rape as a topic in-game.  Tanis Half-Elven from DragonLance was a product of rape.  It was part of the reason he found it difficult to gain acceptance in elven lands.</blockquote>

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