D&D 5E When lore and PC options collide…

[GMforPowergamers]

Interestingly that character's race is called out as one of three continuity errors in the book. Two of which involve the author (who isn't Weis or Hickman) including things in Dragonlance that were explicitly not in Dragonlance the other is getting the race of one of the main characters wrong. Technically two of them include getting the race of one of the main characters wrong.

Kendermore - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

again the mistake itself doesn't matter... what matters is that it happened and didn't break the world or theme... a single half orc dosnt ruin DL

 

[Imaro]

why engage to say you don't want to engage?

To give you a chance to rethink your reply in case you did want actual engagement...

 

[Neonchameleon]

Not so much. Orcs and halflings were specifically excluded by the authors as being too much like Tolkien.

So they were excluded for arbitrary metagame reasons rather than something to do with the setting. And because the designers excluded halflings they inflicted Kender on the world; I think it's screamingly obvious that the designers made a huge mistake.

Maybe, sure someone's ancestor sold their soul, but in a setting that's explicitly about good vs evil on a grand scale, maybe...maybe not. A villain? 100%. A PC? Probably not.

And when you start using that logic you are telling me that the assumptions of your campaign are not ones I want. Someone's ancestor did something bad and therefore their descendent is inexorably, inevitably evil? They are damned because of their blood and don't have free will?

Yeah, people spend a lot of time trying to get out of constraints rather than accepting them. I'm not sure how creative it is to be told "no" then knee-jerk fight against that. It's a common reaction, yes, but it's not particularly creative.

Ideas by themselves are almost worthless. Creativity is all in the implementation.

Also, maybe I'm weird but "treating people like adults" includes expecting them to follow the rules they agreed to and not whine about it. Setting up a game with constraints then having players rail against those constraints is functionally identical to a player complaining that they're out of spell slots and should get more.

This is something that should be applied first and foremost to the DM. If you get to set the constraints and the players followed the constraints then you do not have a leg to stand on when they subvert them and you start whining no matter how far outside what you expected they go. You set the constraints, they met them. The fault is entirely, completely, 100% on you simply because you can't handle creative players. The big difference here is that not only did the DM agree to the rules, they set the rules they agreed to and now are complaining about.

Alternatively you can stop treating the players like children and make setting the constraints a collaborative process. Instead of focusing on the constraints you focus on your vision. Let the PCs expand on that. Rather than trying to set constraints, set inspiration.

I've said in the past and I'll say again I've seen more entitled DMs than I have entitled players in terms of absolute numbers. And I've unsurprisingly seen way more players than I ever have DMs.

 

[Velderan]

hey that is like the thesis's of my whole argument...

And I've never said you're wrong for saying it. I think we just disagree on what's a good enough reason, but agree to disagree and we move on for that specific part.

 

[Maxperson]

BTW, the half-orc in Dragonlance seems to me like an easily solvable issue. "No, but..." solution is that the character is instead a half-hobgoblin (at least lore-wise.)

This is a solution in search of a problem, though. Half-orcs have always been viable in Dragonlance. They just aren't native to the setting. At no point have they been banned.

I'm just bouncing my response off of your post, not implying that you're creating the issue. The "problem" has been present in this thread from the beginning and people have been looking for a solution to a problem that doesn't exist for a dozen pages now.

 

[Vaalingrade]

I like how they act like they don't have halflings because these halflings have topknots.

 

[Xamnam]

If the orcs thing has already shut down several threads, how about we leave it out of this one?

 

[Maxperson]

I remember that book! And now that you mention it, I remember the character as well. He was the antagonist in the book, so one of the main characters.

I didn't read it. Is there anything in it that says that he's the assassin class, rather than just some guy who assassinates people? And does it go into his origin establishing that he's from Krynn?

 

[Vaalingrade]

If the orcs thing has already shut down several threads, how about we leave it out of this one?

It is the point of all of these threads. To get the last word on it before the books drop and no one cares about talking about DL again for another 20 years.

 

[DragonBelow]

I like how they act like they don't have halflings because these halflings have topknots.

Why are you lumping them together based entirely on appearance. That's problematic on many levels.