I say, Dwarves cannot breed with other races because they do not reproduce the same way. Dwarves, in my completely unofficial headcanon, reproduce more like bacteria where the beard grows so large that it becomes a new dwarf. That would explain why dwarves are so protective and proud of their beards, universally, and why female dwarfs are rare in fiction (especially the sorts of fiction that D&D is founded on like Lord of The Rings).
Yeah that makes sense, I might use this some of my campaigns🤷♂️
I voted don’t really care but I do have an opinion. The UA rules do allow for half anything you want but not really. While you can make the features essentially anything you want mechanically you have to make them like one parent or the other and can’t mix the capabilities and features. I’m not happy with that. At the same time I do understand that most half breeds are not going to be very common and as such I don’t see the need to have a bunch of official rules on what each should be - that really is the purview of the DM and the player in conference. In early versions ( with straight up evil races) half elves were typically the product of a love match between an elf and a human while half orcs (& half Drow) were typically the products of forced relationships. To a large extent that split still exists. I can see half dwarves and even Dwelves ( half dwarf, half elf) as additional love match products - especially from adventurer parents - and they shouldn’t be forced to be one or the other mechanically. But I see this as being much more of a DM created build than it ever being introduced officially by WotC. because of this opinion I created my own version of the Dwelf: https://www.dndbeyond.com/races/737314-dwelf
If the game just stuck to the PHB races, I could see them hammering out some rules for mixing features for the various pairings, but given that there's a couple dozen different options at this point, and more undoubtedly on the way, there's no realistic way they could cover all of the possibilities while keeping things balanced and avoiding the kind of crunch you get from systems like Pathfinder, which I'm given to understand does have rules for mixing traits. The current rule is simple, balanced, and leaves the possibilities between the players and the DM.
Remember too that the 1st-level feat everyone is getting in OneD&D can be used to sprinkle in a bit of influence from your other parent. A half-high-elf-human for instance could have human traits, but represent their high elf heritage with Magic Initiate. Alternatively, they could have their traits come from the elven side, but represent their human parent's ingenuity via Skilled. Similarly, a half-orc-human could be mostly human but represent a bit of their orc parent's rowdiness with Tavern Brawler, and a half-dwarf-human could represent their dwarven side with Lightly Armored.
Remember too that the 1st-level feat everyone is getting in OneD&D can be used to sprinkle in a bit of influence from your other parent. A half-high-elf-human for instance could have human traits, but represent their high elf heritage with Magic Initiate. Alternatively, they could have their traits come from the elven side, but represent their human parent's ingenuity via Skilled. Similarly, a half-orc-human could be mostly human but represent a bit of their orc parent's rowdiness with Tavern Brawler, and a half-dwarf-human could represent their dwarven side with Lightly Armored.
Yeah, I’d probably house rule to let you take a racial feat from either parent — if that’s not already explicitly permitted. Playing a human/gnome, and took human as the base racial features, I’d still say you can have fade away. Though since it includes an asi, you couldn’t take it at level 1.
Remember too that the 1st-level feat everyone is getting in OneD&D can be used to sprinkle in a bit of influence from your other parent. A half-high-elf-human for instance could have human traits, but represent their high elf heritage with Magic Initiate. Alternatively, they could have their traits come from the elven side, but represent their human parent's ingenuity via Skilled. Similarly, a half-orc-human could be mostly human but represent a bit of their orc parent's rowdiness with Tavern Brawler, and a half-dwarf-human could represent their dwarven side with Lightly Armored.
Yeah, I’d probably house rule to let you take a racial feat from either parent — if that’s not already explicitly permitted. Playing a human/gnome, and took human as the base racial features, I’d still say you can have fade away. Though since it includes an asi, you couldn’t take it at level 1.
There's bound to be an official rule for that - I don't see them saying Elven Accuracy can only be taken by full-blooded elves for instance.
Yeah that makes sense, I might use this some of my campaigns🤷♂️
I voted don’t really care but I do have an opinion. The UA rules do allow for half anything you want but not really. While you can make the features essentially anything you want mechanically you have to make them like one parent or the other and can’t mix the capabilities and features. I’m not happy with that. At the same time I do understand that most half breeds are not going to be very common and as such I don’t see the need to have a bunch of official rules on what each should be - that really is the purview of the DM and the player in conference. In early versions ( with straight up evil races) half elves were typically the product of a love match between an elf and a human while half orcs (& half Drow) were typically the products of forced relationships. To a large extent that split still exists. I can see half dwarves and even Dwelves ( half dwarf, half elf) as additional love match products - especially from adventurer parents - and they shouldn’t be forced to be one or the other mechanically. But I see this as being much more of a DM created build than it ever being introduced officially by WotC.
because of this opinion I created my own version of the Dwelf: https://www.dndbeyond.com/races/737314-dwelf
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
If the game just stuck to the PHB races, I could see them hammering out some rules for mixing features for the various pairings, but given that there's a couple dozen different options at this point, and more undoubtedly on the way, there's no realistic way they could cover all of the possibilities while keeping things balanced and avoiding the kind of crunch you get from systems like Pathfinder, which I'm given to understand does have rules for mixing traits. The current rule is simple, balanced, and leaves the possibilities between the players and the DM.
Remember too that the 1st-level feat everyone is getting in OneD&D can be used to sprinkle in a bit of influence from your other parent. A half-high-elf-human for instance could have human traits, but represent their high elf heritage with Magic Initiate. Alternatively, they could have their traits come from the elven side, but represent their human parent's ingenuity via Skilled. Similarly, a half-orc-human could be mostly human but represent a bit of their orc parent's rowdiness with Tavern Brawler, and a half-dwarf-human could represent their dwarven side with Lightly Armored.
Yeah, I’d probably house rule to let you take a racial feat from either parent — if that’s not already explicitly permitted. Playing a human/gnome, and took human as the base racial features, I’d still say you can have fade away. Though since it includes an asi, you couldn’t take it at level 1.
There's bound to be an official rule for that - I don't see them saying Elven Accuracy can only be taken by full-blooded elves for instance.
Yeah, the specifically let half-elves take Elven Accuracy, though not the subrace specific feats.