D&D General Nolzur creates inclusive miniatures, people can't handle it.

[Sacrosanct]

Another thing that bothers me about this discussion are the comments around "Wheelchairs are stupid, because how are you gonna climb cliffs, or do rappelling, swim underwater, or trudge through knee-deep mud and muck, or climb 10000 stairs!?"

Cuz no one bats an eye at this guy in your party. Who also can't do any of those things without assistance. Heck, I'm almost 50 and my knees won't allow me to do any of those things either, and I'm in pretty decent shape otherwise. We're willing to completely ignore stuff like age, or body weight, or health, or pooping in a game, but suddenly a wheelchair and we're all "Realism!"

 

[Micah Sweet]

Another thing that bothers me about this discussion are the comments around "Wheelchairs are stupid, because how are you gonna climb cliffs, or do rappelling, swim underwater, or trudge through knee-deep mud and muck, or climb 10000 stairs!?"

Cuz no one bats an eye at this guy in your party. Who also can't do any of those things without assistance. Heck, I'm almost 50 and my knees won't allow me to do any of those things either, and I'm in pretty decent shape otherwise. We're willing to completely ignore stuff like age, or body weight, or health, or pooping in a game, but suddenly a wheelchair and we're all "Realism!"

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TBH, I'd definitely have issues with all those things.

 

[Sacrosanct]

We're willing to completely ignore stuff like age, or body weight, or health, or pooping in a game, but suddenly a wheelchair and we're all "Realism!"

TBH, I'd definitely have issues with all those things.

Might I suggest an allergy test. I've discovered that somewhere around 40, I became allergic to wheat and dairy...

 

[Mirrorrorrim]

A disabled adventurer could ride a permanent Floating Disk-style item, but that is just a flat disc without a lot of function or storage for their gear. A wheelchair, personal magical palanquin, or a construct mount are all valid alternatives to walking, with some of them having more, or different, functionality.

And I get that some don't like that in a magical world of healing magic, that a disabled person could exist. But they do. Not all healing magic is inexpensive or available. Maybe a Heal spell is necessary. But even then, the DM should work with the player if the player wants to explore the fantasy of representing as disabled in the story. Just be respectful. It's all in good fun.

I am more interested in creating inclusive options for players than I am for excluding them for fantasy verisimiltude.

 

[Gradine]

Odd how no one screams about healing magic when a character comes along with a sicknasty cool eyepatch...

 

[Alzrius]

Odd how no one screams about healing magic when a character comes along with a sicknasty cool eyepatch...

Because we all know that it's just for style, not because of an injury. For more on this, see Jarlaxle.

 

[Mirrorrorrim]

I have had more than one player ask for their character to be blind to capture certain character concepts (a blind samurai and a blind seer), and in an older game we had a player who rolled a really low Str and Con, and wanted to play a feeble gnome caster who could barely walk, and sat in a party member's backpack, launching spells (like how Yoda got piggyback rides from Luke on Dagobah).

Regarding wheelchairs and ramps in dungeons, I remember an argument about Tomb of Annihilation having ramps that were "wheelchair-friendly" (some didn't like that) and one of the defenses of that design being that ramps could actually be smart construction for a dungeon, allowing for wheeled carts to aid in the removal of mining rubble and importing lumber and other materials. It doesn't have to be a mining cart on rails like many mines may have.

 

[WyrmworksDale]

I can handle steampunk leg braces or magic hover belts, no issue with that.

But I am one of the people who can't handle the dungeon wheelchair. At least make it a dungeon mechanical spider leg chair.

A bit late to this party, but I'm appreciating this thread as someone who's been armpit-deep in disabled miniature representation for the past year.

We have a spider chair in Limitless Heroics. And I love it. Also a wheelchair made from orca bones that lets you polymorph into one once/day. (A group of marine biologists checked that design.)

But my favorite (which has a mini) is a quadriplegic dwarf barbarian in a spring-loaded wheelchair ram. (And since people always ask, this was developed by the person she's based on. Quadriplegia is a spectrum.)

And having dealt with a lot of backlash for creating representation (and having a good therapist to help me deal with it!), to me, it boils down to not erasing a huge swath of the population.

As for dealing with ableist reactions, I've learned to offer creativity and hope: "OK, but what if…?" We can use magic to represent what accessibility, not just ramps and wheelchairs, but cultural attitudes, could look like. That's what I love about magical worlds — they're the perfect way to show that everyone, regardless of ancestry, ability, or anything else, has a place. So maybe we all do in the real world, too.

 

[Autumnal]

Right on, to all of that. I’m now ending my day with a smile.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

Should have been more magical, like a hover chair or a chariot pulled by Imps or Mephits or the chair has giant chicken legs like Baba Yaga's hut.