For my games I'd say as long as it is mechanically balanced in the 5th edition ruleset and any houserules I use, go for it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
The game is for fun and imagination. The most fun I've had playing D&D included homebrew or rules from 3.5 and 4th being ported over.
The game is for fun and imagination.
That hasn't stopped a bunch of ideologically possessed morons from wanting to pour their politics into the hobby and ruin the experience for others.
Amazing how frantic they get about the subject of race except of course when people are pissed about a decision ostensibly all about diversity when it is in fact analogous with racist a-holes telling those of us of mixed parentage to pick a race.
And largely failed.
And why I am thankful I am the final arbiter of the games I play.
They can release the most racist homophobic bullcrappery ever and I can take the mechanics and refluff it into the most inclusive friendly game about gay puppies if I wanted.
D&D books are a game engine. I am the game-maker.
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Are they though? Given the ever more modular approach the One D&D is taking, especially with things like custom lineages and more, this isn't the message I am getting. Maybe you're right, maybe you're not. Personally, this seems more of a wait and see kinda thing, and see what they will actually do in their playtest of it, rather than making a big deal - which may be over nothing, given what possible new options their might be to reflect mixed heritage. We may even see a version that is mechanically the same but just named differently.
The One D&D new rule sets will include boxes and sections on how to still use the older PHB stuff with the new stuff - including how to use original races with their new species and so on.
It is also very clear the intention isn't to say biracial anything is bad. They are trying to remove terms that resemble methods, ideologies and similar that have been used or interpreted as discriminative. They have shown their intent on this multiple times so, perhaps, jumping to the conclusion this was intended to be a negative.
Also reminder nothing discussed in the summit was "deadlocked" - everything is going to playtested and open for feedback before being made official, so long as it is constructively and maturely done. It's kinda the point of One D&D.
It has been stated explicitly that that is what a player will have to do.
DO you have the source of that?
Which specific designer said, did they actually show the final product of these rules?
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The funny part is that the racism is the point. Half-elves, half-orcs, half-whatevers, are supposed to be outcasts, not accepted by either race. There is a need by some people to categorize everything. If you fall outside of that category, then you should be forced to conform or be cancelled.
It is certainly a plot point in certain campaigns/settings, but it should not be part of the core rules. It was definitely an important piece of Tanis' backstory, but in other settings nobody cares. In my world, mixes are a testament to tolerance and acceptance between peoples who may have fought each other in centuries or millennia past.
What they should have done is say that they're working on a system to pick and choose traits from parent races. I think people would be fine knowing that they haven't figured it out yet as long as we're told it's coming. Some traits are not on the same tier as other traits, so balancing is required. That's why having half-orcs and half-elves was helpful, since they were already (mostly) balanced.
Doing away with "half-" hybrids is a step in the opposite direction. It reinforces the idea that so many people today struggle with; that being "mixed race" is invalid. That you either belong to your father's race, or your mother's; or worse, that mixed race can't/won't exist because "like can only fall in love with like". This is wrong. This approach to trying to eliminate "racist concepts" is in itself racist and belittling to real world people who are real world mixed race.
The whole reason for the Half Elf and Half Orc in the majority of the DnD settings is they are treated many times as outcasts. The character development and NARRATIVE story is more immersive and dynamic for those half - insert race/species. Tanis Half Elven for example. Beloved character in Dragonlance, when he goes through his struggles, we go through it with him. If you buy into the fantasy setting the races/species mean more than just a background if you don't then they are just cosmetic flavor that mean nothing. If that is what you want at your table then by all means. I say leave the half elfs and half orcs in the new editions (onednd or new 5th edition) and let the players choose what they want to play.
Doing away with "half-" hybrids is a step in the opposite direction. It reinforces the idea that so many people today struggle with; that being "mixed race" is invalid. That you either belong to your father's race, or your mother's; or worse, that mixed race can't/won't exist because "like can only fall in love with like". This is wrong. This approach to trying to eliminate "racist concepts" is in itself racist and belittling to real world people who are real world mixed race.
Shhh: you can't say that: you'll disrupt the sacred hierarchy of grievance; where everything fits neatly into little boxes to be stacked according to whatever criteria of the moment.
Pretending racism doesn't exist is a whole other problem. This method doesn't address the issue, it sweeps it under the rug and pretends it's not there in the hopes that if you pretend long enough, it will go away.
You don't address problems by ignoring them. You address them by actually addressing them. You acknowledge the problem exists. You accept that it is a part of life, and then you commit yourself to correcting the problem. It isn't easy or comfortable, but neither is being a hero in a campaign. A D&D game is actually how I introduced my child to the idea that some people can be hateful just because you're different; and that these people are wrong. I used the game to teach him about unpleasant facts of life in a mild, controlled setting, and then gave him some of the tools he will need in real life when he finds this issue in real life.
If anything, to embrace equality and promote inclusion, there should be more "half-" races, not less.
They quite literally are. The proposed rules for Revised (no longer to be called One D&D) are that you have to pick one, and all your traits have to come from that one. The only way to play a half-elf with the combination of traits they currently have will be to use the old PHB.
And more than likely Adventure League will only allow the revised books.
Really. Go read it. Thoroughly, and with care and attention. Don't skim it, don't blow past it, don't roll your eyes and ignore it because "I know what a half-elf is".
Read. It.
You see what it doesn't do, ever?
It doesn't everd escribe what a half-elf is.
The entire entry describes the half-elf solely in terms of negatives - what the half-elf is not. It's not human, it's not elf, it's not a part of society. Half-elves don't have homes, they don't have cultures, they don't have languages. They aren't, they aren't, they aren't. Nowhere, in the entire entry, does it tell people what a half-elf is save by the omission of what it is not.The entire species entry constructs the entirety of this species solely around the fact that it does not belong, and is outcast and reviled everywhere because of what it is not.
You say "yes! That's the point! That's a really cool story, overcoming the hostility and bigotry of other people and claiming my place as a rightful hero!"
Cool. Guess what? You can put that story down at the end of your D&D game. You can shelve the struggle against being 'Other'd' until next session, go back to being perfectly ordinary and not dealing with it until it's game time again and you have permission to cast mind-manipulating magic on people who don't like you. People who live "I do not belong" every single day of their lives are not as cool with that story. it's not a thrilling exotic fantasy for them - it's their day to day existence and they hate it. They don't want to have to deal with being discriminated against everywhere they go and told they don't belong and should leave in their fantasy story hobby when they get told that very thing every day of their normal lives.
You want to mix up traits from different parent species because you think it's cool? Great. Do that. Work with your DM and homebrew a hybrid stat block. I've done it, like...four times now for both myself and my friends. But you don't get to cram your explicit, intentional exclusionism for the sake of "a good story" down the gobs of people who are sick of their trauma being treated as a carnival ride by the normies.
Let it go. The half-person blocks are leaving, and there's no reason to keep them that outweighs the reasons for getting rid of them. If you want to be a half-person, so sorry - you have to be a whole person instead. One of mingled heritage if you desire, but no more counting as only half a character.
Still unsure if an April Fools joke or not. Definitely seems like one. If real then I guess it's another nail in the coffin of the next iteration. I guess we may have to wait for an official statement to know one way or the other.
Having Half-elves as official races alongside the other twenty elves is stupid. Having just two official "half" races when there are over fifty races is stupid. Making an official race for every combination of races would be stupid. Removing the codified "half" races is a great move.
Really. Go read it. Thoroughly, and with care and attention. Don't skim it, don't blow past it, don't roll your eyes and ignore it because "I know what a half-elf is".
Read. It.
You see what it doesn't do, ever?
It doesn't everd escribe what a half-elf is.
So what you're saying is that they shouldn't have rewritten it so badly. I can agree with that. The description of half-elves was not always bleak. In fact, it used to be fairly positive. The solution isn't to eliminate them, it is to get better writers.
Having Half-elves as official races alongside the other twenty elves is stupid. Having just two official "half" races when there are over fifty races is stupid. Making an official race for every combination of races would be stupid. Removing the codified "half" races is a great move.
It's "stupid" for those of us of ethnic complexity to want to be better represented in the game?
Instead being mixed race means you now can't see it as being both or neither but instead must pick a race?
That happens in the real world and it is disgustingly and disturbingly racist.
Wizards are exemplifying why there are books about the "neo-racism" now rife among those who believe they are saints when it comes to the subject.
Really. Go read it. Thoroughly, and with care and attention. Don't skim it, don't blow past it, don't roll your eyes and ignore it because "I know what a half-elf is".
Read. It.
You see what it doesn't do, ever?
It doesn't everd escribe what a half-elf is.
The entire entry describes the half-elf solely in terms of negatives - what the half-elf is not. It's not human, it's not elf, it's not a part of society. Half-elves don't have homes, they don't have cultures, they don't have languages. They aren't, they aren't, they aren't. Nowhere, in the entire entry, does it tell people what a half-elf is save by the omission of what it is not.The entire species entry constructs the entirety of this species solely around the fact that it does not belong, and is outcast and reviled everywhere because of what it is not.
You say "yes! That's the point! That's a really cool story, overcoming the hostility and bigotry of other people and claiming my place as a rightful hero!"
Cool. Guess what? You can put that story down at the end of your D&D game. You can shelve the struggle against being 'Other'd' until next session, go back to being perfectly ordinary and not dealing with it until it's game time again and you have permission to cast mind-manipulating magic on people who don't like you. People who live "I do not belong" every single day of their lives are not as cool with that story. it's not a thrilling exotic fantasy for them - it's their day to day existence and they hate it. They don't want to have to deal with being discriminated against everywhere they go and told they don't belong and should leave in their fantasy story hobby when they get told that very thing every day of their normal lives.
You want to mix up traits from different parent species because you think it's cool? Great. Do that. Work with your DM and homebrew a hybrid stat block. I've done it, like...four times now for both myself and my friends. But you don't get to cram your explicit, intentional exclusionism for the sake of "a good story" down the gobs of people who are sick of their trauma being treated as a carnival ride by the normies.
Let it go. The half-person blocks are leaving, and there's no reason to keep them that outweighs the reasons for getting rid of them. If you want to be a half-person, so sorry - you have to be a whole person instead. One of mingled heritage if you desire, but no more counting as only half a character.
If only all those mixed race players for whom the half-elf has long resonated and who are now complaining about this decision just realized that you know better ⸮
Really. Go read it. Thoroughly, and with care and attention. Don't skim it, don't blow past it, don't roll your eyes and ignore it because "I know what a half-elf is".
Read. It.
You see what it doesn't do, ever?
It doesn't everd escribe what a half-elf is.
So what you're saying is that they shouldn't have rewritten it so badly. I can agree with that. The description of half-elves was not always bleak. In fact, it used to be fairly positive. The solution isn't to eliminate them, it is to get better writers.
Didn't see the original post here as have this user blocked, but just read the PHB description and it does define a half-elf reasonably well. It's not great, but it does define the racial traits of a half-elf and doesn't do so only through saying what they're not... so that much is inaccurate. Agree it's not written well though and could be improved. Definitely the better option than removing them entirely.
Really. Go read it. Thoroughly, and with care and attention. Don't skim it, don't blow past it, don't roll your eyes and ignore it because "I know what a half-elf is".
Read. It.
You see what it doesn't do, ever?
It doesn't everd escribe what a half-elf is.
The entire entry describes the half-elf solely in terms of negatives - what the half-elf is not. It's not human, it's not elf, it's not a part of society. Half-elves don't have homes, they don't have cultures, they don't have languages. They aren't, they aren't, they aren't. Nowhere, in the entire entry, does it tell people what a half-elf is save by the omission of what it is not.The entire species entry constructs the entirety of this species solely around the fact that it does not belong, and is outcast and reviled everywhere because of what it is not.
You say "yes! That's the point! That's a really cool story, overcoming the hostility and bigotry of other people and claiming my place as a rightful hero!"
Cool. Guess what? You can put that story down at the end of your D&D game. You can shelve the struggle against being 'Other'd' until next session, go back to being perfectly ordinary and not dealing with it until it's game time again and you have permission to cast mind-manipulating magic on people who don't like you. People who live "I do not belong" every single day of their lives are not as cool with that story. it's not a thrilling exotic fantasy for them - it's their day to day existence and they hate it. They don't want to have to deal with being discriminated against everywhere they go and told they don't belong and should leave in their fantasy story hobby when they get told that very thing every day of their normal lives.
You want to mix up traits from different parent species because you think it's cool? Great. Do that. Work with your DM and homebrew a hybrid stat block. I've done it, like...four times now for both myself and my friends. But you don't get to cram your explicit, intentional exclusionism for the sake of "a good story" down the gobs of people who are sick of their trauma being treated as a carnival ride by the normies.
Let it go. The half-person blocks are leaving, and there's no reason to keep them that outweighs the reasons for getting rid of them. If you want to be a half-person, so sorry - you have to be a whole person instead. One of mingled heritage if you desire, but no more counting as only half a character.
You know what many of those of us who are of mixed race must deal with every single day of our lives ?
Having people tell us we must be one or the other. To pick a race. As if we can't be both or be neither. Can't be something else.
I take it you've never heard of third culture kids (TCK) or third culture individuals (TCI)?
The erasure of us is what this decision feels like to me.
You know what many of those of us who are of mixed race must deal with every single day of our lives ?
Having people tell us we must be one or the other. To pick a race. As if we can't be both or be neither. Can't be something else.
Though more often than not, even THAT choice is taken away, and people around you decide you're one and not the other, regardless of how you feel on the matter.
Someone else articulated it better than I could by saying they're essentially erasing the experiences of mixed-race people and treating them as just whatever one of their parents might be.
That happens in the real world. It is racist. How quickly people are prepared to invalidate others' experiences of racism and remain in denial because they've convinced themselves they get to make the rules (no pun intended).
And largely failed.
And why I am thankful I am the final arbiter of the games I play.
They can release the most racist homophobic bullcrappery ever and I can take the mechanics and refluff it into the most inclusive friendly game about gay puppies if I wanted.
D&D books are a game engine. I am the game-maker.
Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond.
Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ this FAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
DO you have the source of that?
Which specific designer said, did they actually show the final product of these rules?
Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond.
Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ this FAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
It is certainly a plot point in certain campaigns/settings, but it should not be part of the core rules. It was definitely an important piece of Tanis' backstory, but in other settings nobody cares. In my world, mixes are a testament to tolerance and acceptance between peoples who may have fought each other in centuries or millennia past.
What they should have done is say that they're working on a system to pick and choose traits from parent races. I think people would be fine knowing that they haven't figured it out yet as long as we're told it's coming. Some traits are not on the same tier as other traits, so balancing is required. That's why having half-orcs and half-elves was helpful, since they were already (mostly) balanced.
Doing away with "half-" hybrids is a step in the opposite direction. It reinforces the idea that so many people today struggle with; that being "mixed race" is invalid. That you either belong to your father's race, or your mother's; or worse, that mixed race can't/won't exist because "like can only fall in love with like". This is wrong. This approach to trying to eliminate "racist concepts" is in itself racist and belittling to real world people who are real world mixed race.
Ongoing Projects: The Mimic Book of Mimics :: SHARK WEEK
Completed Projects: The Trick-or-Treat Table
My Homebrews: Races :: Classes :: Spells :: Items :: Monsters
The whole reason for the Half Elf and Half Orc in the majority of the DnD settings is they are treated many times as outcasts. The character development and NARRATIVE story is more immersive and dynamic for those half - insert race/species. Tanis Half Elven for example. Beloved character in Dragonlance, when he goes through his struggles, we go through it with him. If you buy into the fantasy setting the races/species mean more than just a background if you don't then they are just cosmetic flavor that mean nothing. If that is what you want at your table then by all means. I say leave the half elfs and half orcs in the new editions (onednd or new 5th edition) and let the players choose what they want to play.
Shhh: you can't say that: you'll disrupt the sacred hierarchy of grievance; where everything fits neatly into little boxes to be stacked according to whatever criteria of the moment.
"And another thing!"
Pretending racism doesn't exist is a whole other problem. This method doesn't address the issue, it sweeps it under the rug and pretends it's not there in the hopes that if you pretend long enough, it will go away.
You don't address problems by ignoring them. You address them by actually addressing them. You acknowledge the problem exists. You accept that it is a part of life, and then you commit yourself to correcting the problem. It isn't easy or comfortable, but neither is being a hero in a campaign. A D&D game is actually how I introduced my child to the idea that some people can be hateful just because you're different; and that these people are wrong. I used the game to teach him about unpleasant facts of life in a mild, controlled setting, and then gave him some of the tools he will need in real life when he finds this issue in real life.
If anything, to embrace equality and promote inclusion, there should be more "half-" races, not less.
Ongoing Projects: The Mimic Book of Mimics :: SHARK WEEK
Completed Projects: The Trick-or-Treat Table
My Homebrews: Races :: Classes :: Spells :: Items :: Monsters
And more than likely Adventure League will only allow the revised books.
No Gaming is Better than Bad Gaming.
Read the Half-Elf entry in the R5e PHB.
Really. Go read it. Thoroughly, and with care and attention. Don't skim it, don't blow past it, don't roll your eyes and ignore it because "I know what a half-elf is".
Read. It.
You see what it doesn't do, ever?
It doesn't everd escribe what a half-elf is.
The entire entry describes the half-elf solely in terms of negatives - what the half-elf is not. It's not human, it's not elf, it's not a part of society. Half-elves don't have homes, they don't have cultures, they don't have languages. They aren't, they aren't, they aren't. Nowhere, in the entire entry, does it tell people what a half-elf is save by the omission of what it is not. The entire species entry constructs the entirety of this species solely around the fact that it does not belong, and is outcast and reviled everywhere because of what it is not.
You say "yes! That's the point! That's a really cool story, overcoming the hostility and bigotry of other people and claiming my place as a rightful hero!"
Cool. Guess what? You can put that story down at the end of your D&D game. You can shelve the struggle against being 'Other'd' until next session, go back to being perfectly ordinary and not dealing with it until it's game time again and you have permission to cast mind-manipulating magic on people who don't like you. People who live "I do not belong" every single day of their lives are not as cool with that story. it's not a thrilling exotic fantasy for them - it's their day to day existence and they hate it. They don't want to have to deal with being discriminated against everywhere they go and told they don't belong and should leave in their fantasy story hobby when they get told that very thing every day of their normal lives.
You want to mix up traits from different parent species because you think it's cool? Great. Do that. Work with your DM and homebrew a hybrid stat block. I've done it, like...four times now for both myself and my friends. But you don't get to cram your explicit, intentional exclusionism for the sake of "a good story" down the gobs of people who are sick of their trauma being treated as a carnival ride by the normies.
Let it go. The half-person blocks are leaving, and there's no reason to keep them that outweighs the reasons for getting rid of them. If you want to be a half-person, so sorry - you have to be a whole person instead. One of mingled heritage if you desire, but no more counting as only half a character.
Please do not contact or message me.
Still unsure if an April Fools joke or not. Definitely seems like one. If real then I guess it's another nail in the coffin of the next iteration. I guess we may have to wait for an official statement to know one way or the other.
Having Half-elves as official races alongside the other twenty elves is stupid. Having just two official "half" races when there are over fifty races is stupid. Making an official race for every combination of races would be stupid. Removing the codified "half" races is a great move.
So what you're saying is that they shouldn't have rewritten it so badly. I can agree with that. The description of half-elves was not always bleak. In fact, it used to be fairly positive. The solution isn't to eliminate them, it is to get better writers.
It's "stupid" for those of us of ethnic complexity to want to be better represented in the game?
Instead being mixed race means you now can't see it as being both or neither but instead must pick a race?
That happens in the real world and it is disgustingly and disturbingly racist.
Wizards are exemplifying why there are books about the "neo-racism" now rife among those who believe they are saints when it comes to the subject.
If only all those mixed race players for whom the half-elf has long resonated and who are now complaining about this decision just realized that you know better ⸮
Didn't see the original post here as have this user blocked, but just read the PHB description and it does define a half-elf reasonably well. It's not great, but it does define the racial traits of a half-elf and doesn't do so only through saying what they're not... so that much is inaccurate. Agree it's not written well though and could be improved. Definitely the better option than removing them entirely.
You know what many of those of us who are of mixed race must deal with every single day of our lives ?
Having people tell us we must be one or the other. To pick a race. As if we can't be both or be neither. Can't be something else.
I take it you've never heard of third culture kids (TCK) or third culture individuals (TCI)?
The erasure of us is what this decision feels like to me.
Though more often than not, even THAT choice is taken away, and people around you decide you're one and not the other, regardless of how you feel on the matter.
Ongoing Projects: The Mimic Book of Mimics :: SHARK WEEK
Completed Projects: The Trick-or-Treat Table
My Homebrews: Races :: Classes :: Spells :: Items :: Monsters
I am a third culture individual (TCI).
For a living I teach third culture kids (TCK).
It beggars belief how willfully ignorant people want to be about why this decision is being seen by many as racist.
Fight fire with fire and fight racism with more racism.
Ongoing Projects: The Mimic Book of Mimics :: SHARK WEEK
Completed Projects: The Trick-or-Treat Table
My Homebrews: Races :: Classes :: Spells :: Items :: Monsters
Someone else articulated it better than I could by saying they're essentially erasing the experiences of mixed-race people and treating them as just whatever one of their parents might be.
That happens in the real world. It is racist. How quickly people are prepared to invalidate others' experiences of racism and remain in denial because they've convinced themselves they get to make the rules (no pun intended).