[danudey]

The frustrating thing here is that the people in the article are complaining that Wizards isn't 'leaving it up to the DM', but that's one of the main things that WotC always drives home - and still is. If you want to fill your world with racist, ableist, sexist asshats and tell your players that their orc character is going to be inherently stupider than other races because they're inherently (genetically?) inferior, you still can.

What they're really saying, as always, is 'why does inclusivity have to be opt-out instead of opt-in?'

[bloqs]

Because it's a fantasy game and all humans are equal in it already? This feels a lot like simply corporate virtue signalling (all while exporting US culture wars)

Suggesting that grizzy bears as a category are bigger and stronger than humans isn't controversial, Neither is a hulking half orc, until now apparently?

[dartos]

This hit the nail on the head.

Racial stat bonuses were never a thing anyone cared about. It’s the easiest thing in the world to change if a DM’s setting called for really smart orcs, or strong lumbering elves.

Spending so much time thinking about the political implications of racial bonuses in a game where the DM gets final say anyway is just some sort of advertising.

We’re talking about it on the front page of HN after all.

[Jensson]

> If you want to fill your world with racist, ableist, sexist asshats and tell your players that their orc character is going to be inherently stupider than other races because they're inherently (genetically?) inferior, you still can.

Maybe people are angry over all this judgmental crap? Orcs are so dumb that they weren't a PC class before, you just fought them as monsters, its like saying its racism to call bears dumber than humans.

If you judge people like this, expect them to judge you back and call you names as well.

> What they're really saying, as always, is 'why does inclusivity have to be opt-out instead of opt-in?'

The game is still not inclusive, the people who wanna play as a bugbear or a mindflayer still have to do opt-in etc. There will always be monsters that the players cannot play unless you change the entire game to the core.

There is no reason Orcs should be a player race, them doing that is just because they see Orcs as black people, so who is the racist here?

[harimau777]

I'm not sure what you're saying is accurate.

While technically, the player race is "half orcs", in practice I haven't seen virtually anyone differentiate between the two. It's just "the stats for players who want to be orc" and "the stats for orcs as enemies".

It's quite common for people to play as races like bugbears or mindflayers. It's more a limitation of being able to create player stats for every humanoid monster.

I've never seen a critic of how D&D handles race argue that orcs are meant to represent black people. I think you might be reading into things.