D&D 5E D&D Inclusivity for People with Disabilities

[Mistwell]

Dare Devil says hi.

No he doesn't

He might not be the Friendly Neighborhood Spiderman, but he's still a friendly chap and does in fact say hi.

You don't have to say hello back. That's OK. He won't be offended. You can just nod. Or offer a yo. Whatever.

 

[toucanbuzz]

...So, my brother had two ways of approaching gaming - when he wanted straight up power fantasy, he just went with a character that could walk. To him, that was just like one of us desk-jockeys playing a character with an 18 strength, or any other stat so far above our own. If I play a superhero that can bench press an 18-wheeler, I'm pretending my character has physical abilities I don't, after all....

That's good point #1. We tend to make characters that have abilities far beyond our own and don't reflect our own bodies. I've got a gamer in my group with recurring cancerous tumors. He's not clamoring for me to permit his character to have cancerous tumors and make them into a benefit in some way. They're just a part of his life and he doesn't pretend we could convert them into an asset.

My own point, #2, is drawn from when I used to work with persons who had severe mental and physical disabilities. One of our life goals was to get out in public as much as possible, whether it be eating out, shopping, or simply enjoying a movie. If you want to do justice for persons with disabilities in a fantasy game, rather than making the disability into a superpower or having a deux ex machina allowing it to be overcome, just include those persons as part of the social fabric of the game. Let them be seen as parts of their community.

Point #3, people tend to underestimate what persons with a perceived disability can do. One of my favorite villains was from a Dungeon Magazine adventure where a rich old lady in a wheelchair was behind a series of murders. The story played on most people's stereotypes: that someone who was elderly and/or in a wheelchair couldn't be dangerous. Players underestimated her. In the end, she didn't have a jet-powered wheelchair or superpowers, and she wasn't even brilliant. She just had a vendetta, a twisted relationship with a serial killer, and a wand of magic missiles.

 

[jasper]

found the Adventure League price. Snow Shoes (5 gp). These durable wooden frames lash to the wearer’s feet and are crisscrossed with strips of treated wood. Creatures wearing these shoes treat difficult terrain caused by snow as normal terrain. . So In the article some prices need to lowered.

 

[Remathilis]

My changes to the write up.
Drop the background color on the page. Just make it black ink on white.
What Does This Chair Do? In left column keep the first and last paragraphs. Drop all right hand column paragraphs. Why? Most the column is defending the product or is trying to start an argument.
Equipment Drop gloves. Include wording the chair has materials not requiring gloves. Move the Pouches bullet point to Equipment. Why? To me pouches are part of equipment and not Anatomy.

the Anatomy of the Chair
Rewrite opening paragraph. It sounds like designer notes to me.

Slanted Wheels. This seems mostly fluff. Change the second sentence to some like, the chair treats the above as normal terrain.

Seat Tilt Lever. Drop “Action” from second sentence. Add third sentence to reflect this is like “interacting with objects around you”.

Adjustable Armrests. Drop. This mainly a set up for the Beacon stone bullet point. Roll into that bullet point.

Seatbelts. Hmm is a “Bonus Action” or just “Interact with object”?

Beacon Stone. Artificer is an EBERRON class not Realms. Maybe change to artisan. Or include wording mentioning Eberron. Drop last paragraph. Add wording to effect of “tapping beacon stone twice moves to hover mode to ascend/descend normal stairs.”

Drop Ascending & Descending Stairs due to rewriting last paragraph of page 2.

Self Propulsion Variant NO changes.

Actions. No Changes.

How Tough is the Chair. This section wanders. And is not consistent. It doesn’t have hit points in second paragraph but does take Critical hits and takes 1 repair pt of damage. Review and possible rewrite to tighten it up.

Swift. Second paragraph drop first sentence. Second sentence open with “If using Swift” replacing “Instead”

Stable. Still don’t liked the advantage against prone. Second sentence change from “If the chair” to “If you”.

Attuning No change.

Staring Out with the Chair

Drop the (as it has been …. ).

Drop first sentence after Remember:

Upgrades

Drop first two paragraphs. Chatty. Sounds like a sales clerk. And is not needed. Drop last paragraph on page 4 for the same reason.

Agile Suspension. Hmm 180 gp for advantage on Dex saves and the rest. ??? This sounds like a free feat to me.

All-Terrain Tyres . Not needed you are still in most normal terrain. But some modules do charge some gp for snow shoes and other stuff. Review after research snow shoe cost.

Arcane Absorption. Sound like an Eberron thing. If not 260 gp is too low.

Armoured plates. +2 to ac for 40 pds weight. Weight is too high. Cut to 25 to 30 pds.

Floats no change

Mounted Sniper no change

Parting Ram. Drop the half cover. Or this cannot be used with armoured plates. Or include wording it does not stack with armoured plates.

Razor Edges No change

Scatter tacks. Rework to some like. “as an action you drop caltrops.” Drop the repeat of what caltrops do.

Shin Shredders. Drop the Con Save.

Spider Legs. Confusing. How about verbal it casts spider climb twice per short rest with need of concentration check.

Suppression Tyres. See All-terrain tyres. And I trying to remember what is difficult terrain.

Thunder Trip. Needs a little rewrite. Last sentence can be reduced to “casts Thunderwave DC 14)

What Constitutes an upgrade? Drop first paragraph. Change second paragraph to. Attaching shields, armour, and other items don’t count as upgrade. Drop fourth paragraph.

Mundane Items Is this paragraph really needed?

The article occasionally is very chatty.

With the exception of the obvious Homebrewery templating for aesthetics, I agree with most of this. I really want someone of give this type of feedback to the designer, but based in her social media, there feels like it could be taken as "aBlEiSt HaTeRz" and ignored. She's gotten a lot of hell for this, but I feel there is a definite "love this or be a hater" vibe element to it.

I feel you can come at this mechanically without rejecting the premise. So far, I'm glad Enworld has more or less done so.

 

[Azzy]

My changes to the write up.
Drop the background color on the page. Just make it black ink on white.

There is a black & white version--the dyslexic-friendly font one.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

In my, admittedly limited experience, that's what I've seen to be the case as well.

My wife suffers from muscular dysrophia syndrome (Steiner type). When she plays D&D it is not to play someone like her. Believe me on that.

When I saw that movie, I was running a severe fever and it was one of the more surreal experiences of my life.

For those wondering, this is The Crippled Masters.

 

[FrogReaver]

IMO, diversity is truly at the individual level and that’s why these discussions are so hard. Disabled people don’t all find the same things offensive. They don’t all find the same things inclusive. If you really want to include disabled people treat them like everyone else. Tell them they can pick from the options in the book or if there’s an idea not there that they like that you will work with them to home brew it.

this ensures the individual in question is being actively included which is the ultimate goal. D&d already has the most inclusive rules imaginable via DM empowerment and home brew.

I think it would be useful to have some examples of what disabled heroes can look and function like in the game. Whether that’s by granting them a magic item to compensate ( The magical wheelchair options are cool IMO And examples of other items for other disabilities would be too). But also how it can look if the player wants to play someone without that luxury and how the dm and players can help accommodate that.

something like this could make a great third party material.

 

[Imaculata]

No he doesn't, because that's not at all what I'm suggesting. I'm suggesting that a no armed wizard be allowed to cast spells with his feet, since feet with enough training and practice can be very capable of manipulation, not that the no armed wizard be given super phantom arms.

Did you even read the post about the no armed HR man? If he can do it, why can't PCs/NPCs?

Fair enough. I've seen a girl aim and fire a bow with just her feet, and be dead on target too. A hero is a hero, regardless of disability. A disability can also be a great bit of roleplaying when applied to a D&D character. Maybe players should be encouraged to try playing a disabled hero for a change, instead of yet another orphan.

 

[FrogReaver]

Fair enough. I've seen a girl aim and fire a bow with just her feet, and be dead on target too. A hero is a hero, regardless of disability. A disability can also be a great bit of roleplaying when applied to a D&D character. Maybe players should be encouraged to try playing a disabled hero for a change, instead of yet another orphan.

Yep. I just proposed the handle-capable pc campaign to my group. One loves the idea. Not heard back from the others yet. I think it would be lots of fun for the whole group to do it.

 

[Eltab]

Maybe players should be encouraged to try playing a disabled hero for a change, instead of yet another orphan.

... or yet another loner who cannot get along with anybody for any length of time.