Stop Being a Spoilsport

[@djc807-5]

There are already physically disabled space marines. They're called dreadnoughts

[@mattjames6847]

Iron Hands are an entire Legion of amputees

[@EliSkylander]

For the Emperor!

[@afelias]

I'm pretty sure dreadnoughts are quite able. Proficient, even. Particularly great at the physical aspects of their job.

[@hunn20004]

@afelias There's a wooden structure that they need to enter. They fall to the basement "Brother, I am pinned here"

[@djc807-5]

@afelias once entombed in a dreadnought sarcophagus yes.

[@tam-ka-blam9736]

My husband is disabled and bed ridden. So I asked him, would you ever want to play as a disabled person in a TTRPG? His responce was, and I quote, "Fuck no!"

[@jamesfrey6136]

❤😂

[@lXlDarKSuoLlXl]

It's such an obvious response, why would you want to be bedridden in fantasy too? Is like saying that if you get isekaied, you'd want to be on a wheelchair again, is such madness I doubt they even understand what fantasy is supposed to be 😅

[@naliagonzalez4782]

​@@lXlDarKSuoLlXl I can see the title now "I died a normal man and was reincarnated as a cripple in a world of dragons" 😆

[@lXlDarKSuoLlXl]

@@naliagonzalez4782 lmao The only issue I find with the tittle is that's too short 👌🤣

[@AnD1262]

@@naliagonzalez4782 TBH that describes a few Manhuas, tho "cripple" usually means unable to use "superpowers" in a world full of superpowered martial artists, recovering themselves is usually a high priority tho

[@Basketcase642]

My mom is in a wheel chair, she doesn't fantasize about being in one, she talks about wanting to do ballet and tap dance. I won't speak for all disabled people but I think a lot of people with physical challenges wouldn't want to mirror them in a fantasy RPG.

[@Wisdom-nz4xp]

I’m disabled, and making my characters have Myoclonic dystonia like me is usually the last thing on my mind. Why use my escapism to remind myself that I’m unfit for that universe?

[@sirrex9982]

i am disabled and i agree fuck this shit

[@JonahJPeterson]

I went from being highly athletic to being disabled and I was very glad to discover D&D during that time so I could have some escapism where I could still do this things I used to do.

[@Nevir202]

I think almost anyone who WOULD want to be disabled in their fantasy is a terrible person. They enjoy it, because of the way it forces everyone else to conform to them.

[@OverlordIX]

Fun fact, there are actually people who are pro-disability. These are able-bodied individuals who either dream of being physically disabled or have gone out of their to make themselves physically disabled. I dont know if its for awareness or if its a fetish, but its just disturbing.

[@elitemook4234]

'You could have an animate suit of armor, a chair with robotic spider legs, literally anything you can think of and you pick a chair with wheels. That's just low effort.'

[@simplygreen5832]

Tourists.

[@kingofsapi]

I've come up with these suggestions before, but they fall on deaf ears.

[@MrDezokokotar]

@@kingofsapi Excuse you. Hard of hearing ears.

[@Eirik_Bloodaxe]

If you have healing magic idk if being disabled makes sense at all

[@liljenborg2517]

My daughter once ran a group with one character who was paralyzed from the waist down. She had created a stone golem that carried her around in a backpack. This is a world with goblin inventors and artificers who can make magically powered prosthetics and druids who can shape legs of living wood around your crippled ones. Yes, if you can imagine a world with magic it isn’t hard to imagine a world with disabled people in it. True, but if you can imagine a world with magic in it, you should certainly be able to imagine all sorts of magical ways people would manage their disabilities.

[@BasedLiz]

"I want to play as a 6-month-old baby rogue!" "... Literally no one would allow a baby to be a member of their party." "Why do you hate babies?!"

[@isaacgould5974]

“YOU EAT BABIES!”

[@Dr.Mlieko]

"I want to play as a 6-month-old rogue!" Could be an Aetherborn They are born as full grown adults with instinctual knowledge of their surroundings, and live less than a decade

[@johngamer593]

​@@Dr.Mlieko "could" but that'd require reasonable creativity that plays by that world's rules...no one would be mad at that but they are because that's not the approach the people making the "inclusivity" nonsense tend to take...

[@MrLuzakman]

​@@Dr.Mlieko on the topic of MtG one of my favourite planeswalkers is Daretti, who is a goblin with no legs. Yet from the scraps he slapped himself together an awesome metallic construct to move around and be a menace to society.

[@juliofigueroa5567]

You could also be a robot that was “born” within a few days, full sized and full of brain juice

[@Chaosmech]

Yep, if I were a wizard in a world of high magic, I'd definitely use a wheelchair and not -fix my legs with magic, either mine or someone else's -construct a set of working legs from magitek/animated objects -Ride around on Tenser's floating disk all the time -get a permanent flying magic item -shapeshift into an animal that doesn't need working legs ... said no sane person, ever.

[@sirdropkick2251]

personally, I'd make a golem or summon a large creature to carry me around on its back or in a harness. Or use my disabled legs as a resource, using them as sacrifices in some ritual for benefits.

[@AnD1262]

I'd want to do a "doll master" thing where my character is a part of a semi-autonomous, collective intelligence type of hive mind and the character I'm "playing as" is looking for a cure for the main body

[@jacksmythe2187]

-get a backpack for the barbarian to become his mounted support turret -get a combat-capable mount to ride

[@pallydan893]

@@jacksmythe2187 work out your upper body to the point you can walk around on your arms

[@someguy3861]

Flesh golem. Use your actual legs

[@berserkerpride]

Giving your crippled character a wheelchair rather than an awesome pair of magical prosthetics is just a massive L. Hell even Fallout 4 had a brotherhood of steel character who'd lost both her legs so she wore an bare unarmored power suit harness everywhere. Made a lot of sense in her situation and was cool.

[@huggalon]

and she stayed at the base working as a mechanic she didn't go out on patrol like a regular solider.

[@Protect_all_ljf3forms]

i didn't notice that she lost her legs until after she pointed it out. kinda hard to stand out where every other person is in power armor the fantasy equivalent of a wizard floating around everywhere. in a tower full of wizards.

[@silverjohn6037]

Going back to Starship Troopers (the book not the the movie) their military had a soldier who'd lost his legs in combat working as the receptionist at a recruiting office. He had a pair of prosthetic legs but they had him take them off while he was working precisely because they wanted to scare off people who weren't serious about enlisting. They also had the head unarmed combat instructor at their infantry school who was paralyzed from the neck down but he was watching and evaluating the trainees and coaching the junior instructors not doing the grappling himself. So crippled people in a fictional setting can work so long as you understand the limitations and not just try and pass it off as "differently abled smash".

[@Strawberrymilkdrink]

hell in dnd there are dragon graphers, flesh golems, otherworldly patrons or gods that can change your body just by gaining favor with them. ON TOP of the mountain of magical items that not only replace body parts but give you spells and make you stronger. the idea of a wheel chair existing/ not being able to walk outside of the most poor people in the setting is ridiculous.

[@AnBlackhall]

I actually ran a crippled artificer that had made a spider chassis to move around. The barbarian would carry her around on his back and had her tailgun whenever the bulky chassis couldn't fit. Our group hit level 3 and became an Armorer and there was a whole subquest where they got the parts to make my power armor so my character could walk again, and the disabled vet at the table who HATED combat wheelchairs as a concept thought it was tastefully done.

[@TheSfoil]

I’m not too upset about it. It gave us the meme of the able bodied D&D character shouting at the one in the wheelchair “take the f*cking healing potion Sarah! I’m not pulling you up the stairs!”

[@Tank50us]

A creative person would actually figure ways around that, starting with _why_ their character is in the chair to begin with. A way that explains why using a potion won't just fix it. An example of the work around could be that they're a capable magic user that can use magic to levitate themselves around obstacles. And have some very powerful attacks, but very little in the way of magic defense. A good group will figure it out. A bad one won't.

[@otterfire4712]

​@@Tank50usthey're cursed with death if they get up from their chair. It's a powerful curse that requires questing for some particular pieces and the victim has some money but not enough to pay for adventurers to quest for them. So to circumvent the immobility of this curse, they had to fashion some wheels to the chair with the help from their sympathetic smith friend who acts as a squire for their quest. As a mage, they're able to stay on the back lines and prefer to avoid conflict if at all possible or to ambush opposition. Throughout the journey they wonder if all of this is worth it or if they should just accept the curse and die in an act of rebellion by taking a stand.

[@TheSfoil]

@@Tank50us You might be overthinking it.

[@Vanzgars]

@@Tank50us "It's because of a curse" could be one way to explain why normal healing magic can't fix a character's legs.

[@OniGanon]

@@Vanzgars That just requires a Lv5 Cleric...

[@zdinc7268]

*Start of adventure, all characters are introduced in a tavern, Barbarian is in a wheel chair* Cleric: Before we begin, i want to heal the Barbarian. Barbarian: But im not injured. Cleric: Youre in a wheelchair and we are going on adventures, barely anywhere is wheelchair accessable, and i can fix it. This was followed by the Barbarian calling people ablist as the Cleric was logical and the DM highlighted that healing magic would stop them needing a wheel chair.

[@Karmdals]

some players man...

[@Flying-Kraken]

Some DMs…

[@levievil9220]

@@Flying-Krakenno the dm was doing the right thing because logically in a world full of magic there’s obviously magic that can break the laws of physics so of course there’s gonna be magic to fix the legs of a barbarian hell I had a character essentially lose all his limbs the cleric went like welp time to fix you up I was literally back up fighting as if nothing happened

[@zdinc7268]

@@levievil9220 if all else fails, necromancy to resurect the deadlimbs

[@PiiskaJesusFreak]

In dnd 5e, I think you would need lesser restoration to heal a cripple, a simple Cure light wounds would not do it. So you could have a low level character without access to healing that would need a wheelchair to move. But it kinda works only for a spellcaster. It's much more difficult to explain why a party would take with them a Barbarian who can't walk. Also, strength of any melee weapons comes from the legs and hips. If you can't stand, you can't really swing a battleaxe to any reasonable effect either. You don't have mobility, strength or reach. The other possible explanation for bringing a wheelchair bound character to a dungeon would be that they are the quest giver or a noble who has hired the party to get themselves there.

[@jamiepaxton420]

It’s such a “disinterested mum” thing to do. “I don’t care, you have to include them!” That’s the attitude of the managers!

[@Parasiteve]

the mom who has no idea about real life in your world as a child lol. they have no idea how shit that neighbor kid is but gets a call from the mom and so shes like "that stupid betch karen wont stfu about her kid, fugging include the damn kid or you're fugging grounded! IM TIRED OF HEARING FROM THAT BETCH!" lol

[@Dragonage2ftw]

The alt right cannot meme.

[@ZeroNumerous]

@@Dragonage2ftw You might have brain damage.

[@lupinsredjacket3191]

​@@Dragonage2ftw What "alt right" is there? Genuinely curious, mate.

[@midnightcoffee6463]

​@@Dragonage2ftw At least they know their gender

[@porcelainchips6061]

I'm disabled, but I'm about to say something that will come off as insensitive to non-cripples; No one chooses to stay in the chair. We learn to accept our reality and then champion to make it the best quality experience possible, but the chair is not a holy relic we cling to. Disabled people love innovation that will add convenience to one's situation. If it's affordable, if it's accessible -- we want want it. You know what we don't want? Stagnation, being held back --- being shown a wizard in a world of teleportation and hover-magic being sat in a wheelchair. That just does not make sense and shows the ignorance and surface-level empathy going on here; really empathy expressed through representation would be high-fantasy solutions to real life problems, NOT equivalent outcomes as in the real world. You know what a disabled person wants to shed most? Mobility aids; objects used to get around with. In a world of magic there would be no desire to stay in the chair; there would be a desire to leave the chair; fly out of it.

[@violenceislife1987]

I'm half blind. My druid is not, and she can turn into an elk.

[@tkraid2575]

With the presence of magic, even, amputees or disabled people could heal/provide some arcane-powered prosthetics (maybe steampunkish? Depending on the setting).

[@techpriest6962]

I would bet the "artists" or "art leads" pushing for representation are all women. As men typically just do not have so much empathy to want to see someone represented in art gor the sake of inclusion.

[@theeccentrictripper3863]

​@@tkraid2575 At least in D&D I can't imagine an injury that sufficient levels of cleric couldnt fix, we are talking about a world where raise dead and resurrection are a thing, it would only ever be a choice, or abject poverty, that would keep one gimped.

[@sevenproxies4255]

I'm not disabled, but you basically summed up everything I have assumed about living with disability. Really makes me wonder how the PC brigade can come to the strange conclusions that they do.

[@Animated2Life]

I had an armless monk; once a paladin but during the great mage war, he nearly died and was left to rot and die amongst his many fallen. An entourage of priests and monks found him and he lived with a lot of self hatred and thought he could do nothing…until the way of the astral self became his path. He could summon ghost arms and he could enact justice once more!

[@brianmeans5965]

"Ah look at this foolish interloper casting mage hand as if that can stop me." Followed by a beat down with the enemy getting whooped by the spectral arms of justice and smiting.

[@DIRTkat_ofc]

I had a similar monk once, he wasn't disabled or anything, but he really liked to hit things again and again, and two arms not being enough, he mastered the ability to fight with both his body and Astral projection at the same time, 4 arms, 4 punches, 2 great weapons, or 4 single handed weapons, it was a lot of fun, and yes it was homrbrewed a bit 😅

[@Amiiruu]

​@@DIRTkat_ofc So he basically Dio bcuz dude basically use stand as extra arms to punch the road roller 😂😂

[@cripplelord6383]

I have blood cancer, and have to live on immune suppressants, which causes me to not be able to go out and do much. I love rpgs, and never once have i thought to myself, "man, im going to roleplay a cripple". I already do that, its shit. I have never met a single person with a disability, let alone one as serious as being paraplegic, who wants to also be disabled in a game. The only people who do this as far as I can tell, are zealots who can't engage with anything earnestly. Imagine how bad a person somebody would have to be, in universe, to bring their disabled selves into a life-threatening situation on purpose with others. How terrible a person you'd have to be to put everyone else's lives in danger needlessly. Unbelievable.

[@FabledFrame]

Great point. What RPG's do you like? Hope life gets better for you.

[@cripplelord6383]

@FabledFrame used to do dnd 3.5. but these days i play a buddy's homebrew version of Lamentations of the Flame Princess. Super high lethality. Yet to have a character survive more then 5 sessions, its fun though. One plays very differently in a world whos rules aren't built to keep you alive.

[@Kanaleah]

Similar case here, different disease though. Transplant patient, missing body parts and nonessential organs, multiple autoimmune issues, that's all you really need to know. Have had to use all manners of mobility assistance in the past: canes, walkers, rollators, wheelchairs. I love gaming, but have never felt the need to make a character that is missing the same body parts I am. Most of the characters I make aren't even missing body parts, for that matter. I think it would take a legitimate narcissist to want to play a disability that is actually your own.

[@some1online2]

Sorry you're both going through these things. Hope you recover.

[@arcanefeline]

​@@cripplelord6383I've been looking into the OSR games in general, and LotFP has been mentioned to me often. Does it have any dedicated magic user class?

[@ProfessionalScofflaw]

"It's a world of magic that's so powerful you can actually change a biological man to a biological woman seamlessly without surgery. But you know what it could use? top surgery scars! You know, for representation!" -the presumed logic of an unserious person.

[@AtticusKarpenter]

This is a easy test that differentiate people who want to be of other gender (or see themselves of other gender) and people who want to see themselves as mutilated freak of uncertain gender to receive special attention and snowflake care. We don't have different words for that, sadly, but i'd have a lot of nickels if i received one each time i seen extremely misogynist behavior from mtf, and (rarer, but only because they themselves are rarer than mtf) extremely misandrist from ftm. Despite they apparently wanted to be that gender. Non-binary (and anything further down the scale of snowflake madness) at least honest in that they don't want to belong to opposite gender, they want to be a fucking unknown pokemon (which is also covered by fantasy because as far as i know no one objected to character being they-them if thats alien or eldrich god or other extremely different from humans creation. But its people who want creative exploration play such characters in TTRPG. Vocal snowflakes in their endless narcissism play (again) themselves - something like Tash, literally irl trans but painted into being of one of extablished fantasy humanoid races)

[@SubjectX07]

I literally had this exact thought, why on Earth would someone want the kind of nightmarish botched transition surgery they'd get in a medieval fantasy setting when you can literally just say "Oh I drank this potion or got zapped by this spell and now my gender changed." It just seems off.

[@Mate397]

Don't even remind me of that idiocy... it just screams "look at me I'm special!"

[@inkubus6192]

Imagine looking at the marvelous otherworldly wonders of a deep sea aquarium, but ignoring all of it fixate on your reflection in the glass. This is the type of person we’re dealing with here. We call them narcissists, but even that is beginning to feel insufficient.

[@BurghezulDjentilom]

@@inkubus6192 add psychopath to the narcissist and you've got it 100%

[@thenoremac2685]

Dungeons aren't even OSHA complaint, let alone wheelchair accessible.

[@brianmeans5965]

If the dungeon is OSHA compliant that means the dungeon owner is a reality hopping entity that can visit our dimension and was so moved by our policies that they purposely made their dungeon easier and safer to navigate. In otherwords not a villian since killing a person is not OSHA compliant due to various reasons.

[@bronco5334]

The problem with the "wheelchairs in D&D" thing isn't really about the presence of wheelchair-bound persons in D&D. It's that they IGNORE the wheelchair: they tell us that the wheelchair has NO impact on any abilities or character stats. They move just as fast, across exactly the same terrain, and can perform the same two-handed actions in the same time, as an able-bodied character. The problem with this is that it takes all the actual flavor of the character trait of being disabled away. It makes it so that the player and character don't ever actually have to address the disability, or figure out how to work around the disability (or even make is into an asset). A player character who *wanted* to be a noble knight and was paralyzed in a tournement and teaches themselves magic and/or technology to overcome their disability, riding into battle on a clockwork tiger (actually played as the artificer class rules mechanics) could be amazing. A crippled sorcerer who summons spectral demons to bear her aloft on a palanquin as she deals out fireballs could be a compelling character. There are WAYS to do it. But pretending that the wheelchair is IRRELEVANT is ridiculous. And besides that, it's kind of insulting to the disabled anyhow, and sending the wrong message to them: it's telling them "you can do anything, don't even think about it!", which is setting them up for disappointment because that's at odds with reality. Characters like the two concepts I outline above, on the other hand, are illustrations that disabilities DO change things, but that a disabled person can mitigate their weaknesses and maximize their strengths. TLDR: stop telling paraplegics that they can be an Olympic power-lifter, and start pointing out that people like Stephen Hawking exist.

[@Double_DAW]

This is the first intelligent take I’ve seen in this comment section and not just people shitting on the disabled. Thank you for actually using your brain and contributing something sensical unlike your peers.

[@HIDragonstar]

The issue is STARTING disabled without a good reason why. No Kingdom, Artificer, or Mage is going to look at a crippled person in wheelchair and say 'That Person needs to be able to adventure in a wheelchair.' Why stopped that character from getting a 'Regenerate' spell casted to restore their limbs or spine? You said they can use magical means to overcome their disability. There has to be a reason WHY a disabled character in a wheelchair is running around. I can see it happen in certain low magic campaigns (if the character had a rare magic). You need to have a good context. A Curse? Geas? You aren't going to have a level 1 Fighter or Rogue be sitting in a wheelchair running around. The wheelchair can be a growth or character development, but you still need to provide a good context. You have people who can cast 'Regenerate' or 'Restoration'. You can replace your arm with a golem arm or maybe an undead equivalent. WHY would you STAY in a wheelchair? Reading through the other comments, most of the disabled people seem to ask WHY would you want to be disabled when you can be NOT disabled. The only time I have seen where being disabled was a 'plus' are in game systems (like Champions) where they give you additional 'points' to put to other abilities. Case in point, a friend played an old man in a wheelchair in champions. He was a 'superhero' who put everything into his Wheelchair and he was 'Ironman in a wheelchair' but he had issues when it was taken away from him. Other was in Shadowrun where you could even play as a quadriplegic, but be a Command Chair character running drones or hacking the Matrix. Had another friend who was stuck in a van of Shadowrun most of the time, because of his disabilities. He wasn't running around with the team, but ran drones that were next to the team and jumped into various drones as needed.

[@Double_DAW]

@ You do know plenty of people start disabled out the gate right? There’s THOUSANDS of people with disabilities from birth. By the time you’re adventuring you’re like at least 18 relative to your species in most cases. By then you would know reasonably if you’re disabled or not. Not every disabled person is the result of a car accident. Some people ARE born disabled.

[@HIDragonstar]

@Double_DAW So let's say tomorrow the world is invaded by a 'Magical Daemonic Force'. Our technology all of a sudden becomes useless as the laws of physics changes and laws of magic take over. We are reduced to medieval or steel tech for now. You are willing to allow a young man in a wheelchair to go fight against an invading force of orcs and goblins? We have to be extremely desperate to allow that to happen.

[@randomthoughts6680]

I've seen my centaur PC face more limitations than wheelchair-bound characters because of the massive horse half. (don't worry, the wheelchair-bound characters in the campaigns were using floating disks, magical carpets and flying brooms. We literally knew they weren't able to walk normally only when they said it or in one time they got knocked out of it and put themselves back in one movement action in the next turn.)

[@jakman2179]

I've played 2 disabled characters in my ttrpg career. One was an archetypical blind monk. It was great stuff, and he was cool. The other was a witch with no constitution, one foot in the grave. She adventured to get a solution. She was so weak physically weak that I basically put her in a wheelchair, only this wheelchair was made of bones, skulls, crawled around faster than all other characters but the monk. Bone Throne was a great mount. She succeeded by becoming a lich. The first thing she did, stand up and turn Bone Throne into a body guard named Bone Daddy, she then proceeded to have all the fun throwing out lightning from her fingers while enjoying her unlife. It was a great arc for a villain protaganist.

[@RezaQin]

I love Bone Throne lmao

[@mikesecondname]

Was she a real cripple? As in legs do not work kind? I’m a wheelchair kid and it sounds like something I’d pick after getting my legs back in a game.

[@theemeraldenderman3007]

See, now this! This is how you do a wheelchair in fantasy!

[@buttpiratesbuttpirate5913]

Bone Throne: "My only purpose is to support you..." Bone Daddy: "... But now all I want is to watch you dance."

[@smutsmat]

I played a blind swordsman. With the right feats and skill tricks (3.5) in game the party thought I was just saying I was blind to get out of doing my fair share since I could still kill as good as any fighter. Then i played a different type of disabled. A character that had a ring of enlarge stuck on his finger. He was permanently over 8 feet tall and had to squeeze through every doorway and tended to Conduct all business outdoors if possible.

[@classyrobot5648]

That is no Space Marine. That is a creature of Nurgle

[@LoneSilverW0lf]

Or a Tzeentch meme, nowhere near subtle nor intelligent enough to be an actual plot of his.

[@financialproblems9308]

Nah it's clearly an ugly slaneshi daemon trying and failing to allure the modern generation

[@frankterrian339]

Please, even Slaanesh wouldn't touch that with a 10-foot-pole...

[@nphoenixcrimefighter]

Why would you want wizards in wheelchairs? It seems like if they were remotely powerful, they'd fix their legs.

[@codyopperman5930]

"I can walk. I'm just not a peasant."

[@ephraimwinslow]

@@codyopperman5930 'Not only am I nerd, I'm also a snob! This is why every character I meet likes me.🤓'

[@codyopperman5930]

@@ephraimwinslow if a wizard isn't a snob, is he really a wizard?

[@cameronjames3499]

@@codyopperman5930 That's definitely the "Slann MagePriest" position from Warhammer Fantasy. Of course they also have an entire retinue of dedicated bodyguards willing to die for them at a moment's notice anytime they go near a battlefield.

[@WideMouth]

Yeah. If a wizard can’t walk, he’d just use levitation magic or summon a familiar or golem to ride.

[@PinkBroBlueRope]

As a writer: representation in fiction is such a narcissistic misunderstanding of what fiction is supposed to be. It's not a mirror. It's a window. You're not meant to see yourself in it. You're meant to escape into another world that's more exciting, interesting, mysterious, bizarre and fantastical than our current one. As well as narcissistic, this "I'm in a wheelchair in real life so this fictional character needs to be in a wheelchair too" phenomenon is borderline sociopathic, as it suggests they can't relate to (or empathise with) someone who is even 1% different from themselves

[@ephraimwinslow]

It's almost like there's been a decades-long effort to produce a generation of inherently fractious people who are isolated from one another by petty superficialities specifically because that type of person is much easier to manipulate using -- (90% odds this comment is already gone, but let's try hitting reply anyways.)

[@blueberrybutterbuckets756]

Narcissitic, sociopathic, and autistic. Fixative autists are attracted to fictional settings like barnacles to a ship's hull. Autistic people can't be creative like mentally-healthy people, as they struggle to form abstractions, so they cannot create anything new - only amalgamate something out of things they've already seen.

[@ephraimwinslow]

Imagine that an entire generation of people was trained to be as fractious as possible specifically 'cuz it makes them easily led. (Then stop imagining, and notice nothing at all has changed.)

[@josiahkepley]

Imagine someone explaining to Tolkien that he needs to improve because they can't relate to 6'6" superhuman Aragorn

[@Raygun9000]

There are multiple motivations for the representation incantation. It adds a sense of order to a chaotic universe by forcing equality. It's a crutch for those lacking empathy. Bypassing theory of mind by putting on costume. They're collectivists and have little individuality. Representation to them can be used to include "everyone". Hmm...is all of this just a lack of empathy and theory of mind?

[@karere1s]

10:58 I don't know 40K lore too well, but I'm pretty sure the Space Marines aren't what you'd call an "Equal Opportunity Employer"

[@dxmxrxsbxxckthxwxxdxlf3931]

Right, if something goes wrong, they make you into a mindless tool

[@SoulSoundMuisc]

@ Not necessarily, though you're not too far off. In most Chapters, if you wash out of training due to injury or something while you're still an inductee, you *might* become a Chapter Serf. Not a guarantee though; you'd have to have been a cadet that showed promise but was 'tragically' culled from the possible candidates. Might even have some of the implants and gene seed, maybe, possibly. A 'half formed' at best. Those are the guys who help the Marines get in and out of their armor, make sure the bolters are sanctified, attach the purity seals, keep the Battle Barge tidy, and man the other menial things that you wouldn't *necessarily* want a Servitor to do (but, in some cases, still might have a Servitor do anyway).

[@jacksmythe2187]

The Imperium is Equal Opportunity. It's just sometimes that opportunity is becoming a lobotomized terminal or a ration bar.

[@Bluelyre]

Your right. they don't employ, they take what they want in service to the emperor.

[@Birchlead]

A good example of a “wheelchair bound” character is that teacher from Percy Jackson that was actually a centaur in disguise.

[@rebbyra]

you want a wheelchair, then you can not dodge

[@ephraimwinslow]

It is a *next level* narcissist move to take a fantasy world where you can be *literally anything* (centaur with nunchuks, talking dinosaur, sentient swarm of purple mice) and say: "My character is me. Exactly the way I am in real life. With the chair and everything. Except everybody likes me, and I'm good at everything naturally.🤓"

[@notsae66]

Well, there are ways by which you could with magic or more advanced tech, but both of those would probably just be able to fix or replace your legs instead.

[@iamperplexed4695]

I would love a disabled party member because everyone needs someone that they can outrun.

[@cameronjames3499]

Perhaps you can "dodge" (though I'd give BOTH Disadvantage and a -5 penalty) but you definitely couldn't strafe.

[@ephraimwinslow]

@ Imagine Timmy from South Park falling over. That's his dodge.

[@marcusmelville4111]

Every time Charles Xavier had to fight, something had gone very wrong

[@acedetective7280]

Even Xavier doesn’t stay in his chair when he’s in someone mindscape.

[@coolbrotherf127]

I thought the same thing. He's in his chair, but he's also not intentionally going on missions and fighting. The fictional realism is maintained by him knowing where he's needed, what he's good at, and what the limits of his physical abilities are. A real person, especially in a D&D style world, who is physically handicapped to the point of being in a wheelchair would have to be incredibly foolish to put themselves in danger they can't deal with.

[@PostProteusKitten]

Xavier is an unsanctioned psyker leading a band of mutants. The X-Men are heresy. I'm gonna tell the Inquisition.

[@Hektols]

@@coolbrotherf127 And if Xavier can he will use his flying chair or a power suit that allows him to walk.

[@DictatorDoPa]

@@Hektols Or he's on that island where he can walk.

[@animorphs128]

In order for a wheelchair character to work you need one of 3 things 1. They don't fight 2. They do fight but the wheelchair holds them back 3. They have something to counter-balance the disasvantage a wheelchair offers

[@Nockgun]

@@animorphs128 making their teammates so cracked in combat that they basically are just support?

[@animorphs128]

@Nockgun that kind of falls under #1 since, while the wheelchair person is attacking, they don't have to defend themselves. Good point though

[@Nockgun]

@@animorphs128 well i got a workaround that. wear a piece of leg armor that is sapient.

[@animorphs128]

@@Nockgun True. Although they wouldn't be in a wheelchair anymore Vasher from Warbreaker does this. He's not disabled though

[@Dram1984]

People in the Middle Ages didn’t not use wheel chairs because they were too dumb to think it putting wheels on chairs but because they didn’t live in a world of smooth flat surfaces. Making a wheelchair would have been profoundly dumb. They had solutions to being disabled that made sense in the context they lived in.

[@BurghezulDjentilom]

being carried by servants in a sort of palanquin seems badass for like, a necromancer or warlord type character. more an NPC than a player, mind you, but still.

[@MyAramil]

And they where even given jobs that would be fine with being stationary or in a small space. Cobblers don't need to move about, as well as working with nets does not either. Even arguing that Blacksmithing can be done without the use of ones legs. I could go on as there where tons of examples.

[@anglosaxiphone8246]

​@@MyAramilImagine if we told low skill minimum workers to gtfo cause they stole jobs from disabled folk. I feel the love for disabled people would decline if Journos and Activist were replaced with people we find more reasonable to let them sit on their seat and do as little work as a non-crippled person.

[@Apostate_ofmind]

you only see it in nobles in palaces for a reason!

[@gampie13]

@@MyAramil nah, blacksmithing requires really good leverage and mobility

[@SoulSoundMuisc]

Many years ago i played a "disabled" elf. Shed been used for magical experiments and, due to gruelling terrible things, had neither arms nor legs. Shed been used as a magical battery, limbs were just in the way. Of course, she got herself, with the help of others, magical elfy mechanical limb (nature of the injury, regeneration was not an ootion-- Daemons). Limbs she was grateful for but ashamed of and hid with long skirts and gloves, dresses that went all the way to the neck, that sort of thing. She wanted no one to know about her disfigurement. Very stoic, very private, wouldnt let people get close. Potent spellcaster (its why she was used as a magical battery in the first place) but a little on the sickly and weak side. BUT!! She was a fully functional member of the party. Nobody even knew about her disability for *years* of play. She held her own as a member of the group in her role as their (cagey, sickly) wizard. She was a lot of fun to play. Tge reveal for the metal limbs and why she was so private was fantastic. Theres a way to do it and a way not to do it. An adventurer with a hook hand is not a character in a wheelchair. The wheelchair is just sympathy/attentiin farming. Played with a Serb a few times. He had lost a leg due to a mine as a kid. Guess what he played... A character who could do the things he *couldn't*

[@McCaroni_Sup]

Speaking of disabled, weak, and sickly elves, I like Akeboshi Himari from Blue Archive. Despite being frail and wheelchair bound, she's such a narcissist that she somehow manages to boast about being weak and sickly, usually referring to herself a "Beautiful Sickly Girl". To be fair, her self-importance isn't actually unwarranted given that she's probably the best hacker and one of the most intelligent geniuses in Kivotos, the game's setting. Which is something she brags about as well, despite the fact that she also readily believes in superstition. The thing is, considering the wild inventions the Engineering Department (with whom Himari has a relatively close relationship) come up with, it's not inconceivable that they could come up with a better form of mobility for her. But it's also entirely believable that she just chooses to stay in her (still high tech) wheelchair out of a sense of pride. Perhaps she sees her frailty as a point of charm, or simply thinks that she's perfect the way she is. Either way, her being crippled means she obviously doesn't really engage in direct combat despite the fact that she's actually bulletproof and carries around a gun (specifically a Smith & Wesson Model 340 PD), but then again literally every person in Kivotos is bulletproof and carries around a firearm. Instead her gameplay function is support and buffs from a remote location. But in the context of the story, her frailty is actually a bit of a metaphor. Because of her unspecified disability, she has to rely on others for a lot of things. This might sound like a bad thing, but in the chapter where she's most relevant, it's meant to contrast with her rival and fellow genius Rio. Rio is of very healthy constitution compared to Himari and is able-bodied, and also quite tall and buxom. This is a visual indicator that compared to Himari, she is independent. And indeed, in the story she is a very independent lone wolf type character. However, that ultimately ends up being her undoing, as while Rio tried to solve all her problems herself, Himari enlisted the help of her peers, and in turn they depended on her ability. The wheelchair is just a literal manifestation of that. And in the end it was Himari who came out on top. I think some authors just make the mistake of thinking that somehow, representing disabled people MUST be done with shows of physical capability. But that's just farcical - disabled people are by definition not able; not able to do certain things that able-bodied people can. They think that representation means being at the front and center of the action. But I don't think that should be the case. Himari isn't even really the main character of the volume that she's involved in. But she's still a memorable, likeable, and charming character. And most importantly, she's not just there for virtue signaling. The wheelchair actually makes sense, and they don't pretend like she can do things she can't despite it. Because if they did, it would ruin the entire point of her character. Action isn't the be all end all and you can still write an interesting non-action character. A character doesn't have to be independent to be strong. Speaking of which, Katawa Shoujo is a game that is based entirely around the concept of having disabled characters, and people loved that game. It was made by 4chan based on a sketch from an eromanga. Think about that for a second - 4channers made better disabled representation than big corporations based on a freaking sketch from an h-doujin, lol.

[@midoribookstore]

That's just called doing it right. Clearly, you understand how strength in the face of adversity and circumstance works.

[@Bluelyre]

Played as a triple amputee once, in different circumstances. They lost their limbs due to a mistake they made, and couldn't get them back, much like your elf. They on the other hand were not ashamed of their losses. The people who made her new limbs were like family to her, and she did not want to hide the proof that they still cared for her in spite of her failings.

[@Blackferret66]

My answer to the "Accepting magic in a fantasy setting shouldn't be easier than accepting disabled people in a fantasy setting" is that magic in a fantasy setting could easily heal disabled people and remove their disability. Frankly, the whole wheelchair issue is done once the party has access, either personally or financially, to the 2nd level Lesser Restoration spell, or at least the 5th level Greater Restoration spell. Also, why in Tartarus is the mage in the wheelchair front-lining while the fighter-types are hanging back behind her?! I can just imagine that monster's hand reaching out, grabbing the handlebars of the wheelchair and just swinging her around so that her magic attacks hit the rest of her party.

[@KikiCatMeow]

I feel like if magic can just heal whatever disability or injury you throw at it, though, it removes the tension. Why bother caring about the consequences of the actions in-game when a simple spell can regenerate a limb from an encounter gone wrong or fully revive anybody who dies? “Disabled people can just be healed by magic lol” kills any investment in the story, because if that’s the case, consequences become trivial and things get stale. I agree that a player character using a wheelchair in a dnd campaign or whatever is a bit silly but not because of magic, just because it shows a complete lack of creativity

[@Blackferret66]

@KikiCatMeow I would counter with who would want to play a game and get invested in their character if an errant die roll can cripple them and make them potentially less playable with no recourse to fix it.

[@FiveofHearts1]

The thing that drives me insane is they refuse to use anything that might make sense or be cool. Faerùn? How about a unicorn or Pegasus mount? Ebberon? How about a spider leg chair? No it has to be a literal wheelchair you'd see at your local nursing home.

[@MG-me7iw]

Yuck.

[@MyAramil]

Hell Eberron has had since its induction rules for injuries like missing limbs as well as grafts you can take to replace limbs. Could get a cool elemental limb that lets you fling fire, earth glide, turn your legs into a Djinn whirlwind. Could even take warforged parts and benefit from warforged magic items. Failing that since many warforged where looking for purposes and are tireless, Could even have one that carries the person and was one of the charger units.

[@Dualbladedscorpion7737]

I would argue that a normal wheel chair would be more affordable and more accessible than both a spider mech and two magical horses.

[@anglosaxiphone8246]

​@@Dualbladedscorpion7737But not practical for terrain. Modern wheel chairs work because everything is so flat. Can't adventure Mt. Everest on a wheel chair or traverse deserts. Might as well have a cool mount in a world of dragons or have a necromancer give you zombie legs to make a person less a pain to travel with.

[@ZeroNumerous]

Magical levitating wheel chair based on the floating disk spell.

[@Fixti0n]

"By the grace of Selune! You are dragging us down Bellise! Just let me cast restoration and we can cross this creek!" "YOU ARE OPRESSING ME!!! REEEEEE!!!!!"

[@ArheIy]

Regarding disabilities, there's one story with my main D&D character. That was an aarakocra rogue, and through a series of some *really* unlucky situations including nat 1s, he lost both the wings, legs and a right arm. Did he stay disabled? Maybe just got healed? Hell no! Our artificier made a mechanical prosthetic every time the guy was injured, and though he couldn't give me wings back, I still got mechanical legs with an ability to wallrun and an arm with shotgun inside. Instead of a guy with one arm rolling around in a wheelchair, I got to play as a vengeful cyborg sharpshooter. Why? *BECAUSE BEING JUST DISABLED ISN'T COOL.*

[@Emerald_Wolf]

Truth is stranger than fiction, but it is because Fiction is obliged to stick to possibilities; Truth isn't. - Mark Twain

[@terradraca]

The warhammer one is especially ridiculous because cybernetics canonically exist in that universe. End of discussion.

[@Sorain1]

Cybernetics AND regeneration treatments, AND grafts.

[@scionofdorn9101]

@@Sorain1 And warp “magic”.

[@c99kfm]

I mean, some really low-level adventure featuring non-combatants on a (colony|hive|whatever) world encountering (a gene stealer cult|chaos-inspired rebels|whatever), where one of the low-level non-combatants is in a wheelchair, sure. The tech to fix it exists, but is too expensive to waste on this waste management technician.

[@geedee-z8x]

​Augmentics are so wide-spread the only way you wouldn't have any access to it is to be on a world below Imperial level (feudal, primitive, so on). And even then you still have a chance of getting one if there's a twist to that planet like being a feudal Knight World.

[@samuelskinner7704]

​@@c99kfm That sounds like a future servitor.

[@wildrabbit2237]

I have a friend that's been in a wheelchair since she was 6. She made some good points when we started playing D&D: -Why would I want my character to be crippled? That's my entire life. My power fantasy isn't to be in a chair, it's to walk. -People that aren't crippled that choose for their character to be in a normal wheelchair aren't doing it for inclusivity, they're doing it for attention. Since everything will have to back around to "Yea, but I can't because of my wheelchair." -People that want to be crippled in a world of magic have infinitely cooler fantasy mobility devices. Mechanical spider chair, enchanted root leg-braces, tattoos that move your legs with magic, take levels in a class that gives a pet large enough to mount, etc.

[@Nockgun]

Sapient telepathic greaves and cuisses or chainmail pants. You can run! have you have a buddy to talk to!

[@wildrabbit2237]

@@Nockgun Hell, that could work lol. You keep the "flavor" of being cripple, but can actually participate

[@Nockgun]

@@wildrabbit2237 idk why wheelchair, it works if they are modified to fight, or they can't afford healing magic that is strong enough to reset the human body or restore nerve function

[@Nockgun]

@ to add more pain (optional) they have their own needs other than maintenance. or they just eject you

[@wildrabbit2237]

@@Nockgun Was this at me?

[@lonewolfandcub668]

Because Carl these people don't care about the hobby they just want to destroy the things that their perceived social enemies love. They don't want to enjoy something they just want to make sure that you don't enjoy it.

[@Kaitou1412Fangirl]

Evil. Pure evil.

[@violenceislife1987]

This. Exactly.

[@steamer2k319]

"they just want to make sure you don't enjoy it" ...unless you make constant deference to their whims and perform countless humiliation rituals. Then you have a chance to go from a hated object-of-their-envy to an ignored doormat.

[@TomFromMars]

I think this is a better response to these kind of premises. This isn't a true demand from true players, it is a political push from people who don't really care about the hobby.

[@DonVigaDeFierro]

This. They haven't played before the changes and they won't play after the changes.

[@Malefactor]

In old D&D lore, Beholders construct their lairs as a series of sheer vertical shafts that they can easily traverse with their levitation, but troublesome adventurers and rival monsters cannot. Are they now required to make their lairs into gentile sloping ramps so they're wheelchair accessible?

[@harbl99]

"AWD (adventurers with disabilities) mandates" sighed the Beholder as he disintegrated a new, more accessible tunnel

[@Mate397]

I just imagine some busybody guild representative going around taking notes and writing a long list of changes that the lair "must" have to be "suitable".

[@atrane365]

Occupational Safety and Health Archfey ​@@Mate397

[@Amesang]

I was just thinking this when watching the video, as one of the primary villains of 3e's _Shackled City Adventure Path_ was a beholder…

[@francreeps4509]

@@Mate397 "Does your lair haave wheelchair ramps? No? Sheesh, I'm sorry but I'm gonna have to write you up for that one...where are the handrails, you could get differently abled adventurers hurt you know! And it's so dark here, where are your accommodations for visual impairments? I have to write you up for that one too. The guild will want to speak with you." Spoken in a HOA Karen voice

[@opadrip]

These are the types of people who make video games or TV shows with a self insert main protagonist

[@sevenember3332]

And the series exists for them to trauma dump rather than entertain because they can’t conceive of a world that won’t see it and then start applauding with tears in their eyes saying how brave they were to have gone through it and share it

[@diogo_c]

Whenever I see "inclusive D&D" I keep thinking it would go about as well as the first episode of Goblin Slayer.

[@kingofsapi]

Gotta weed out the tourists somehow, what better way than goblin PTSD?

[@tkraid2575]

Both Goblin Slayer and the OG Berserk 😂

[@spartaninvirginia]

The answer is simple: don't play D&D™️. Plenty of other excellent games out there made by people who don't hate you. Looking at you, Castles and Crusades.

[@coltonwilliams4153]

GAWWWBLIIIIINSSSS!!!

[@joshjo9405]

There was a greentext of some guy doing a rogue trader game and the DM put a furry character dmpc right in the middle of a hive world. Needless to say, they shot it on sight.

[@angbandsbane]

When Barbara Gordon got crippled in Batman, they didn't find some way to let her continue as Batgirl (which they darn well could've in a universe with Lazarus Pits and the tech and magic from other Justice League members) but rather move her into a support role as a hacker and information broker. It actually makes the character more interesting and adds a few layers to her as well.

[@Eclipsed_Embers]

honestly, as bad as some of the circumstances around Barbara Gordon's paralysis were (like in hindsight from the writers talking about it there seemed to be a lot of misogyny wrapped around that particular decision) Oracle was a more interesting character than Batgirl ever was, and it's a pretty massive shame that more recent stuff has gone back to Batgirl instead of focusing more on what she could do as Oracle. heck, even without the disability, I just think that what Oracle does is more interesting and provides something that feels very different to anyone else in the bat family. even if she was provided with some kind of fix or cure I think it'd fit her character to remain in the oracle role simply because she's filling a unique niche and therefore being a bigger help to her allies than she would be if she was just another bat (seriously, I think there are like 20 or so at this point) running around hitting people. there are over a dozen batman/robin types, there's only 1 Oracle

[@izzyoddzy6556]

Disabled people can accept their disabilities and live fulfilling lives and still NOT WANT TO ROLEPLAY THOSE DISABILITIES.

[@vergeofcollapse]

The main issue I have is that if you want to roleplay as someone with a disability then have them face the hardships and struggles that go with it. It may be difficult but I would at least be more understanding. The problem is, they don't want to do that. All these modules essentially have additions saying "be in a wheelchair but if its too hard, just have it float or turn into a mech or some shit." they want the social sympathy and attention but not any of the inconvenience, even in the imagination. It's literally just for show. The RPG equivalent of being a regular dude playing in a wheelchair, pretending to be disabled and then hopping out when you come to your first flight of stairs.

[@0giwan]

Couldn't have said it better. It trivializes the struggle of actual disabled people.

[@Percival7116]

If rpgs actually had wheelchair mechanics, they'd require a athletics check to pull yourself up the step and have a reflex save for every stair you climbed. If you didn't make even a single check of potentially hundreds, you and the wheelchair would be sent flying down the stairs, taking fall damage as your one lifeline for movement thrashes you about the stairway. If it so happens that your character dies from this, too bad. You wanted to go somewhere dangerous that is downright hostile to even the most able of bodies, you can pay the consequences for making such a blunder.

[@Double_DAW]

Or… Someone with a disability just wants to have their character have their disability too but wants them to overcome it and be cool in spite of it because that’s a perfectly reasonable fantasy for a disabled person to have? And D&D is all about FANTASY? Jesus Christ, do NONE of you people think about this shit before you type?

[@Percival7116]

@@Double_DAW we’re not saying that having a disabled character is bad or that wanting to overcome the disability is a bad power fantasy. What we’re saying is, in a world of magic and marvel, why on earth would you pick a regular wheelchair as your vessel of choice to navigate a place that is entirely unnavigable to said wheelchair? It makes no sense. An average person who isn’t an adventurer would use a regular wheelchair because they won’t have to constantly navigate stairways, sheer cliffs, narrow ledges, deep water, fast paced combat, and various other hazards that make a normal wheelchair a death sentence. Meanwhile an adventurer who goes out to tombs and dungeons for a living would not use a normal wheelchair. They’d use a floating disk, prosthetic skeletons, etc. Things that wouldn’t get in the way of actual exploration and wouldn’t get thwarted by a single flight of stairs. Not to mention how it conflicts with class identity. You’re telling me that a rogue could genuinely be in a wheelchair and function like normal, despite the fact they should be the next most obvious thing in the room aside from the orc barbarian clad in furs and slinging a half ton greathammer over a single shoulder? What are they gonna do when they have to dodge a spike trap? Become immobilized on a success because in order to avoid being skewered they had to let their wheelchair get destroyed? It’s just so immersion breaking at best, and a lazy, half-baked concept at worst.

[@vergeofcollapse]

@@Double_DAW The issue is insisting on forcing something in real life into the game, not having it be properly represented or acknowledged and then the final strange addition of not wanting to have any of the negatives associated with such a disability, which begs the question, why have it at all? Why not just fantasize about having a fully functional body? You have to have yourself represented to the point your character is in a wheelchair but not so much they aren't a wizard or a shredded barbarian? I may as well ask why insurance adjuster or Plumber aren't classes or why being able to code Python and Javascript aren't level 3 spells. Again, it begs the question, if you can roleplay as a race or person who has skills you don't, why not roleplay an able bodied person and if you want them in a wheelchair then why aren't you roleplaying the obvious struggles and pains of that. In comes down to simply wanting to be different for it's own sake. Go nuts, you can play how you want but it doesn't make it any more logical or less narcissistic.

[@ShaneChaffin]

There is nothing worse than trying to run a game for these types of people. I've spent weeks on scenarios just to have them show up and not care. The worst of them actually tried to shame me reflexively for the awkwardness THEY felt during a roleplaying session, because "pretending" made them feel self-conscious. I was astounded. Like, what did you EXPECT this game to be about? It's called "role-playing".

[@harbl99]

[ crosses arms passive-aggressively to negate the week of work you put into this session ] "No, I don't have to explain why I'm spoiling everyone elses' fun."

[@SamuelBlack84]

Typical narcissistic behaviour

[@ARStudios2000]

They felt uncomfortable for roleplaying making them feel self unconscious? That's a gigantic red flag if I've ever seen one

[@djinsanity3575]

That's worse than a spoiled child

[@Americanbadashh]

You are supposed to work on the scenarios *with* your players. That's what session 0's are for.

[@sanitaeiloa]

People should do stuff like that one girl in a wheel chair in Season 3 of Young Justice, where she was disabled, in love and was loved back by Dick Grayson (Nightwing) and wasn't on the field, she was instead at the back lines supporting them with her brains rather then her bronze

[@sophitia_agna]

In 40K, wheelchairs are far overdated, technopriest of Mars litterally cut their limbs to replace it with advanced techno-prosthetics, weapons, heavy artificial legs in all fashions imaginable or off-tracks devices. You can imagine whatever madness coming to mind but no, let's make a morbidly obese space marinette in a wheelchair 🤦‍♀

[@arsmariastarlight3567]

Even disregarding space marine context, 40K already has grimdark version of wheelchair. Hell, there are many flavors of solutions to deal with crippled legs in 40k, Cyber legs? Servitor tank treads? Dreadnoughts? Techpriest spider legs? How about being put in a tank of amniotic fluid to control walking cathedral with building-sized guns? I'd be more invested following the story of Princeps who lost the ability to walk and how he feels when he's now walking along the mountains as a titan instead of obese black marinette on a wheelchair flying LGHDTV rainbow flag. The former respect the source material and lore while blending seamlessly into the universe, the latter is just forced inclusivity for inclusivity sake. Screw 40k's solutions for dealing with missing legs, it has to be a literal wheelchair you see in a nursing house

[@bunnyfist4697]

In one of the novels about Gaunts Ghosts (i fail to remember which one) we have a planetary govenour in a levitating throne, heck, as i'm typing this i remembered one of Gaunts mentors (his uncle) had a mechanical leg. There is a saying 'if someone wants to do something they find solutions, if someone doesn't want to do things, they find reasons.'

[@bobbybee2975]

I am unsympathetic to this appeal because I don't relate to characters based on arbitrary characteristics, I relate to people who behave in ways I respect or admire or find amusing. So I find this request for "representation" to be shallow at best.

[@WideMouth]

Exactly. I’d say that I like characters either because they have admirable or interesting personalities/behavior, or because they’re aesthetically awesome. The best characters have both aspects.

[@bobbybee2975]

@WideMouth true. Who doesn't like a quite badass huge dude who says next to nothing other than battle cries lol

[@SamuelBlack84]

It just sounds like derogatory behaviour

[@thatonearanara]

If you don’t want to use a wheelchair but still want someone with a disability aid, you can use (in terms of fantasy): A flying broomstick An animal ride Magical levitation Cool artificer tech (e.g. spider leg things) 4 skeletons holding up a golden throne Being held up by magic vines

[@antman1672]

It wouldn't even be that difficult to imagine a disabled hero that fits the universe. An artificer that couldn't afford healing from a local corrupt church so they built a suit of armor to compensate for their short comings, and are trying to save up x amount of gold to get a heal spell cast on them so they can walk again. You could also just create a fighter that goes into dungeons to get money to cure his disabled sister. It is extremely easy to work disability into the story and have it be interesting and believable.

[@recklesssquirel5962]

Or have it as a curse so it can't be simply cured by a number of healing spells.

[@Tank50us]

@@recklesssquirel5962 and to add on to this, they're searching the world over for a cleric that can remove the curse.

[@inkubus6192]

@@recklesssquirel5962 Remove Curse.

[@isuckatusernames4297]

yeah, but it is not the same kind of disabled we're talking about. we're not talking about a robot arm case, we're tmaking about a modern day wheelchair design with little to no changes whatsoever being put into your world. same fantasy world where you could have a suit or armor or other cooler options instead. it's not a disabled that makes internal sense within the world, it is a disabled that's there for "brownie points" instead.

[@randomthoughts6680]

The important thing is to still be a functional character and be believable about it. The semi-animated armor sounds badass as fuck, if I ever played a disabled character, that would be my go-to.

[@siamihari8717]

Playing a Blind Character can be really funny. Because when the DM goes "You see..." the answer is "Nothing!" and then they describe sounds and smells for you. it is intresting

[@lordminifridge8606]

Until that character is utterly useless in every other scenario, so you're stuck building every encounter, story, location and or beat around that one character because otherwise they're just a worse version of the ranger. It's the exact same feeling as trying to DM someone with main character syndrome, the only difference is they don't make themselves the main character through selfish gameplay, they force the dm to do it for them.

[@siamihari8717]

@lordminifridge8606 Because a Blind priest or monk is useless, because a Blinded Soldier cannot make for intresting combat encounters; expecially when people focus on min/maxing and powerhousing and not considering 'how would this character attack the goblin'. An occultist who has lost earthly sight by delving too deep into forbidden secrets and now views things by eldritch means has no place in fantacy. Or having to use a familiar to get around an aged wizards cataracts, senseless. Totally useless

[@failegion7828]

​@@lordminifridge8606Eh... Blind Samurai is a common enough cliche. It's actually surprising that it didn't come to you as you wrote your comment. Typically it's just trading sight for a boost to other senses.

[@knotgradaunknown7414]

@@lordminifridge8606 Your lack of vision is concerning.

[@chrislepera6541]

​@lordminifridge8606 there is a feature called blindsight. Basically observing your surroundings through sense of hearing and touch. The idea of a blind monk mastering their senses to be able to move and act normally despite the lack of sight is a common enough trope

[@markwhiteside7618]

Quite literally there is a class in DnD that circumnavigates disability, the arcanist armourer whose armour can replace limbs and give someone without legs the ability to walk. Its also a fantasy universe where magic can practically solve ANY handicap a character may have. Bringing RL problems in just so you look represented makes no bloody sense. Its FANTASY your meant to be something you are not, to put yourself into a characters shoes and thoughts that can be totally different to your ideals and views. Edit: as for 40k that image proves these "tourists" don't know a damn thing about the setting they are supposedly into. A marine in that state would be a stain on their chapter and likely un-alived to bring honour back to their chapter, not even fit to bestow the marine the privilege of being interned withing a dreadnought shell

[@jmorton201]

Brother inquisitor I sense the taint of chaos around they/thems.

[@Nockgun]

give then the telepathy and sapience! i want the armor to talk.

[@jmorton201]

@@Nockgun talkie armour love it. Like Ai companion or talkie sword

[@Nockgun]

@ keep it happy or it runs onto the cliff

[@New_Age_Drifter]

This reminds me of the character Jet Black from Cowboy Bebop (the anime), set into the not so far distant future. In this future, medical technology has advanced far enough to replace lost limbs with actual organic ones, instead of prosthetics or other substitutes. Jet himself is a an ex cop that's missing one arm, but instead of getting a new one through cell regeneration, he chooses to stick with the prosthetic as a reminder of what he's lost. In this setting, the character chooses to stay handicapped for a personal reason that doesn't interfere with the authenticity of the setting (Jet is a bounty hunter), and even finds ways to turn his prosthetic arm into a strength by stopping a bullet with it. I think this is a good example of including a handicapped character into a story by highlighting personal growth and resourcefulness. By comparison, modern media is lazy.

[@trymv1578]

Thats usually the problem, a character will do something off the beaten path that could be seen as something cool and refreshing... until you realize theres a heavy agenda going on that its clearly tied to. Another comment mentioned Khadgar in the wheelchair in the new wow expansion. He died and was revived, makes sense the old man might be struggling to walk. Problem is the wheelchair in fantasy is obviously a giant agenda right now so you instantly question it instead of thinking its logical.

[@antonstezhkin5991]

​@@trymv1578 even if he could not walk and for whatever reason healing magic would not work on him, the wheelchair is a poor choice when you have numerous better options.

[@mythicdawn9574]

@@trymv1578 Yeah it always depends on the settings. In a low-fantasy setting, wheelchairs could be normal since magic is not very common. Even in high fantasy, if healing magic is explicitly said to be very limited / super rare / hard to master, it can make sense to have a wizard in wheelchair and it can even be a nice story-telling point to have that character who is so good at magic and yet unable to cure his legs despite his efforts. The thing with woke medias is that most of their "woke" stuff could actually by interesting story points if they were written properly. Best recent example I have is the show Arcane : you have lesbians, characters of all ethnicity, a Rich vs Poor plot, etc. and yet no one (except the most zealots lol) say its a woke show. Why ? Because all of this is written very well. "Token characters" actually have a purpose and a personality far beyond their gender / race and their "token" aspect feel absolutely anecdotal in a good way (adds flavor to them without being the center focus). The Rich vs Poor plot is actually very complex and not Marxist preachy at all, you can see the good and the bad on both sides and, above all, the writers let you make your mind on who's the good and bad side of this conflict without force feeding you their real world political ideals. Woke characters are woke because they are a way to force the writers real world opinions into the story in the most disrespectful way to the audience. Woke writers would answer to that, that almost all artistic productions have the writers world view in them and that's true. But you don't *tell* the audience what to think (about such character, such situation, and so about the real world). You *show* them your characters and your story and you let them make up their mind about it. You treat your audience like adults, you trust they can understand your subtext (by not stating explicitly the subtext !) and you respect their opinion by not judging them if they don't agree with your world view.

[@gampie13]

@@trymv1578 the entierty of azeroth, is uneven terrain, a wheelchair in that world, might as well be a chair without wheels...

[@gampie13]

@@mythicdawn9574 not really, the only reason wheelchairs work in modern day, is that we flatten everything REALY flat. Without that, the logistics of a wheelchair becomes absurd in 99% of situations

[@DeusNyx]

Dungeon Master: You come to a flight of stairs....what do you do?

[@Sentinel82]

Rolls a 1 for hilarity

[@TenebraeXVII]

I sled down on the fighter's tower shield

[@OvertimeX86]

@@TenebraeXVII good luck going back up if your party is all dead

[@Sorain1]

@@OvertimeX86 Necromancy is a pathway to many places you might need to go without (living) friends.

[@psibug565]

Cast levitate, it worked for Daleks.

[@enternetdepadaria4712]

I think the fact that a mage is the class chosen to represent a wheelchair bound person is just ridículos, especially when you realize that levitate is a level 2 spell.

[@cujoedaman]

They did the same thing in WoW to Khadgar, a massively powerful wizard (essentially Gandalf), but they dropped him into a wheelchair. Makes sense, huh?

[@kibble113]

That lasts for 10 minutes.

[@Aavarius]

I think this problem stems from people actually basing their personal identity to being disabled. This is a category error. A disability is not an identity, it's an unfortunate circumstance you have to live with. That kind of discordant thinking is why a "combat wheelchair" elicits a break in our suspension of disbelief, I think.

[@coolbrotherf127]

I don't think even a majority of people with disabilities would view their disability as some core part of their identity. Most people view the parts of their identity they can change as more important than the things they can't. It's often the virtue signaling activists who see specific physical qualities of a person as their defining identity. The more "oppressed" a group of people with a specific physical trait are, the more they have to be represented by any means necessary, usually in the laziest way possible.

[@Aavarius]

@coolbrotherf127 This sounds perfectly reasonable to me. Too bad you're just a bigoted ableist. (That's the level of discourse we're supposed to be operating at, right? 🙄)

[@sevenember3332]

@@coolbrotherf127 Exactly. My physical attributes took a massive hit, so I’m working on my mental and social ones. I’m trying to be a mentor through connections in an MMO and as a guild leader. I’m also trying to learn what I can about general life stuff to prepare for my eventual next steps and anything useful and needed, I pass on to others. It’s where I find value in my life now

[@robanybody8691]

DM: You meet a character in a wheelchair an- PC: I cast Regenerate! DM: ... he steps out of the wheelchair...

[@Triaxx2]

DM: And collapses to the ground, writhing and screaming as the curse I was about to describe tears his legs from his body in a shower of blood and gore. Would you like to know more?

[@kingofsapi]

@ No. Casts Greater Restoration. Done, on to the next quest!

[@Triaxx2]

@@kingofsapi DM: Congratulations the curse has transferred to you.

[@Evil0tto]

@@kingofsapi DM: "You're gonna need Raise Dead."

[@ColdUtopia]

PC: My character is a mermaid. Legs are gross.

[@randomthoughts6680]

Disabled characters in campaigns (in high-magic settings) I've met were just like this because they were born this way, so no potion can "restore" them. And they had either chairs with goat legs, floating disks, flying brooms and flying carpets to move around. Missing limbs can be replaced with weapons, missing eyes can be replaced with magical objects with cool effects (a lot of them REQUIRE the character to lose at least one eye, specially in older editions). Really, no one was using wheelchairs because who the fuck would want something we have in real life? Those characters who couldn't walk were all played by a friend who is wheelchair bound since birth and he justifies as "I don't know the sensation of running, so I don't think I can properly understand what it means to run so much your legs hurt" and for the magic apparatus, "I just wish my wheelchair was cool as fuck.". He is the first person I know IRL to be extremely against the wheelchairs in fantasy scenarios because "we already have better and cooler shit, why the fuck would I use wheelchair in fantasy-land? I can excuse it in sci-fi, but you better put some cool lasers in it because I wan't escapism, motherfuckers". On a sidenote: I have disabilities and I don't play as disabled characters, in fact I go the opposite way (making them extremely good at things I can't be) on purpose because this should be escapism.

[@Nockgun]

FLOATING WHAT!? btw i think whats cool is to have pair of plated leg armor that allows you to walk while is sapient so you keep it happy, and maintain it

[@randomthoughts6680]

@@Nockgun Disks? Floating disk is a spell, right?

[@Nockgun]

@@randomthoughts6680 i misread it as floating di**

[@Nockgun]

@@randomthoughts6680 i thought the other word flying disk but c replaced S

[@randomthoughts6680]

@@Nockgun That would require the newest edition, methinks.

[@Strill_]

Have a wizard that hovers everywhere. A mad scientist with robot spider legs. A druid whose lower body is a tangle of prehensile roots. Heck, how about someone who's just plain missing an arm?

[@davidmalkowski7850]

An artificer warforged that makes more limbs!

[@simplegarak]

Exactly this. The issue isn't a handicapped character - the issue is that the solution to the handicap is from outside the world and not one within it.

[@AnthonyDaFox]

personally i would just take the L and get Resurrected myself.

[@godofsquirrels494]

I love the achetype of the “floaty fucker.” The arrogant mage who doesnt walk, floats everywhere crosslegged, and acts like he knows everything and finds that funny. Wheelchairs are too much equip load

[@simplegarak]

@@AnthonyDaFox Heh. now I want to run a comedy campaign with a cleric who doesn't know heal - but does know resurrect. "Sorry, I can't fix that." *BANG* "And now you're back! All better."

[@HMASTroll]

“I’m crippled in reality and want to be crippled in fantasy” said nobody ever.

[@randomthoughts6680]

The closest one said is "I'm crippled in reality and I want to be badass in fantasy. Now give me a flying carpet so even though I'm crippled in fantasy, I'm empowered as fuck and can help my party." (it was a mage, so no need to be moving around anyways)

[@sselesUneeuQ]

0:50 Counterpoint: Professor X

[@ANDLESCO]

Well, his universe Is one of superhéroes and mutants, even Marvel has its balance, for example Strange, even with all that magic he can't fully heal, Deadpool too, Xavier could recover by asking Tony using technology, but he has chosen to stay like that. Rules are set and have to have logic in their universe.

[@sselesUneeuQ]

@@ANDLESCO I'm not sure if this happened in the comics, but in the MCU Beast creates a "cure" for Xavier but it inhibits his powers.

[@ANDLESCO]

@@sselesUneeuQ yep, that's on the mcu, in the cómics he has varied from a single wheelchair to a floating one so he could move freely... Now that I think about It, they could use that excuse for the DnD one, a regular chair that floats using wind magic or mental powers

[@sselesUneeuQ]

@ANDLESCO I don't recall Xavier having telekinesis. Magneto has a form of telekinesis that works with ferromsgnetic materials, but as far as I know, Emma and Xavier are both only able to read and influence minds.

[@The_WyattGuy]

Countercounterpoint: he isn't the one doing any of the physical fighting.

[@yeahnah3erter]

It basically saying "I want to be disabled but also not disabled".

[@midoribookstore]

Has pretty much every other superior option to address the disability but deliberately chooses not to. Wants to IDENTIFY as disabled.

[@finbaruk1593]

As a disabled person I've played rpg's since the original D&D I don't want or need to see myself represented. I want to be a bad ar*e warrior , powerful wizard or a sneaky thief. These games are a great escape from my limitations in the real world and I don't want to be reminded of them thank you very much.

[@harbl99]

I game with a girl in a powered wheelchair (she has one of the neuro-degenerative disorders, MS?). She has this amazing "I'm going to enjoy everything I _can_ do twice as hard!" attitude to life. Utterly unsinkable. Her take on this was classic: "D&D wheelchairs are representation? Fook nah! In my power fantasy, I can walk."

[@SoulSoundMuisc]

I played a few games with a Serb who had 'misplaced' one of his legs due to a soil-based kaboom device. Guess what he never, ever played. A character with one leg.

[@sevenember3332]

Absolutely! I will never play a berserker who, after raging in combat, needs healing from using her weapon like normal and several long rests to recover. She would also need some sort of fantasy rollator to keep her balance normally and many brief rests on those long treks. So just no. I’m a hyperactive person with a need to bash and my characters usually reflect *that* aspect of myself, not my disabilities which have screwed up my life so badly. I relish the few and far between days where my mind is clear enough to genuinely contribute and problem solve instead of being just barely more than an npc. While playing a disabled character can provide challenge and variety, I would never play with *my* disabilities. I took a permanent hit to nearly all of my attributes, some severely. The hit to my Constitution was the worst because as I said, I’m physically hyperactive. They do not play well together

[@WildZephyr]

Why isn't it a floating wheelchair? Assuming the disability can't be cured, do we not still have magic?

[@ephraimwinslow]

If you demand to be "seen" in a context where the only possible reason you have to be "seen" is because you demanded someone else put you there on the basis of not feeling "seen"? ...You are literally just demanding attention. Phoque. That. I don't care if Gummy Joe feels adequately represented. I care if I feel adequately engaged and entertained by the characters I see.

[@solaariel2692]

I don't have any issue with accepting the existence of disabled people in fantasy, what I actually have issues accepting is: • That a disabled individual would have no severe game-mechanical disadvantages in an adventuring situation. • In a setting where magic can even resurrect the dead, there are non-impoverished people unable (or unwilling) to have their crippling injuries healed. • That medieval fantasy wheelchairs look identical to how they do in the modern day (seriously have some creativity, make a magically levitating chair, or have them ride around on a rock golem)

[@horserage]

> unable (or unwilling) to have their crippling injuries healed. Well, that's easy. God influence.

[@cameronjames3499]

In. Have them ride "in" a rock golem : D They're on a journey to go reach the cleric powerful enough to heal their injuries, who lives a few 100 miles away, and they're using this item bestowed on them by the lesser temple to help them get there. But of course shenanigans and complications ensure along the way. Disabled characters are fine for NPCs or one-off stories. But having a long-term PC that both is unable to find something to remedy the problem, but still insists on putting themselves into the most extremely dangerous situations in the world gets increasingly impossible to believe.

[@Kanaleah]

The refusal to have injuries healed only make sense from the mind of someone whose world is social justice. For the people pushing for this stuff, to cure the sick and crippled is to remove them of their identity. It is, in their minds, no different than "curing" the gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender people of their identity, and so the curing of someone who is wheelchair bound is a form of genocide of people of that identity. Never mind that the people are being cured of a significant injury or disability that hinders them physically in their lives, the fact it is an identity to be disabled matters more to them. The people pushing for this stuff thus then create universes in game where the disabled identify as disabled, and therefore magic to cure their disability is an erasure of their identity, therefore conflated with genocide of them and people like them. Acts of kindness and mercy are twisted to be seen as evil, while acts of evil (allowing and praising suffering for a perceived "greater good" that doesn't actually exist) are held as virtuous.

[@TheLurker1647]

To be fair, there are real deaf people who don;t want to get cochlear implants that would let them hear because they view being deaf as "their culture". They even breed with each other and have hereditarily deaf children.

[@Tank50us]

@@cameronjames3499 Unless their abilities make up the difference. They're quite capable of amazing feats, partly because of their disability for example, and that's why they can't regain their ability to walk normally. If they did, they lose their power (like Professor X in X-Men)

[@TheAllSeeingEye2468]

Being disabled in a adventure game makes no sense.

[@Party4Lemons]

One of the main characters in World of Warcraft was recently given a wheelchair conjured via arcane magic. It floats but it still has wheels. Insane.

[@settame1]

Whoa who?

[@michaelsorensen7567]

I don't think i can eyeroll hard enough

[@Party4Lemons]

@@settame1 Khadgar.

[@trymv1578]

@@settame1 Khadgar. Granted he did literally die but Anduin managed to resurrect him. It makes sense but comes at a very questionable time as usual.

[@scionofdorn9101]

@@michaelsorensen7567 I did, and now I’m blind. THANKS FOR NOTHING, BLIZZARD!

[@Durdles26]

Professor Xavier was still powerful in a wheelchair but he wasn’t going out on missions. His role became that of the leader who trained people In a ttrpg he’d be giving quests to the players or something. One can have ‘representation’ but it needs to be appropriate as you explained

[@jazzjackson9817]

Best way to have disabled characters to be playable in fantasy Rpg if they are using prosthetic limbs such as guts' cannon arm from berserk, blade leg, hook, and such. Using wheelchair in fantasy rpg is just nonsense since you would need to climb, swim, jump, or crouch.

[@angelmessenger8240]

I have poor eyesight. I don't want to play a game as a character with poor eyesight. I want to play the game as someone with perfect eyesight. Comics and games are not real life. I want to get away from real life when I read or play. This conflation of mental gymnastics and games and books is ridiculous.

[@_DarkEmperor]

Unfortunately teenage girls like to be represented in books they read, play they game, movies they watch. And this fact is used by woke as an excuse to push propaganda about representation.

[@samhellsing1138]

True facts bro. Im 35 and I'm losing my vision and I'm going to probably have to give up my driver's license soon. Yeah let's play a game where I'm fucking blind makes sense I hate these people

[@IkariTheWraith]

A wheelchair-bound adventurer is as jarring as George Washington fighting the British in a 1986 Pontiac Fiero.

[@Cryeceratops]

Atleast the pontiac actually adds a comedic/epic factor! How does an adventure with only half a working body add anything

[@nerdicusdorkum2923]

The thing is, I'd pay to watch that. Meanwhile, I'd pay people who try this nonsense to leave my table and never return.

[@mudcrab3420]

Exactly. The Pontiac Fiero is a chick's car.

[@DudeTheMighty]

... but _way_ less cool.

[@JoeOvercoat]

Of course that would be jarring. Everyone knows he drove a ‘78 T-Top Firebird.

[@MidnightMagpie73]

As a DM since 3.5 dnd I have been looking for the right words to use when I encounter players like this. Instant sub for helping me with that mate :D cheers!

[@VallornDeathblade]

I run a game of Vampire. One character is a Nosferatu (hideously deformed) but covers it up outside with full biker leathers, and another is missing an eye (so whenever we do perception checks she gets 1 less d10). Disabilities and drawbacks can add some flavour, but they are just that, drawbacks, weaknesses, they aren't "magitech combat wheelchair" which lets you do everything normally but everyone has to be nice to you because wheelchair.

[@NCCorruption]

Fair go. Although as a severely disabled person I am permanently outraged that the British military do not have some sort of dreadnought that I can pilot. Maybe Musk can sort something out.

[@jampine8268]

Bro, real advice, DO NOT accept any implant from Musk, it'll likely end up closer to being a servitor. Don't entrust your health the corpos.

[@blackg0076]

Japan has some drivable giant robots that you can sit fully enclosed in.

[@hadeshades2365]

I m a sci fi writer and having things make sense as a work building fanatic is one of my guilty pleasures. Sci fi has a large tolerance for disability, depending on the setting. Think about all those people who lost an arm in say 40k or starwars with all the robotic limbs floating around. Another common trope of the used in mixed or fantasy settings it turning your disability into an ability do to how you see or in some cases don’t see the world. Tav (I m sure I misspelled the name) from the last airbender or one of Gregor eisenhorns students who only grew in psychic might with his disability.

[@notknightbean]

What happened to just having characters with mechanical limbs or even playing races that may not be suited for that environment (a mermaid in a forest for instance). These can create interesting role playing experiences without also being a virtue signaling annoyance.

[@ephraimwinslow]

THEY'RE NOT TRYING TO- oh my God... Why do you want to give these people the benefit of the doubt reflexively? Dear God, what have they done to earn it??

[@notknightbean]

@ no it is just that they want to be a spoil sport about the setting. It isn’t enough to just be a character in fantasy, you have to be forced to play by their rules and accommodate them in the game about mutual cooperation.

[@Sorain1]

My favorite for that is the flight capable party member that does dungeon delving. You know, cramped underground areas where their wings only ever end up getting in the way. (Right up until the DM forgets that's a thing and tries a surface ambush, only for comedic face wrecking to ensue.) It was actually one of the most amusing things ever, because the party griped about their cleric continually because of the problems the wings (and bladed whip) presented in typical dungeons. Then the one time things work with those, took it in stride. (and mostly stopped complaining about the issues.)

[@ch3nz3n]

3:07 - "Suspension of disbelief". Modern entertainment has no idea what it means. lol

[@bahmat]

I have HBP, diabetes, bad eyesight, chronic low back pain, and bum knees. Why on earth would I want my character to have those same problems and be a liability to my team/party!? I feel represented enough when my character is a healthy, muscular young man/woman who has none of my infirmities.

[@WalrusWinking]

I mean look at Bran Stark he loses the use of his legs and he becomes a burden to his friends and family and it is a STRUGGLE just to move him across vast swaths of land. Or how about Tyrion he can put on some armor wield an axe but does he just become this amazing fighter? No he get almost killed twice in both battles he's a part of. This is how fiction should be, believable so we can suspended our disbelief when we see a dragon fly overhead.

[@cameronjames3499]

TBF I think the player controlling Tyrion also was playing Bronn's sheet as well. And the other guy literally just wrote "Bran & Hodor" on the top of his.

[@showmemoviesnow]

@@cameronjames3499 Bran is the character on the sheet, Hodor is the mount.

[@Brenhydra]

Always baffled me that they couldn't make it cooler than just "Wheelchair bound hero." You're in a world of fantasy, make the wheelchair a clockwork spider platform that the character uses in exploration and combat.

[@Sorain1]

One of the best ones I've seen was a 'Warforged' that was actually a born crippled noble using a Warforged like armature.

[@ondururagittandeska2004]

Or Augment them into a Dragonfly hopper Hybrid.

[@AlexanderHamburg]

That was actually done in a novel by Wen Spencer. Project: Elfhome, I think. One character is crippled, and gets around in this weird robotic armature/spider walker, because she's a scientist who actually needs to go out in the field, where a wheelchair wouldn't go.

[@uncannytheos2454]

If they want them to be represented then have them inside tanks or robot mechs. Even actual wheelchair handicapped people know that it isnt smart to put that into a D&D

[@lightborn9071]

Fantasy is no justification for insanity. Just because it's not THIS world doesn't allow it to be delusion.

[@ricdinchirock3625]

Fun fact, D&D has _official rules_ for arcane prosthetics, making a physically disabled adventurer _even more_ unlikely.

[@RextheRebel]

Someone with magic is unlikely to need to use a wheelchair.

[@burninhelltwiceable]

One show that did a brilliant job was Avatar the Last Air Bender. It worked as part of the story and didn't make a big deal of it.

[@googleandsusansucks]

Especially the sequel. Korra was heavily mentally disabled and it still worked.

[@Mate397]

Toph's blindness was rarely an issue for her since she could use her other senses to "see".

[@WideMouth]

@@Mate397 Exactly. She was disabled, but the way she overcame it made her an extremely unique and interesting character. Characters (and real people) shouldn’t identify with their disabilities, but rather what they’ve done to overcome them.

[@kathrineici9811]

And Teo had a mechanical lounge that he could move mechanically, not a boring modern chair

[@TheAngryXenite]

​@WideMouth It also did affect her negatively even if she wasn't personally broken up over it. She might not have been helpless like her parents thought, but no amount of combat prowess could change the fact that she couldn't read, or swim.

[@WillPC]

In Joel Rosenberg's D&D-based Fantasy series, Guardians of the Flame, one of the players is in a wheelchair and specifically plays D&D to escape his disability. The books get rather brutal with the characters, giving real sense of what being in an actual D&D campaign would be like for real people. (side note: the main character's name happens to be Karl)

[@manatoa1]

I loved those books!

[@antonioliles5027]

Those are really good books. I still read them from time to time.

[@missrebel634]

Fear and Hunger Termina does Olivia (woman in a wheel chair) pretty well. Her disability changes the gameplay from other characters with its pros and cons.

[@user-og8kk2ds5i]

I was finding a comment like this. Olivia was the first playable character in a wheelchair I've seen in a game and was really handled well.

[@darkdawnbringer]

Things that could fix this: Fly, levitate, talk to animals, talk to plants, shape water, mold earth, about 20 healing spells, about 100 artificer gadgets, wildshape, polimorph, about 10 summoning spells, about 20 charm or command spells, And finaly fireball, because fireball wil fix the wheel chair, since fireball fixes everything... And that's just of the top of my head... You could fly around like Magneto, or walk as a giant beast, or be caried by a giant beast, run on metal legs, dominate the locals to cary you like some evil overlord, but no, they just pick "wheelchair" like someone with zero imagination...

[@the98themperoroftheholybri33]

I wear glasses irl, if i were in 40k I'd probably have some sort of bionic lenses instead of eyeballs, or maybe I'd just be blind

[@michaelsorensen7567]

Probably be a servitor by now

[@DeadMeat991]

Given how Imperium is barely if any better than chaos, they'd probably turn you into a servitor or cannon fodder.

[@the98themperoroftheholybri33]

@@michaelsorensen7567 well no, because I haven't done anything wrong

[@michaelsorensen7567]

@the98themperoroftheholybri33 depending who's in charge and how bad it is in your sector, isn't it the case that "not being physically fit to fight for the Emperor" could be considered "doing something wrong"?

[@mikzpwnz_3199]

Depends of where you are in the imperium. in the guard, some "one size fits all" specs would do (they're not prescription lenses but it means your aim with a lasgun is within normal tolerances, you didn't need to read anyway apart from the uplifting primer that you leaned from heart in training) A noble? A monocle that can do some other stuff as well. You no longer need it as your parents have you one when you were a child before finding out that they could use corrective surgery but thought you looked so fancy with it, it kinda stuck even after the surgery. Tech priest? bionic eye for funsies Space marine? How in the emperor's name did you get that far through training with that eyesight?

[@pirki4893]

If those magic and technologies exist in that fantasy world, there should be options for disabled people to go to the dungeons other than wheelchairs.... It simply breaks the immersion

[@SSubZero]

The campaign ends at the first staircase.

[@Gorbz]

"You have arrived at the old temple. A flight of stairs leads down in to the dungeon below" // "I go forth, into the dungeon!" // Dex save at -6 - FAIL // "You fall off your chair as you try, tumbing down the stairs and end up in a heap at the bottom, your chair on top of you. Take 10 damage. You are prone, and have alerted the guards."

[@drakenpage777]

I'm in a wheelchair, and I agree, because I want to be able to walk, not be crippled.

[@VespoLiveGaming]

"No one wants to be put into the meat grinder" Death Korps of Krieg disagrees.

[@TheThreatenedSwan]

Despot of Antrim had a great bit where he mentioned how good stories need things like cause and effect, internal logic, diegetic coherence, verisimilitude, etc.

[@damasake]

The best disable mechanic I've ever played is in Fear and Hunger

[@syan2240]

I assume you're talking about the second game The people in the second game didn't choose to be on an adventure, they were forced into a strange town and had to do what they had to do to survive

[@damasake]

@@syan2240 I'm talking about the "game mechanic", the part where you lose your hands and you can't use weapons, or lose both feet and be forced to crawl, etc.

[@magisterapophis8714]

It's the equivalent of the meme "My character is a magical ham sandwich who uses mage hand on itself to get around"

[@harbl99]

So long as he wears a wizard hat. It would just be silly otherwise.

[@DeadMeat991]

I had a player that wanted to play a magical purple humanoid that could only communicate through interpretive dance. He left on his own when I told him to make something that can actually cooperate or get out.

[@destroyer68175]

@@DeadMeat991 A neat way to play that would actually be something like, the character doesnt have a mouth so it has to try hand signs, nudging people, or tugging on them and pointing at things, (or write of course, but they may not always have time like in a fight). And eventually it could get say, a necklace of speech to let it talk while wearing it. Then they would have to deal with what happens if if gets torn of or stolen during a fight, and so on. A way to do a good character arc is right there. (The player probably only thought of the immediate "It would be funny to me" though)

[@DeadMeat991]

@@destroyer68175 Or he can simply play a normal race that can function in the game's society. In ttrpgs we have characters, not a main character.

[@PortlyPete]

hot take: nobody is actually wants to see themself reflected in the media they consume, they jsut say that they do.

[@MrDezokokotar]

There are always some dirty self-inserters around but i agree that a lot of them lie about it.

[@BurghezulDjentilom]

narcissists do, seems like

[@DudeTheMighty]

I remember Aydin Paladin did a video on that subject. The short version is that there is a _lot_ of data to back that claim. Trying to "see yourself" in media (especially games) is potentially bad for your mental health.

[@mechadeka]

Show people realistically flawed and limited protagonists who faces consequences for their own faults and they'll say they can't relate.

[@SirCumferencelel]

7:53 nurgle accepts them. They'd fit in quite well actually.

[@darokdeed]

New BBEG unlocked: Stairs

[@drgonzo305]

40k dreadnaughts are crippled space marines shoved into a armored sarcophagus filled with tubes and wires and the dreadnaught is basically a wheelchair

[@goj1_lag00n]

Imagine going on an adventure in some dungeon in a wheelchair and there are no ramps.

[@jmanjman2685]

I love Steel ball run which is a battle manga about a crippled guy learning to walk again both mentally and physically. You might think thats sounds dumb a cripple being in a battle manga but the story makes clear sense how he is able to move and fight. You can have people with disablities in your stories but there should be clearl rules on how they work and how they can overcome them if needed in the universe rules its set.

[@VallornDeathblade]

It's a great story though from memory his injury gets half forgotten after the first bit, but that could also be down to him learning more about the Spin and how he uses that to overcome his broken back.

[@BurghezulDjentilom]

johnny is a real chad, respect