D&D 5E D&D's Inclusivity Language Alterations In Core Rules

In recent months, WotC has altered some of the text found in the original 5th Edition core rulebooks to accommodate D&D's ongoing move towards inclusivity. Many of these changes are reflected on D&D Beyond already--mainly small terminology alterations in descriptive text, rather than rules changes.

Teos Abadia (also known as Alphastream) has compiled a list of these changes. I've posted a very abbreviated, paraphrased version below, but please do check out his site for the full list and context.

• Savage foes changed to brutal, merciless, or ruthless.
• Barbarian hordes changed to invading hordes.
• References to civilized people and places removed.
• Madness or insanity removed or changed to other words like chaos.
• Usage of orcs as evil foes changed to other words like raiders.
• Terms like dim-witted and other synonyms of low intelligence raced with words like incurious.
• Language alterations surrounding gender.
• Fat removed or changed to big.
• Use of terms referring to slavery reduced or altered.
• Use of dark when referring to evil changed to words like vile or dangerous.

This is by no means the full list, and much more context can be found on Alphastream's blog post.

 

[Umbran]

That said, is there a way to keep the myth without perpetuating the shaming of women's sexuality?

Why is the myth so valuable that one should try?

 

[Reynard]

Same here; but I still want to be able to think that if the party's attitude is "Wipe 'em all out and let their deities sort 'em later" that nobody's going to complain if-when, for example, I were to post that game log here.

So say "the party wiped out the murderous bandits/cultists/raiders because they were bandits/cultists/raiders" rather than saying "the party wiped out the orcs because they were orcs."

Also, if it is important to you and you feel like you have to defend it, just say, "In my world orcs are monsters created by the Dark Lord with no free will or capacity for good; they are mortal demons for all intents and purposes." Because that's fine too. Just be aware that "orc" means something different to your average gamer than it did 40 or even 20 years ago.

Thanks, Warcraft.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Agreed.

That said, is there a way to keep the myth without perpetuating the shaming of women's sexuality?

Make it a unicorn thing, not an objective moral judgement. They're intelligent creatures, after all.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Why is the myth so valuable that one should try?

Why is any myth valuable? They provide a link to the shared culture and imagination of humanity.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I know you don't play 5e, but this discussion is explicitly about the language changes in 5e that clearly show your statement is untrue in the modern game.

So those cultural traits don't exist?

 

[Lanefan]

Haha, no idea. Honestly a great person. I think he was just trying his best to roleplay the situation in his head without thinking about the consequences fast enough?

Ended up demanding that everyone put their weapons down and join us or die. Which they did.

I think he might have been irritated that he now had a small band of bandit NPCs he had to consider for the rest of the campaign.

Same thing happens in my game: I try to play the PCs' opponents to their wisdom, and sometimes those opponents will surrender rather than get chopped down once they see the battle is lost.

Then the PCs have to figure out what to do with them - keep them as prisoners, hire them on as hirelings or henches, execute them where they stand, or ? And when they decide to keep them in the party as hirelings (which is the recent trend) then yes, I-as-DM have to worry about running x-number of NPCs for longer than a single battle.

 

[Staffan]

I'm pretty sure that's been the default presentation for decades now.

Does no one remember how, back in 3.X, orcs were listed as being "often chaotic evil," where "often" was defined as "The creature tends toward the given alignment, either by nature or nurture, but not strongly. A plurality (40–50%) of individuals have the given alignment, but exceptions are common."

The 3.0 PHB came with a CD-ROM in its first printing. The main thrust of the CD-ROM was the demo of the later abandoned character generation software, but it also had an adventure hidden on it named Dead of Winter, which took place in the far north where you have an uneasy peace between orcs and men, and I believe part of the adventure included solving a mystery where someone was trying to make hostilities flare up again. I wish I could find it but it doesn't seem to be archived anywhere on the interwebs.

 

[Epic Meepo]

That said, is there a way to keep the myth without perpetuating the shaming of women's sexuality?

Unicorns are friends of the asexual community and believe women who choose not to engage in sexuality should be lauded for being true to themselves, not shamed for refusing to bow to societal norms?

 

[Reynard]

Make it a unicorn thing, not an objective moral judgement. They're intelligent creatures, after all.

Why not just say "pure of heart."? As in, only a truly good person can ride a unicorn. Why a woman? Well, that could be tied up with patriarchy, but it could also be tied up with mother Goddess myths and the idea of the female aspect of the universe representing healing.
The point is, we can keep the myths and at the same time we don't have to lean into the worst parts. because, remember, there is not A unicorn myth. There are many, many unicorn myths and I bet you can find one that does what you want without also potentially excluding others.

 

[Alzrius]

The 3.0 PHB came with a CD-ROM in its first printing. The main thrust of the CD-ROM was the demo of the later abandoned character generation software, but it also had an adventure hidden on it named Dead of Winter, which took place in the far north where you have an uneasy peace between orcs and men, and I believe part of the adventure included solving a mystery where someone was trying to make hostilities flare up again. I wish I could find it but it doesn't seem to be archived anywhere on the interwebs.

I still have the CD that came with my 3.0 PHB, but ironically enough I can't look at the adventure since my current computer doesn't have an optical media drive.