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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Charlaquin" data-source="post: 8369726" data-attributes="member: 6779196">Eh, nothing is strictly defined, language is based on usage. That’s why I don’t care to argue semantics here. If you don’t like the term I’m using, feel free to substitute another term you like more, the point is what I’m using it to mean.I don’t think anyone disputes that it’s a continuum, so this doesn’t really add anything helpful to the conversation.Agreed! This is why sensitivity readers are a valuable thing to have.Right, because that quality doesn’t define their essence. To use an analogy, it isn’t misogynistic to observe that male humans are larger abs stronger on average than female humans. But it is misogynistic to say that men are better athletes than women.It’s essentializing to attribute their essential nature to that biological trait. Might being naturally stronger be an advantage if you decide to become a weight lifter? Absolutely. That doesn’t mean men are essentially better weightlifters than women. There is a great deal beyond raw physical strength and size that goes into weight lifting - technique, mindset, drive, etc. to say nothing of the fact that some women are in fact stronger than some men. The same can, and should, be true of different fantasy races. Now, is it biologically essentialist to say Goliaths are stronger than gnomes on average? No. But it would be to say that Goliaths are better barbariana than gnomes. And even if the game never outright says that, the mechanics are such that they imply it. If you want to build a gnome barbarian, you’re going to find that your character is just worse at doing most of the things a barbarian does.A Goliath can lift more than a member of another race with the same strength score. That doesn’t equate to “Goliaths are good weightlifters.”Given that WotC felt the need to publicly announce that they had done a poor job representing race in 5e and would be taking steps to change it? I disagree, I think the general D&D playing public is clearly concerned about this matter.If you insist on calling it that. I will!There are more differences than that between humans and dwarves. See my previous post.Of course you don’t need them to tell those stories. But the fact of the matter is that a lot of people want to use them to tell those stories, and that’s enough for them to be worth including.</blockquote>

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