D&D 5E UA Samurai proposal: swap Fighting Spirit and Strength Before Death

[TheCosmicKid]

I don't like tying game mechanics up with cultural artifact ideas--even ones that are supposedly from "popular entertainment". That doesn't work for me.

So no dungeons or dragons in your Dungeons & Dragons campaign, then?

 

[cbwjm]

I tend not to get too hung up on the names. If playing in a dnd game based on feudal Japan, I can use the Knight as a daimyo's bodyguard with no issue. If playing a standard dnd game set in a forgotten realms-like setting then the Samurai can stand in as a tough as nails knight. Perhaps they are the members of an elite mercenary company that hires out to nobility or are members of a guard for a king.

The names are just a convenience that many people seem to get stuck on as being only able to be a single specific thing.

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[BookBarbarian]

I don't care about cultural baggage, but I definitely liked that Knight was a background instead of a class (two backgrounds actually if you use the Knight of the Order background form SCAG).

I would hate to have some player tell another player that they are not playing a real knight or Samurai if they don't choose that Archetype. As such I would prefer the names to be more generic if these archetypes are ever published.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

I really don't get why people get so hung up on the names of game features. To me a class is just a collection of mechanical abilities that I can use to best realize whatever character concept I have in mid, nothing more and nothing less.

 

[Tony Vargas]

I agree that there's no need to get hung up on names, alone. Mechanical support for a very specific concept implied by the name is another matter, as it might restrict the usefulness of the archetype to cover other concepts. But, then, the last we heard from Mr. Mearls on the topic of the poor fighter before we saw these archetypes was that the BM & Champion were being called 'too generic.' (Just keep swing'n that pendulum, I guess.)

And, while it's often overblown, something like a ninja or samurai or whatever might create the appearance of 'orientalism' or 'cultural theft.' (Thus the side-bar disclaimer, I assume.)

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

I really don't get why people get so hung up on the names of game features. To me a class is just a collection of mechanical abilities that I can use to best realize whatever character concept I have in mid, nothing more and nothing less.

So it genuinely wouldn't matter to you if 5E had no Paladin, but did have a class called the Fanatic with subclasses (Path of the Self-Righteous, Path of the Blissful Ignorant, and Path of the Deranged) corresponding to Devotion/Ancients/Vengeance respectively, with appropriately slanted fluff? (Fanatics grant saving throw bonuses to their allies by virtue of their single-minded denial of reality, etc.)

If so, I would find that a little bit surprising. I don't think names matter hugely, but in a game which is ultimately about aesthetic preferences I think the psychological associations created by a name are at least mildly important to the way the game will play out.

People play games because they find the games cool. Different people find different stuff cool. Humans being what they are, it shouldn't surprise anyone to find that what you name something can affect the degree to which some people find it cool.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

I would hate to have some player tell another player that they are not playing a real knight or Samurai if they don't choose that Archetype.

Then make it clear in no uncertain terms that they are.

And, while it's often overblown, something like a ninja or samurai or whatever might create the appearance of 'orientalism' or 'cultural theft.' (Thus the side-bar disclaimer, I assume.)

I think if they got away with the monk, the samurai should be fine.

 

[BookBarbarian]

Then make it clear in no uncertain terms that they are.

Will do, but would prefer not to even have it come up.

I think if they got away with the monk, the samurai should be fine.

While certainly Eastern in theme, Monks exist across far more cultures than Samurai.

 

[cbwjm]

I agree that there's no need to get hung up on names, alone. Mechanical support for a very specific concept implied by the name is another matter, as it might restrict the usefulness of the archetype to cover other concepts. But, then, the last we heard from Mr. Mearls on the topic of the poor fighter before we saw these archetypes was that the BM & Champion were being called 'too generic.' (Just keep swing'n that pendulum, I guess.)

And, while it's often overblown, something like a ninja or samurai or whatever might create the appearance of 'orientalism' or 'cultural theft.' (Thus the side-bar disclaimer, I assume.)

I think the sidebar was so that players knew where the developers were gaining their inspiration from, popular culture as opposed to attempting historical accuracy.

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[Salamandyr]

So no dungeons or dragons in your Dungeons & Dragons campaign, then?

Holy hyperbole Bataman!