D&D General New WOTC racism allegations regarding Hadozee and Spelljammer

[MonsterEnvy]

It’s just such an obvious thing to have missed, which makes WotC look incredibly out of touch for not having caught it.

It's been out for three weeks and no one really pointed it out till yesterday. I don't think it's quite that obvious.

 

[Yaarel]

That's not 5e lore.

The text image has the new Spelljammer images, but also has the imbedded links. It isnt from 5e Spelljammer itself.

It is difficult to assess without the books. In any case, 5e needed to stay away from the "tradition" about slaving hadozee.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

And I agree that monkey/ape people are an extremely touchy subject, too. They need to be handled with just as much care as slavery. Which WotC proved they're incapable of in this release.

I think they did OK with the Vanara from Oriental Adventures…which had its own issues, of course.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Even in the UA ODD playtest, "the gods" are masters who genetically engineer slave races. The ODD races are racistly predetermined − not because genetics genetically predetermined them − but because the gods made them that way. 5e ODD is full-on fantasy racism.



Dwarf / Dwarves were raised up from the earth by deity. Called Moradin, that god gave dwarves an affinity for stone and metal and living underground.
Dwarf Traits / Your divine creator gave you Tool Proficiency.

Gnome / Gnomes are created by gods of hard work, invention, trickery, and life underground. They learned magic from gods like Garl Glittergold.

Halfling / Guided by gods, halflings gravitate toward heavens. Many halflings are blessed (some say cursed) with a brave spirits that leads them on journeys. Many halflings believe in luck, and attribute their gift to gods, including Yondalla.

Elf / Created by Corellon, the first elves could change their forms at will. The elves lost this ability when Corellon exiled them. Elves take on the characteristics of the environments with which they are bonded.

Orc / Orcs trace their creation to Gruumsh. Gruumsh armed his children with gifts to thrive. Even when they turn their devotion to other gods, orcs retain the fits that the One-Eyed God bestowed: might, endurance, determination, and the ability to see in the dark.


All of these races are fantasy racism. Born that way, because their masters the designed the servants to be that way.



Ironically, the only races that arent genetically engineered by gods to have predetermined biological traits, are ardling and tiefling.



In a stunning comment about the human race itself, "Humans have many gods". As if reallife people who dont participate in polytheism are nonhumans.

Hey your hate of polytheism has nothing to do with the current topic.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

The text image has the new Spelljammer images, but also has the imbedded links. It probably is absent from 5e Spelljammer.

The first tweet is from the new spelljammer. The second tweet where they say they want to scream is from the wiki that has nothing to do with WotC and is using a 17 year old source.

 

[Yaarel]

Hey your hate of polytheism has nothing to do with the current topic.

Masters who genetically engineer servants

has everything to do with both 5e Spelljammer and the fantasy racism in the One D&D playtest.



[To be clear, I hate religious coercion and religious supremacism.]

 

[Charlaquin]

It's been out for three weeks and no one really pointed it out till yesterday. I don't think it's quite that obvious.

Just because it wasn’t until yesterday that someone made a tweet about it that got enough traction to raise a stir, doesn’t mean it went unnoticed until yesterday.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

The “joy” at serving “masters” though? Using a metaphor less colorful than I want to, that’s shooting yourselves in the foot. That’s right out of RW southern slavery apologist mythology.

Ditto the whole thing about their simple desires for happiness and work.

That part is from a 17 year old source, not the current one. The primary thing about current Hadozee's is that they tend to have wanderlust and frequently form mercenary bands to hire themselves as crew.

A thing about the current lore is that they never were actually a slave race. They were planned to be, but it was only a small number of them captured, and they never actually got sold into slavery before the wizard died and they went back to uplift the rest of their kind. While it hits some notes, but was clearly intended to be a reference to planet of the apes.

 

[Tazykat]

I just feel sad about this one. I have no idea how this made it past their DEI person (or maybe didn't, but that person just got overruled). I see there is no sensitivity reader credited for the Spelljammer books.

The minstrel art in particular is just inexcusable and not defensible.

They could have so easily avoided this one. Imo the hadozee weren't salvageable and just should have been left in the past. Nobody would have missed them.

For me, this really hurts an otherwise fun product.

Um you need to get a grip

 

[Tonguez]

Yeah giving monkeys a background as a slave race being bred for sale is pretty bad, I do hope the entire slave background has been dropped and they are just presented as another race from Yazir.