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<blockquote data-quote="Yaarel" data-source="post: 8751676" data-attributes="member: 58172">In 5e and 4e, and maybe in 3e: race = species.But in 1e and in inspirations like Tolkein, race really was racism.Gygax, Tolkien, and others reimagined the spirits from various reallife folkbeliefs as if exotic human &quot;races&quot; − in the sense of low-magic human ethnicities.For example, Gygax uses the word &quot;race&quot; to mean both the elf, and the Suloise human ethnicity. The fixation on the violet or amber eyecolor of a grey elf is no different from a reallife racist fixation on blue or brown eyecolor. Likewise hair color and skin color.Shifting racism from reallife human traits like blue/brown eyes to fantasy traits like violet/amber eyes, seems a useful tactic to subvert reallife racism, and is arguably beneficial for that era. But that racist way of thinking doesnt age well today. It feels highly problematic. Ick. The racists of that era actually believed certain human ethnicities were slightly higher Intelligence or slightly higher Strength. The racism is both scientifically incorrect and ethically unjust.Other novelists that indirectly inspired D&amp;D were even more overtly racist.The D&amp;D term &quot;race&quot; came from reallife racist baggage, even when 5e does intellectual somersaults to reinvent its meaning for today.I dont want my game to continually parrot reallife racist ways of thinking.The best way to stat a fantasy <s>race</s> species, is to assign it clearly nonhuman traits, like wings or the ability to teleport.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Yaarel, post: 8751676, member: 58172"] In 5e and 4e, and maybe in 3e: race = species. But in 1e and in inspirations like Tolkein, race really was racism. Gygax, Tolkien, and others reimagined the spirits from various reallife folkbeliefs as if exotic human "races" − in the sense of low-magic human ethnicities. For example, Gygax uses the word "race" to mean both the elf, and the Suloise human ethnicity. The fixation on the violet or amber eyecolor of a grey elf is no different from a reallife racist fixation on blue or brown eyecolor. Likewise hair color and skin color. Shifting racism from reallife human traits like blue/brown eyes to fantasy traits like violet/amber eyes, seems a useful tactic to subvert reallife racism, and is arguably beneficial for that era. But that racist way of thinking doesnt age well today. It feels highly problematic. Ick. The racists of that era actually believed certain human ethnicities were slightly higher Intelligence or slightly higher Strength. The racism is both scientifically incorrect and ethically unjust. Other novelists that indirectly inspired D&D were even more overtly racist. The D&D term "race" came from reallife racist baggage, even when 5e does intellectual somersaults to reinvent its meaning for today. I dont want my game to continually parrot reallife racist ways of thinking. The best way to stat a fantasy [S]race[/S] species, is to assign it clearly nonhuman traits, like wings or the ability to teleport. [/QUOTE]

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