D&D has half-orc and half-elf. How interested are you in half-dwarf? Drawves are much more similar to humans than orc, and elves have otherworldly magic qualities. In my opinion, a half-dwarf would be the next best half-human option. But there are some problems as well.
The 2024 rules revision is going to contain mechanics to allow folks to make Half-anything playable species, so this is something that will be mechanically supported later this year.
The 2024 Core Rules revision referred as One D&D currently has a way to handle Children of Different Humanoid Kinds that can accomodate various possibilities in a very simple way. It's still in playtest though so whether it makes it to final print has yet to be seen.
Children of Different Humanoid Kinds: Thanks to the magical workings of the multiverse, Humanoids of different kinds sometimes have children together. For example, folk who have a human parent and an orc or an elf parent are particularly common. Many other combinations are possible. If you’d like to play the child of such a wondrous pairing, choose two Race options that are Humanoid to represent your parents. Then determine which of those Race options provides your game traits: Size, Speed, and special traits. You can then mix and match visual characteristics—color, ear shape, and the like—of the two options. For example, if your character has a halfling and a gnome parent, you might choose Halfling for your game traits and then decide that your character has the pointed ears that are characteristic of a gnome. Finally, determine the average of the two options’ Life Span traits to figure out how long your character might live. For example, a child of a halfling and a gnome has an average life span of 288 years.
In the Dark Sun setting, they were called muls. It would be funny if 5.5 ended up with only them as a mechanically distinct half-species.
Yeah. Wizards would have to change the lore quite a bit if they ever decided to implement them back into the game.
I don’t see them doing that. Wizards is definitely moving away from mechanically distinct half-species, and the name has got to go (it basically means “mule”).
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I really like D&D, especially Ravenloft, Exandria and the Upside Down from Stranger Things. My pronouns are she/they (genderfae).
Of the core races, only elves really offer a way to explore the implications of such a union via race features, and that’s partly grounded in FR lore; per FR the elven trance is extremely significant to the cycle of elven souls, and thus the fact that half elves don’t trance raises some significant questions about their spiritual identity. Thus I feel like there’s still narrative value in half elves as a discrete option rather than the upcoming mechanically hands off approach, but in general I think it’s the best way to allow mixed race characters without getting into the messiness of trying to codify the implications in mechanical terms.
In the Dark Sun setting, they were called muls. It would be funny if 5.5 ended up with only them as a mechanically distinct half-species.
Yeah. Wizards would have to change the lore quite a bit if they ever decided to implement them back into the game.
I don’t see them doing that. Wizards is definitely moving away from mechanically distinct half-species, and the name has got to go (it basically means “mule”).
Honestly, they've probably decided Dark Sun has too many issues for integrating into their current direction for D&D. They'd have to give it a massive overhaul to make it fit, at which point all the old school fans of the setting (aka, the target audience) would be somewhat understandably upset that most of the iconic elements of the setting are gone.
Honestly, they've probably decided Dark Sun has too many issues for integrating into their current direction for D&D. They'd have to give it a massive overhaul to make it fit, at which point all the old school fans of the setting (aka, the target audience) would be somewhat understandably upset that most of the iconic elements of the setting are gone.
It’s a shame. I’ve heard folks here talk about the possibility of outsourcing the world to a 3rd party like Kobold Press, who could write Dark Sun without causing the same amount of controversy. They’d still have to remove some things, of course, like the circumstances around the muls’ birth, but it’d be closer to the original than any other option.
Honestly, they've probably decided Dark Sun has too many issues for integrating into their current direction for D&D. They'd have to give it a massive overhaul to make it fit, at which point all the old school fans of the setting (aka, the target audience) would be somewhat understandably upset that most of the iconic elements of the setting are gone.
It’s a shame. I’ve heard folks here talk about the possibility of outsourcing the world to a 3rd party like Kobold Press, who could write Dark Sun without causing the same amount of controversy. They’d still have to remove some things, of course, like the circumstances around the muls’ birth, but it’d be closer to the original than any other option.
It’d never happen, but it’s a nice idea :)
Honestly, I could kinda see outsourcing it working; it's not an official D&D product that way, might give them the remove to say "this isn't the direction we personally want to take the game in, but it's an option for the fans who like this classic setting".
I'm interested in half-everything. Thankfully as Caerwyn mentioned, that's what we're getting!
Shrug....as I have been told oh so many times, a DM can run D&D any way that DM chooses. So you will get that if the DM allows it. No one can stop a DM from allowing chars that are created from a grey amorphous mass. By the same token, no one can stop a DM from refusing to allow that.
To my mind, it's a terrible idea. Simply do away with the half-races. You play and elf, or a human, or an orc. If a human and an orc have a lovechild, it becomes either a human or an orc. Done and dusted. Because otherwise it just never ends: Oh, but what about orc/elf, or gnome/ogre, or goblin/halfling. No, the boot has to come down to stop the madness before it spreads.
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Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
To my mind, it's a terrible idea. Simply do away with the half-races. You play and elf, or a human, or an orc. If a human and an orc have a lovechild, it becomes either a human or an orc. Done and dusted. Because otherwise it just never ends: Oh, but what about orc/elf, or gnome/ogre, or goblin/halfling. No, the boot has to come down to stop the madness before it spreads.
Thats exactly what WotC said they’re going to do with One D&D.
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I really like D&D, especially Ravenloft, Exandria and the Upside Down from Stranger Things. My pronouns are she/they (genderfae).
Using the suggested method for characters of mixed heritage in UA1, a character with mixed dwarf and human parentage could, for example, be built as a human who takes the Tough and Crafter feats at level 1. Alternatively, you could build them as a dwarf who’s a few inches taller than average and has, perhaps, the Skilled feat to represent that strain of human versatility.
Yeah! I think this is the way of the future. As I wrap my mind around that, I wonder the following. Is that going to make the half-elf and half-orc races obsolete? (So that people instead ought to be using the half-anything mechanic for their race.)
Yeah! I think this is the way of the future. As I wrap my mind around that, I wonder the following. Is that going to make the half-elf and half-orc races obsolete? (So that people instead ought to be using the half-anything mechanic for their race.)
As per the first 1D&D Unearthed Arcana article, the Half-Elf and Half-Orc are no longer options in the 2024 PHB. The Orc and the Goliath are in instead.
It looks like that change had been in the offing for some time. Where example characters have featured in recent books (at least since Tasha’s), the Half-Elf and Half-Orc have been conspicuously absent. The Orc instead has often appeared despite the other illustrated characters all having races from the PHB.
Thats exactly what WotC said they’re going to do with One D&D.
Oh. How unusual. No one ever really seems to agree with me about anything =)
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Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
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D&D has half-orc and half-elf. How interested are you in half-dwarf? Drawves are much more similar to humans than orc, and elves have otherworldly magic qualities. In my opinion, a half-dwarf would be the next best half-human option. But there are some problems as well.
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"Be the change you wish to see in the world." - Mahatma Gandhi
The 2024 rules revision is going to contain mechanics to allow folks to make Half-anything playable species, so this is something that will be mechanically supported later this year.
In the Dark Sun setting, they were called muls. It would be funny if 5.5 ended up with only them as a mechanically distinct half-species.
Expanded 5e Spelljammer Cosmology
The 2024 Core Rules revision referred as One D&D currently has a way to handle Children of Different Humanoid Kinds that can accomodate various possibilities in a very simple way. It's still in playtest though so whether it makes it to final print has yet to be seen.
Yeah. Wizards would have to change the lore quite a bit if they ever decided to implement them back into the game.
Terra Lubridia archive:
The Bloody Barnacle | The Gut | The Athene Crusader | The Jewel of Atlantis
I don’t see them doing that. Wizards is definitely moving away from mechanically distinct half-species, and the name has got to go (it basically means “mule”).
I really like D&D, especially Ravenloft, Exandria and the Upside Down from Stranger Things. My pronouns are she/they (genderfae).
I'm interested in half-everything. Thankfully as Caerwyn mentioned, that's what we're getting!
Of the core races, only elves really offer a way to explore the implications of such a union via race features, and that’s partly grounded in FR lore; per FR the elven trance is extremely significant to the cycle of elven souls, and thus the fact that half elves don’t trance raises some significant questions about their spiritual identity. Thus I feel like there’s still narrative value in half elves as a discrete option rather than the upcoming mechanically hands off approach, but in general I think it’s the best way to allow mixed race characters without getting into the messiness of trying to codify the implications in mechanical terms.
I'm pretty happy with the way One D&D is handling hybrid races.
Certainly beats whatever the hell they were thinking when they wrote Dark Sun.
Honestly, they've probably decided Dark Sun has too many issues for integrating into their current direction for D&D. They'd have to give it a massive overhaul to make it fit, at which point all the old school fans of the setting (aka, the target audience) would be somewhat understandably upset that most of the iconic elements of the setting are gone.
It’s a shame. I’ve heard folks here talk about the possibility of outsourcing the world to a 3rd party like Kobold Press, who could write Dark Sun without causing the same amount of controversy. They’d still have to remove some things, of course, like the circumstances around the muls’ birth, but it’d be closer to the original than any other option.
It’d never happen, but it’s a nice idea :)
Terra Lubridia archive:
The Bloody Barnacle | The Gut | The Athene Crusader | The Jewel of Atlantis
Honestly, I could kinda see outsourcing it working; it's not an official D&D product that way, might give them the remove to say "this isn't the direction we personally want to take the game in, but it's an option for the fans who like this classic setting".
Shrug....as I have been told oh so many times, a DM can run D&D any way that DM chooses. So you will get that if the DM allows it. No one can stop a DM from allowing chars that are created from a grey amorphous mass. By the same token, no one can stop a DM from refusing to allow that.
The official book saying something is allowed makes the DM approving it much more likely, hence my celebration.
To my mind, it's a terrible idea. Simply do away with the half-races. You play and elf, or a human, or an orc. If a human and an orc have a lovechild, it becomes either a human or an orc. Done and dusted. Because otherwise it just never ends: Oh, but what about orc/elf, or gnome/ogre, or goblin/halfling. No, the boot has to come down to stop the madness before it spreads.
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
Thats exactly what WotC said they’re going to do with One D&D.
I really like D&D, especially Ravenloft, Exandria and the Upside Down from Stranger Things. My pronouns are she/they (genderfae).
Using the suggested method for characters of mixed heritage in UA1, a character with mixed dwarf and human parentage could, for example, be built as a human who takes the Tough and Crafter feats at level 1. Alternatively, you could build them as a dwarf who’s a few inches taller than average and has, perhaps, the Skilled feat to represent that strain of human versatility.
Yeah! I think this is the way of the future. As I wrap my mind around that, I wonder the following. Is that going to make the half-elf and half-orc races obsolete? (So that people instead ought to be using the half-anything mechanic for their race.)
As per the first 1D&D Unearthed Arcana article, the Half-Elf and Half-Orc are no longer options in the 2024 PHB. The Orc and the Goliath are in instead.
It looks like that change had been in the offing for some time. Where example characters have featured in recent books (at least since Tasha’s), the Half-Elf and Half-Orc have been conspicuously absent. The Orc instead has often appeared despite the other illustrated characters all having races from the PHB.
Oh. How unusual. No one ever really seems to agree with me about anything =)
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.