D&D General Drow & Orcs Removed from the Monster Manual

[ezo]

Wanting your due, either through effort and compensation or need, is not selfish, to me.

Interesting. To me it is taking care of #1, getting what I am owed (for whatever reason), without concern for others--either those who have less or those who have more. That's why I see it as selfish.

Its wanting more than that, ever increasing, it's wanting what your neighbor has, it's entitlement.

See, and to my mind that is not selfish, that is greedy. "Wanting more", "wanting what someone else has", is more than just entitlement IMO.

Essentially to me, its modern western culture.

It is modern culture to me, not just western... unfortunately, it started western and has spread to be more universal IME.

What do you see as greedy, then, if not what you deemed as selfish above?

Earlier, you definte Evil as "selfish, greedy, and self absorbed" and then selfishness falls under cruelty, but overlooking the suffering of others to be neutral. Those statements seem at odds unless I am misunderstanding your position?

 

[Scribe]

Interesting. To me it is taking care of #1, getting what I am owed (for whatever reason), without concern for others--either those who have less or those who have more. That's why I see it as selfish.

Thats just LN. You expect what you are due. No more, no less.

See, and to my mind that is not selfish, that is greedy. "Wanting more", "wanting what someone else has", is more than just entitlement IMO.

Greed, is part of Selfish, to me.

It is modern culture to me, not just western... unfortunately, it started western and has spread to be more universal IME.

I blame the Internet for that.

What do you see as greedy, then, if not what you deemed as selfish above?

Earlier, you definte Evil as "selfish, greedy, and self absorbed" and then selfishness falls under cruelty, but overlooking the suffering of others to be neutral. Those statements seem at odds unless I am misunderstanding your position?

Greed would fall under Selfish. Same as Cruelty, as its a willful infliction of suffering on for ones own fulfillment.

Overlooking, or perhaps not overlooking, but accepting it as a state of the world, other peoples suffering is not satisfying yourself due to or by the infliction of that suffering.

I am not Evil, because there are people starving in the world. I however can be Good, by giving up what I have, in an effort to improve the state of those people. I would be Evil, if I by my desire to have more, was the cause of those people starving.

Hopefully that makes sense. Its not a perfect system of course, but it works well enough for me to sleep at night.

 

[Chaltab]

my own selection of species for this concept...
CE - Eladrin

Why are Eladrin chaotic evil?

 

[sevenbastard]

It doesn't have to do with spelling at all, Phylactery is an anti-Semitic thing is the issue.

Well I didn't know that. I'll accept that.

 

[Parmandur]

This is my approach too. PCs may or may not have an alignment. I, as DM, don't care what it is, or if they leave it blank. Works for NPCs too.

The main value is as a shorthand for DM prep, to peg how a particular NPC will broadly react. Noting down that the King's Advisor is Neutral Evil or Lawful Neutral can help woth improve if the party pays more attention to the character than expected.

 

[Theory of Games]

Remember when humans were listed among the monsters? Ah, memories.

Now? Just get rid of the monster manual. It's old hat and it impairs player agency. I've always wanted to play a Doppelganger Warlord and this whole "monster" thing is low-key excrematious.

Go back to X.P. for treasure and good RP. No more killing!

 

[CreamCloud0]

Why are Eladrin chaotic evil?

as a hearkening back to the original 'the fair folk' interpretation of elves and fey.

 

[Voadam]

Well I didn't know that. I'll accept that.

Phylactery has a couple definitions as a term.

One is the tefillin, a Jewish practice of putting verses of the Torah in a container and wearing them strapped to either the forehead or arm during prayers.

Another is just a magical amulet.

AD&D lich phylacteries were emphasized to be any kind of object and seemed more a reference to stories about Koschei the Deathless a sorcerer who kept his soul/death outside of his body in a hidden object and could not be killed until it was obtained. AD&D magic item phylacteries such as the phylactery of faithfulness were described more like tefellin. Starting in 3.5, 4e, and 5e there were MM references to lich phylacteries shaped like boxes or containing mystically inscribed parchment.

5e 14 MM: "A phylactery is traditionally an amulet in the shape of a small box, but it can take the form of any item possessing an interior space into which arcane sigils of naming, binding, immortality, and dark magic are scribed in silver."

4e MM: "A lich’s life force is bound up in a magic phylactery, which typically takes the form of a fist-sized metal box containing strips of parchment on which magical phrases have been written."

3.5: "The phylactery, which takes 10 days to create, usually takes the form of a sealed metal box containing strips of parchment on which magical phrases have been transcribed in your blood. The box measures 6 inches on a side and has 40 hit points and resist 20 to all damage. Other kinds of phylacteries include rings and amulets, which are just as durable."

2e: "In order to become a lich, the wizard must prepare its phylactery by the use of the enchant an item, magic jar, permanency and reincarnation spells. The phylactery, which can be almost any manner of object, must be of the finest craftsmanship and materials with a value of not less than 1,500 gold pieces per level of the wizard."

 

[Scribe]

Phylactery has a couple definitions as a term.

One is the tefillin, a Jewish practice of putting verses of the Torah in a container and wearing them strapped to either the forehead or arm during prayers.

Another is just a magical amulet.

AD&D lich phylacteries were emphasized to be any kind of object and seemed more a reference to stories about Koschei the Deathless a sorcerer who kept his soul/death outside of his body in a hidden object and could not be killed until it was obtained. AD&D magic item phylacteries such as the phylactery of faithfulness were described more like tefellin. Starting in 3.5, 4e, and 5e there were MM references to lich phylacteries shaped like boxes or containing mystically inscribed parchment.

5e 14 MM: "A phylactery is traditionally an amulet in the shape of a small box, but it can take the form of any item possessing an interior space into which arcane sigils of naming, binding, immortality, and dark magic are scribed in silver."

4e MM: "A lich’s life force is bound up in a magic phylactery, which typically takes the form of a fist-sized metal box containing strips of parchment on which magical phrases have been written."

3.5: "The phylactery, which takes 10 days to create, usually takes the form of a sealed metal box containing strips of parchment on which magical phrases have been transcribed in your blood. The box measures 6 inches on a side and has 40 hit points and resist 20 to all damage. Other kinds of phylacteries include rings and amulets, which are just as durable."

2e: "In order to become a lich, the wizard must prepare its phylactery by the use of the enchant an item, magic jar, permanency and reincarnation spells. The phylactery, which can be almost any manner of object, must be of the finest craftsmanship and materials with a value of not less than 1,500 gold pieces per level of the wizard."

See Also:

• Hunping, translated as soul jar or soul vase, a type of Chinese ceramic funerary urn

 

[Parmandur]

Well I didn't know that. I'll accept that.

It's a pretty subtle thing, but this had been blowing up online a bit the past few years, and Paizo already renamed the Phylactery as a "Soul Cage" some time ago for Pathfinder.

I doubt anyone along the path was a major raving anti-Semite (though Rose Estes, who was Jewish, did report that Gygax said some unfortunate thing), but if enough people care WotC doesn't want the noise, and the hobby doesn't need it.