Ecology of the Dragonborn up

[Lurks-no-More]

I disagree on account of dogs and other such domesticated animals. A creature doesn't have to look like, or even fully act like a human for there to be meaningful interaction with them.

Dogs started off as wolves, which - as highly intelligent, social chaser-predators - are about the closest psychological match for humans outside other primates in the first place; and we've spent last ten thousand years breeding them into more and more human-like in tendencies. I'd say that dogs are one of the few non-human creatures where our tendency to anthropomorphize things isn't misleading.

On the subject of DBs and "no love", I did not intend them to be cold or distant or uncaring; just that they don't love.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

I posted some extended thoughts about the "realism" issue regarding dragonborn and multi-racial communities here. Make of my comments what you will.

 

[D.Shaffer]

I really don't see much of a difference between them and lizardfolk - other than "those are PC races, and threfore good, those are nPCs, so kill'em all!"

What's the difference between humans and orcs?
When you get right down to it, beyond a change in skin color, how are Orcs significantly different then humans? Why do Dragonborn get your dander up when 'Humans with different skin color and maybe ear/height changed' dont make you bat an eye?

 

[Fenes]

What's the difference between humans and orcs?
When you get right down to it, beyond a change in skin color, how are Orcs significantly different then humans? Why do Dragonborn get your dander up when 'Humans with different skin color and maybe ear/height changed' dont make you bat an eye?

Who said all the humans in my campaign treat each other or demihumans differently? The people in the "home country" of my campaign look down on the rest of the humans, and are in a constant state of war with both their northern neighbours. They'd also likely try to kill any armed party above a given size of their southern neighbours, steppe-dwelling nomad clans, if they crossed the border, just on account of past raids. Elves & half-elves are distrusted in that country, in other countries, people attempt to enslave them on sight. Not that there are many elves around anyway. Dwarves would be battled if they were not living mainly underground "out of the way" of the human nations. Halflings are living on the fringe, in their own lands, avoiding most of the humans. Gnomes... haven't had a gnome NPC for years, so they can be on their own island for all I care.

There's one country where all "civilised races" (HUmans, dwarves, elves, halfelves, halfings) are equal (humans dominate though), but only as long as everyone worships the four elements according to the prophet's law. Most "infidels" and all "uncivilised races" (all the other humanoid races) are to be enslaved for their own good since they're no good for society otherwise. Orcs though are killed on sight, not enslaved - the relam remembers the horrors of a past horde.

Most of the enemies of my PCs are actually humans.

So, lizards are not singled out, just treated even worse for being so different - that is, they'd be treated differently, if they ventured out of their swamps. Of course, having a snake god be the leading evil god and main enemy of the campaign's central country's pantheon and having Yuan-Ti meddling against the realm doesn't eactly help with acceptance of scaly humanoids as civilised races.

 

[D.Shaffer]

...So basically you're not even playing a standard campaign to begin with?

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

...So basically you're not even playing a standard campaign to begin with?

Apparently.

Of course, there's nothing wrong with adjusting the rules and PC races to fit a setting. But asking that the published rules material fit a homebrew setting in the first place seems like a bit much.

 

[Particle_Man]

The dwarf female beard thing is a completely different argument.

I am sooooo tempted to sig this. The only thing that could make it better is if I could get a sound recording of it by Comic Book Guy from the Simpsons.

Anyhow, the question is the same:

"Is race X sexually differentiated in the same way that most humans are sexually differentiated?"

Answer for Dwarves: No if dwarven women have beards. See Terry Pratchett for the interesting difficulties dwarves have in trying to discover each other's gender, for marrying/mating purposes.

Answer for Dwarves: Yes if dwarven women don't have beards. Seems Wotc went mostly this route for 4e, with a slight not to the debate by giving the dwarf woman what appears to be 5 o'clock shadow, but could just be...shadow, I guess.

Answer for Dragonboarn: Yes. Dragonborn women are identifiable in the same way as human women (or, for that matter, halfling women, elf women, eladrin women, dwarf women, tiefling women or half-elf women).

Although I am kinda tempted to take boobs away from female halflngs and give them various colourations and crests, now.

 

[Wormwood]

Of course, there's nothing wrong with adjusting the rules and PC races to fit a setting. But asking that the published rules material fit a homebrew setting in the first place seems like a bit much.

This.

 

[Fenes]

...So basically you're not even playing a standard campaign to begin with?

Actually, most of what I posted is adapted from 2E FR.

Calimport for the "enslave all elves" stance.

Old Empires for the "we're better than you humans" and the war with Thay, and the steppe raider genocide.

The religious state is modelled after Al-Quadim.

Elves and dwarves in retreat - pure 2E FR. And the conflict with elves in forests over logging was brought up so often in sourcebooks and novels, no need to claim that as original.

It's not so much a homebrew as an amalgan of 2E sourcebooks - all of those books set in FR.

 

[Fenes]

Apparently.

Of course, there's nothing wrong with adjusting the rules and PC races to fit a setting. But asking that the published rules material fit a homebrew setting in the first place seems like a bit much.

It's early 2E Forgotten Realms, actually, with low magic, and less "Star Trek good" humans. Not exactly a homebrew.