Ryik

Tales of Adventure (5E DnD)

since when is racism supposed to be a natural thing lol

@pokemonfan0438

I was actually curious about this too, since I've never heard of Dwarves and Half-Orcs being opposed to each other in 5e, though the PHB makes it clear from the onset that Half-Orc discrimination is commonplace since they are typically associated with Orcs and have some of their predispositions. (explicitly stating that they "tend to be short-tempered" along with some interesting stuff about how they "feel emotions powerfully")

Orcs themselves are chaotic evil. D&D Lore (Page 123 of the PhB) states that evil dieties (Gruumsh in this case, the chaotic-evil creator of Orcs) will make creatures with inborn tendencies matching those of their creator, and that even half-orcs feel "the lingering pull of the orc god's influence." So it's not really a big mystery why there's prejudice, but why it's Dwarves in particular.

Full Excerpt from PHB p.123 on alignment

Alignment in the Multiverse
For many thinking creatures, alignment is a moral choice. Humans, dwarves, elves, and other humanoid races can choose whether to follow the paths of good or evil, law or chaos. According to myth, the good-aligned gods who created these races gave them free will to choose their moral paths, knowing that good without free will is slavery.

The evil deities who created other races, though, made those races to serve them. Those races have strong inborn tendencies that match the nature of their gods. Most orcs share the violent, savage nature of the orc gods, and are thus inclined toward evil. Even if an orc chooses a good alignment, it struggles against its innate tendencies for its entire life. (Even half-orcs feel the lingering pull of the orc god's influence.)

Alignment is an essential part of the nature of celestials and fiends. A devil does not choose to be lawful evil, and it doesn't tend toward lawful evil, but rather it is lawful evil in its essence. If it somehow ceased to be lawful evil, it would cease to be a devil.

Dwarves are already characterized as "distrustful" and "slow to forget wrongs they have suffered", so the many paragraphs of how Orcs pillage and slaughter from the monster manual aren't necessary to put 2 and 2 together, but was there a specific event that caused it?

The best I could find in official 5e material was an excerpt from the monster manual referencing "King Obould Many-Arrows", which took up residence in a mountain range called "The Spine of the World" and attacked nearby dwarven, elven and human settlements. After looking into it a bit more, apparently they settled in "Citadel Felbarr", which was a Dwarven Citadel before the Orcs attacked it, renaming it "The Citadel of Many Arrows" until the Orcs were later defeated and the Citadel reclaimed.

Heavy Metal is, as I understand it, more familiar with older editions of D&D, so there might be more about it in older editions. Carrying over legacy lore at the DM's whim is nothing new.

I was more irked by the seemingly arbitrary restrictions to word choice, and I maintain my opinion that, where they're accurate, they shouldn't be restricted, but I also understand wanting to get away from the negativity seen so often on social media and other places. If someone joined a game I was running and wanted to offhandedly mention a band of Druids wild shaped into foxes running disinformation campaigns to trick people into avoiding healers when they're afflicted with poison for financial gain, I wouldn't like it either, even though I fucking hate the real-life equivalent. I don't want to dwell on it in a D&D game; it doesn't matter if my players are in agreement of the real life matter or not. I may have made a smaller deal about it, but I'd ask them to drop it going forward.

I think what I edited it to arguably calls more attention to the fact that it's racially motivated, since a hate crime is a verb that can be mentioned casually rather than spelling it out. (i.e. "ATTACK THEIR HEALER BASED ON HIS RACE") I was just trying to say my character interprets the situation as beyond practical resolution through amiable conversation so he'd have a excuse to prepare for combat before it actually started.

Fantasy racism need not correlate to real racism and I don't really care where Heavy Metal's perception on what reminds him of current events lies so long as it doesn't get in the way of the writing and characterization. Despite invoking the Streisand effect and his rude response, jumping to a soft ad hominem by implying he's, in your own words, a "2010s /pol/ anti-sjw" based on his attempts to keep up his own immersion is disingenuous.

Tales of Adventure (5E DnD)

Akio
Akio considered himself a rational person.

He had a habit of taking drastic measures, consequences be damned, but those decisions were never made out of passion. He wasn't about to stop the manure harvester and his hairy goblin companion from walking out of the tavern without a fight. This had been part of his original plan, after all, before their sorcerer had managed to embarrass herself enough to end the whole conflict early. That being said, the man's words - "no harm no foul" couldn't be further from the truth. Harming the barmaid is what started the conflict. Very convenient of him to forget that, and they hadn't actually apologized either.

Akio extended a hand to Fay wordlessly, offering to help her up. He didn't ask her if she was okay; she had proclaimed herself a Spellsword. It'd just add to her embarrassment by indirectly calling her competency as one into question, or at least that's what Akio thought. Once she was up, he left, moving over to the barmaid to help her, picking up the pieces of the shattered mugs.

Quietly, he extended the barmaid his offer. "As the aggrieved party, I feel I should ask you, first." He examined the barmaid's expression, though she obviously didn't know what he was talking about. He was just taking a dramatic pause to make sure he had her attention anyway. "Do you feel the Dwarf's coins make up for his actions?" He held out the Dwarf's two silver coins, wet from the spilled ale, within one open palm, offering it to her like a devil's bargain. "Or, would you prefer hiring my adventuring party to teach that Dwarf a lesson?"

She shook her head, reaching for the silver coins with a self-deprecating smile. "Thank you for the offer, but I must decline."

Akio couldn't help but let his concern show on his face. "If it's about the money, I don't actually-"

"It's not."

"..."

He had missed his chance to help her when she needed it and now it was too late. The situation was nostalgic in all the wrong ways. He went back to picking up the rest of the glass shards before returning to his party, bidding them farewell for the night.

Tales of Adventure (5E DnD)

@HEAVY METAL It's part of the narration; not something Akio actually said or explicitly thought.

Tales of Adventure (5E DnD)

Akio
It was rather shocking to see someone so ill-mannered as to kick an apparently defenseless barmaid in front of so many. He thought he wasn't so sheltered after spending so much time on the road, away from his family, but maybe he's still a bit lacking in that regard. In any case, while he was addled by the possibility that this wasn't particularly abnormal for a patron of a raucous tavern, it didn't occur to him to step up in the good lady's defense. He'd left behind the stifling calculus of honor and was used to having to look the other way so as to avoid a diplomatic incident. His first thought was that the ornery Dwarf would simply be banned from the tavern and that would be that, but then their cleric walked up to the man to ask him what he was doing, and Akio couldn't help but wonder why he wasn't the one doing that.

To put it less charitably, he sat there like an idiot while the cleric and the hunter both beat him to the punch. Still, he wasn't prepared to start a bar fight for fear of troubling the tavern more until the Dwarf and his thuggish compatriot both openly announced their intention to attack their healer based on his race. So, an irreconcilable conflict, then.

Well, so much for sparing the tavern keeper the trouble. Akio quietly casts Mage Armor on himself as he readies his dagger.

(Initiative Roll: 15)

Tales of Adventure (5E DnD)

@Martian Don't forget to drop Dubuk into the character's tab and hop in the discord.

Tales of Adventure (5E DnD)

Akio
"Hmmm. A hunter, a cleric, and a sorcerer. I guess that would make me the vanguard."

He took another drink. There was plenty of it to go around with Fay part of the group, it seemed. There was a comfortable atmosphere as the low-quality, low-potency alcohol tried its best to make him feel something.

He wasn't exactly a prototypical warrior, so, with Fay's prompting, he figured it made sense to more thoroughly define his role in the group. "I may not look it, but I know a bit about Druidry. I'm a bit more inclined towards fists than fireballs, but the cleric here isn't the only one with healing magic. You guys familiar with the Goodberry spell? I'll prepare a bunch of them tonight."

He spared a sheepish smile towards Edgar. "Greater Restoration is a bit beyond me, though."

Tales of Adventure (5E DnD)

I think there's still a misunderstanding here. Fay just said she didn't need up-front pay, and would agree to help the man without it, so the 200 gold the man paid up-front would be split between the other three instead of all four of them. (66 each instead of 50 each)

After the job is done, since the three of them got paid 2/3rds of their final 100 gold share, they would only get the remaining 1/3rd, while Fay would get the whole 100 gold share at the end of the job. She would not be paid more.

Tales of Adventure (5E DnD)

Fay turned down the initial pay, hence 66/67 gold for the other three, and how Fay gets 100 afterward while the others only get 33.

Just wanted to ask before I jumped to conclusions in-character about how he wasn't a real merchant or something.

Yu-Gi-Oh GX: Next Gen

Kaison & Jon
Dad didn't show up. It wasn't surprising. He was busy as hell with his work even before his kids were put on an island, so this was nothing new.

Caleb & Lexa
Caleb and Lexa likewise did not seem surprised to see that neither of their parents showed up. They didn't do any more than share a meaningful glance before splitting up separately.

Chris
Chris seemed to get a phone call in lieu of a visit. He smiled as he talked.

Haruko
An elderly woman stepped off the boat, wheeling an elderly man off it in a wheelchair. Both were wearing similar clothes to Haruko's, and just as they appeared, were apparently Haruko's relatives. Their relation was unclear, however, since they both began chatting with Haruko in a foreign language.

Sina
Her mother stepped off the boat and smiled warmly as Sina ran into her open arms. "Mom!"

She hugged her daughter tightly. "Hello, dear. How has school been for you?"

"Great! Just a couple of days ago, I got possessed by genocidal duel monster ghosts! I got saved by a friend before being I started plotting world domination though, so it all turned out okay!"

Her mother's smile didn't so much as flinch. "That's nice, dear."

"I even got to save one of my friends afterward, when she collapsed. This place really makes me feel like I'm getting closer to becoming someone like Yugi Muto."

Her mother began fawning over her only daughter. "Oh, my baby's growing up~! Just don't forget to visit your dear old parents when you become a big, famous duelist, okay?"

"Of course!"

Miles
"Father."

"Miles."

They simply stared at each other for what felt like an eternity. Miles looked annoyed while his father, who bore quite the resemblance to him, looked like he was expecting more. When he didn't get anything, he sighed, looking annoyed himself. "Come on, show me around."

Miles turned and led the way wordlessly.

Roché
A man in a luxurious white suit wearing sunglasses and smoking a fancy cigar walked off the boat. Roché ran up to him and they began chatting animatedly. The man seemed to be perfectly capable of talking while keeping the cigar between his teeth, which was a bit odd, but not as odd as when he suddenly exclaiming "THAT'S MY GIRL!" before laughing heartily like he was in on the grandest joke in the world. He was loud enough that nearly everyone at the docks turned to look, though Roché didn't seem to mind, laughing along with her father.

Melony
Like Roché's father before her, Melony's mother proved to be visibly rich, stepping off the boat wearing a dress one might describe as gaudy and dramatic. It was poofy, like a fairy tale princess dress, but about half of it was cropped off to reveal purple-black thigh highs that matched the woman's lipstick. She was bedecked in similarly almost-gothic black and purple jewelry and her hair was a complicated series of braids and loops while somehow remaining long enough to reach past shoulder length.

Melony took small, sullen steps towards her mother with her eyes affixed to the ground. "Hey, mom."

"Oh, dearie, what's the matter? You look terrible!"

"I... it's..." Melony looked like she was about to cry in public again.

"Oh, baby, don't worry, mommy's here for you." She crouched down awkwardly in her heels to hug her daughter. "Why don't you show me where you've been living, and tell me all about it there. Mama will make it all better."

"I don't... I'm not sure I even..." Melony covered her face with her hands again.

Melony's mother leaned in and whispered something in a curt tone. "Not in public, dear." She gave Melony a push while maintaining her bright smile and they began the walk back to her room.

Rin
Rin's father wore a black suit and carried a black briefcase. He had short black hair and didn't particularly stand out among the other parents. He walked up to Rin, who greeted him with a smile.

"Hey, Rin. How have you been?"

"I've been doing alright. Welcome to the island, dad."

"Good to be here; good to see you. I heard from the school that you'd be giving me a tour?"

"Sure, dad. Though, I don't know much about places other than the main building and the Ra Yellow Dorm."

"Why don't we start with your room, then? Students of all dorms are paired with roommates nowadays, aren't they? How's yours?"

"She's great. I feel like I didn't understand her that well at first, but she's very nice."

"That's good to hear."

They continued to make idle conversation as they walked back to Ra Yellow

Donte
He's here. Donte grit his teeth.

"You're still wearing that all that?"

The bespectacled man in a neat black suit walked up to Donte looking irritated. "Nice to see you too, dad," Donte deadpanned through gritted teeth.

"Maybe you'd be nice to see if you didn't look like a thug straight out of juvie."

Donte glared at the man. "Why'd you come?"

"What kind of question is that? You haven't even been here that long and you're already failing everything but P.E. You're the one who wanted to be a duelist."

"No. I said I liked dueling once and you enrolled me without telling me anything."

"You've got to do something with your life, and since you refused to decide where to go, I decided for you, like any good father would."

"A GOOD FATHER WOULDN'T-"

"HEY. Don't you talk back to me! If you want to go to a military school, just say the word, boy."

Donte put a hand on his face and let out a deep breath. He wasn't any stranger to corporal punishment, though his father gracefully avoided stuff like that in public in favor of other threats that were, to him, arguably worse. He considered making another remark, but the man before him had absolute control over his life. It didn't matter the context, talking back could mean anything, because it was just his dad's way of saying it was time to shut up before he got really mad. He crossed his arms and did just that. It was gonna be another one of those days.

"Show me your room. Now."

Donte turned and began walking back to Slifer Red, stuffing his hands in his pockets. His father lectured him the whole way there about his attitude, clothing, grades, posture and future. Donte tuned it out. He was used to it.

Tales of Adventure (5E DnD)

Vandernman's eyebrows stood up on his forehead "What? , I agreed to 400 gold total, half now, the rest when we reach Keth."

200 gold divided three ways is 66/67 each.

33*3+100 for Fay makes up the other 200 gold.

That's 400 gold total.

Was Vandernman's statement an accident or intentional? @HEAVY METAL