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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Doug McCrae" data-source="post: 8331089" data-attributes="member: 21169">CONTENT WARNING: VERY RACIST CLAIMS, IN QUOTATIONThis post is about the correspondence between the alignment and mental abilities of the D&D "savage" humanoids and ideas about racial moral and intellectual inferiority. It uses the list on page 7 of the D&D 5e Monster Manual (2014) — bugbears, gnolls, goblins, hobgoblins, kobolds, lizardfolk, and orcs. In the AD&D 1e Dungeon Masters Guide (1979) (pg 40) all of these races (along with cavemen, which includes tribesmen) have witch doctors. AD&D 1e and D&D 5e will be considered.John Arthur, Race, Equality, and the Burdens of History (2007) describes the five major forms that "beliefs in racial inferiority can take." This post uses the first two: "Another race may be thought to be (1) intellectually inferior (naturally less able to understand complex problems or less artistically creative); (2) morally inferior (inherently less virtuous; less trustworthy, hard working, loyal)."AD&D 1e<table style='width: 100%'><tr><td></td><td>Alignment</td><td>Intelligence</td></tr><tr><td>Bugbear</td><td>Chaotic evil</td><td>Low to Average (low)</td></tr><tr><td>Gnoll</td><td>Chaotic evil</td><td>Low-average</td></tr><tr><td>Goblin</td><td>Lawful evil</td><td>Average (low)</td></tr><tr><td>Hobgoblin</td><td>Lawful evil</td><td>Average</td></tr><tr><td>Kobold</td><td>Lawful evil</td><td>Average (low)</td></tr><tr><td>Lizard Man</td><td>Neutral</td><td>Low (average)</td></tr><tr><td>Orc</td><td>Lawful evil</td><td>Average (low)</td></tr></table>Average means human intelligence: 8-10. Low is 5-7. (1e MM pg 6)All but one of the "savage" humanoids are evil, and all but one are below average intelligence.AD&D 1e Monster Manual (1977): "Gnolls… dislike work" "All goblins are slave takers and fond of torture." "Kobolds hate most other life, delighting in killing and torture." "Orcs are cruel and hate living things… They take slaves for work, food, and entertainment (torture, etc.) but not elves whom they kill immediately."D&D 5eTo measure both the ability to "understand complex problems" and artistic creativity all three mental ability scores are used – Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma.<table style='width: 100%'><tr><td></td><td>Alignment</td><td>INT</td><td>WIS</td><td>CHA</td><td>Total*</td></tr><tr><td>Bugbear</td><td>Chaotic evil</td><td>8</td><td>11</td><td>9</td><td>-2</td></tr><tr><td>Gnoll</td><td>Chaotic evil</td><td>6</td><td>10</td><td>7</td><td>-7</td></tr><tr><td>Goblin</td><td>Neutral evil</td><td>10</td><td>8</td><td>8</td><td>-4</td></tr><tr><td>Hobgoblin</td><td>Lawful evil</td><td>10</td><td>10</td><td>9</td><td>-1</td></tr><tr><td>Kobold</td><td>Lawful evil</td><td>8</td><td>7</td><td>8</td><td>-7</td></tr><tr><td>Lizardfolk</td><td>Neutral</td><td>7</td><td>12</td><td>7</td><td>-4</td></tr><tr><td>Orc</td><td>Chaotic evil</td><td>7</td><td>11</td><td>10</td><td>-2</td></tr></table>*This column represents the total difference of INT + WIS + CHA from an assumed baseline of three 10s (30) — the ability scores of the Commoner NPC in Appendix B (5e MM pg 345).All but one of the "savage" humanoids are evil, and all are intellectually inferior to the baseline when all three mental ability scores are taken into account. <a href="https://www.enworld.org/threads/mana-shamans-and-the-cultural-misappropriation-behind-fantasy-terms.673309/page-7#post-8042294" target="_blank">This post from an older thread</a> argues that lizardfolk are misaligned as neutral and ought to be evil.Several of the "savage" humanoids — bugbears, lizardfolk, and orcs — have Wisdom scores above the baseline. D&D 5e PHB: "Wisdom reflects how attuned you are to the world around you and represents perceptiveness and intuition." (pg 178) This is not inconsistent with racist ideas. Arthur de Gobineau, The Inequality of Human Races (1853): "[Black people's] senses, especially taste and smell, are developed to an extent unknown to the other two races."D&D 5e MM: "Bugbears are born for battle and mayhem". They have a "love of carnage" "Even when paid, bugbears are at best unreliable allies." "No goodness or compassion resides in the heart of a gnoll. Like a demon, it lacks anything resembling a conscience, and can't be taught or coerced to put aside its destructive tendencies." "Goblins are… black-hearted, selfish… lazy and undisciplined… motivated by greed and malice." Orcs have a "lust for slaughter."Morally and Intellectually InferiorJosiah C Nott, Two Lectures on the Connection Between the Biblical and Physical History of Man (1849):The capacity of the crania of the Mongol, Indian, and Negro, and all dark-skinned races, is smaller than that of the pure white man. And this deficiency seems to be especially well-marked in those parts of the brain which have been assigned to the moral and intellectual faculties.Gobineau: "The negroid variety['s]… mental faculties are dull or even non-existent." Alfred R Wallace, The Origin of Human Races and the Antiquity of Man (1864): "The intellectual and moral… qualities of the European are superior." William Benjamin Smith, The Color Line (1905): "When we come to the profounder mental, moral, and social differences, we can find no other terms than greater and less to describe the relative endowments of the widely sundered races."According to Robert Wald Sussman, The Myth of Race (2014), the Pioneer Fund is "the major source of funding" for scientific racism today. Michael Levin, emeritus professor of philosophy at the City University of New York, has been one of its recipients. "Blacks just aren't as moral as whites, genetically, Levin argues. He holds that blacks have two unalterable characteristics: less intelligence and greater proneness to violence."Like a DemonKay Wright Lewis, A Curse Upon the Nation (2017): "Native people were "demons" and "beasts in the shape of men," and Europeans often refused to recognize them as fully human."Born for Battle and Mayhem, Love of Carnage, Lust for Slaughter, Destructive TendenciesSamuel George Morton, An Inquiry Into the Distinctive Characteristics of the Aboriginal Race of America (1844):The [Indian's] love of war is so general, so characteristic, that it scarcely calls for a comment or an illustration. One nation is in almost perpetual hostility with another, tribe against tribe, man against man; and with this ruling passion are linked a merciless revenge and an unsparing destructiveness.Dislike Work, Lazy, Selfish, GreedyGobineau: "The yellow man has little physical energy, and is inclined to apathy… His whole desire is to live in the easiest and most comfortable way possible." Charles Wentworth Dilke, Greater Britain (1868):The apathy of the Cinghalese [Sri Lankans] is not surprising; but they are not merely lazy, they are a cowardly, effeminate, and revengeful race. They sleep and smoke, and smoke and sleep, rousing themselves only once in the day to snatch a bowl of curry and rice, or to fleece a white man.</blockquote>

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