LotR gets filtered from D&D more with each edition.

[FatR]

In DnD, If something does not look either generally humanoid, or like a mix and match of no more than two well-known nonmagical beings at a time, it probably intends to eat you. And possibly your soul too. Slime, tentacles, spikes, unpractically oversized fangs and so on are good indications of that as well. In short, you can judge by appearances.

Bullshit.

Except, you're proving my words. Couatl is snake + bird. Guardinals are human + bird/lion (note, that if you add more components to the former mix, such as reptile/insect, you'll get vrock, which is evil). Treant is tree + human. Blink dog is just a dog. I don't fucking know why you even posted duergars and goblins, because the statement "beings that have certain traits are highly likely to kill/eat you" is not equal to the statement "beings that don't have these traits aren't", and does not even imply it. Only lamastu and shedu diverge from the above-mentioned rules, because I forgot to include an exception for well-known mythological critters in them.

Anyway, if there is bullshit in this thread, that's saying that you cannot judge by the appearance in the game, which has special aberration type for bizzarre monsters - including the majority of the proud owners of the above-mentioned tentacles, slime and whatever - chock-full of evil and/or extremely predatory creatures, with about 5% of exceptions. While creatures in DnD may look beautiful, despite being evil, those that are obviously hideous also are extremely likely to be man-eating predators, barbaric raiders or just plain rotten to the core. Sometimes even if their stated alignment is N (when and where exactly we saw decent doppelgangers the last time?)

[CatharzGodfoot]

I can see it now:
"Is it evil?"
"I dunno, let's consult Well Known Mythological Creatures."
"It's not in there."
"OK, let's kill it."
"OK then."

[Username17]

But this is a numbers game, and the majority of the monstrous things are in fact out to eat you.

Fixed.

The D&D wilderness is fucking awful. There is an evil version of pretty much every good thing, and there is not a good version of every evil thing. Any Dwarf could be a Duergar or a Derro. Any Gnome could be a Svirfneblin. Drow, Dark Ones, Vashar, Jerren. It's a long list, and it covers absolutely all the standard people races even before we get into the fact that any person could be a Werewolf, Vampire, or Doppleganger. And yet, there's no virtuous subrace of Gnolls. Or Kobolds. Or Orcs.

The forces of evil are just a lot more varied than the forces of good. They can seriously look like anything. So there is absolutely no rational decision that can be made based on how something looks. Some guy standing there might look like a human, but how do you know he isn't a Vashar? Or a Dark Stalker? Or a Shadar Kai? Or a Yuan-Ti? Or a Bacchanite? Even before we pull in illusion or shapeshifting (allowing our "human" to be a doppleganger, succubus, aboleth or lycanthrope), we've already accepted that the number of things that any "human" could be that would want to eat your face outnumbers the things it could be that don't.

So what do you do in a world like that? Well, there are two options: option one is to violently repel everyone and everything. It has the advantage that nothing catches you off guard unless it can come into your house unseen like a Dark Creeper or an Invisible Stalker. It has the disadvantage that you by definition have no allies and you will survive only until you attempt to repulse a foreigner who happens to be stronger than you. Option 2 is that you can attempt to conduct negotiations with everything you meet. That has the advantage that you might be able to form alliances that could repulse any of the multitude of forces too powerful for you to beat on your own, and the disadvantage that you cede the surprise round to any face eating monsters smart enough to open up with a hearty "hello" in Common.

But honestly, if you're Steve the dirt covered farmer, option 2 is obviously the better option. You aren't going to beat a Barghest or even a Goblin Warrior, so if a goblin looking thing shows up, your only hope is that it wants to bargain for your milk. So unless you're a retard, you're going to start by saying hello and asking if they want to buy some milk. And that's with something that looks exactly like a usually evil race. What kind of drugs would you have to be on to want to start shit with a dragonborn who looks like a lizardfolk (a usually neutral race)?

-Username17

[A Man In Black]

The thing is that that stuff is all pretty much new, and made just to go with the new "evil is cool" edgy look they want towards D&D where people play warlocks who get their powers from the nine hells as a good guy. And that shit honestly never made much sense.

Half-orcs and minotaurs go back to 1e. Most of the non-monstrous things want to eat you too, in roughly the same proportion as the monstrous things.

[RandomCasualty2]

But honestly, if you're Steve the dirt covered farmer, option 2 is obviously the better option. You aren't going to beat a Barghest or even a Goblin Warrior, so if a goblin looking thing shows up, your only hope is that it wants to bargain for your milk. So unless you're a retard, you're going to start by saying hello and asking if they want to buy some milk. And that's with something that looks exactly like a usually evil race. What kind of drugs would you have to be on to want to start shit with a dragonborn who looks like a lizardfolk (a usually neutral race)?

This isn't going to be one farmer against a monster. I mean that's just suicide anyway. It's going to be a town with some kind of guard force, or militia at least. And yeah, there's strength in numbers and your town probably has some kind of wall or gate. Most D&D monsters are notoriously poor at ranged combat. Meaning that if you stay up ontop of your wall, you can probably pepper it with arrows to win. I mean 15 1st level warriors with slings and bows can stop 5 ogres if they've got the right defensive fortifications.

But once you actually let them in the wall, you've got problems. Now it can basically murder your militia one by one. It's pretty much like letting an unsupervised pit bull run around. Yes, maybe sometimes nothing bad happens... but sometimes people fucking get killed. Sometimes it's someone's wife or child. And when that happens, they're going to want to hold someone responsible, and immediately the question of "who let this fucktard in instead of giving him to turn around or get a face full of arrows?" is going to come up.

Really, you're pretty much better safe than sorry.

I mean is it really worth gambling that the gith at your gates is the one githyanki that doesn't want to kill or rob you?

Now there are inevitably going to be hopeless battles. Seriously if a big dragon comes to your gates, you're basically at its mercy, and you basically have to hope it's benevolent. But that's not always the case. You can very well hold off owlbears and maybe even trolls and giants if you keep them outside your town walls. Let them inside, and you're pretty much fucked. This is the very reason that towns built walls around them and why castles and towers are more secure than just living in undefended scattered farm houses.

If you try to live as a diplomat in D&D, you're gonna get fucked over. Somethings are just plain evil and will fuck you, others just can't be reasoned with at all. You really better learn to defend yourself. Whether that's with training or just good terrain it doesn't matter. But seriously, if your lives are over the moment an owlbear or displacer beast shows up to town. That's bad.

[Username17]

This isn't going to be one farmer against a monster. I mean that's just suicide anyway. It's going to be a town with some kind of guard force, or militia at least. And yeah, there's strength in numbers and your town probably has some kind of wall or gate.

Civilization doesn't just randomly happen spontaneously. Disparate people have to sign onto it separately. For there to be a town guard there has to be a town. For the town to exist, people must treat the newly met with at least the basic reciprocal altruism of refraining from instant aggression.

You can't simply turn away all comers and have civilization at all. That logic ends where it begins: at squabbling hermits lost in a wilderness full of monsters.

-Username17

[RandomCasualty2]

Civilization doesn't just randomly happen spontaneously. Disparate people have to sign onto it separately. For there to be a town guard there has to be a town. For the town to exist, people must treat the newly met with at least the basic reciprocal altruism of refraining from instant aggression.

You can't simply turn away all comers and have civilization at all. That logic ends where it begins: at squabbling hermits lost in a wilderness full of monsters.

You've got into ridiculous hyperbole here.

I mean hell, the towns in D&D are pretty much entirely humanoid anyway. So I honestly don't even see your point here. If it looks monstrous, you turn it away, if it doesn't, you let it in.

How hard is that to understand?

You're claiming some bullshit that you can't make a town without trolls and bugbears, but there are cities in every campaign world that fucking did that. That's not exceptional or even unusual. That's the straight up norm.

[Username17]

I mean hell, the towns in D&D are pretty much entirely humanoid anyway. So I honestly don't even see your point here. If it looks monstrous, you turn it away, if it doesn't, you let it in.

How hard is that to understand?

You're claiming some bullshit that you can't make a town without trolls and bugbears, but there are cities in every campaign world that fucking did that.

Bugbears are humanoids. Goblinoids even. They look like one of the standard humanoid races, because they are one of the standard humanoid races. So are the Vashar (who look exactly like Humans) and the Jerren (who look exactly like Halflings). There is simply no distinction between "monsters" or "monster looking" and "humanoids."

Now if you want to actually keep out "owlbears and displacer beasts" that's easily done. You have the guards shout "Hello!" or perhaps "State your name and business!" and if the answer is "Rar!" then you waste it with your crossbows. But if the response is some kind of language that you understand, what fucking difference does it make what they look like? You wanna start shit with a Gold Dragon? A Unicorn? A Treant? Not only will some of those things fuck you up something fierce, i's not even a meaningful filter to keep out the dangerous shit.

Nevertheless, you are right, that there are some racially pure, isolationist compounds that attack anything that doesn't look like one of their own kind of creature. Those are called "evil villages" by everyone else. And indeed by the game itself, since the people portrayed as doing just that are such wunderkind as the Kuo-Toa and the Sarkrith.

-Username17

[violence in the media]

I mean hell, the towns in D&D are pretty much entirely humanoid anyway. So I honestly don't even see your point here. If it looks monstrous, you turn it away, if it doesn't, you let it in.

How hard is that to understand?

Are the townspeople predominately white as well? I'm not asking to be a dick, I'm asking because the sheer volume of sentient creatures in D&D land make homogenous villages an unlikely proposition in my mind. Now, maybe if your campaign world is populated almost exclusively by tiny hamlets of 80ish people that are largely all one extended family, or where the non-human entities are rare/unique, then I guess I could see it. But one that incorporates large urban centers and alien empires?

You're claiming some bullshit that you can't make a town without trolls and bugbears, but there are cities in every campaign world that fucking did that. That's not exceptional or even unusual. That's the straight up norm.

Look, just because the official products tend to fall into the Ye Olde European Male trap doesn't mean we should hold them up as examples of things done right. Humans are not the only city builders in the game, yet we get human-centric urban centers plotted out on every campaing map in existence, with little to no thought about where even the other major races live. We often seriously get shit like "there are Dwarves in them thar hills" and "Elven woods", and those are major PC races from the PHB! Hobgoblins and Sahaguin frequently have metropolises spring out of nowhere, based on the DM/campaign need, which leads to conversations like: "So, how did no one think to mark the Hobgoblin equivalent of Rome on any of the maps until we needed to go there? It's only 3 days ride from Suzail! There's no trade? Ambassadors? WTF?"

I know that I used to fall into this trap (and occassionally still do from time to time) and wound up segregating society like the Jim Crow South, but I consciously try and avoid that sort of crap. You should too.

[Orion]

Also, there's no fucking way using walls to keep out giant-types is going to work. I'm pretty sure 5 ogres can take a dozen slingers out with their spears. Maybe longbowmen would have a chance...

[A Man In Black]

You're claiming some bullshit that you can't make a town without trolls and bugbears, but there are cities in every campaign world that fucking did that. That's not exceptional or even unusual. That's the straight up norm.

The problem is that if you let the players play ugly characters (and even if you don't do it in core, people are going to demand it in expansions) you run into a legion of logical and practical issues with not allowing ugly characters into towns.

[Draco_Argentum]

Only lamastu and shedu diverge from the above-mentioned rules, because I forgot to include an exception for well-known mythological critters in them.

The best I can think of is Gold Dragons. The face tentacle thingies probably qualify.

[Username17]

FatR's rules of appearance are total bullshit. At the point where a Treant is "part human" enough to allow into the city, then so is a Shambling Mound. If a Blink Dog is enough of a "dog" to allow into the city, then so is a Winter Wolf or a Hellhound.

Dark Nagas look the same as Guardian Nagas. Erinyes look the same as Daeva. There is an evil version of everything. And no appearance based rubric is ever going to keep the man eating monsters out.

The best you can do is simply to demand any newcomer to tell you why they want to come into the city. And yeah, anything smart and evil enough to lie and then murder people in the city is going to do that. It's a serious problem. But in a world where Hezrou can teleport and Werewolves can assume human form, there is absolutely nothing you can do to prevent that. Just like in the real world.

-Username17

[RandomCasualty2]

Bugbears are humanoids. Goblinoids even. They look like one of the standard humanoid races, because they are one of the standard humanoid races. So are the Vashar (who look exactly like Humans) and the Jerren (who look exactly like Halflings). There is simply no distinction between "monsters" or "monster looking" and "humanoids."

Bugbears are pretty monstrous. As far as the other ones, yeah. Humanoid doesn't always mean friendly... but as far as a numbers game goes, it's a better chance. Chances are if it's totally ugly and covered in warts, it's out to fuck you over.

Now if you want to actually keep out "owlbears and displacer beasts" that's easily done. You have the guards shout "Hello!" or perhaps "State your name and business!" and if the answer is "Rar!" then you waste it with your crossbows. But if the response is some kind of language that you understand, what fucking difference does it make what they look like?

There are a crap ton of evil monsters that can talk. And the result of allowing in an evil monster is much worse than the result of keeping out a good monster. Allow in a lizardman or a guardinal, and you maybe sell another bastard sword and a few rooms for the night. Allow in a redcap or a mind flayer and bodies start piling up. Seriously, you can't afford to take those kind of risks on the idealistic chance that the monster thing at the gates might be friendly.

And really, the odds of running into these good ugly dudes is pretty damn rare. But seriously, don't take my word for it, go through the monster manual. It's really just a numbers game, how many things are both monstrous/ugly and benevolent? Seriously... it's really not many. The majority of them were created solely to screw with PCs with an "attack first, ask questions later" mentality and that's it.

Seriously Frank, I know you think that racism is bad in real life. We all do. But this isn't real life we're talking about here, it's a fantasy world where shit really is out to eat you, rob you or kill you. The majority of shit you encounter in the wilderness is a combat encounter. It's just not the idealistic place you want it to be. In the D&D world, the guy who says, "Look, there's nothing to fear, this hideous looking creature just wants to be our friend." is usually the first guy to die.

Avoiding things based on the fact that they look dangerous is a damn good defense mechanism, because in the D&D world, they probably are fucking dangerous. And yes, we all know that humans can be evil and there are shapeshifters that can mimic humans or otherwise get by your defenses. And that's all true. You can be careful and still get fucked up the ass... we know that. But that's an equivalent an argument to saying "You might as well always drive at 120 miles per hour, because even if you go slower, you might still get in an accident and die."

It's all a numbers game, and keeping the thing that's probably an evil race out of town is a good idea.

Nevertheless, you are right, that there are some racially pure, isolationist compounds that attack anything that doesn't look like one of their own kind of creature. Those are called "evil villages" by everyone else. And indeed by the game itself, since the people portrayed as doing just that are such wunderkind as the Kuo-Toa and the Sarkrith.

I'm not saying racial purity, I'm just saying that you pretty much only allow in human looking things. That pretty much means humans, elves, half-elves, dwarves, gnomes, half-orcs. And seriously, that's more than enough numbers to get whatever community you want going.

[violence in the media]

So, let in the Drow, keep out the Hobgoblins is what you're saying? What if one of the PCs is a Drow or Hobgoblin? Is that one recognized for the heroic cut of its jib and left alone, or is it continually harassed until the the ghost of Gygax teaches the player the error of his munchkinny ways?

[RandomCasualty2]

So, let in the Drow, keep out the Hobgoblins is what you're saying? What if one of the PCs is a Drow or Hobgoblin? Is that one recognized for the heroic cut of its jib and left alone, or is it continually harassed until the the ghost of Gygax teaches the player the error of his munchkinny ways?

Well, assuming drow don't have a reputation for evil in the world, then yes. You'd let them in.

As far as PC races, I personally advise PCs against playing monster races for that reason. This isn't Star Wars, and monster PCs are likely to be treated as such. You wanted to play a monster PC, so yes, as a DM I'm going to treat you as a monster. I don't believe in mechanical fuck overs for such characters, but the world absolutely will treat you as what you are. This is an RPG, and you chose to play the role of a monster. And yes, people don't like monsters very much.

You really wouldn't be in the role of Frankenstein if you didn't have torch wielding mobs coming after you. That's part of the package.

I refuse to turn the game into WoW where all NPCs can magically sense the PC flag coming out of your character and treat him accordingly. Yes, if you're a bugbear, townsfolk won't react well to you. On the other hand, you're also much more likely to be able to negotiate with other monster races better, because you're part of the monster world. So while villagers want to fire arrows into your ass, you may be able to negotiate with a troll who would otherwise just KoS a human.

[God_of_Awesome]

Well, assuming drow don't have a reputation for evil in the world, then yes. You'd let them in.

So largely it depends on the setting? You could make a setting where everyone is holding hands and brotherhood and shit, right?

Most of my settings are like that, coming out more PC vs NPCs with PC levels kinda thing.

[Username17]

No RC. If you kick out the Treants and the Guardinals and the Silver Dragons you lose. Because the Black Dragons and the Dark Naga and the Mind Flayers come and murder you and you don't have any contacts with the powerful shit that could actually save you.

The powerful stuff that actually keeps mindflayers in check comes in two flavors:

[*]Adventurers. Who include orcs and hobgoblins and tieflings.
and
[*]Batshit crazy monsters. Who include Shedu, Treants, Couatl, Dragons, and Storm Giants.

Seriously, what you're saying is that you should keep your villages racially pure of just bullshit 1 hit die crap and only allow in foreigners who have the ability to assume the shape of your peeps: which is almost entirely crazy powerful shit that wants to eat you.

The only numbers game you can play is that there's a lot of stuff that won't bother or is not able to answer a couple of basic questions from the guards. And you can go ahead and blast those guys. But starting a fight just because something is a lizardfolk or a myconid or a desmodu is clinically retarded. Not only will the Desmodu switch from being perfectly willing to trade and ally with you to fucking murdering your entire town when you do that - but there's seriously nothing to be gained by trying to fight the Desmodu at the gates in the first place.

-Username17

[RandomCasualty2]

No RC. If you kick out the Treants and the Guardinals and the Silver Dragons you lose. Because the Black Dragons and the Dark Naga and the Mind Flayers come and murder you and you don't have any contacts with the powerful shit that could actually save you.

The powerful stuff that actually keeps mindflayers in check comes in two flavors:

[*]Adventurers. Who include orcs and hobgoblins and tieflings.
and
[*]Batshit crazy monsters. Who include Shedu, Treants, Couatl, Dragons, and Storm Giants.

Only good monsters don't even work that way. They pretty much live alone in their own areas and don't actively help out humans much. While it may not be a bad idea to establish friendly relations with good monsters around you, that sorta shit takes time and trust building. And really, adventurers do most of the monster killing anyway.

It's not just a matter of "this weird ass monster showed up at our gates, lets let it in and hope it's friendly."

That's just not a good policy... pretty much ever. It only takes one mistake there to fuck up your town. Being this is D&D, there's a much larger chance that shit is going to fuck you over rather than help you. Good creatures are few and far between, and you can bet that if you have a policy of letting in monsters, you'll get plenty of monsters who will come to try to screw you over.

The only numbers game you can play is that there's a lot of stuff that won't bother or is not able to answer a couple of basic questions from the guards. And you can go ahead and blast those guys. But starting a fight just because something is a lizardfolk or a myconid or a desmodu is clinically retarded. Not only will the Desmodu switch from being perfectly willing to trade and ally with you to fucking murdering your entire town when you do that - but there's seriously nothing to be gained by trying to fight the Desmodu at the gates in the first place.

You don't necessarily start a fight. It's actually more like just telling them "you're not welcome here stranger, turn back the way you came, or they'll be trouble."

Chances are any good creature will respect that warning anyway, and if they try to attack, then you arrow them to death.

It's not a good policy to start battles if you can avoid it. But at the same token, you can't just let anyone pass through your defenses.

[RobbyPants]

No RC. If you kick out the Treants and the Guardinals and the Silver Dragons you lose. Because the Black Dragons and the Dark Naga and the Mind Flayers come and murder you and you don't have any contacts with the powerful shit that could actually save you.

The powerful stuff that actually keeps mindflayers in check comes in two flavors:

[*]Adventurers. Who include orcs and hobgoblins and tieflings.
and
[*]Batshit crazy monsters. Who include Shedu, Treants, Couatl, Dragons, and Storm Giants.

Of course, in the world of D&D, pretty much every problem is solved by group 1, the adventurers.

Unless you actually have Shedu, Treants, Couatl, Dragons, and Storm Giants living in your town, they're unlikely to be able to save you anyway when the black dragon and mind flayers come to town.

[Username17]

RC, a village, any village in the D&D landscape relies upon the kindness of adventurers and shedu to protect it from Beholders deciding to wipe it out. Turning away strangers for being weird means that you don't have those adventurers and creatures at your back when the beholders come and then you die. Because high level adventurers and high level good monsters are all fucking weird looking.

Your plan of turning away everything that looks like it has a CR greater than 2 involves your entire settlement up and dying the first time something shows up with even moderate powers that does not like your attitude. Declaring war on the lizardfolk is not a healthy thing for a small village of halflings to do. And it's completely pointless, since they don't gainanything by declaring war on the lizardfolk.

When Storm Giants show up, the correct answer is never "Go away, we don't need your help and also you're too ugly and if you try to come here we'll attack you." That is a fucking suicidal thing to say. Even if the Storm Giant decides to honor your request and leave, the fact is that the survival of your entire family depends on the that Storm Giant sticking up for it - because that Storm Giant is the only good creature of that power level within a hundred miles in any direction. Without his help, you are a sitting duck and so is everyone you love.

-Username17

[violence in the media]

Well, assuming drow don't have a reputation for evil in the world, then yes. You'd let them in.

In a world where drow have a reputation for evil, do I get penalized for playing a black elf? If not, how does Ye Olde Hearty Townsperson differentiate between my sexy swarthyness and the nubian ne'er'do'wells from beneath the earth?

Do I have to sit in the back of the tavern with Token, the obligatory half-orc?

[RandomCasualty2]

RC, a village, any village in the D&D landscape relies upon the kindness of adventurers and shedu to protect it from Beholders deciding to wipe it out. Turning away strangers for being weird means that you don't have those adventurers and creatures at your back when the beholders come and then you die. Because high level adventurers and high level good monsters are all fucking weird looking.

You're just doing ridiculous hyperbole now.

Yeah, because we all know that high level human adventurers obviously aren't recognizable as human.

Give it up man. You lost this one.

[virgil]

How do these friendlier towns survive though? They are drastically more likely to have the first newcomers at their gates be evil monsters who know to wait until inside before slaughtering. At which point, they don't survive long enough to meet the paladin or shedu that can save them.

Yeah, because we all know that high level human adventurers obviously aren't recognizable as human.

Frank already pointed out that even just letting in the humans won't be enough, because there's plenty of stuff that is nearly indistinguishable from human (yuan-ti, werewolves, vashar, doppelgangers, etc). So you might as well turn away all of the 'humans' that have something supernatural about them, as those are likely signs of disguise; and high level adventurers are bristling with sparkles.

[Lago PARANOIA]

First of all, it should be ILLEGAL for anyone to ever say this:

Give it up man. You lost this one.

http://rationalwiki.com/wiki/Danth's_Law
Danth's Law (also known as Parker's Law) states:

“If you have to insist that you've won an Internet argument, you've probably lost badly.”

It was formulated on the popular Roleplaying Game forum, RPG.net and named after the now-banned user who inspired it. As an internet discussion grows and grows, it's often tempting to declare victory and move on, especially if you've rammed the point home too many times and your opponent just ignores everything you say. In this case, declaring victory and moving on may be legitimate and excusable.

Unfortunately, the majority of the time, declaring victory is just spin; a last desperate attempt to trick people into believing you came out on top (providing that they don't actually go and read the discussion, of course). Sometimes, the individuals declaring victory may well be convinced that they're right, often they'll have gone into the discussion knowing that they're right and with no possible option that they might be wrong. When combined with the ability to expel someone from the discussion, Danth's Law takes on a more sinister tone - indicating that a group or individual can only defend themselves on their own terms, through the medium of extreme deceit.



Second of all:

You're just doing ridiculous hyperbole now.

Yeah, because we all know that high level human adventurers obviously aren't recognizable as human.

1) FrankTrollman's statement is NOT hyperbole. It's fucking heroic fantasy. You need high-level heroes to protect the muggles. Hell, this trope isn't just a heroic fantasy one, it's one that pervades speculative fiction, but for someone to say that this isn't true of D&D shows a profound ignorance of the setting.

2) Good-aligned monsters outnumber high-level adventures. Why is this even in question. Seriously, are you high? You could find 15 treants before you could find a 16th level wizard who gave a shit about your halfling village. There are entire planes' worth of high-level monsters willing to protect the muggles. Even if you had the luxury of racism, there just aren't enough of them to just rely on high-level people of your race. A lot of these creatures look like monsters. Deal with it.

3) Most high-level adventurers shouldn't be humans. Stock critters like Sahugain and Deep Gnomes are universally more hardcore than any human beings (not just in racial advantages, but in levels past that) and go on the same plots. The fact that most Who's Who books show the majority of high-level adventures as humans is a damning indictment of author-induced ethnocentrism. It makes no sense in the fucking universe that mid/high-level human good warriors outnumber that of, say, Githyanki. Those guys start off more stronger than humans, have a culture that's more devoted to training and self-improvement, and live in a harder-core environment than most humans.


Your complaints make no sense and your mewling that Frank is just being difficult is just wishful thinking, like you can cover up the fact that your position is worthless if Frank and everyone else shuts up.