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Message: <blockquote data-quote="TeutonicBerserker" data-source="post: 4180945" data-attributes="member: 56826">Part of what you are addressing is to what degree are your fantasy races fantastic/magical and to what degree they are realistic/biological. Unique origins for fantasy races are great; every gaming group plays their own version of D&D and none is more 'right' or 'wrong' than anyone else's, BUT the assumptions presented in the D&D game (as published since 1974) is that demihuman & humanoid races reproduce as we would expect them to. The other part of the issue you are addressing has more to do with the fact that the sociology of many humanoid races has been scarcely described, if at all. And yes I would have Gnolls society be matriarchial. Appropriate considering that every race is a pathetic copy of humankind. Really why are so many races humanoid (bipedal, human-like torso, etc) and not completely inhuman? IMO it has to do with human psychology. A bipedal humanoid is a competitor and foe while a quadrupedal creature is a just type of animal, albeit a monstrous or unique one. IIRC egalatarian regular elves are long established.Grounding non-human races in familiar biological and social terms isn't an indication of 'lack of imagintion' any more than assuming that dwarves need to breathe oxygen or that elves must eat or they will die. Unless explicity stated otherwise, there are alot of things that can and should be taken for granted. Does Faerun have gravity similar to Earth's or is terminal velocity reached at five feet? Do Gnomes have a human-like circulatory and central nervous system or are they immune to critical hits?  I could go on. None of these assumptions imply any semblance of intellectual limitations on the part of D&D designers or players.Is this better?</blockquote>

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