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Wizards of the Coast Bans Race Mixing from D&D

simpatico

Member
In the latest confirmation of horseshoe theory, Wizards of the Coast has banished mixed race children from their realm. I don’t know who this appeases outside of actual racists, but the irony is thick and delicious.



During the recent Wizards of the Coast Summit, the Dungeons & Dragons' team explained its choice to remove half races from the upcoming One D&D incarnation of the game. Over the years, D&D has come under fire for racial insensitivity. The most recent infraction revolves around the portrayal of the Hadozee in the Spelljammer source material, but many players have lamented for years that the usage of the term "race" is inherently problematic.

If anyone can make sense of this, please explain the benefits of this decision in the comments. How does this affect BG4?
 
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StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
I havent played D&D since dabbling with it in the 80s when my bros and I had no idea or patience to play it. Although we always enjoyed D&D video and PC games.

Never the less, what are the half-races now? The article and what I remember were Half-elf and Half-ogre. Anything else? Are any half-race characters OP?

Imagine half-gnome/half-ogre. lol
 

Madonis

Member
Reading the article, it sounds like you can still create a character who is effectively a half-elf or half-orc. You'd just do that by picking traits and attributes, rather than a "half" race option.

While I am still not thrilled by the idea myself, conceptually speaking, the headline makes this sound like more of a problem than what it seems to be, in practice. That said, it depends on the specifics of the implementation in the end.
 
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cormack12

Gold Member
Wtf. So it was considered racist to call players half elf, so now they don't allow any mixed breed characters?

come back fun GIF by Lobster Studio
 

F0rneus

Tears in the rain
The rulebook isn't a holy thing, it's just the general "Here's how to DM a campaign and here's how to play as a PC".

I'm in a Pathfinder bi-weekly campaign and I'm a 6 inch tall fairy sorceress. DM made up the rules of my char. Right now, I've been kidnapped by bandits and the team will have to rescue me. They don't know but the cave where the bandits are is not only trapped which my char saw, but also there are hints of giants spiders (I nailed that roll!).

People are going to play half-race anyway. WOTC is just being stupid. This new DnD ruleset sounds like ass anyway. People will stick with 5, cause it's golden.
 

simpatico

Member
Reading the article, it sounds like you can still create a character who is effectively a half-elf or half-orc. You just would do that by picking traits and attributes.

While I am still not thrilled by the idea myself, conceptually speaking, the headline makes this sound like more of a problem than what it seems to be, in practice.
In terms of attributes, it seems like people can still get what they want. Only identity is affected, which is what makes this so idiotic. It’s one thing to change how the game is played for balancing, this just makes IRL mixed race people less able to relate to the characters they create.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
Reading the article, it sounds like you can still create a character who is effectively a half-elf or half-orc. You'd just do that by picking traits and attributes, rather than a "half" race option.

While I am still not thrilled by the idea myself, conceptually speaking, the headline makes this sound like more of a problem than what it seems to be, in practice. That said, it depends on the specifics of the implementation in the end.
If new D&D lets you pick starting attributes regardless of race, can someone pick them in such a way it's like being half-fairy/half ogre? Imagine a pic of the parents and the gamer coming up with a background story. lol
 

Reizo Ryuu

Gold Member
this just makes IRL mixed race people less able to relate to the characters they create.
....ehh
There's no such thing as race amongst humans IRL, and the DnD humans are as ethnically diverse as humans are in real life, so you can always literally create a facsimile of yourself.
The idea that these players would only be able to relate to some half-orc is hilarious, or sad, not sure.
 

StereoVsn

Member
Time to make your own settings with black jack and hookers, and half-elves.
It already exists in Pathfinder. And it’s a much better system. Pathfinder WotR from Owlcat was amazing.

I could only dream of Larian’s take on the setting.
 

Wildebeest

Member
Half-Elf, Half-Orc and Tiefling are incredibly popular. In reality, players love that "wrong side of the tracks" sort of origin, and it is the discrimination itself which makes it exciting for players. Aasimar, the "mixed" option which is supposed to be universally respected and trusted by society, is rarely ever played.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
I guess Xenoblade games ban as well? I mean story behind High Entia and what Melia‘s father try to do save their race.

also….
has-anyone-explained-that-photo-from-xenoblade-3-to-anyone-v0-3z2heq139e7b1.jpg
 
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STARSBarry

Gold Member
Remember this is one DnD where everything is simplified so baby's can play, to attract new markets like the mentally handicapped.

I believe there doing something retarded like adding Orc as a playable race and then you just select one of the sets of the traits from your parents, so you can be an orc with the human trait set, now your a half orc.

I will point out that this is an EXTREMELY simplified set of racial traits, because as before this is baby's first DnD, they are essentially doing the complete opposite of pathfinder who finds joy in adding more and more complexity. So the traits hardly matter because they don't want people feeling like they screwed over their characters by taking non-meta picks... so they removed everything useful so you don't feel that way and commit suicide in real life (emotionally unstable are anouther new market)
 
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