This is Homebrew table for adding flavor to your (new) player character. Personally I use different points from this as well for my own Player Character and have used some for my NPCs as well. Do not feel pressured to rely solely on this table. This table consists of 120 different disabilities for you to add to your player character. Pick a few, or roll using the rules below.
After consideration I decided to make a fully fleshed out, usable table for the Homebrew section for others to enjoy.
Rules: When creating a (Player) Character, roll 2d6 and take the highest. If both results are the same, add 1d4 to that number. Roll a d100 an equal amount as the previous result and your (Player) Character obtains said trait. These effects are not considered a disease, even when the name implies so. Whatever the effect may be, they are not intended to impact the gameplay.
01. Drow Syndrome When you are exposed to the sun, you tan quickly. When out of the sun you become pale very quickly again.
02. Brawler's Disease Your left eye functions, but you have no control over it. (Doesn't impose disadvantage)
03. Dragon's Snout You speak with a lisp.
04. Dragon's tongue Your tongue is forked
05. Rogue's Nose Your character misses a nose bone
06. Elf Ear Your ears are extra pointy, even for Elves!
07. Barbarian Disease Your wounds tend to heal in scars.
08. Orc's Appetite Whenever you consume something quickly, you burp. Especially annoying when chugging Health Potions.
09. Fighterborn You miss one pinky.
10. Small Bard Whenever you pronounce an either an a, i, e, o, u, you go up a few pitches.
11. Bendy Your right arm can bend a bit more than it should.
12. Gnome's Tooth Your frontal teeth are larger than normal, similar to a rabbit.
13. Everbarder You mumble in your sleep, audible to anyone 5ft. from you.
14. Bard's Disease You talk fine, but you are a terrible, terrible singer.
15. Orcen Flavor Whenever you eat, you don't taste flavor. Rotten and foul food still tastes horrible unfortunately.
16. Mermaid's Tear You can only cry from your left eye
17. Cat Eye You have two different colored eyes. (Heterochromia)
18. Rocky The right side of your face is slightly paralyzed and hanging
19. Giant's Toes You have 11 toes.
20. Dragon's Rash A random rash grows on a random part of your body. It's bearable.
21. Wizard's Eye You have small pupils
22. Human's Endurance You get a runny nose when drinking alcohol
23. Elven Hair Your hair grows at an abnormal rate
24. Bard's Grin You... have the most disturbing of smiles
25. Paladin's Thumb You have a most flexible thumb
26. Warforged's Voice You speak in a monotonous voice
27. Noble's Veins Your veins pop up from your skin in a vibrant color
28. Elven Muscle You have 20% less mass
29. Tabaxi Legs Your legs are abnormally long
30. Firbolg's Fur You have thicker hair growth all over your body.
31. Lizardfolk Disease You have literal blue blood
32. Dragonborn Syndrome Your skin feels rough, scaled creatures have a bark like texture
33. Hag Nails Your nails grow faster and have a crusty brown color
34. Dwarven Tongue You cannot whistle
35. Fey Skin Your skin slowly transforms into a different color
36. Tiefling Syndrome A singular bone grows out of your skull, regenerates with you as you heal
37. Blacksmith Syndrome Your hands shake (Does not impose disadvantage)
38. Mermaid's Disease You can't breath through your nose, you don't smell
39. Halforc Syndrome You laugh and snore like a pig's squeal
40. Goliath's Disease When you become angry, your skin reddens vividly
41. Archmage's Syndrome Aside from feeling magic, it also smells like rotten eggs to you
42. Guardsmen Disease You sleep with your eyes open
43. Celestial's Tongue Spices set your tongue ablaze
44. Devil's Tongue Sweets stiffens your face
45. Halfling Feet Your feet are naturally flat and make a *flop* sound when walking barefoot
46. Warforge Allergy Water causes a rash on your body, your sweat does not. You are fine while drinking
47. Devil's Allergy Silver itches slightly when you touch it directly
48. Druid's Allergy Metals smell more to you
49. Sandman's Disease When you try to fall asleep, you do so instantly
50. Orc's Syndrome You have an incurable snore audible up to 10ft. from you
51. Hag's Cackle You talk with a crack in your voice
52. Ranger's Disease Poisons, Venoms and Alcohols give you a rash
52. Dragonborn Stomach You have no navel
53. Sorcerer's Disease Besides feeling magic, your ears will have a slight tingle (does not impose disadvantage)
54. Dog's Mouth You excrete more saliva than normal
55. Demon's Tongue You roll your 'R's
56. Half-Elf Syndrome You have two different skin colors
57. Cow's Stomach You have two stomachs, you don't need more or less food than normal
58. Cleric's Hands You have small hands
59. Durgard Skin You have a natural dry skin
60. Banshee Hair Your hair turns unnaturally white
61. Goliath Scalp You are bald or become bald as you age
62. Shade's Disease Your pigments turn gray as you age
63. Orcen Stomach Your stomach gurgles audible within 5ft. when you are hungry
64. Elven Syndrome Alcohol turns your lips purple
65. Elven Disease You look younger than you are, does not extend your live expectancy
66. Dwarven Disease You won't get drunk from alcohol, but other demerit effects still apply to you
67. Elven Skin Your skin shines a bit in sunlight
68. Orcen Syndrome You have larger lower teeth
69. Warlock's Syndrome You miss your right ring finger
70. Fatherhood Lungs You have a very loud laugh
71. Bard Syndrome Lots of Sugar ruins your skin complex
72. Crow Eyes Shiny things draw your attention faster
73. Demon Ears You cannot stand high pitch noises
74. Gnome's Nose You have an abnormally large nose
75. Orcen Fury Adrenaline and stress bulge the veins in your face
76. Bard Ears You cannot differentiate between tones (tonedeaf)
77. Firbolg Ears Hair grows out of your ears
78. Giant's Voice You have a deep voice
79. Druid's Disease Eating meat causes your eyes to tear up
80. Human Syndrome You lack pigmentation and your hair turns flame red
81. Dwarven Endurance You have cart (car) sickness
82. Tiefling Disease Coldness turns your skin blueish
83. Ghoul's Stench Your breath stinks
84. Elven Endurance You cannot stand cold (does not impose disadvantage)
85. Drow Disease You have a slight sensitivity to light (Not daylight sensitivity)
86. Farmer's Disease Even light activity makes you sweat
87. Yuan-Ti Syndrome Your sweat becomes a bit sticky
88. Aasimar Syndrome Your eyes' sclera turns black
89. Gambler's Neck You have a spasm in your neck as you speak
90. Pirate's Syndrome After drinking at least a few ounces, your belly makes a *slosh* sound
91. Horse's Disease When breathing in, your breathing becomes hoarse
92. Goblin's Disease You have unnatural hair loss, but you don't become bald because of this
93. Gnome Disease You need to wash more frequently than other creatures to rid yourself of your body odor
94. Battler Syndrome When in action, the hairs in your neck and arm stand up
95. Weaver Knees You limp on your right leg
96. Halfling Disease You are up to 1ft. shorter than you should be.
97. Giant's Disease You are up to 1ft. taller than you should be.
98. Barbarian's Syndrome Music all sounds basically the same and sounds horrible to you.
99. Firbolg Tongue Your tongue is larger and longer than usual
00. Artificer's Syndrome You have a hard time recognizing faces or names
Optional Rule: Following are 20 Major disabilities. These do have impact on the game in terms of gameplay. Consult your DM and your party whether or not you can implement them. If you do, replace a set of rolls from the table above with the 20 below (1-20; 21-40; 41-60; 61-80; 81-00, 81-00 is default):
81. Riding Horse Allergy You are allergic to just Riding Horses. While riding a Riding Horse you have disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks until 1 hour after you stopped riding the Riding Horse.
82. Teleportation Sickness Except Misty Steps, whenever you teleport you must use an action to make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw. If you do not have an action or when you failed the save you throw up.
83. Nearsighted You have disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks when trying to see anything beyond 30 ft.
84. Nightblind You experience dim light as if it were darkness.
85. Dirt Allergy Dirt, mud, sand and other environmental particles cause a nasty itch on your body.
86. Hay Fever While 5 ft. from foliage or trees, your DM can ask you to make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw, on a failed save you use your Bonus Action to sneeze. This sneeze is audible in 1d100 ft.
87. Battle Fever After initiative ends, you feel exhaustion take over. Make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw, on a failed save you take 1 point of exhaustion. This exhaustion can be removed with a DC 10 Constitution saving throw after you finish a short or long rest.
88. High Elf Disease Wild vegetables, ale, and other "commoner foods" give you an inflation in your throat making speaking harder.
89. Mute You cannot speak. Spellcasters learn to cast spells using a combination of whistles, clicks and other oral sounds.
90. Triton's Disease You need one additional serving of water per day (twice your regular daily requirement)
91. Wizard's Syndrome You suffer from long-term memory loss. You automatically fail any check made to recall information longer than 30 days ago.
92. Dragon's Hunger You need one additional serving of food per day (one quarter of your daily requirement)
93. Druid Fever Metals cause heavy irritation to your skin, making them hard to use for you
94. Desert Disease Sand and extreme dry weather tear up your skin.
95. Kenku Syndrome You have a hard time breathing, you can only hold your breath for half the amount of time as you normally would
96. Potion Allergy Whenever you ingest a Healing Potion, the effectiveness is reduced by 1 if you roll two uneven numbers, or increased by 1 when you roll two even numbers.
97. Cleric Syndrome Whenever you heal hit points from spells, potions or magic you wince. You must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or lose your reaction.
98. Warlock Disease Whenever you make a long rest, make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw per quarter of the rest. On a failed save you jolt awake and lose that quarter of the rest. This does not occur when you have at least one point of exhaustion.
99. Deep Sleeper While asleep, you cannot be woken up except by force such as a creature using its action to shake you awake or taking damage.
00. Virgin's Disease Your skin hardens and becomes brittle as if made of porcelain. You take 2 less damage from slashing damage, but take 2 more damage from bludgeoning damage.
Author's note: A good portion of these are implemented by characters created by me, but most of them have been made up on the fly. As such there might be a shift in quality. I think you can find them fairly easily. If you think some are a bit lacking, just comment that as well.
This is Homebrew table for adding flavor to your (new) player character. Personally I use different points from this as well for my own Player Character and have used some for my NPCs as well. Do not feel pressured to rely solely on this table. This table consists of 120 different disabilities for you to add to your player character. Pick a few, or roll using the rules below.
After consideration I decided to make a fully fleshed out, usable table for the Homebrew section for others to enjoy.
Rules: When creating a (Player) Character, roll 2d6 and take the highest. If both results are the same, add 1d4 to that number. Roll a d100 an equal amount as the previous result and your (Player) Character obtains said trait. These effects are not considered a disease, even when the name implies so. Whatever the effect may be, they are not intended to impact the gameplay.
01. Drow Syndrome When you are exposed to the sun, you tan quickly. When out of the sun you become pale very quickly again.
02. Brawler's Disease Your left eye functions, but you have no control over it. (Doesn't impose disadvantage)
03. Dragon's Snout You speak with a lisp.
04. Dragon's tongue Your tongue is forked
05. Rogue's Nose Your character misses a nose bone
06. Elf Ear Your ears are extra pointy, even for Elves!
07. Barbarian Disease Your wounds tend to heal in scars.
08. Orc's Appetite Whenever you consume something quickly, you burp. Especially annoying when chugging Health Potions.
09. Fighterborn You miss one pinky.
10. Small Bard Whenever you pronounce an either an a, i, e, o, u, you go up a few pitches.
11. Bendy Your right arm can bend a bit more than it should.
12. Gnome's Tooth Your frontal teeth are larger than normal, similar to a rabbit.
13. Everbarder You mumble in your sleep, audible to anyone 5ft. from you.
14. Bard's Disease You talk fine, but you are a terrible, terrible singer.
15. Orcen Flavor Whenever you eat, you don't taste flavor. Rotten and foul food still tastes horrible unfortunately.
16. Mermaid's Tear You can only cry from your left eye
17. Cat Eye You have two different colored eyes. (Heterochromia)
18. Rocky The right side of your face is slightly paralyzed and hanging
19. Giant's Toes You have 11 toes.
20. Dragon's Rash A random rash grows on a random part of your body. It's bearable.
21. Wizard's Eye You have small pupils
22. Human's Endurance You get a runny nose when drinking alcohol
23. Elven Hair Your hair grows at an abnormal rate
24. Bard's Grin You... have the most disturbing of smiles
25. Paladin's Thumb You have a most flexible thumb
26. Warforged's Voice You speak in a monotonous voice
27. Noble's Veins Your veins pop up from your skin in a vibrant color
28. Elven Muscle You have 20% less mass
29. Tabaxi Legs Your legs are abnormally long
30. Firbolg's Fur You have thicker hair growth all over your body.
31. Lizardfolk Disease You have literal blue blood
32. Dragonborn Syndrome Your skin feels rough, scaled creatures have a bark like texture
33. Hag Nails Your nails grow faster and have a crusty brown color
34. Dwarven Tongue You cannot whistle
35. Fey Skin Your skin slowly transforms into a different color
36. Tiefling Syndrome A singular bone grows out of your skull, regenerates with you as you heal
37. Blacksmith Syndrome Your hands shake (Does not impose disadvantage)
38. Mermaid's Disease You can't breath through your nose, you don't smell
39. Halforc Syndrome You laugh and snore like a pig's squeal
40. Goliath's Disease When you become angry, your skin reddens vividly
41. Archmage's Syndrome Aside from feeling magic, it also smells like rotten eggs to you
42. Guardsmen Disease You sleep with your eyes open
43. Celestial's Tongue Spices set your tongue ablaze
44. Devil's Tongue Sweets stiffens your face
45. Halfling Feet Your feet are naturally flat and make a *flop* sound when walking barefoot
46. Warforge Allergy Water causes a rash on your body, your sweat does not. You are fine while drinking
47. Devil's Allergy Silver itches slightly when you touch it directly
48. Druid's Allergy Metals smell more to you
49. Sandman's Disease When you try to fall asleep, you do so instantly
50. Orc's Syndrome You have an incurable snore audible up to 10ft. from you
51. Hag's Cackle You talk with a crack in your voice
52. Ranger's Disease Poisons, Venoms and Alcohols give you a rash
52. Dragonborn Stomach You have no navel
53. Sorcerer's Disease Besides feeling magic, your ears will have a slight tingle (does not impose disadvantage)
54. Dog's Mouth You excrete more saliva than normal
55. Demon's Tongue You roll your 'R's
56. Half-Elf Syndrome You have two different skin colors
57. Cow's Stomach You have two stomachs, you don't need more or less food than normal
58. Cleric's Hands You have small hands
59. Durgard Skin You have a natural dry skin
60. Banshee Hair Your hair turns unnaturally white
61. Goliath Scalp You are bald or become bald as you age
62. Shade's Disease Your pigments turn gray as you age
63. Orcen Stomach Your stomach gurgles audible within 5ft. when you are hungry
64. Elven Syndrome Alcohol turns your lips purple
65. Elven Disease You look younger than you are, does not extend your live expectancy
66. Dwarven Disease You won't get drunk from alcohol, but other demerit effects still apply to you
67. Elven Skin Your skin shines a bit in sunlight
68. Orcen Syndrome You have larger lower teeth
69. Warlock's Syndrome You miss your right ring finger
70. Fatherhood Lungs You have a very loud laugh
71. Bard Syndrome Lots of Sugar ruins your skin complex
72. Crow Eyes Shiny things draw your attention faster
73. Demon Ears You cannot stand high pitch noises
74. Gnome's Nose You have an abnormally large nose
75. Orcen Fury Adrenaline and stress bulge the veins in your face
76. Bard Ears You cannot differentiate between tones (tonedeaf)
77. Firbolg Ears Hair grows out of your ears
78. Giant's Voice You have a deep voice
79. Druid's Disease Eating meat causes your eyes to tear up
80. Human Syndrome You lack pigmentation and your hair turns flame red
81. Dwarven Endurance You have cart (car) sickness
82. Tiefling Disease Coldness turns your skin blueish
83. Ghoul's Stench Your breath stinks
84. Elven Endurance You cannot stand cold (does not impose disadvantage)
85. Drow Disease You have a slight sensitivity to light (Not daylight sensitivity)
86. Farmer's Disease Even light activity makes you sweat
87. Yuan-Ti Syndrome Your sweat becomes a bit sticky
88. Aasimar Syndrome Your eyes' sclera turns black
89. Gambler's Neck You have a spasm in your neck as you speak
90. Pirate's Syndrome After drinking at least a few ounces, your belly makes a *slosh* sound
91. Horse's Disease When breathing in, your breathing becomes hoarse
92. Goblin's Disease You have unnatural hair loss, but you don't become bald because of this
93. Gnome Disease You need to wash more frequently than other creatures to rid yourself of your body odor
94. Battler Syndrome When in action, the hairs in your neck and arm stand up
95. Weaver Knees You limp on your right leg
96. Halfling Disease You are up to 1ft. shorter than you should be.
97. Giant's Disease You are up to 1ft. taller than you should be.
98. Barbarian's Syndrome Music all sounds basically the same and sounds horrible to you.
99. Firbolg Tongue Your tongue is larger and longer than usual
00. Artificer's Syndrome You have a hard time recognizing faces or names
Optional Rule: Following are 20 Major disabilities. These do have impact on the game in terms of gameplay. Consult your DM and your party whether or not you can implement them. If you do, replace a set of rolls from the table above with the 20 below (1-20; 21-40; 41-60; 61-80; 81-00, 81-00 is default):
81. Riding Horse Allergy You are allergic to just Riding Horses. While riding a Riding Horse you have disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks until 1 hour after you stopped riding the Riding Horse.
82. Teleportation Sickness Except Misty Steps, whenever you teleport you must use an action to make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw. If you do not have an action or when you failed the save you throw up.
83. Nearsighted You have disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks when trying to see anything beyond 30 ft.
84. Nightblind You experience dim light as if it were darkness.
85. Dirt Allergy Dirt, mud, sand and other environmental particles cause a nasty itch on your body.
86. Hay Fever While 5 ft. from foliage or trees, your DM can ask you to make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw, on a failed save you use your Bonus Action to sneeze. This sneeze is audible in 1d100 ft.
87. Battle Fever After initiative ends, you feel exhaustion take over. Make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw, on a failed save you take 1 point of exhaustion. This exhaustion can be removed with a DC 10 Constitution saving throw after you finish a short or long rest.
88. High Elf Disease Wild vegetables, ale, and other "commoner foods" give you an inflation in your throat making speaking harder.
89. Mute You cannot speak. Spellcasters learn to cast spells using a combination of whistles, clicks and other oral sounds.
90. Triton's Disease You need one additional serving of water per day (twice your regular daily requirement)
91. Wizard's Syndrome You suffer from long-term memory loss. You automatically fail any check made to recall information longer than 30 days ago.
92. Dragon's Hunger You need one additional serving of food per day (one quarter of your daily requirement)
93. Druid Fever Metals cause heavy irritation to your skin, making them hard to use for you
94. Desert Disease Sand and extreme dry weather tear up your skin.
95. Kenku Syndrome You have a hard time breathing, you can only hold your breath for half the amount of time as you normally would
96. Potion Allergy Whenever you ingest a Healing Potion, the effectiveness is reduced by 1 if you roll two uneven numbers, or increased by 1 when you roll two even numbers.
97. Cleric Syndrome Whenever you heal hit points from spells, potions or magic you wince. You must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or lose your reaction.
98. Warlock Disease Whenever you make a long rest, make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw per quarter of the rest. On a failed save you jolt awake and lose that quarter of the rest. This does not occur when you have at least one point of exhaustion.
99. Deep Sleeper While asleep, you cannot be woken up except by force such as a creature using its action to shake you awake or taking damage.
00. Virgin's Disease Your skin hardens and becomes brittle as if made of porcelain. You take 2 less damage from slashing damage, but take 2 more damage from bludgeoning damage.
These are awesome! I favorited this page as something to come back to for campaigns. Thank you for the creativity!
I am frustrated by the fact that you include mute, a real disability that people live and play D&D with, next to High Elf Disease. In addition, calling both Hay Fever and being mute “major disabilities” in the same breath feels insulting.
Including racialized diseases and disabilities is a bad move. It acts to reinforce stereotypes and portray inaccurate traits about the different races. As designers we should not be creating racial divisions, especially on a table that is all about disabilities and diseases.
For instance, Dwarven Tongue states you can not whistle. Dwarves can whistle. I don’t see any reason they can’t, to the contrary, the dwarves in Snow White do. Suggesting they can’t is racializing a skill based activity. Perhaps rename it Leaden Tongue as that is less provocative.
Gnome Disease reads as if gnomes have terrible body odor. If in truth, gnome disease gives you a heightened sense of smell, then why does only your body odor bother you? And what are you basing this heightened smell on? The PHB never mentions their superior sense of smell.
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
I am frustrated by the fact that you include mute, a real disability that people live and play D&D with, next to High Elf Disease. In addition, calling both Hay Fever and being mute “major disabilities” in the same breath feels insulting.
Including racialized diseases and disabilities is a bad move. It acts to reinforce stereotypes and portray inaccurate traits about the different races. As designers we should not be creating racial divisions, especially on a table that is all about disabilities and diseases.
For instance, Dwarven Tongue states you can not whistle. Dwarves can whistle. I don’t see any reason they can’t, to the contrary, the dwarves in Snow White do. Suggesting they can’t is racializing a skill based activity. Perhaps rename it Leaden Tongue as that is less provocative.
Depends on the group. Obviously don't want to offend anyone, but I didn't see any being offensive. This is highly debatable, situational, and potentially emotionally positive or negative. Again, I love this list and actually laughed out loud at a few, like number 2 and 16 for example.
Content like ****, nudity, specific diseases, specific killings, certain drug use, alcoholism, foul language, ptsd topics, sexual abuse, types comedy, and more can all be offensive, emotional, and uncomfortable to some but all the more immersive to others, depend on their usage.
Maybe it isn't for you or your group, but this list is very creative and brings roll playing flaws to the table. Just kick out the ones you think aren't personally tactful to you and replace it with something you think is. Just know that someone else might think what you add in its place is frustrating as well.
This is a good session 0 idea that can be edited to change before session 1 starts if it doesn't work for someone in the group.
Yeah, I can't read most of these without cringing. I barely got through half the list. Between the Joke names, the diminishing of real conditions and disabilities (both by calling something like the inability to whistle a "disability" and by calling Prosopagnosia "Artificer's Syndrome" as though it were just a cutesy joke and not a real mental illness) and just the sheer ridiculousness of the rolling system (You could potentially end up with 10 of these?) I don't see any value here
I am frustrated by the fact that you include mute, a real disability that people live and play D&D with, next to High Elf Disease. In addition, calling both Hay Fever and being mute “major disabilities” in the same breath feels insulting.
Including racialized diseases and disabilities is a bad move. It acts to reinforce stereotypes and portray inaccurate traits about the different races. As designers we should not be creating racial divisions, especially on a table that is all about disabilities and diseases.
For instance, Dwarven Tongue states you can not whistle. Dwarves can whistle. I don’t see any reason they can’t, to the contrary, the dwarves in Snow White do. Suggesting they can’t is racializing a skill based activity. Perhaps rename it Leaden Tongue as that is less provocative.
Depends on the group. Obviously don't want to offend anyone, but I didn't see any being offensive. This is highly debatable, situational, and potentially emotionally positive or negative. Again, I love this list and actually laughed out loud at a few, like number 2 and 16 for example.
Content like ****, nudity, specific diseases, specific killings, certain drug use, alcoholism, foul language, ptsd topics, sexual abuse, types comedy, and more can all be offensive, emotional, and uncomfortable to some but all the more immersive to others, depend on their usage.
Maybe it isn't for you or your group, but this list is very creative and brings roll playing flaws to the table. Just kick out the ones you think aren't personally tactful to you and replace it with something you think is. Just know that someone else might think what you add in its place is frustrating as well.
This is a good session 0 idea that can be edited to change before session 1 starts if it doesn't work for someone in the group.
I'm going to agree with you on a few points.
1) Content that goes beyond the norm should be discussed at Session 0
2) Content that is related to serious issues like sex, drugs, and the like can be very offensive to some, but also create a deeper and more immersive story for others. I have specific experience with this, but also that tells me it has to be handled with care.
However, that last point is the thing this list does not do. It does not handle this topic with care and nuance. This is pure "punching down" humor. Imagine for a second someone who, say, is paraplegic saw this title, and thought to check out the list.
The very first thing they are going to see is that this author's idea of a Disability is
01. Drow Syndrome When you are exposed to the sun, you tan quickly. When out of the sun you become pale very quickly again.
02. Brawler's Disease Your left eye functions, but you have no control over it. (Doesn't impose disadvantage)
03. Dragon's Snout You speak with a lisp.
The ability to tan faster than normal. A wandering eye (also known as an Amblyopia which can reduce vision in children as young as 7, so, that's a good thing to make a joke out of). To lisping, which first of all, the name "Dragon Snout" makes me think of a deformed facial structure, which is not something I want a cutesy name for.
Now, if this author had presented this as a humorous list, with silly names and a joke? Maybe I would be less turned off by it, but the title calls them "Player Character Disabilities" and I expected to see things that are actual disabilities. Not jokes.
Yeah, I can't read most of these without cringing. I barely got through half the list. Between the Joke names, the diminishing of real conditions and disabilities (both by calling something like the inability to whistle a "disability" and by calling Prosopagnosia "Artificer's Syndrome" as though it were just a cutesy joke and not a real mental illness) and just the sheer ridiculousness of the rolling system (You could potentially end up with 10 of these?) I don't see any value here
The physical limited ability to not whistle is literally a disability by definition. Maybe not a recognized disability under a court of law or medical diagnoses, which are different depend one ones culture.
Things like Prosopagnosia could have happened in a fictional world first to an Artificer or been named by an Artificer, and so the name came about, again in a fictional world. Some people with these conditions in real life may want their characters to resemble themselves. The cutesy joke could view cold be tunnel vision when it comes to this list, instead of an embracing out of the box idea.
The value is also found in that some people have a hard time finding a flaw that works, and here is a giant list to pick from.
The only thing I agree with you on, is that I wouldn't roll. Just pick from this list if you need/want a flaw.
I am frustrated by the fact that you include mute, a real disability that people live and play D&D with, next to High Elf Disease. In addition, calling both Hay Fever and being mute “major disabilities” in the same breath feels insulting.
Including racialized diseases and disabilities is a bad move. It acts to reinforce stereotypes and portray inaccurate traits about the different races. As designers we should not be creating racial divisions, especially on a table that is all about disabilities and diseases.
For instance, Dwarven Tongue states you can not whistle. Dwarves can whistle. I don’t see any reason they can’t, to the contrary, the dwarves in Snow White do. Suggesting they can’t is racializing a skill based activity. Perhaps rename it Leaden Tongue as that is less provocative.
Depends on the group. Obviously don't want to offend anyone, but I didn't see any being offensive. This is highly debatable, situational, and potentially emotionally positive or negative. Again, I love this list and actually laughed out loud at a few, like number 2 and 16 for example.
Content like ****, nudity, specific diseases, specific killings, certain drug use, alcoholism, foul language, ptsd topics, sexual abuse, types comedy, and more can all be offensive, emotional, and uncomfortable to some but all the more immersive to others, depend on their usage.
Maybe it isn't for you or your group, but this list is very creative and brings roll playing flaws to the table. Just kick out the ones you think aren't personally tactful to you and replace it with something you think is. Just know that someone else might think what you add in its place is frustrating as well.
This is a good session 0 idea that can be edited to change before session 1 starts if it doesn't work for someone in the group.
I'm going to agree with you on a few points.
1) Content that goes beyond the norm should be discussed at Session 0
2) Content that is related to serious issues like sex, drugs, and the like can be very offensive to some, but also create a deeper and more immersive story for others. I have specific experience with this, but also that tells me it has to be handled with care.
However, that last point is the thing this list does not do. It does not handle this topic with care and nuance. This is pure "punching down" humor. Imagine for a second someone who, say, is paraplegic saw this title, and thought to check out the list.
The very first thing they are going to see is that this author's idea of a Disability is
01. Drow Syndrome When you are exposed to the sun, you tan quickly. When out of the sun you become pale very quickly again.
02. Brawler's Disease Your left eye functions, but you have no control over it. (Doesn't impose disadvantage)
03. Dragon's Snout You speak with a lisp.
The ability to tan faster than normal. A wandering eye (also known as an Amblyopia which can reduce vision in children as young as 7, so, that's a good thing to make a joke out of). To lisping, which first of all, the name "Dragon Snout" makes me think of a deformed facial structure, which is not something I want a cutesy name for.
Now, if this author had presented this as a humorous list, with silly names and a joke? Maybe I would be less turned off by it, but the title calls them "Player Character Disabilities" and I expected to see things that are actual disabilities. Not jokes.
The author applied sundowning in a fictional world this way with down syndrome. Down syndrome is a disability. This is a simple way to apply the disability to the fictional world. If you notice, the first 100 on his list are designed not to greatly hinder the player. If you want to make this more realistic to our world, then it will be more hindering like the additional ones he listed after his original 100.
Fighters in real life can get wandering/drifting eyes, so this is quite literal fictional from real world situation. Amblyopia doesn't have to come into play here. This is also a literal disability by definition.
Dragon/serpent speech in fictional books/movies usually has a slur to it. The physical facial structure doesn't need to come into play. The cutesy thing is how you see it, but it could just be creative use of making common dnd fiction world adapt to real life.
I don't know if this are jokes. I do know they are creative, apply real world to fictional, and try to pay attention to game mechanics.
Yeah, I can't read most of these without cringing. I barely got through half the list. Between the Joke names, the diminishing of real conditions and disabilities (both by calling something like the inability to whistle a "disability" and by calling Prosopagnosia "Artificer's Syndrome" as though it were just a cutesy joke and not a real mental illness) and just the sheer ridiculousness of the rolling system (You could potentially end up with 10 of these?) I don't see any value here
The physical limited ability to not whistle is literally a disability by definition. Maybe not a recognized disability under a court of law or medical diagnoses, which are different depend one ones culture.
Things like Prosopagnosia could have happened in a fictional world first to an Artificer or been named by an Artificer, and so the name came about, again in a fictional world. Some people with these conditions in real life may want their characters to resemble themselves. The cutesy joke could view cold be tunnel vision when it comes to this list, instead of an embracing out of the box idea.
The value is also found in that some people have a hard time finding a flaw that works, and here is a giant list to pick from.
The only thing I agree with you on, is that I wouldn't roll. Just pick from this list if you need/want a flaw.
But these aren't flaws, and disabilities aren't flaws.
And while "out of the box" sounds good, that doesn't excuse some of this. Sure, maybe their is a fun story behind why someone who rolls their r's has "Demon's Tongue". It is also a vital part to the spanish language and other derivatives thereof.
So, someone from spain or mexico is seeing
1) the way I talk is a disability/flaw
2) The way I talk is like a demon from the abyss, one of the most evil creatures in dnd.
That's not cool. That isn't fun. Maybe, maybe if the author had presented these as joke options. But they didn't. And the more I look at the list, the more offensive it gets. Real diseases and medical conditions with "funny names" just wanting for a story side by side with dumb gags. And so much of it racialized for no reason
56. Half-Elf Syndrome You have two different skin colors
ARE YOU FLIPPING KIDDING ME!!!!!!!!!!!
No, not okay.
Edit: OR THIS!!
80. Human Syndrome You lack pigmentation and your hair turns flame red
Why is skin color bad? Half elf by its title is racial based. A half elf having one pointy ear and one non pointy ear is fine, so why should out of control melanin be an issue? I know there are people that freak out over describing the actual skin color of someone's skin, even though most people don't have white paper skin but that is ok I guess. This is a fictional world applying real world ideas. Change its title to Vitiligo or something if it is an issue, but I think it makes less since the the Half part even though it makes more since time the condition.
Why is skin and hair color an issue to give a human, even when picking a rare hair color? I guess the author forgot about Tauriel unless she is half human or something.
I just feel like for this to be an issue, you have to apply a strict tunnel view vision to make it that way which is also a bandwagon fallacy in these racial views.
I mean at the end of the day, dnd is about races and half races. So racial topics may be in this.
Yeah, I can't read most of these without cringing. I barely got through half the list. Between the Joke names, the diminishing of real conditions and disabilities (both by calling something like the inability to whistle a "disability" and by calling Prosopagnosia "Artificer's Syndrome" as though it were just a cutesy joke and not a real mental illness) and just the sheer ridiculousness of the rolling system (You could potentially end up with 10 of these?) I don't see any value here
The physical limited ability to not whistle is literally a disability by definition. Maybe not a recognized disability under a court of law or medical diagnoses, which are different depend one ones culture.
Things like Prosopagnosia could have happened in a fictional world first to an Artificer or been named by an Artificer, and so the name came about, again in a fictional world. Some people with these conditions in real life may want their characters to resemble themselves. The cutesy joke could view cold be tunnel vision when it comes to this list, instead of an embracing out of the box idea.
The value is also found in that some people have a hard time finding a flaw that works, and here is a giant list to pick from.
The only thing I agree with you on, is that I wouldn't roll. Just pick from this list if you need/want a flaw.
But these aren't flaws, and disabilities aren't flaws.
And while "out of the box" sounds good, that doesn't excuse some of this. Sure, maybe their is a fun story behind why someone who rolls their r's has "Demon's Tongue". It is also a vital part to the spanish language and other derivatives thereof.
So, someone from spain or mexico is seeing
1) the way I talk is a disability/flaw
2) The way I talk is like a demon from the abyss, one of the most evil creatures in dnd.
That's not cool. That isn't fun. Maybe, maybe if the author had presented these as joke options. But they didn't. And the more I look at the list, the more offensive it gets. Real diseases and medical conditions with "funny names" just wanting for a story side by side with dumb gags. And so much of it racialized for no reason
Yeah, I can't read most of these without cringing. I barely got through half the list. Between the Joke names, the diminishing of real conditions and disabilities (both by calling something like the inability to whistle a "disability" and by calling Prosopagnosia "Artificer's Syndrome" as though it were just a cutesy joke and not a real mental illness) and just the sheer ridiculousness of the rolling system (You could potentially end up with 10 of these?) I don't see any value here
The physical limited ability to not whistle is literally a disability by definition. Maybe not a recognized disability under a court of law or medical diagnoses, which are different depend one ones culture.
Things like Prosopagnosia could have happened in a fictional world first to an Artificer or been named by an Artificer, and so the name came about, again in a fictional world. Some people with these conditions in real life may want their characters to resemble themselves. The cutesy joke could view cold be tunnel vision when it comes to this list, instead of an embracing out of the box idea.
The value is also found in that some people have a hard time finding a flaw that works, and here is a giant list to pick from.
The only thing I agree with you on, is that I wouldn't roll. Just pick from this list if you need/want a flaw.
But these aren't flaws, and disabilities aren't flaws.
And while "out of the box" sounds good, that doesn't excuse some of this. Sure, maybe their is a fun story behind why someone who rolls their r's has "Demon's Tongue". It is also a vital part to the spanish language and other derivatives thereof.
So, someone from spain or mexico is seeing
1) the way I talk is a disability/flaw
2) The way I talk is like a demon from the abyss, one of the most evil creatures in dnd.
That's not cool. That isn't fun. Maybe, maybe if the author had presented these as joke options. But they didn't. And the more I look at the list, the more offensive it gets. Real diseases and medical conditions with "funny names" just wanting for a story side by side with dumb gags. And so much of it racialized for no reason
A flaw by definition is to weaken, which is apart of the definition of disability. They are literally connected on concept by the english language.
Im not attacking you here, tunnel view keeps coming up. Rolling Rs as Demon's Tongue is in relation to the Satan being a serpent, which serpents in fictional stories usually roll their Rs. If Spanish speaking people limit themselves to see this as an attack on themselves, then they need to break through the bandwagon fallacy tunnel vision and look at other cultures. The Satan as a Serpent is well known and so are movies like Jungle Book in its main versions.
I think this cool helpful post is getting a lot of hate over indoctrinated group think. Again I think you are trying to wrestle with this, and that is cool. Our real world is just a mess. Something fun like this can help. This is why true comedy comes from a dark place, because laughing it off may be the only real thing you can do.
Yeah, I can't read most of these without cringing. I barely got through half the list. Between the Joke names, the diminishing of real conditions and disabilities (both by calling something like the inability to whistle a "disability" and by calling Prosopagnosia "Artificer's Syndrome" as though it were just a cutesy joke and not a real mental illness) and just the sheer ridiculousness of the rolling system (You could potentially end up with 10 of these?) I don't see any value here
The physical limited ability to not whistle is literally a disability by definition. Maybe not a recognized disability under a court of law or medical diagnoses, which are different depend one ones culture.
Things like Prosopagnosia could have happened in a fictional world first to an Artificer or been named by an Artificer, and so the name came about, again in a fictional world. Some people with these conditions in real life may want their characters to resemble themselves. The cutesy joke could view cold be tunnel vision when it comes to this list, instead of an embracing out of the box idea.
The value is also found in that some people have a hard time finding a flaw that works, and here is a giant list to pick from.
The only thing I agree with you on, is that I wouldn't roll. Just pick from this list if you need/want a flaw.
But these aren't flaws, and disabilities aren't flaws.
And while "out of the box" sounds good, that doesn't excuse some of this. Sure, maybe their is a fun story behind why someone who rolls their r's has "Demon's Tongue". It is also a vital part to the spanish language and other derivatives thereof.
So, someone from spain or mexico is seeing
1) the way I talk is a disability/flaw
2) The way I talk is like a demon from the abyss, one of the most evil creatures in dnd.
That's not cool. That isn't fun. Maybe, maybe if the author had presented these as joke options. But they didn't. And the more I look at the list, the more offensive it gets. Real diseases and medical conditions with "funny names" just wanting for a story side by side with dumb gags. And so much of it racialized for no reason
Yeah, I can't read most of these without cringing. I barely got through half the list. Between the Joke names, the diminishing of real conditions and disabilities (both by calling something like the inability to whistle a "disability" and by calling Prosopagnosia "Artificer's Syndrome" as though it were just a cutesy joke and not a real mental illness) and just the sheer ridiculousness of the rolling system (You could potentially end up with 10 of these?) I don't see any value here
The physical limited ability to not whistle is literally a disability by definition. Maybe not a recognized disability under a court of law or medical diagnoses, which are different depend one ones culture.
Things like Prosopagnosia could have happened in a fictional world first to an Artificer or been named by an Artificer, and so the name came about, again in a fictional world. Some people with these conditions in real life may want their characters to resemble themselves. The cutesy joke could view cold be tunnel vision when it comes to this list, instead of an embracing out of the box idea.
The value is also found in that some people have a hard time finding a flaw that works, and here is a giant list to pick from.
The only thing I agree with you on, is that I wouldn't roll. Just pick from this list if you need/want a flaw.
But these aren't flaws, and disabilities aren't flaws.
And while "out of the box" sounds good, that doesn't excuse some of this. Sure, maybe their is a fun story behind why someone who rolls their r's has "Demon's Tongue". It is also a vital part to the spanish language and other derivatives thereof.
So, someone from spain or mexico is seeing
1) the way I talk is a disability/flaw
2) The way I talk is like a demon from the abyss, one of the most evil creatures in dnd.
That's not cool. That isn't fun. Maybe, maybe if the author had presented these as joke options. But they didn't. And the more I look at the list, the more offensive it gets. Real diseases and medical conditions with "funny names" just wanting for a story side by side with dumb gags. And so much of it racialized for no reason
A flaw by definition is to weaken, which is apart of the definition of disability. They are literally connected on concept by the english language.
Im not attacking you here, tunnel view keeps coming up. Rolling Rs as Demon's Tongue is in relation to the Satan being a serpent, which serpents in fictional stories usually roll their Rs. If Spanish speaking people limit themselves to see this as an attack on themselves, then they need to break through the bandwagon fallacy tunnel vision and look at other cultures. The Satan as a Serpent is well known and so are movies like Jungle Book in its main versions.
I think this cool helpful post is getting a lot of hate over indoctrinated group think. Again I think you are trying to wrestle with this, and that is cool. Our real world is just a mess. Something fun like this can help. This is why true comedy comes from a dark place, because laughing it off may be the only real thing you can do.
Yes let's ignore all stigmas. You say someone from a culture should look past what frankly appears as a jab at them as "fallacy tunnel vision" then I'm sorry but you're not going to find much support from me.
This list has been named purposefully - the poll even says he'll describe how he came up with this stuff. Even looking at in world lore, we should not be naming things "Gnome's Tooth" - where in the lore does it say gnomes are known for their rodent like teeth? Why are we naming a "disability" (why is larger than average teeth considered a disability) after a race when something like "Rodentures" (rodent dentures) would be more suiting. Besides the fact that it is 2020 and we should be approaching these subjects less as jokes and "fun" ideas, and more as serious things that maybe some groups want to explore. This post is not helping in that sense. Instead it is great for creating "goof" flaws for the most part.
I came to this expecting some nice ways to see things like; Autism, Amputations, MS or other mental and physical disabilities adapted for the game. Not "you lips turn blue/purple when you drink alcohol" - Seeing as that is a symptom of alcohol poisoning in the real world, really not "fun and inventive" flaw to give a character at random.
Yeah, I can't read most of these without cringing. I barely got through half the list. Between the Joke names, the diminishing of real conditions and disabilities (both by calling something like the inability to whistle a "disability" and by calling Prosopagnosia "Artificer's Syndrome" as though it were just a cutesy joke and not a real mental illness) and just the sheer ridiculousness of the rolling system (You could potentially end up with 10 of these?) I don't see any value here
The physical limited ability to not whistle is literally a disability by definition. Maybe not a recognized disability under a court of law or medical diagnoses, which are different depend one ones culture.
Things like Prosopagnosia could have happened in a fictional world first to an Artificer or been named by an Artificer, and so the name came about, again in a fictional world. Some people with these conditions in real life may want their characters to resemble themselves. The cutesy joke could view cold be tunnel vision when it comes to this list, instead of an embracing out of the box idea.
The value is also found in that some people have a hard time finding a flaw that works, and here is a giant list to pick from.
The only thing I agree with you on, is that I wouldn't roll. Just pick from this list if you need/want a flaw.
But these aren't flaws, and disabilities aren't flaws.
And while "out of the box" sounds good, that doesn't excuse some of this. Sure, maybe their is a fun story behind why someone who rolls their r's has "Demon's Tongue". It is also a vital part to the spanish language and other derivatives thereof.
So, someone from spain or mexico is seeing
1) the way I talk is a disability/flaw
2) The way I talk is like a demon from the abyss, one of the most evil creatures in dnd.
That's not cool. That isn't fun. Maybe, maybe if the author had presented these as joke options. But they didn't. And the more I look at the list, the more offensive it gets. Real diseases and medical conditions with "funny names" just wanting for a story side by side with dumb gags. And so much of it racialized for no reason
Yeah, I can't read most of these without cringing. I barely got through half the list. Between the Joke names, the diminishing of real conditions and disabilities (both by calling something like the inability to whistle a "disability" and by calling Prosopagnosia "Artificer's Syndrome" as though it were just a cutesy joke and not a real mental illness) and just the sheer ridiculousness of the rolling system (You could potentially end up with 10 of these?) I don't see any value here
The physical limited ability to not whistle is literally a disability by definition. Maybe not a recognized disability under a court of law or medical diagnoses, which are different depend one ones culture.
Things like Prosopagnosia could have happened in a fictional world first to an Artificer or been named by an Artificer, and so the name came about, again in a fictional world. Some people with these conditions in real life may want their characters to resemble themselves. The cutesy joke could view cold be tunnel vision when it comes to this list, instead of an embracing out of the box idea.
The value is also found in that some people have a hard time finding a flaw that works, and here is a giant list to pick from.
The only thing I agree with you on, is that I wouldn't roll. Just pick from this list if you need/want a flaw.
But these aren't flaws, and disabilities aren't flaws.
And while "out of the box" sounds good, that doesn't excuse some of this. Sure, maybe their is a fun story behind why someone who rolls their r's has "Demon's Tongue". It is also a vital part to the spanish language and other derivatives thereof.
So, someone from spain or mexico is seeing
1) the way I talk is a disability/flaw
2) The way I talk is like a demon from the abyss, one of the most evil creatures in dnd.
That's not cool. That isn't fun. Maybe, maybe if the author had presented these as joke options. But they didn't. And the more I look at the list, the more offensive it gets. Real diseases and medical conditions with "funny names" just wanting for a story side by side with dumb gags. And so much of it racialized for no reason
A flaw by definition is to weaken, which is apart of the definition of disability. They are literally connected on concept by the english language.
Im not attacking you here, tunnel view keeps coming up. Rolling Rs as Demon's Tongue is in relation to the Satan being a serpent, which serpents in fictional stories usually roll their Rs. If Spanish speaking people limit themselves to see this as an attack on themselves, then they need to break through the bandwagon fallacy tunnel vision and look at other cultures. The Satan as a Serpent is well known and so are movies like Jungle Book in its main versions.
I think this cool helpful post is getting a lot of hate over indoctrinated group think. Again I think you are trying to wrestle with this, and that is cool. Our real world is just a mess. Something fun like this can help. This is why true comedy comes from a dark place, because laughing it off may be the only real thing you can do.
Yes let's ignore all stigmas. You say someone from a culture should look past what frankly appears as a jab at them as "fallacy tunnel vision" then I'm sorry but you're not going to find much support from me.
This list has been named purposefully - the poll even says he'll describe how he came up with this stuff. Even looking at in world lore, we should not be naming things "Gnome's Tooth" - where in the lore does it say gnomes are known for their rodent like teeth? Why are we naming a "disability" (why is larger than average teeth considered a disability) after a race when something like "Rodentures" (rodent dentures) would be more suiting. Besides the fact that it is 2020 and we should be approaching these subjects less as jokes and "fun" ideas, and more as serious things that maybe some groups want to explore. This post is not helping in that sense. Instead it is great for creating "goof" flaws for the most part.
I came to this expecting some nice ways to see things like; Autism, Amputations, MS or other mental and physical disabilities adapted for the game. Not "you lips turn blue/purple when you drink alcohol" - Seeing as that is a symptom of alcohol poisoning in the real world, really not "fun and inventive" flaw to give a character at random.
I see disability not stigma, but I get its 2020 and so I'm not on the band wagon; and I'm good with that. My campaigns probably have less uncomfortable situations than most since almost all sexual and foul language content isn't part of our games (Two major categories of game ratings.).
I don't know the intent of the author, but I have been able to quite easily give logical alternatives to a thought process which seems to be out to get them in an assumption that they meant this in the worst of ways.
Like Gnomes teeth, which could be Macrodontia. What is the issue? This has some mathematical possibilities since Macrodontia is a standard deviation difference similar to the size of gnomes compared to normal humans. Although I do prefer your name for it.
The alcohol one could be Hypothermia, a sign of heart problems. Why is this an issue to adapt reality to fiction?
I get fiction is a way to escape reality, but some reality to fiction helps make it immersive. Obviously this isn't content for everyone it seems by the attacks against it, but I literally read through it with no issues because logically it doesn't have to be ill intent. I agree it could be, but they were really tame or not trying to be mean then because these could be easily tweaked to be mean.
56. Half-Elf Syndrome You have two different skin colors
ARE YOU FLIPPING KIDDING ME!!!!!!!!!!!
No, not okay.
Edit: OR THIS!!
80. Human Syndrome You lack pigmentation and your hair turns flame red
Why is skin color bad? Half elf by its title is racial based. A half elf having one pointy ear and one non pointy ear is fine, so why should out of control melanin be an issue? I know there are people that freak out over describing the actual skin color of someone's skin, even though most people don't have white paper skin but that is ok I guess. This is a fictional world applying real world ideas. Change its title to Vitiligo or something if it is an issue, but I think it makes less since the the Half part even though it makes more since time the condition.
Why is skin and hair color an issue to give a human, even when picking a rare hair color? I guess the author forgot about Tauriel unless she is half human or something.
I just feel like for this to be an issue, you have to apply a strict tunnel view vision to make it that way which is also a bandwagon fallacy in these racial views.
I mean at the end of the day, dnd is about races and half races. So racial topics may be in this.
There are a lot of different arguments you are making, but the multi-quote system on DnD Beyond really isn't very good. So, I'm grabbing this one, and I'll be referring to some of your other arguments.
1) Bandwagon Fallacy-> This is the weakest argument you are making, and the one that requires the most stretching on your part. By referring to this, you are saying that we are only upset with this, because other people are upset and that we are "following the crowd". However, I was one of the first posters to respond to this topic. In fact, out of the first four posters (including the very first post) three of them said that this seemed offensive to them. My post was actually the most mild and saying that while it was offensive, I didn't think the author intended it to be offensive.
But, maybe you weren't referring specifically to this thread. Maybe by "band wagon fallacy" you are responding to the response of people near globally about these sort of problems. But, that assumes that I would not have found this material to be offensive in 2018 or 2019. And I would have. This isn't a band wagon, this is my response. And dismissing it because you think I'm just following the crowd hurts your position.
2) Tunnel Vision-> This assumes that I am looking at this from too narrow a view, that if I just widened my view that this wouldn't be so bad. But, that is false. Just plan and simple. There are a myriad of factors that have combined to make this offensive. By calling them disabilities, then having a random roll, the author has indicated this is how the character was born. Especially since many of these deal with things like teeth, skin, eye color ect. So, while something like "Brawler's Disease" might have worked if presented as something that happens to a brawler, from getting in too many fist fights, the way they have titled the list and set up the randomization tells me that this is actually something from birth. Same with "Rocky" which describes a stroke victim. Now, maybe if someone is a film buff they will know that Sylvester Stallone suffered nerve damage in his face from childbirth (his mother's doctor used forceps to pull him, which severed nerves in his face and paralyzed it) and will recognize that as a nod to his famous role as Rocky Balboa, but if you don't know all of that, then you are left with wondering why stroke victims are considered to have stony faces.
Or, wondering why the disease which gives two different skin tones is associated with the more famous of the half- races, implying that it is a result of the "interbreeding"
Or why Gnomes have large front teeth, large noses, and the need to compulsively wash themselves
Or why looking more like someone of Scottish or Irish descent is called "human disease", especially since as you mentioned, most humans don't have those features, and canonically in DnD elves and dwarves can and do have those features.
Or why we are more worried that some fictional snakes (there is what, one famous one in Kaa?) rolled their R's, and Satan was supposedly a snake once, so this is what we mean. Instead of considering that tens of million's of people of real world ethnicities talk this way. I hate to shatter your preconceptions, but not everyone has seen the Jungle Book. And even if they did, that is likely not the first place their brains went when confronted with this.
And whether or not the author meant it to be offensive, doesn't preclude it from being offensive
3) You can change them, so it is okay.
No it isn't. My ability to copy this list and delete the vast majority of it, does not in fact make the list better. The few ideas I can find myself liking are utterly buried under the mountain of drek that is presented.
56. Half-Elf Syndrome You have two different skin colors
ARE YOU FLIPPING KIDDING ME!!!!!!!!!!!
No, not okay.
Edit: OR THIS!!
80. Human Syndrome You lack pigmentation and your hair turns flame red
Why is skin color bad? Half elf by its title is racial based. A half elf having one pointy ear and one non pointy ear is fine, so why should out of control melanin be an issue? I know there are people that freak out over describing the actual skin color of someone's skin, even though most people don't have white paper skin but that is ok I guess. This is a fictional world applying real world ideas. Change its title to Vitiligo or something if it is an issue, but I think it makes less since the the Half part even though it makes more since time the condition.
Why is skin and hair color an issue to give a human, even when picking a rare hair color? I guess the author forgot about Tauriel unless she is half human or something.
I just feel like for this to be an issue, you have to apply a strict tunnel view vision to make it that way which is also a bandwagon fallacy in these racial views.
I mean at the end of the day, dnd is about races and half races. So racial topics may be in this.
There are a lot of different arguments you are making, but the multi-quote system on DnD Beyond really isn't very good. So, I'm grabbing this one, and I'll be referring to some of your other arguments.
1) Bandwagon Fallacy-> This is the weakest argument you are making, and the one that requires the most stretching on your part. By referring to this, you are saying that we are only upset with this, because other people are upset and that we are "following the crowd". However, I was one of the first posters to respond to this topic. In fact, out of the first four posters (including the very first post) three of them said that this seemed offensive to them. My post was actually the most mild and saying that while it was offensive, I didn't think the author intended it to be offensive.
But, maybe you weren't referring specifically to this thread. Maybe by "band wagon fallacy" you are responding to the response of people near globally about these sort of problems. But, that assumes that I would not have found this material to be offensive in 2018 or 2019. And I would have. This isn't a band wagon, this is my response. And dismissing it because you think I'm just following the crowd hurts your position.
2) Tunnel Vision-> This assumes that I am looking at this from too narrow a view, that if I just widened my view that this wouldn't be so bad. But, that is false. Just plan and simple. There are a myriad of factors that have combined to make this offensive. By calling them disabilities, then having a random roll, the author has indicated this is how the character was born. Especially since many of these deal with things like teeth, skin, eye color ect. So, while something like "Brawler's Disease" might have worked if presented as something that happens to a brawler, from getting in too many fist fights, the way they have titled the list and set up the randomization tells me that this is actually something from birth. Same with "Rocky" which describes a stroke victim. Now, maybe if someone is a film buff they will know that Sylvester Stallone suffered nerve damage in his face from childbirth (his mother's doctor used forceps to pull him, which severed nerves in his face and paralyzed it) and will recognize that as a nod to his famous role as Rocky Balboa, but if you don't know all of that, then you are left with wondering why stroke victims are considered to have stony faces.
Or, wondering why the disease which gives two different skin tones is associated with the more famous of the half- races, implying that it is a result of the "interbreeding"
Or why Gnomes have large front teeth, large noses, and the need to compulsively wash themselves
Or why looking more like someone of Scottish or Irish descent is called "human disease", especially since as you mentioned, most humans don't have those features, and canonically in DnD elves and dwarves can and do have those features.
Or why we are more worried that some fictional snakes (there is what, one famous one in Kaa?) rolled their R's, and Satan was supposedly a snake once, so this is what we mean. Instead of considering that tens of million's of people of real world ethnicities talk this way. I hate to shatter your preconceptions, but not everyone has seen the Jungle Book. And even if they did, that is likely not the first place their brains went when confronted with this.
And whether or not the author meant it to be offensive, doesn't preclude it from being offensive
3) You can change them, so it is okay.
No it isn't. My ability to copy this list and delete the vast majority of it, does not in fact make the list better. The few ideas I can find myself liking are utterly buried under the mountain of drek that is presented.
Bandwagon and tunnel view both came up in people assuming racial ill intent when it clearly could be otherwise, while also basing this assumption on a worldview which labels people in a negative light. That is tunnel vision since I gave out of the box explanations that a quick google search will show is logical, instead of limiting this author's list to racial offensive garbage. It is bandwagon mentality cancel labelling culture to get all racial about things that may not even be that. The 2020 reference is an example of that indoctrinating ideology.
This is a list of disabilities according to the English language's definition of disability. Doing a random roll mimics reality in that you may not choose to have a disability. It could be by birth, but usually a background is much more than that. You are the first to mention the word birth or born about this concept which is another assumption that could be false, also because the author didn't use the word birth like you are interpreting and only used born in Dragonborn and Fighterborn.
Multiracial people is a thing that is completely opposite from inbreeding. Vitiligo is more obvious in darker skinned people, so the start of multiracial people could bring about the disease name in a fictional world.
Dwarfism is a thing where people can have larger body parts in some areas than others (crowded teeth being one), as I agreed the name isn't the best to the accuracy it could be, but it is close by it being a gnome like condition. Idk about the washing odor. Maybe because they live underground or stand beside gardens. Author would have to elaborate on this or someone more creative I guess. There are bad odor diseases, but I don't know the connection.
I guess technically you could consider red hair and bright white skin a disease due to low disease like % and harmful sun effects. I don't see how it isn't a disease by the English definition.
I agree a lot of people's brains are indoctrinated to think a certain way even though every movie, book, and game I can think of has serpents and dragons stress and roll their letters like Rs and Ss. Also the Bible is the most popular book and Christianity is the most popular religion. So good material to pick from to name a disease involving a fictional world with demons/devils and dragons/snakes. But of course the negative racial one is the go to... (Jungle Book was an example...)
What is and isn't offensive is an opinion. The act of making any content at all could be offensive. The issue is when someone makes content to help others and then gets attacked because of opinions based on assumptions that could hold no truth at all to them. That is offensive.
One man's trash is another man's treasure I guess. I am totally cool with someone not liking something and giving feedback. The problem I have is when someone is looking for feedback and then is insinuated to be racist and their content is told to be trash. Just better to move on and say nothing.
Interesting, but not necessarily something I'd use (not a fan of having too many long tables even if it's just at character creation). I could see the "major disabilities" being re-flavored for potential sickness/diseases however.
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This is Homebrew table for adding flavor to your (new) player character. Personally I use different points from this as well for my own Player Character and have used some for my NPCs as well. Do not feel pressured to rely solely on this table. This table consists of 120 different disabilities for you to add to your player character. Pick a few, or roll using the rules below.
After consideration I decided to make a fully fleshed out, usable table for the Homebrew section for others to enjoy.
Rules:
When creating a (Player) Character, roll 2d6 and take the highest. If both results are the same, add 1d4 to that number. Roll a d100 an equal amount as the previous result and your (Player) Character obtains said trait. These effects are not considered a disease, even when the name implies so. Whatever the effect may be, they are not intended to impact the gameplay.
01. Drow Syndrome
When you are exposed to the sun, you tan quickly. When out of the sun you become pale very quickly again.
02. Brawler's Disease
Your left eye functions, but you have no control over it. (Doesn't impose disadvantage)
03. Dragon's Snout
You speak with a lisp.
04. Dragon's tongue
Your tongue is forked
05. Rogue's Nose
Your character misses a nose bone
06. Elf Ear
Your ears are extra pointy, even for Elves!
07. Barbarian Disease
Your wounds tend to heal in scars.
08. Orc's Appetite
Whenever you consume something quickly, you burp. Especially annoying when chugging Health Potions.
09. Fighterborn
You miss one pinky.
10. Small Bard
Whenever you pronounce an either an a, i, e, o, u, you go up a few pitches.
11. Bendy
Your right arm can bend a bit more than it should.
12. Gnome's Tooth
Your frontal teeth are larger than normal, similar to a rabbit.
13. Everbarder
You mumble in your sleep, audible to anyone 5ft. from you.
14. Bard's Disease
You talk fine, but you are a terrible, terrible singer.
15. Orcen Flavor
Whenever you eat, you don't taste flavor. Rotten and foul food still tastes horrible unfortunately.
16. Mermaid's Tear
You can only cry from your left eye
17. Cat Eye
You have two different colored eyes. (Heterochromia)
18. Rocky
The right side of your face is slightly paralyzed and hanging
19. Giant's Toes
You have 11 toes.
20. Dragon's Rash
A random rash grows on a random part of your body. It's bearable.
21. Wizard's Eye
You have small pupils
22. Human's Endurance
You get a runny nose when drinking alcohol
23. Elven Hair
Your hair grows at an abnormal rate
24. Bard's Grin
You... have the most disturbing of smiles
25. Paladin's Thumb
You have a most flexible thumb
26. Warforged's Voice
You speak in a monotonous voice
27. Noble's Veins
Your veins pop up from your skin in a vibrant color
28. Elven Muscle
You have 20% less mass
29. Tabaxi Legs
Your legs are abnormally long
30. Firbolg's Fur
You have thicker hair growth all over your body.
31. Lizardfolk Disease
You have literal blue blood
32. Dragonborn Syndrome
Your skin feels rough, scaled creatures have a bark like texture
33. Hag Nails
Your nails grow faster and have a crusty brown color
34. Dwarven Tongue
You cannot whistle
35. Fey Skin
Your skin slowly transforms into a different color
36. Tiefling Syndrome
A singular bone grows out of your skull, regenerates with you as you heal
37. Blacksmith Syndrome
Your hands shake (Does not impose disadvantage)
38. Mermaid's Disease
You can't breath through your nose, you don't smell
39. Halforc Syndrome
You laugh and snore like a pig's squeal
40. Goliath's Disease
When you become angry, your skin reddens vividly
41. Archmage's Syndrome
Aside from feeling magic, it also smells like rotten eggs to you
42. Guardsmen Disease
You sleep with your eyes open
43. Celestial's Tongue
Spices set your tongue ablaze
44. Devil's Tongue
Sweets stiffens your face
45. Halfling Feet
Your feet are naturally flat and make a *flop* sound when walking barefoot
46. Warforge Allergy
Water causes a rash on your body, your sweat does not. You are fine while drinking
47. Devil's Allergy
Silver itches slightly when you touch it directly
48. Druid's Allergy
Metals smell more to you
49. Sandman's Disease
When you try to fall asleep, you do so instantly
50. Orc's Syndrome
You have an incurable snore audible up to 10ft. from you
51. Hag's Cackle
You talk with a crack in your voice
52. Ranger's Disease
Poisons, Venoms and Alcohols give you a rash
52. Dragonborn Stomach
You have no navel
53. Sorcerer's Disease
Besides feeling magic, your ears will have a slight tingle (does not impose disadvantage)
54. Dog's Mouth
You excrete more saliva than normal
55. Demon's Tongue
You roll your 'R's
56. Half-Elf Syndrome
You have two different skin colors
57. Cow's Stomach
You have two stomachs, you don't need more or less food than normal
58. Cleric's Hands
You have small hands
59. Durgard Skin
You have a natural dry skin
60. Banshee Hair
Your hair turns unnaturally white
61. Goliath Scalp
You are bald or become bald as you age
62. Shade's Disease
Your pigments turn gray as you age
63. Orcen Stomach
Your stomach gurgles audible within 5ft. when you are hungry
64. Elven Syndrome
Alcohol turns your lips purple
65. Elven Disease
You look younger than you are, does not extend your live expectancy
66. Dwarven Disease
You won't get drunk from alcohol, but other demerit effects still apply to you
67. Elven Skin
Your skin shines a bit in sunlight
68. Orcen Syndrome
You have larger lower teeth
69. Warlock's Syndrome
You miss your right ring finger
70. Fatherhood Lungs
You have a very loud laugh
71. Bard Syndrome
Lots of Sugar ruins your skin complex
72. Crow Eyes
Shiny things draw your attention faster
73. Demon Ears
You cannot stand high pitch noises
74. Gnome's Nose
You have an abnormally large nose
75. Orcen Fury
Adrenaline and stress bulge the veins in your face
76. Bard Ears
You cannot differentiate between tones (tonedeaf)
77. Firbolg Ears
Hair grows out of your ears
78. Giant's Voice
You have a deep voice
79. Druid's Disease
Eating meat causes your eyes to tear up
80. Human Syndrome
You lack pigmentation and your hair turns flame red
81. Dwarven Endurance
You have cart (car) sickness
82. Tiefling Disease
Coldness turns your skin blueish
83. Ghoul's Stench
Your breath stinks
84. Elven Endurance
You cannot stand cold (does not impose disadvantage)
85. Drow Disease
You have a slight sensitivity to light (Not daylight sensitivity)
86. Farmer's Disease
Even light activity makes you sweat
87. Yuan-Ti Syndrome
Your sweat becomes a bit sticky
88. Aasimar Syndrome
Your eyes' sclera turns black
89. Gambler's Neck
You have a spasm in your neck as you speak
90. Pirate's Syndrome
After drinking at least a few ounces, your belly makes a *slosh* sound
91. Horse's Disease
When breathing in, your breathing becomes hoarse
92. Goblin's Disease
You have unnatural hair loss, but you don't become bald because of this
93. Gnome Disease
You need to wash more frequently than other creatures to rid yourself of your body odor
94. Battler Syndrome
When in action, the hairs in your neck and arm stand up
95. Weaver Knees
You limp on your right leg
96. Halfling Disease
You are up to 1ft. shorter than you should be.
97. Giant's Disease
You are up to 1ft. taller than you should be.
98. Barbarian's Syndrome
Music all sounds basically the same and sounds horrible to you.
99. Firbolg Tongue
Your tongue is larger and longer than usual
00. Artificer's Syndrome
You have a hard time recognizing faces or names
Optional Rule: Following are 20 Major disabilities. These do have impact on the game in terms of gameplay. Consult your DM and your party whether or not you can implement them. If you do, replace a set of rolls from the table above with the 20 below (1-20; 21-40; 41-60; 61-80; 81-00, 81-00 is default):
81. Riding Horse Allergy
You are allergic to just Riding Horses. While riding a Riding Horse you have disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks until 1 hour after you stopped riding the Riding Horse.
82. Teleportation Sickness
Except Misty Steps, whenever you teleport you must use an action to make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw. If you do not have an action or when you failed the save you throw up.
83. Nearsighted
You have disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks when trying to see anything beyond 30 ft.
84. Nightblind
You experience dim light as if it were darkness.
85. Dirt Allergy
Dirt, mud, sand and other environmental particles cause a nasty itch on your body.
86. Hay Fever
While 5 ft. from foliage or trees, your DM can ask you to make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw, on a failed save you use your Bonus Action to sneeze. This sneeze is audible in 1d100 ft.
87. Battle Fever
After initiative ends, you feel exhaustion take over. Make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw, on a failed save you take 1 point of exhaustion. This exhaustion can be removed with a DC 10 Constitution saving throw after you finish a short or long rest.
88. High Elf Disease
Wild vegetables, ale, and other "commoner foods" give you an inflation in your throat making speaking harder.
89. Mute
You cannot speak. Spellcasters learn to cast spells using a combination of whistles, clicks and other oral sounds.
90. Triton's Disease
You need one additional serving of water per day (twice your regular daily requirement)
91. Wizard's Syndrome
You suffer from long-term memory loss. You automatically fail any check made to recall information longer than 30 days ago.
92. Dragon's Hunger
You need one additional serving of food per day (one quarter of your daily requirement)
93. Druid Fever
Metals cause heavy irritation to your skin, making them hard to use for you
94. Desert Disease
Sand and extreme dry weather tear up your skin.
95. Kenku Syndrome
You have a hard time breathing, you can only hold your breath for half the amount of time as you normally would
96. Potion Allergy
Whenever you ingest a Healing Potion, the effectiveness is reduced by 1 if you roll two uneven numbers, or increased by 1 when you roll two even numbers.
97. Cleric Syndrome
Whenever you heal hit points from spells, potions or magic you wince. You must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or lose your reaction.
98. Warlock Disease
Whenever you make a long rest, make a DC 10 Constitution saving throw per quarter of the rest. On a failed save you jolt awake and lose that quarter of the rest. This does not occur when you have at least one point of exhaustion.
99. Deep Sleeper
While asleep, you cannot be woken up except by force such as a creature using its action to shake you awake or taking damage.
00. Virgin's Disease
Your skin hardens and becomes brittle as if made of porcelain. You take 2 less damage from slashing damage, but take 2 more damage from bludgeoning damage.
Author's note: A good portion of these are implemented by characters created by me, but most of them have been made up on the fly. As such there might be a shift in quality. I think you can find them fairly easily. If you think some are a bit lacking, just comment that as well.
Some of those names are pretty offensive. Top of the list being “Virgin’s Disease.”
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These are awesome! I favorited this page as something to come back to for campaigns. Thank you for the creativity!
I am frustrated by the fact that you include mute, a real disability that people live and play D&D with, next to High Elf Disease. In addition, calling both Hay Fever and being mute “major disabilities” in the same breath feels insulting.
Including racialized diseases and disabilities is a bad move. It acts to reinforce stereotypes and portray inaccurate traits about the different races. As designers we should not be creating racial divisions, especially on a table that is all about disabilities and diseases.
For instance, Dwarven Tongue states you can not whistle. Dwarves can whistle. I don’t see any reason they can’t, to the contrary, the dwarves in Snow White do. Suggesting they can’t is racializing a skill based activity.
Perhaps rename it Leaden Tongue as that is less provocative.
Gnome Disease reads as if gnomes have terrible body odor. If in truth, gnome disease gives you a heightened sense of smell, then why does only your body odor bother you? And what are you basing this heightened smell on? The PHB never mentions their superior sense of smell.
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"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
Depends on the group. Obviously don't want to offend anyone, but I didn't see any being offensive. This is highly debatable, situational, and potentially emotionally positive or negative. Again, I love this list and actually laughed out loud at a few, like number 2 and 16 for example.
Content like ****, nudity, specific diseases, specific killings, certain drug use, alcoholism, foul language, ptsd topics, sexual abuse, types comedy, and more can all be offensive, emotional, and uncomfortable to some but all the more immersive to others, depend on their usage.
Maybe it isn't for you or your group, but this list is very creative and brings roll playing flaws to the table. Just kick out the ones you think aren't personally tactful to you and replace it with something you think is. Just know that someone else might think what you add in its place is frustrating as well.
This is a good session 0 idea that can be edited to change before session 1 starts if it doesn't work for someone in the group.
Yeah, I can't read most of these without cringing. I barely got through half the list. Between the Joke names, the diminishing of real conditions and disabilities (both by calling something like the inability to whistle a "disability" and by calling Prosopagnosia "Artificer's Syndrome" as though it were just a cutesy joke and not a real mental illness) and just the sheer ridiculousness of the rolling system (You could potentially end up with 10 of these?) I don't see any value here
Taran Cragshollow (Summit Road)
I'm going to agree with you on a few points.
1) Content that goes beyond the norm should be discussed at Session 0
2) Content that is related to serious issues like sex, drugs, and the like can be very offensive to some, but also create a deeper and more immersive story for others. I have specific experience with this, but also that tells me it has to be handled with care.
However, that last point is the thing this list does not do. It does not handle this topic with care and nuance. This is pure "punching down" humor. Imagine for a second someone who, say, is paraplegic saw this title, and thought to check out the list.
The very first thing they are going to see is that this author's idea of a Disability is
01. Drow Syndrome
When you are exposed to the sun, you tan quickly. When out of the sun you become pale very quickly again.
02. Brawler's Disease
Your left eye functions, but you have no control over it. (Doesn't impose disadvantage)
03. Dragon's Snout
You speak with a lisp.
The ability to tan faster than normal. A wandering eye (also known as an Amblyopia which can reduce vision in children as young as 7, so, that's a good thing to make a joke out of). To lisping, which first of all, the name "Dragon Snout" makes me think of a deformed facial structure, which is not something I want a cutesy name for.
Now, if this author had presented this as a humorous list, with silly names and a joke? Maybe I would be less turned off by it, but the title calls them "Player Character Disabilities" and I expected to see things that are actual disabilities. Not jokes.
Taran Cragshollow (Summit Road)
56. Half-Elf Syndrome
You have two different skin colors
ARE YOU FLIPPING KIDDING ME!!!!!!!!!!!
No, not okay.
Edit: OR THIS!!
80. Human Syndrome
You lack pigmentation and your hair turns flame red
Taran Cragshollow (Summit Road)
The physical limited ability to not whistle is literally a disability by definition. Maybe not a recognized disability under a court of law or medical diagnoses, which are different depend one ones culture.
Things like Prosopagnosia could have happened in a fictional world first to an Artificer or been named by an Artificer, and so the name came about, again in a fictional world. Some people with these conditions in real life may want their characters to resemble themselves. The cutesy joke could view cold be tunnel vision when it comes to this list, instead of an embracing out of the box idea.
The value is also found in that some people have a hard time finding a flaw that works, and here is a giant list to pick from.
The only thing I agree with you on, is that I wouldn't roll. Just pick from this list if you need/want a flaw.
The author applied sundowning in a fictional world this way with down syndrome. Down syndrome is a disability. This is a simple way to apply the disability to the fictional world. If you notice, the first 100 on his list are designed not to greatly hinder the player. If you want to make this more realistic to our world, then it will be more hindering like the additional ones he listed after his original 100.
Fighters in real life can get wandering/drifting eyes, so this is quite literal fictional from real world situation. Amblyopia doesn't have to come into play here. This is also a literal disability by definition.
Dragon/serpent speech in fictional books/movies usually has a slur to it. The physical facial structure doesn't need to come into play. The cutesy thing is how you see it, but it could just be creative use of making common dnd fiction world adapt to real life.
I don't know if this are jokes. I do know they are creative, apply real world to fictional, and try to pay attention to game mechanics.
But these aren't flaws, and disabilities aren't flaws.
And while "out of the box" sounds good, that doesn't excuse some of this. Sure, maybe their is a fun story behind why someone who rolls their r's has "Demon's Tongue". It is also a vital part to the spanish language and other derivatives thereof.
So, someone from spain or mexico is seeing
1) the way I talk is a disability/flaw
2) The way I talk is like a demon from the abyss, one of the most evil creatures in dnd.
That's not cool. That isn't fun. Maybe, maybe if the author had presented these as joke options. But they didn't. And the more I look at the list, the more offensive it gets. Real diseases and medical conditions with "funny names" just wanting for a story side by side with dumb gags. And so much of it racialized for no reason
Taran Cragshollow (Summit Road)
Why is skin color bad? Half elf by its title is racial based. A half elf having one pointy ear and one non pointy ear is fine, so why should out of control melanin be an issue? I know there are people that freak out over describing the actual skin color of someone's skin, even though most people don't have white paper skin but that is ok I guess. This is a fictional world applying real world ideas. Change its title to Vitiligo or something if it is an issue, but I think it makes less since the the Half part even though it makes more since time the condition.
Why is skin and hair color an issue to give a human, even when picking a rare hair color? I guess the author forgot about Tauriel unless she is half human or something.
I just feel like for this to be an issue, you have to apply a strict tunnel view vision to make it that way which is also a bandwagon fallacy in these racial views.
I mean at the end of the day, dnd is about races and half races. So racial topics may be in this.
A flaw by definition is to weaken, which is apart of the definition of disability. They are literally connected on concept by the english language.
Im not attacking you here, tunnel view keeps coming up. Rolling Rs as Demon's Tongue is in relation to the Satan being a serpent, which serpents in fictional stories usually roll their Rs. If Spanish speaking people limit themselves to see this as an attack on themselves, then they need to break through the bandwagon fallacy tunnel vision and look at other cultures. The Satan as a Serpent is well known and so are movies like Jungle Book in its main versions.
I think this cool helpful post is getting a lot of hate over indoctrinated group think. Again I think you are trying to wrestle with this, and that is cool. Our real world is just a mess. Something fun like this can help. This is why true comedy comes from a dark place, because laughing it off may be the only real thing you can do.
It is okay as long as it doesn't disturb the game mechanic.
Rather than rolling, i would just give the option to my player to see whether they want to play that sort kind of character.
Yes let's ignore all stigmas. You say someone from a culture should look past what frankly appears as a jab at them as "fallacy tunnel vision" then I'm sorry but you're not going to find much support from me.
This list has been named purposefully - the poll even says he'll describe how he came up with this stuff. Even looking at in world lore, we should not be naming things "Gnome's Tooth" - where in the lore does it say gnomes are known for their rodent like teeth? Why are we naming a "disability" (why is larger than average teeth considered a disability) after a race when something like "Rodentures" (rodent dentures) would be more suiting. Besides the fact that it is 2020 and we should be approaching these subjects less as jokes and "fun" ideas, and more as serious things that maybe some groups want to explore. This post is not helping in that sense. Instead it is great for creating "goof" flaws for the most part.
I came to this expecting some nice ways to see things like; Autism, Amputations, MS or other mental and physical disabilities adapted for the game. Not "you lips turn blue/purple when you drink alcohol" - Seeing as that is a symptom of alcohol poisoning in the real world, really not "fun and inventive" flaw to give a character at random.
I see disability not stigma, but I get its 2020 and so I'm not on the band wagon; and I'm good with that. My campaigns probably have less uncomfortable situations than most since almost all sexual and foul language content isn't part of our games (Two major categories of game ratings.).
I don't know the intent of the author, but I have been able to quite easily give logical alternatives to a thought process which seems to be out to get them in an assumption that they meant this in the worst of ways.
Like Gnomes teeth, which could be Macrodontia. What is the issue? This has some mathematical possibilities since Macrodontia is a standard deviation difference similar to the size of gnomes compared to normal humans. Although I do prefer your name for it.
The alcohol one could be Hypothermia, a sign of heart problems. Why is this an issue to adapt reality to fiction?
I get fiction is a way to escape reality, but some reality to fiction helps make it immersive. Obviously this isn't content for everyone it seems by the attacks against it, but I literally read through it with no issues because logically it doesn't have to be ill intent. I agree it could be, but they were really tame or not trying to be mean then because these could be easily tweaked to be mean.
There are a lot of different arguments you are making, but the multi-quote system on DnD Beyond really isn't very good. So, I'm grabbing this one, and I'll be referring to some of your other arguments.
1) Bandwagon Fallacy-> This is the weakest argument you are making, and the one that requires the most stretching on your part. By referring to this, you are saying that we are only upset with this, because other people are upset and that we are "following the crowd". However, I was one of the first posters to respond to this topic. In fact, out of the first four posters (including the very first post) three of them said that this seemed offensive to them. My post was actually the most mild and saying that while it was offensive, I didn't think the author intended it to be offensive.
But, maybe you weren't referring specifically to this thread. Maybe by "band wagon fallacy" you are responding to the response of people near globally about these sort of problems. But, that assumes that I would not have found this material to be offensive in 2018 or 2019. And I would have. This isn't a band wagon, this is my response. And dismissing it because you think I'm just following the crowd hurts your position.
2) Tunnel Vision-> This assumes that I am looking at this from too narrow a view, that if I just widened my view that this wouldn't be so bad. But, that is false. Just plan and simple. There are a myriad of factors that have combined to make this offensive. By calling them disabilities, then having a random roll, the author has indicated this is how the character was born. Especially since many of these deal with things like teeth, skin, eye color ect. So, while something like "Brawler's Disease" might have worked if presented as something that happens to a brawler, from getting in too many fist fights, the way they have titled the list and set up the randomization tells me that this is actually something from birth. Same with "Rocky" which describes a stroke victim. Now, maybe if someone is a film buff they will know that Sylvester Stallone suffered nerve damage in his face from childbirth (his mother's doctor used forceps to pull him, which severed nerves in his face and paralyzed it) and will recognize that as a nod to his famous role as Rocky Balboa, but if you don't know all of that, then you are left with wondering why stroke victims are considered to have stony faces.
Or, wondering why the disease which gives two different skin tones is associated with the more famous of the half- races, implying that it is a result of the "interbreeding"
Or why Gnomes have large front teeth, large noses, and the need to compulsively wash themselves
Or why looking more like someone of Scottish or Irish descent is called "human disease", especially since as you mentioned, most humans don't have those features, and canonically in DnD elves and dwarves can and do have those features.
Or why we are more worried that some fictional snakes (there is what, one famous one in Kaa?) rolled their R's, and Satan was supposedly a snake once, so this is what we mean. Instead of considering that tens of million's of people of real world ethnicities talk this way. I hate to shatter your preconceptions, but not everyone has seen the Jungle Book. And even if they did, that is likely not the first place their brains went when confronted with this.
And whether or not the author meant it to be offensive, doesn't preclude it from being offensive
3) You can change them, so it is okay.
No it isn't. My ability to copy this list and delete the vast majority of it, does not in fact make the list better. The few ideas I can find myself liking are utterly buried under the mountain of drek that is presented.
Taran Cragshollow (Summit Road)
Bandwagon and tunnel view both came up in people assuming racial ill intent when it clearly could be otherwise, while also basing this assumption on a worldview which labels people in a negative light. That is tunnel vision since I gave out of the box explanations that a quick google search will show is logical, instead of limiting this author's list to racial offensive garbage. It is bandwagon mentality cancel labelling culture to get all racial about things that may not even be that. The 2020 reference is an example of that indoctrinating ideology.
This is a list of disabilities according to the English language's definition of disability. Doing a random roll mimics reality in that you may not choose to have a disability. It could be by birth, but usually a background is much more than that. You are the first to mention the word birth or born about this concept which is another assumption that could be false, also because the author didn't use the word birth like you are interpreting and only used born in Dragonborn and Fighterborn.
Multiracial people is a thing that is completely opposite from inbreeding. Vitiligo is more obvious in darker skinned people, so the start of multiracial people could bring about the disease name in a fictional world.
Dwarfism is a thing where people can have larger body parts in some areas than others (crowded teeth being one), as I agreed the name isn't the best to the accuracy it could be, but it is close by it being a gnome like condition. Idk about the washing odor. Maybe because they live underground or stand beside gardens. Author would have to elaborate on this or someone more creative I guess. There are bad odor diseases, but I don't know the connection.
I guess technically you could consider red hair and bright white skin a disease due to low disease like % and harmful sun effects. I don't see how it isn't a disease by the English definition.
I agree a lot of people's brains are indoctrinated to think a certain way even though every movie, book, and game I can think of has serpents and dragons stress and roll their letters like Rs and Ss. Also the Bible is the most popular book and Christianity is the most popular religion. So good material to pick from to name a disease involving a fictional world with demons/devils and dragons/snakes. But of course the negative racial one is the go to... (Jungle Book was an example...)
What is and isn't offensive is an opinion. The act of making any content at all could be offensive. The issue is when someone makes content to help others and then gets attacked because of opinions based on assumptions that could hold no truth at all to them. That is offensive.
One man's trash is another man's treasure I guess. I am totally cool with someone not liking something and giving feedback. The problem I have is when someone is looking for feedback and then is insinuated to be racist and their content is told to be trash. Just better to move on and say nothing.
Interesting, but not necessarily something I'd use (not a fan of having too many long tables even if it's just at character creation). I could see the "major disabilities" being re-flavored for potential sickness/diseases however.