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<blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 6526726" data-attributes="member: 6790260"><p>Players are active participants, so solutions that depend on "sit around and do whatever" are innately disfavored--acting like they're completely equivalent to more active approaches is silly. And I think it's disingenuous in the extreme to say that you're okay with people playing what they want, only to turn around and say, "If you think doing nothing about problems you face isn't a good idea, maybe you should stop playing the things you like." And people can play things purely because they <em>like</em> them. I love Dragonborn (hence why I mention them). I enjoy thinking about things like, "How would Dragonborn design a prison differently than other races, since many of them could destroy the bars of a normal prison with enough repeated breaths?" But I'm not going to delve deeply into "Okay, how does my character having hatched from an egg, rather than being birthed, make his psychology irrevocably alien to all human experience?" I'm open to, as I've repeatedly noted, linguistic and cultural quirks, but deeper levels than that sound very, very much like excessive labor getting in the way of me enjoying the game.</p><p></p><p> </p><p></p><p>Hardly. Do you ever partake in any Japanese media? Japanese culture, at least on the traditional side, still bears a pretty heavy anti-foreigner bias. People of dual ancestry--that is, Japanese+something else--can really struggle in Japan, both at school and in adult life. That sounds to me like precisely the kind of thing you'd want to associate with Tieflings--and it allows us to have a commentary on intolerance without nasty finger-pointing or the like. And cultural stigma for what you look like is hardly new to humanity.</p><p></p><p> </p><p></p><p>I recognize that this is a grey area, but for me that's nowhere near significant enough. Darkvision, at least in the editions I'm familiar with, lets you see some fixed distance (usually 30'-60', as I recall) with slightly inferior clarity (monochrome). Beyond that, the world is just as dark to you as it is to anyone else, as I understood it. This will have some minor implications for things like crime rates and the like, but D&D DV/LLV doesn't implode the day/night division, and it certainly doesn't mean Elven cities wouldn't need (to say nothing of want) light. Darkness is there and it's still noticeable, but it's is less of an impediment; that's all. We don't need to speculate or exaggerate about what DV/LLV do, because they're mechanically defined, pretty damn precisely even in 5e (which is unusual, given its heavy commitment to "natural language.")</p><p></p><p>Compare this to the examples I gave (not having eyes at all, possessing telepathy), and I hope my meaning becomes more clear. Darkvision slightly improves a sense we humans already have. Being blind is clearly an altered experience of reality (and the blind, like the deaf, have their own culture as a result!). Similarly, being telepathic or able to sense temporal distortions, possibly echolocation too, are all sensory modes which are truly outside our understanding--we are the "blind" there, so I would expect cultural responses to possessing those powers.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Kay. What dwarves have an overt lack of sexuality? I've never heard that mentioned in any fantasy game...ever, actually, unless the dwarves are actually golem-like constructs (which essentially makes them Dwarf/Warforged, and I already conceded that warforged require some extra thought anyway).</p><p></p><p>Why would it be weird that gnomes can talk to animals, when there are spells specifically for that task?</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I had thought "giving some real thought to verbal and behavioral flourishes" <em>was</em> "playing a role." I hadn't realized I have to invent an alien psychology in order to do it, for a non-human. Are you suggesting that roleplay requires the latter?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="EzekielRaiden, post: 6526726, member: 6790260"] Players are active participants, so solutions that depend on "sit around and do whatever" are innately disfavored--acting like they're completely equivalent to more active approaches is silly. And I think it's disingenuous in the extreme to say that you're okay with people playing what they want, only to turn around and say, "If you think doing nothing about problems you face isn't a good idea, maybe you should stop playing the things you like." And people can play things purely because they [I]like[/I] them. I love Dragonborn (hence why I mention them). I enjoy thinking about things like, "How would Dragonborn design a prison differently than other races, since many of them could destroy the bars of a normal prison with enough repeated breaths?" But I'm not going to delve deeply into "Okay, how does my character having hatched from an egg, rather than being birthed, make his psychology irrevocably alien to all human experience?" I'm open to, as I've repeatedly noted, linguistic and cultural quirks, but deeper levels than that sound very, very much like excessive labor getting in the way of me enjoying the game. Hardly. Do you ever partake in any Japanese media? Japanese culture, at least on the traditional side, still bears a pretty heavy anti-foreigner bias. People of dual ancestry--that is, Japanese+something else--can really struggle in Japan, both at school and in adult life. That sounds to me like precisely the kind of thing you'd want to associate with Tieflings--and it allows us to have a commentary on intolerance without nasty finger-pointing or the like. And cultural stigma for what you look like is hardly new to humanity. I recognize that this is a grey area, but for me that's nowhere near significant enough. Darkvision, at least in the editions I'm familiar with, lets you see some fixed distance (usually 30'-60', as I recall) with slightly inferior clarity (monochrome). Beyond that, the world is just as dark to you as it is to anyone else, as I understood it. This will have some minor implications for things like crime rates and the like, but D&D DV/LLV doesn't implode the day/night division, and it certainly doesn't mean Elven cities wouldn't need (to say nothing of want) light. Darkness is there and it's still noticeable, but it's is less of an impediment; that's all. We don't need to speculate or exaggerate about what DV/LLV do, because they're mechanically defined, pretty damn precisely even in 5e (which is unusual, given its heavy commitment to "natural language.") Compare this to the examples I gave (not having eyes at all, possessing telepathy), and I hope my meaning becomes more clear. Darkvision slightly improves a sense we humans already have. Being blind is clearly an altered experience of reality (and the blind, like the deaf, have their own culture as a result!). Similarly, being telepathic or able to sense temporal distortions, possibly echolocation too, are all sensory modes which are truly outside our understanding--we are the "blind" there, so I would expect cultural responses to possessing those powers. Kay. What dwarves have an overt lack of sexuality? I've never heard that mentioned in any fantasy game...ever, actually, unless the dwarves are actually golem-like constructs (which essentially makes them Dwarf/Warforged, and I already conceded that warforged require some extra thought anyway). Why would it be weird that gnomes can talk to animals, when there are spells specifically for that task? I had thought "giving some real thought to verbal and behavioral flourishes" [I]was[/I] "playing a role." I hadn't realized I have to invent an alien psychology in order to do it, for a non-human. Are you suggesting that roleplay requires the latter? [/QUOTE]
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