D&D (2024) How did I miss this about the Half races/ancestries

[AnotherGuy]

Except for the fact that famine etc are not specifically called out in the phb as something every single member of a race has to deal with on a daily basis.

PHB defaults to the most popular setting and in that orcs are by in large raiders and barbarians.

 

[Frozen_Heart]

Everyone focusing on orc depictions and rights...

What about bullywug depictions and rights? Why do they not get the same attention which orcs do?

• Int 7 (same as orc statblock)
• 'Nasty, brutish, and wet'
• 'Always hungry, ad thoroughly evil'
• 'they wear crude armour and simple weapons'

Some picked phrases of their description from the monster manual.

 

[AnotherGuy]

Everyone focusing on orc depictions and rights...

What about bullywug depictions and rights? Why do they not get the same attention which orcs do?

• Int 7 (same as orc statblock)
• 'Nasty, brutish, and wet'
• 'Always hungry, ad thoroughly evil'
• 'they wear crude armour and simple weapons'

Some picked phrases of their description from the monster manual.

Because this argument originally stems from common descriptions used for orcs and RL racist writings. This is but an extension of that debate hence the anti racism anti colonialism slant.

 

[Frozen_Heart]

D&D Orcs are always defaulted as Barbarian. Whereas Elves are promoted has having High, Dark,and Druidic options and given more as there are 15 types of elves.

The question becomes why are all orcs stuck with Barbarian by default but Elves and Humans are supported with every option?

That's why silly lore taken seriously breaks down.

Ironically, if you go by evolutionary patterns, it should be orcs and goblins with tons of varieties, and elves with few.

Short lifespans means speciation will happen far faster with orcs than with elves. And it will only take less than a century or so for culture to diverge, rather than half a millennia.

 

[Minigiant]

Ironically, if you go by evolutionary patterns, it should be orcs and goblins with tons of varieties, and elves with few.

Short lifespans means speciation will happen far faster with orcs than with elves. And it will only take less than a century or so for culture to diverge, rather than half a millennia.

especially goblins due to their high birth rates, quickness to adopt to their local masters, and lower caloric needs. A group of goblins who move and settle in a cave or ruin will develop a new culture quickly if they don't al die.

Everyone focusing on orc depictions and rights...

What about bullywug depictions and rights? Why do they not get the same attention which orcs do?

• Int 7 (same as orc statblock)
• 'Nasty, brutish, and wet'
• 'Always hungry, ad thoroughly evil'
• 'they wear crude armour and simple weapons'

Some picked phrases of their description from the monster manual.

Hasn't that been a problem for 40 years now.

That you have a dozen or 2 races that act and fight the same.

That's why the hobgoblin, gnolls, and orcs diverged. Because there was no point of having 6 races that did the same thing but reskinned.

 

[Frozen_Heart]

Hasn't that been a problem for 40 years now.

That you have a dozen or 2 races that act and fight the same.

That's why the hobgoblin, gnolls, and orcs diverged. Because there was no point of having 6 races that did the same thing but reskinned.

To be fair, not just a DnD problem. Things like WoW have a bunch of reskinned tribal enemies which all kinda do the same.

 

[Remathilis]

Everyone focusing on orc depictions and rights...

What about bullywug depictions and rights? Why do they not get the same attention which orcs do?

• Int 7 (same as orc statblock)
• 'Nasty, brutish, and wet'
• 'Always hungry, ad thoroughly evil'
• 'they wear crude armour and simple weapons'

Some picked phrases of their description from the monster manual.

Because bullywugs are frogs and thus stand-ins for the French, and that is a completely accurate description of them!

I kid, I kid, that's only a joke.

 

[Guest 85555]

"A master swordswoman recruits two students to help her defeat the evil Black Demon." So, that sounds a lot like Wick. And looking at a trailer, I see multiple massive groups of well armed warriors, and multiple castles. Ah yes, these lowly bandits who are living in a CASTLE with an ARMY and matching uniforms.

I think the term you were looking for is Warlord. Which means that he wasn't exactly one of the downtrodden. I've certain never seen a man sitting on a throne, surrounded by a loyal army, and thought "wow, what a downtrodden individual"

Because I think it is a very good source of inspiration for gaming (and also a beautiful film), this review sheds a little more light on the plot than the trailer (not posting to make a case that he is or isn't a warlord, just posting because you seemed interested enough to check out the trailer and read the synopsis): Wild Realms Reviews Lady Hermit

I did my own review ages ago HERE

 

[Justice and Rule]

Everyone focusing on orc depictions and rights...

What about bullywug depictions and rights? Why do they not get the same attention which orcs do?

• Int 7 (same as orc statblock)
• 'Nasty, brutish, and wet'
• 'Always hungry, ad thoroughly evil'
• 'they wear crude armour and simple weapons'

Some picked phrases of their description from the monster manual.

I mean, the 5E MM is kind of not great for depictions of sapient races, given that 5E started as kind of a nostalgic look at things and thus borrowed more from older depictions instead of the most recent edition. It's only been more recently that you see Wizards really start to deal with that sort of thing.

But why not Bullywugs instead of Orcs? Part of it is certainly prominence within the game itself, but Orcs arguably have more bad touchstones that are obvious (with Half-Orcs being something that really sets them apart, especially given their most common older origin) compared to bullywugs.

It also probably matters that there are multiple sapient frog races within that sort of area (Grung, Grippli) besides them, similar to how people are generally more interested in the portrayal of lizardfolk compared to troglodytes. I'll point out there was a minor row with Mysteries of Candlekeep regarding the editing of the adventure with the Grippli in it where Wizards added stuff that the author didn't like in regards to making them seem more "primitive", so such feelings do exist.

 

[cranberry]

1e was pretty bad. I did play it and the DM got to assess if your PC was playing his alignment and if he thought you weren't, he could change you to another alignment. At that point you lost a level and then had to atone for 10k gold per level with a cleric to get the level back. And that was if the change was involuntary. If you knowingly or unknowingly(but through your actions) changed alignment, you couldn't get the level back other than by earning the XP.

That's not a 1E issue. That's a jerk DM issue.