Being a different species has big biological implications, it's not just a social construct.
What if a species' biology happens to shift them towards tribalism and aggression relative to what we would expect in a human? We could end up seeing that species create a destructive horde culture, the behavior we see in stereotypical fantasy "evil" races like orcs and goblins. It'd be fair to argue that that's not evil, it's just someone following their nature and their biology, but that starts a deeper discussion of the nature of evil that D&D honestly isn't meant to get into. D&D is biased towards black and white morality, but it's not a requirement of the system, you could easily have peaceful orcs, or orcs that are only violent because they're misunderstood, or invert the normal relationship and have savage humans encroaching on the peaceful and cultured orc kingdom.
Even just looking at cultures, D&D tends to take things to an extreme, but that goes back into D&D's bias towards black and white morality that can easily be circumvented. Drow society really is evil, murder and racism and slavery are an accepted way of life for them. If you're a drow, you will almost certainly either be a racist murdering slaver, or strive to get the wealth and talent so you can become a racist murdering slaver. And again, this is not a requisite part of the system, someone could easily use drow mechanics without using the standard setting.
In the forest, there's a sudden flash. Upon further investigation, you come across a large rodent resting on its hind legs. Its fur is black and brown, though it's so dirty it could be brighter if you washed it. Its short muzzle is flanked by what looks like dark brown patches, where little sparks are emerging. Its tail is bent at awkward angles, as though repeatedly broken. It looks up at you.
Being a different species has big biological implications, it's not just a social construct.
What if a species' biology happens to shift them towards tribalism and aggression relative to what we would expect in a human? We could end up seeing that species create a destructive horde culture, the behavior we see in stereotypical fantasy "evil" races like orcs and goblins. It'd be fair to argue that that's not evil, it's just someone following their nature and their biology, but that starts a deeper discussion of the nature of evil that D&D honestly isn't meant to get into. D&D is biased towards black and white morality, but it's not a requirement of the system, you could easily have peaceful orcs, or orcs that are only violent because they're misunderstood, or invert the normal relationship and have savage humans encroaching on the peaceful and cultured orc kingdom.
Even just looking at cultures, D&D tends to take things to an extreme, but that goes back into D&D's bias towards black and white morality that can easily be circumvented. Drow society really is evil, murder and racism and slavery are an accepted way of life for them. If you're a drow, you will almost certainly either be a racist murdering slaver, or strive to get the wealth and talent so you can become a racist murdering slaver. And again, this is not a requisite part of the system, someone could easily use drow mechanics without using the standard setting.
lets talk about how D&D's concept of alignments for species is deeply problematic
Yeah I pretty much ditch that fucking idea at the door.
Unless we're working in an instance where no the being you are interacting with is built of pure evil and clearly and unrelentingly a monster (like trollocs in wheel of time, or beholders or something like that), alignment to race is just not something I'm comfortable with.
I typically reflavor tome of battle classes to random things because ToB provides the best way to play moderate effort characters of flexible optimization level. That way, I can play what I want thematically without being gimped or overpowered.
I reflavor the other way less often, though one of my most favored concepts was a bowman that was mechanically just a sorcerer.
I ate an engineer
+1
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HakkekageSpace Whore Academysumma cum laudeRegistered Userregular
I was perusing a dump of memes as I do and this happened
lets talk about how D&D's concept of alignments for species is deeply problematic
My alignment is chaotic yeezy
Yeah I also don't make any of my characters declare an alignment, they know how their character will respond. Eventually we all kinda figure out what their alignment is once we've all had a chance to actually get to know the character and what they want.
Being a different species has big biological implications, it's not just a social construct.
What if a species' biology happens to shift them towards tribalism and aggression relative to what we would expect in a human? We could end up seeing that species create a destructive horde culture, the behavior we see in stereotypical fantasy "evil" races like orcs and goblins. It'd be fair to argue that that's not evil, it's just someone following their nature and their biology, but that starts a deeper discussion of the nature of evil that D&D honestly isn't meant to get into. D&D is biased towards black and white morality, but it's not a requirement of the system, you could easily have peaceful orcs, or orcs that are only violent because they're misunderstood, or invert the normal relationship and have savage humans encroaching on the peaceful and cultured orc kingdom.
Even just looking at cultures, D&D tends to take things to an extreme, but that goes back into D&D's bias towards black and white morality that can easily be circumvented. Drow society really is evil, murder and racism and slavery are an accepted way of life for them. If you're a drow, you will almost certainly either be a racist murdering slaver, or strive to get the wealth and talent so you can become a racist murdering slaver. And again, this is not a requisite part of the system, someone could easily use drow mechanics without using the standard setting.
a wizard did it
+2
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TTODewbackPuts the drawl in ya'llI think I'm in HellRegistered Userregular
then there was the sci-fi ones like Andromeda , Alien Nation and Stargate
I fucking love Stargate. I watch that shit all the time. Like as I age and the more I watch it I can see the flaws in it, but it's still one of my favorite sci fi series.
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LudiousI just wanted a sandwich A temporally dislocated QuiznosRegistered Userregular
The Cincinnati Zoo is tired of all the Harambe stuff online.
The Cincinnati Zoo is tired of all the Harambe stuff online.
I guess you could say it's
Memes out for Harambe
Memes out for the Cincinnati Zoo!
Switch Friend Code: SW-3011-6091-2364
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LudiousI just wanted a sandwich A temporally dislocated QuiznosRegistered Userregular
@chelleyeah I just ordered you 16gb of ram and a new 500gb samsung evo SSD
I didn't ask you because you self flagellate over money spent on you so get over it. I can install the ram when it gets here tomorrow. I will upgrade your hdd and reinstall windows this weekend.
Being a different species has big biological implications, it's not just a social construct.
What if a species' biology happens to shift them towards tribalism and aggression relative to what we would expect in a human? We could end up seeing that species create a destructive horde culture, the behavior we see in stereotypical fantasy "evil" races like orcs and goblins. It'd be fair to argue that that's not evil, it's just someone following their nature and their biology, but that starts a deeper discussion of the nature of evil that D&D honestly isn't meant to get into. D&D is biased towards black and white morality, but it's not a requirement of the system, you could easily have peaceful orcs, or orcs that are only violent because they're misunderstood, or invert the normal relationship and have savage humans encroaching on the peaceful and cultured orc kingdom.
Even just looking at cultures, D&D tends to take things to an extreme, but that goes back into D&D's bias towards black and white morality that can easily be circumvented. Drow society really is evil, murder and racism and slavery are an accepted way of life for them. If you're a drow, you will almost certainly either be a racist murdering slaver, or strive to get the wealth and talent so you can become a racist murdering slaver. And again, this is not a requisite part of the system, someone could easily use drow mechanics without using the standard setting.
I think the point is that being a racist murdering slaver isn't evil if that's your culture.
So you wouldn't consider yourself evil per se.
But basically everyone else would.
As long as you grasp that the D&D alignments are ascribed from a particular point of view/frame of reference and not some sort of self-description that everyone signs up for, it's basically fine. There are Drizzt exceptions, but the species is overall culturally evil by [POV of the alignment distributors].
@chelleyeah I just ordered you 16gb of ram and a new 500gb samsung evo SSD
I didn't ask you because you self flagellate over money spent on you so get over it. I can install the ram when it gets here tomorrow. I will upgrade your hdd and reinstall windows this weekend.
@BEAST! hey baby upgrade my ancient macbook pro dont you love me enough
@chelleyeah I just ordered you 16gb of ram and a new 500gb samsung evo SSD
I didn't ask you because you self flagellate over money spent on you so get over it. I can install the ram when it gets here tomorrow. I will upgrade your hdd and reinstall windows this weekend.
No 1080?
not a doctor, not a lawyer, examples I use may not be fully researched so don't take out of context plz, don't @ me
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ChanusHarbinger of the Spicy Rooster ApocalypseThe Flames of a Thousand Collapsed StarsRegistered Userregular
i think the alignment mechanic makes sense in the context of, say, a cleric and their relationship to their god, and how they can't just go on a murder spree if that's not the teaching of their god or whatever
but for most characters i don't think alignment really matters and if you wanted it to matter i think it would make more sense to have some sort of reputation mechanic where word of your deeds gets round so people think you're a monster if you just go on murder sprees all the time or they think you're a nice fellow if you save people from dungeons or whatever
Allegedly a voice of reason.
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Nova_CI have the needThe need for speedRegistered Userregular
@chelleyeah I just ordered you 16gb of ram and a new 500gb samsung evo SSD
I didn't ask you because you self flagellate over money spent on you so get over it. I can install the ram when it gets here tomorrow. I will upgrade your hdd and reinstall windows this weekend.
"BEAST!" hey baby upgrade my ancient macbook pro dont you love me enough
Clerics all "I am literally channeling the divine power of my god. Who was hanging out, in person, at our main shine last month." and you're all "nuh uh you're all frauds!"
life's a game that you're bound to lose / like using a hammer to pound in screws
fuck up once and you break your thumb / if you're happy at all then you're god damn dumb
that's right we're on a fucked up cruise / God is dead but at least we have booze
bad things happen, no one knows why / the sun burns out and everyone dies
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TavIrish Minister for DefenceRegistered Userregular
Clerics all "I am literally channeling the divine power of my god. Who was hanging out, in person, at our main shine last month." and you're all "nuh uh you're all frauds!"
it's kind of hard to be an atheist when someone can just go "hey pelor, show this infidel what's what" and pelor literally shows up like bam, checkmate loser
Allegedly a voice of reason.
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HakkekageSpace Whore Academysumma cum laudeRegistered Userregular
i got up early on sunday, hiked, went to beach, got burned, watched hbos, went to bed at a reasonable time, got up at 445 and went to gym, and now im at work
i think if i just focus hard on developing social connections and doing social things that arent going out to bars i will not find no alcohol as trying
speaking of which DESC ignoring my GONJASUFI question
is this why you asked my about the devil's lettuce
i have also drastically reduced my alcohol consumption (tho it was not v high to begin with) because meh it's expensive and my body doesn't feel good from it
i just wish i could drink more wines at dinner but oh well
going out drinking is not a thing i do much lately at all
i had 2 beers at the concert on friday that's about it
poo
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TTODewbackPuts the drawl in ya'llI think I'm in HellRegistered Userregular
The last OW match of the night last night was the best match of the day.
We were defense on Hanamura, lost A pretty fast
But B.
Oh boy, B.
I was Torb and every wave push I would have my turret in a different spot.
It went on a 20-streak. I had the play of the game lined up.
Then on their last push our Zarya got a team wipe gravitron off and stole it away.
and got a 22 streak
*shakes fist*
Clerics all "I am literally channeling the divine power of my god. Who was hanging out, in person, at our main shine last month." and you're all "nuh uh you're all frauds!"
BethrynUnhappiness is MandatoryRegistered Userregular
There was a paragraph in the MM in 2nd, 3 and 3.5 that stated that racial alignments were typical but not universal, and were also primarily for the pre-existing settings rather than homebrew campaigns anyway.
Clerics all "I am literally channeling the divine power of my god. Who was hanging out, in person, at our main shine last month." and you're all "nuh uh you're all frauds!"
it's kind of hard to be an atheist when someone can just go "hey pelor, show this infidel what's what" and pelor literally shows up like bam, checkmate loser
You're basically a conspiracy theorist.
I once rolled to see how long it would take to get someone at the inn to punch me in frustration.
life's a game that you're bound to lose / like using a hammer to pound in screws
fuck up once and you break your thumb / if you're happy at all then you're god damn dumb
that's right we're on a fucked up cruise / God is dead but at least we have booze
bad things happen, no one knows why / the sun burns out and everyone dies
0
Options
ChanusHarbinger of the Spicy Rooster ApocalypseThe Flames of a Thousand Collapsed StarsRegistered Userregular
There was a paragraph in the MM in 2nd, 3 and 3.5 that stated that racial alignments were typical but not universal, and were also primarily for the pre-existing settings rather than homebrew campaigns anyway.
Posts
What if a species' biology happens to shift them towards tribalism and aggression relative to what we would expect in a human? We could end up seeing that species create a destructive horde culture, the behavior we see in stereotypical fantasy "evil" races like orcs and goblins. It'd be fair to argue that that's not evil, it's just someone following their nature and their biology, but that starts a deeper discussion of the nature of evil that D&D honestly isn't meant to get into. D&D is biased towards black and white morality, but it's not a requirement of the system, you could easily have peaceful orcs, or orcs that are only violent because they're misunderstood, or invert the normal relationship and have savage humans encroaching on the peaceful and cultured orc kingdom.
Even just looking at cultures, D&D tends to take things to an extreme, but that goes back into D&D's bias towards black and white morality that can easily be circumvented. Drow society really is evil, murder and racism and slavery are an accepted way of life for them. If you're a drow, you will almost certainly either be a racist murdering slaver, or strive to get the wealth and talent so you can become a racist murdering slaver. And again, this is not a requisite part of the system, someone could easily use drow mechanics without using the standard setting.
In the forest, there's a sudden flash. Upon further investigation, you come across a large rodent resting on its hind legs. Its fur is black and brown, though it's so dirty it could be brighter if you washed it. Its short muzzle is flanked by what looks like dark brown patches, where little sparks are emerging. Its tail is bent at awkward angles, as though repeatedly broken. It looks up at you.
"Pika?"
#NotAllBatarians
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1OLcAGbXhWIVcl5IziVpG0eKFJS3xi_Sac9kYMkRFvD8/edit?usp=sharing
this is my life now
Yeah I pretty much ditch that fucking idea at the door.
Unless we're working in an instance where no the being you are interacting with is built of pure evil and clearly and unrelentingly a monster (like trollocs in wheel of time, or beholders or something like that), alignment to race is just not something I'm comfortable with.
I reflavor the other way less often, though one of my most favored concepts was a bowman that was mechanically just a sorcerer.
fuck
fuck
i am unraveling
NNID: Hakkekage
Yeah I also don't make any of my characters declare an alignment, they know how their character will respond. Eventually we all kinda figure out what their alignment is once we've all had a chance to actually get to know the character and what they want.
they know P10! They know! The abyss stares back, P10!
NNID: Hakkekage
Now there's a little less joy in my life
and the gengars who are guiding me" -- W.S. Merwin
a wizard did it
But when I come home there will be homemade pasta sauce waiting for me.
if you believe in them hard enough they come to life and ruin everything around you
I fucking love Stargate. I watch that shit all the time. Like as I age and the more I watch it I can see the flaws in it, but it's still one of my favorite sci fi series.
I guess you could say it's
Memes out for Harambe
Don't lie to me P10 I'm in a delicate position rn
NNID: Hakkekage
Memes out for the Cincinnati Zoo!
I didn't ask you because you self flagellate over money spent on you so get over it. I can install the ram when it gets here tomorrow. I will upgrade your hdd and reinstall windows this weekend.
I think the point is that being a racist murdering slaver isn't evil if that's your culture.
So you wouldn't consider yourself evil per se.
But basically everyone else would.
As long as you grasp that the D&D alignments are ascribed from a particular point of view/frame of reference and not some sort of self-description that everyone signs up for, it's basically fine. There are Drizzt exceptions, but the species is overall culturally evil by [POV of the alignment distributors].
@BEAST! hey baby upgrade my ancient macbook pro dont you love me enough
NNID: Hakkekage
No 1080?
but for most characters i don't think alignment really matters and if you wanted it to matter i think it would make more sense to have some sort of reputation mechanic where word of your deeds gets round so people think you're a monster if you just go on murder sprees all the time or they think you're a nice fellow if you save people from dungeons or whatever
You don't understand Apple, do you, Hakkes?
Clerics all "I am literally channeling the divine power of my god. Who was hanging out, in person, at our main shine last month." and you're all "nuh uh you're all frauds!"
fuck up once and you break your thumb / if you're happy at all then you're god damn dumb
that's right we're on a fucked up cruise / God is dead but at least we have booze
bad things happen, no one knows why / the sun burns out and everyone dies
there was a pretty simple way to avoid this scenario cincinnati zoo.....................................
maybe i'm streaming terrible dj right now if i am its here
it's kind of hard to be an atheist when someone can just go "hey pelor, show this infidel what's what" and pelor literally shows up like bam, checkmate loser
Yeah let the kid die
Crisis averted phew
NNID: Hakkekage
is this why you asked my about the devil's lettuce
i have also drastically reduced my alcohol consumption (tho it was not v high to begin with) because meh it's expensive and my body doesn't feel good from it
i just wish i could drink more wines at dinner but oh well
going out drinking is not a thing i do much lately at all
i had 2 beers at the concert on friday that's about it
We were defense on Hanamura, lost A pretty fast
But B.
Oh boy, B.
I was Torb and every wave push I would have my turret in a different spot.
It went on a 20-streak. I had the play of the game lined up.
Then on their last push our Zarya got a team wipe gravitron off and stole it away.
and got a 22 streak
*shakes fist*
Tastes like chicken.
You're basically a conspiracy theorist.
I once rolled to see how long it would take to get someone at the inn to punch me in frustration.
fuck up once and you break your thumb / if you're happy at all then you're god damn dumb
that's right we're on a fucked up cruise / God is dead but at least we have booze
bad things happen, no one knows why / the sun burns out and everyone dies
who reads the rulebooks though am i rite