Quote:
Originally Posted by phayman53
I am either misunderstanding a nuance or have noticed a somewhat inconsistent use of racial disadvantages between racial templates in supplements. Some monster races have Social Stigma (Monster) [-15] and others have Odious Racial Habit (Eats Other Sapients). Basic Set says that large, dangerous predators should have Social Stigma (Monster), such as vampires and bears. But this seems to be because they eat sapient beings, so Social Stigma (Monster) and Odious Racial Habit (Eats other Sapients) seem to cover a lot of the same ground. What is the difference and should they ever be used together?
For instance, should a race of Tolkien-like orcs have Social Stigma (Monster) or Odious Racial Habit (Eats other Sapients)? Or should they have both--or maybe Social Stigma (Barbarian) and Odious Racial Habit (Eats other Sapients)?
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As I see it, in order to have Social Stigma (Monster), one must first be readily identifiable as not human but of a race that that people will assume based on just looking at them as liable to attack without provocation. No matter how intelligent the race may be, it is treated as a dangerous animal and killing them is not regarded a murder. This has nothing to do with whether they eat the people they attack but if they do eat people then I wouldn't think that this would have a lot of impact on people's reaction to them. Odious Racial Habit is for people who are regarded as people. Terrible, terrible people.