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Message: <blockquote data-quote="(Psi)SeveredHead" data-source="post: 2991612" data-attributes="member: 1165">I think the question was asking why do some or many players and DMs dislike Oriental flavored gaming material (especially the monk, which is in the core rules and therefore difficult to avoid). There's many answers to this, as you've illustrated below.I guess I am a little confused as to the answer we seem to be looking for. I haven't played this or Necropolis, etc. Were they "mixed"? Eg were there "Europeans" in Nyambe?These have been part of DnD for a long time, long enough for their origins to fade. Just because the mummy is Egyptian-flavored doesn't mean it always gets presented that way. You can find completely un-Eqyptian mummies in adventures. Meanwhile, things like the samurai are so drenched in Oriental flavor that it's nearly impossible to separate the samurai from that flavor (if some people in a gaming group don't like the flavor). This is a bit ironic, as in game terms there doesn't need to be much difference between a samurai or a knight concept.Generalizations and stereotypes ... that's what a big part of the thread is about. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />I've seen but never had the opportunity to play Exalted. What time period does it take place in?Well some of them. Let's stop with the stereotyping, okay? I already got embarassed by stereotyping looting in Japan, right after I told other people not to stereotype, so I can tell you it's not a good idea. Actually, I think they're in the minority, although not completely rare. Furthermore, anime itself varies so widely - I don't recall any samurai or ninja-like characters in Trigun, for instance. (Certainly none of the main characters!) Anime doesn't have to involve "superhuman" characters who would be considered overpowered in a DnD game, either, although many anime series do feature such characters.I would expect that, but it's still up to the GM what they allow into their campaign.I think #3 isn't entirely true. The samurai class is hated, despite definitely not being overpowered. It's just different for no good reason. The monk is also pretty weak (though it might look strong to an inexperienced gamer at first glance, or if you let in lots of non-core material, or if you roll 4 18s).They should not have had these problems, however, especially when it comes to classes that we know something about (eg samurai).I also suggest that a lot of these Oriental-flavored classes just aren't needed. There is no need for a samurai class, for instance, so every time WotC makes a samurai class, there's a good chance they'll mess it up. At most, the only changes needed are making the fighter class a bit more flexible (so they can compete while wearing lighter armor, might have some leaderhsip feats available other than just Leadership, create a chain of Iajitsu feats, and so forth).Without specifically creating unneeded Oriental-flavored classes, it'll be a lot easier to introduce Oriental-flavored characters into a game without causing balance problems. (This doesn't mean there might not be flavor problems.)I was under the impression that a lot of GMs who dislike small races don't take them seriously, think that gnomes don't have a flavor reason to exist, or think 3e halflings are too similar to kender, in addition to any balance concerns they might have.Reminds me of many a psionic discussion.</blockquote>

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