Compare how many series' portray Bahamut and Tiamat as dragons. Now look up theirorigins.
In Japan, if you mention D&D, most people will probably sooner think of the Capcom Beat Em Ups mentioned below than the original tabletop game or Record of Lodoss War.
Just watch any discussion between fans of Xth edition and fans of X+1th edition (or, sometimes, Xth and X.5th).
With a new edition announced, you can bet your sweet bippy the edition wars would begin anew. Fans of 3E rejoiced over 5E, while fans of 4E cried "Ruined!" at the return of Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards. Interestingly, fans of 2E and before often seem to be supportive of 5E, praising its simplified mechanics and focus on rulings over rules.
The 3rd vs. 4th split also goes along with the rise of Pathfinder, which is a further refinement of the 3.5 ruleset and outsold the Dungeons and Dragons brand until 5E was released.
There's a substantial and long-running fan divide between rolling dice for stats on character creation note there are multiple methods in and of itself: roll 4d6 six times, reroll any 1s and remove the lowest; as before but rolling seven times and then removing the lowest score; as before but the group rolls stats and bases their characters off the results; roll 2d6 then add 6; roll 3d8; roll 3d6 down the line and stick to the results; the list goes on or using the point buy system (every stat at 8, players get 27 points to freely distribute). Advocates of point buy argue their method offers players with a preset character concept in mind a chance to play what they want without forcing them into a mould decided by luck, and is also more balanced as players won't get exceptional rolls and dominate the party and players won't get bad rolls and fall by the wayside. Fans of rolling cite the "ritual" aspect of making a character, that point buy lends itself to a degree of Munchkinism and players creating "builds" rather than fleshed-out characters, and that rolling offers an element of improv to creating a character concept.
Controversy arose with the leak, and latter confirmation, of Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica as the first official non-Forgotten Realms setting source-book for Fifth Edition. Some dislike the fact that Wizards chose to go with a setting from Magic: The Gathering rather than one of the classic settings such as Planescape, Dark Sun or Spelljammer, or even created a brand new one. To further complicate matters the book was revealed alongside a smaller $20 PDF-only book focused on Eberron, which was released with the admission that the material contained within was unable to be used in Adventurer's League and that it was still being developed. Combining that with reused art assets from previous editions caused many to feel like Wizards didn't respect their old settings and were forcing the players to pay for playtesting. Other players were happy to see a new setting, believing Ravnica would make for an interesting and unique experience, and that receiving a small Eberron source-book, especially with the promise that the full version would finally contain the finished Artificer, was a good deal. Notably, despite the broken base from the Dungeons & Dragons community, the reaction from the Magic: The Gathering community was far less contentious, with many happy to see the fan-favorite setting getting a dedicated RPG book.
Counterspell is unquestionably the most divisive spells in the history of D&D. It does Exactly What It Says on the Tin: if Counterspell is cast when another spellcaster casts a spell, the enemy spellcaster's spell fizzles out and doesn't work. On one hand, some find Counterspell to be a valuable tool that allows players and DMs to have some level of control over the battlefield, creating dramatic moments where someone may be about to use a game-changing spell only for it be stopped. On the other hand, some find Counterspell ruins any caster's plans if they don't have the ability to get around it, and it tends to cause encounters between classes that have the spell to turn into a back-and-forth counterfest. The divide is made bigger by the difference in views for DMs and players. For a Dungeon Master, Counterspell can cheapen a suspenseful moment if used incorrectly, or it can create a challenge that the DM has to plan around to keep encounters fun. For players, Counterspell either creates great moments where a player saves their party from death with a clutch Counterspell, or it turns the user into a dedicated Counterspell-bot even if they don't want to be. It's so divisive that many YouTube personalities that do D&D content probably have at least one video where they argue in favor or against Counterspell.
Back in the old days, the question of whether female dwarves had beards provoked heated debate in the Dragon magazine forum. In the modern day, the answer is a decisive "no".
Whether evil PCs should be allowed. Those who argue "yes" feel that players should be allowed to play what they want, those who argue "no" say that D&D is about heroic fantasy and feel that evil PCs are disruptive to the group as a whole.
Creator's Pet: Kender are depicted as not just a good race, but the good race. They are presented as curious, playful children with all the associated moral compunctions to those who harm them. It's said that only the Always Chaotic Evil races hate the kender while the "wisest" say that "the world would lose something precious if the kender were ever to leave it". This is the given description for a race that casually rifles through other people's stuff (often sabotaging their own allies by "borrowing" equipment), gets offended when people accuse them of being thieves, and has a strange talent for lying. Yet the books say this behavior is supposed to be endearing. One problem with them is that novelists like kender because they add comic relief and the ability to instigate plot by doing something reckless. The other characters love or at least tolerate the kender because the writers say they do. Conversely, in a tabletop game, having a player who recklessly starts conflicts and/or steals from other players just creates friction, along with causing certain world-building issues — how did this race survive more than one generation, given how much trouble they cause? The Creator's Pet issue is just the cherry on top, essentially telling players that if they object to these annoyances, they are bad people, therefore creating a shield for toxic players to misbehave while insisting they are only playing their characters "as intended". And the problem has unfortunately made its way to 5E as of Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen, though the game devs did try to rebalance and retcon things to mitigate it.
Designated Hero: Depending on the edition and perspective, the Gnomish pantheon can easily come across at this. Gnomes enjoy stories about how their gods got out of sticky situation using their wit and cleverness. From an outside perspective, these stories often seem like the gnomish gods are acting impulsive and careless, and their trickery often leads to more suffering down the line, just not for them. In particular, the story of Kurtulumak and Garl Glittergold, gods of kobolds and gnomes respectively. The story varies between Kobolds and Gnomes, but it always involves Garl trapping Kurtulumak in one of his own traps. Kobolds say this was a malicious act, while the gnomes say Garl just wanted to see if it would work. Either way, Kurtulumak comes across as the wronged party, while Garl gets away scot free There is also Callarduran Smoothhands, who is credited with turning the great elemental Ogrémoch evil by stealing its heart, causing untold suffering from its rampages. Despite all of this, Gnomes are treated as one of the "good" races (in that they are a starting race) while Kobolds are treated as common enemies and playing one often gives more negatives than boons.
Ensemble Dark Horse: The Flumphs. Originally unpopular, being seen as flatulent jellyfish that aren't powerful enough to make a good fight, or evil for the characters to want to fight, they've since become a popular representative for some of 1st edition's more whimsical and charming elements. Many gamers were happy when they brought them back in 5th edition, and given a write-up to make them fun adventuring props.
Some fans of weapon-using classes (I.E. Fighter, Ranger, Rogue, Barbarian, Paladin and Monk) don't get along with some fans of magic-using classes (I.E. Wizard, Sorcerer, Cleric, Bard, Druid and Warlock). Mike Mearls and Monte Cook encourage this, with Mearls taking the side of the Martial classes and Cook taking the side of the Caster classes. Unfortunately, since Cook had a bit of an Auteur License compared to Mearls, this usually leads to Cook making any and all casters into Game BreakingCreator's Pets. Fortunately for Martial fans (and fans of balance in general), Cook left the 5E design team, but not before they could fully remove his trademark of overpowered Wizards, which is still carried into the Unearthed Arcanas granting them even more broken subclass options.
Among the caster classes, there is a slight rivalry between which is the best: Sorcerer, Warlock, or Wizard. Those who enjoy the Sorcerer like the idea of the "power from within" premise, as well as the ability to mold spells and special abilities on the fly, but this group is minimal among 5th Edition players due to their borderline Low-Tier Letdown status. Warlock fans stand by the concept that no one can accomplish grand things alone, as well as the simplicity of the Pact Magic mechanic compared to other classes. They're also not terrible at picking up a sword and fighting. Wizard fans enjoy the classic flavor and the concept of gaining power through hard work. Also, the fact that they can be seen as a Game-Breaker in some circles certainly helps their reputation. That said, most non-Wizard players agree that the Wizard tends to be focused on more than others, and often times request updates/changes to the other classes first.
Fans of other tabletop systems usually tend to be rather hostile to the D&D system, due to it being by far the most well-known, to the point where most people think all tabletop RPGs are justD&D. This makes it hard for fans of other systems to find players and GMs, especially the latter, because most people just want to play/use the aforementioned system.
Fanon Discontinuity: Every edition has inspired Fanon Discontinuity. There is still a very vocal 2nd Edition fanbase that despises the changes wrought in the transition to 3rd, and not a few 1st Edition holdouts who consider 2nd to be a bastardization, and a handful of hardcore grognards who think 1st Edition should never have supplanted "classic" D&D (called it 0E [Zero-E]). The 4th edition gets it the most, and most fans couldn't stand the new alignment system. Players naturally gravitate towards the things that make them more comfortable. Of course, it's not like the books stop working when a new edition comes out, and any really cemented group is going to have lots of house rules anyway, so it's natural that players will remain players, even when they stop buying the new material.
Informed Wrongness: The creation of undead is regularly noted as evil, but it never really detailed what is wrong with creating a non-sentient being through the direction of energy — it just states that anything using negative energy is automatically evil. While some of this can be chalked up to In-Universe reasons, like the idea of violating a person's remains (especially since many resurrection spells require the person's body), the undead being brought back as evil, or that there are so many evil users of undead that it colors the settings perception of them, there isn't a concrete gameplay reason why it is considered evil as long as control is maintained over the undead creatures so that they don't rampage. But because of the stigma around them (both in and out of universe), Necromancers and other undead-focused classes are treated as inherently evil. It gets even worse when golems (which require the enslaving of a sapient being) never have their creation demonized.
LGBT Fanbase: D&D is popular with LGBT players because it allows great flexibility in character creation compared to video games or other forms of games. Gay, lesbian, and bisexual people can play characters with those orientations. Many transgender and nonbinary people consider the game a Closet Key because it allows them to play as the gender they identify as, whether male, female, or something else.
The Demon Lord Graz'zt is theorized to be an archdevil who carved out his own territory in the abyss and decided to reside there, and it is easy to see why. Graz'zt is stunningly intelligent for a demon, plotting and scheming against his fellow demon lords while seeking to take the title of Prince from Demogorgon, and is known for making deals with mortals, as well as being disturbingly charismatic to those he encounters. In one instance, Graz'zt even captured the goddess Waukeen and held her hostage in his nation of Zelatar, even using this to pervert part of her clergy to his own worship later. When he was summoned and imprisoned by the witch Iggwilv, Graz'zt seduced her, with the two having an intense love-hate relationship ever since.
The Witch Queen Iggwilv once manipulated a group of adventurers, seducing her magical master with them, to bind a demon, steal all its forbidden knowledge and then abscond with magical items. Becoming a powerful witch and authority on demons, Iggwilv enslaved a powerful sorcerer to enhance her strength and even bound the aforementioned Graz'zt to her, resulting in a stormy love-hate relationship between the two. Even after being defeated, Iggwilv comes to prominence in Savage Tide when she helps the heroes defeat the Savage Tide and even the monstrous Prince of Demons Demogorgon, only to steal Demogorgon's own essence and use it to revive a kingdom for herself, becoming a new power to be reckoned with.
Memetic Badass: The Tarrasque, which has become a byword for a nigh-unstoppable monster.
More Popular Spin-Off: D&D was originally an add-on to the now-obscure tabletop wargame Chainmail.
Older Than They Think: 5th edition making certain races that were originally "Monster" races is thought of as being something exclusive to 5th edition. It's not - this actually dates back to Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, with fan favourite races such as the Drow and Tiefling having started life as monster-only races.
So wait, most (if not all) of the stars are Eldritch Abominations that want to eat us? And some of them can create avatars of their powers called Star Spawn?
Anytime a player does a perception check and fails is this, especially if the DM says "You see nothing". There still might be something, but the players have no idea what it is or even if it exists.
Gnolls, which are basically humanoid hyenas, have their fair share of furry fans. They've had racial stats across all D&D editions, with the exception of 5th Edition since they had been labeled as "too demonic" by the authors of Volo's Guide to Monsters. This hasn't stopped certain fans from homebrewing hyena races, though.
Popularity Polynomial: Initially only popular among the small wargaming-enthusiast community, D&D quickly became a popular fad among young people of the late 1970s-early 1980s, owing partially to the general increase in popularity of High Fantasy around that time, before becoming mired in highly confused religious controversies that sullied its reputation. Even after the moral panic died down and came to be understood as wrongheaded & silly, the game then developed a reputation as being something which only the very dorkiest of dorks would ever play, what with its complex rules, overly intricate worlds and characters, and association with antisocial shut-ins. D&D scooted along well enough for several decades despite that reputation, but things finally turned around in the 2010s, after the heavily-marketed, well-received release of 5th Edition, the debut of severalpopularpodcasts devoted to playing the game, and a high-profile appearance in the megahit Netflix series Stranger Things, all of which introduced a new generation to the game, and allowed it to finally shed its reputation as a hobby for weird shut-ins in favor of being seen as an exciting and funny social activity.
Spiritual Licensee: Krull was allegedly going to be an official D&D movie, but lost the license partway through development. Gary Gygax denied this, however.
Star Trek Movie Curse: The even-numbered editions, regardless of individual quality, seem to coincide with downturns for the brand:
Second edition happened during Lorraine Williams's controversial tenure as head of TSR, and was known for attempting to avoid the controversy of the Satanic Panic by removing all references to demons and devils. This edition saw D&D lose its position of top-selling RPG for the first time, to Vampire: The Masquerade, and TSR going bankrupt and being bought out by Wizards of the Coast.
After a revival of the brand with 3rd edition and 3.5, 4th edition made a controversial overhaul to gameplay and stands as probably the least popular edition, losing the title of best-selling RPG once again, this time to the 3.5-based Pathfinder.
They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: In January 2023, there were leaks of a draft for a new OGL titled 1.1 to replace the current one, 1.0a, that would grant Wizards of the Coast more control over third-party publications. The reaction was universally negative, with thousands of D&D Beyond subscriptions canceled and multiple third-party publishers announcing their intent to migrate their material to other systems. In the face of the critical and financial backlash, Wizards released a second draft of a new OGL, 1.2, for feedback, which in theory was supposed to be more lenient than 1.1. Even before the survey closed and after receiving immense feedback, they backtracked on the OGL changes (including but not limited to placing the SRD for 5th edition under a Creative Commons license, leaving the current OGL in place, and reaching out to content creators and third-party publishers).
Unintentionally Sympathetic: Kobolds tend to get this, since the lore tends to emphasize their absolute submission to any orders given by a dragon, or in some cases even a dragonborn, raising some questions as to just how responsible for their own actions kobolds really are. While other Henchmen Races, such as goblins, do exist, they tend to be perfectly capable of plotting evil on their own in the absence of a more powerful being giving them orders. Rarely, if ever, will kobolds do anything worse than place booby-traps at the entrance to their homes without direct order to do so.
In-Universe, kender are despised as a race of annoying little pests (except, supposedly, by "the wisest" of course), as you'd kind of expect people to react to a Motor Mouthed tall-tale-telling race of kleptomaniacs. In Real Life, the novelists and game-writers adore them, and readily use them as fits to fill the Plucky Comic Relief and The Heart roles.
Likewise, in the D&D/Dragonlance gaming community, kender have a small niche of fans who utterly adore them, and a larger group who absolutely hate them; as irritating as kender characters may or may not be in the novels, at the gaming table, a kender in the hands of an immature player is a recipe for disaster. They're tailor-made to appeal to The Loonie, and The Roleplayer can be just as bad because the race's fluff actually encouragesChaotic Stupid behavior.
Values Dissonance: The whole notion of Always Chaotic Evil has fallen out of favor in the decades since the game was started. For that reason, newer settings like Iron Kingdoms and Eberron are more likely to make the differences between races more cultural than biological, while older settings maintain more of the original flavor. The presence of Drizzt has retroactively shifted Forgotten Realms in the cultural direction.
Woobie Species: The mongrelfolk are all hideous. While no two look alike, they all look like a bizarre combination of humanoid parts, such as having a troll's head, a hobgoblin's torso, a lizardfolk's legs and so on. Despite this, they are usually pretty nice (their default alignment is Lawful Neutral), yet most people are still afraid of them.
origins
Lawful Neutral), yet most people are still afraid of them.