Humans could be the Elder Folk, the Root Race (in a given campaign). The demihumans would all be human offshoots. The beastmen: centaurs, satyrs, minotaurs, etc. would have derived from divine curses or magical hybridization of humans and animals.
First, "demihuman" hasn't been used in D&D since 2nd Edition. Second, in practically every D&D world except Dragonlance, humans are a young race that came into being well after races like elves, orcs, and dwarves. In Dragonlance they're one of the three original races created by the gods at the beginning of time (the other two being gnomes and the original ogres, which were beautiful and intelligent before becoming corrupted by evil), and all other races came into being as a result of magic, primarily caused by the Chaos Gem mutating different races.
Quick correction. It's not only Dragonlance where Humans are one of the original races. In 5e, I believe they are one of the original races (before the gods) in the following settings:
Forgotten Realms (there were 5 founder races, humans were one of them), Theros, Ravnica, Eberron, and technically Ravenloft.
Humans could be the Elder Folk, the Root Race (in a given campaign). The demihumans would all be human offshoots. The beastmen: centaurs, satyrs, minotaurs, etc. would have derived from divine curses or magical hybridization of humans and animals.
First, "demihuman" hasn't been used in D&D since 2nd Edition. Second, in practically every D&D world except Dragonlance, humans are a young race that came into being well after races like elves, orcs, and dwarves. In Dragonlance they're one of the three original races created by the gods at the beginning of time (the other two being gnomes and the original ogres, which were beautiful and intelligent before becoming corrupted by evil), and all other races came into being as a result of magic, primarily caused by the Chaos Gem mutating different races.
Quick correction. It's not only Dragonlance where Humans are one of the original races. In 5e, I believe they are one of the original races (before the gods) in the following settings:
Forgotten Realms (there were 5 founder races, humans were one of them), Theros, Ravnica, Eberron, and technically Ravenloft.
Humans weren't a founder race in Eberron or the Forgotten Realms- in both settings the worlds had existed for thousands of years with empires of dragons, giants, elves, and in the case of Eberron, orcs and goblins rising and falling before the first humans arrived. You're correct about Theros and Ravnica, though.
Greyhawk: indeterminate/murky origins and prehistory of humans and several other major races. The Olven calendar does run very far back, though. I think GH lore is vague enough that one can reasonably argue either way for this setting.
FR: Humans are one of the Creator Races, and predate most of not all demihumans as inhabitants of Toril. Humans were not the dominant race until later, but they are a very ancient species.
Dragonlance: humans a very old race, one of the root races created by the gods
Dark Sun: Halflings are the Ancients, ancestors of several humanoid types, including humans.
Ravenloft: humans were present at the 'creation', before demihumans arrived in any significant numbers
Spelljammer: hard to say with a meta-setting like this
Planescape: ditto
Mystara: Somebody else can likely provide a better answer than I for this setting. But I do know humans (specifically Neanderthals) are older than the Dwarves and various humanoid monster races. Definitely older than Gnomes.
Humans could be the Elder Folk, the Root Race (in a given campaign). The demihumans would all be human offshoots. The beastmen: centaurs, satyrs, minotaurs, etc. would have derived from divine curses or magical hybridization of humans and animals.
First, "demihuman" hasn't been used in D&D since 2nd Edition. Second, in practically every D&D world except Dragonlance, humans are a young race that came into being well after races like elves, orcs, and dwarves. In Dragonlance they're one of the three original races created by the gods at the beginning of time (the other two being gnomes and the original ogres, which were beautiful and intelligent before becoming corrupted by evil), and all other races came into being as a result of magic, primarily caused by the Chaos Gem mutating different races.
Quick correction. It's not only Dragonlance where Humans are one of the original races. In 5e, I believe they are one of the original races (before the gods) in the following settings:
Forgotten Realms (there were 5 founder races, humans were one of them), Theros, Ravnica, Eberron, and technically Ravenloft.
Humans weren't a founder race in Eberron or the Forgotten Realms- in both settings the worlds had existed for thousands of years with empires of dragons, giants, elves, and in the case of Eberron, orcs and goblins rising and falling before the first humans arrived. You're correct about Theros and Ravnica, though.
Humans were one of the founder races in the Forgotten Realms. Also, humans didn't arrive in Khorvaire for a long time, but they were in Sarlona for thousands of years, if my knowledge is correct.
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I don't really have a stake in hard core lore fights, but I'll put in my cents:
I think it may be the case that humans were one of the creator races in specific Prime Material words, as discussed by ThirdSundering: Faerun, Ravenica etc.
However, I think the lore at least in MToF, it's implied when elves arrived in these varied prime material worlds (as well as the Shadowfell and Feywild), they had already been in existence for quite some time. So they may be new arrivals, but actually more ancient a species. (Sort of like the race Gandalf and Sarumen come from, sure humans were "there" on Middle Earth prior to their arrival, but the wizards were on a more geologic timeline).
As long as we all agree Tortles are a the stabilized result of a toxic supernatural industrial accident, we're good. Tabaxi the same.
I should add that my recollection of the Savage Frontier was a bit off. The Creator Races are described vaguely in that book and it isn't clear that humanity is one of them. Later sources clarify that it indeed was.
I don't really have a stake in hard core lore fights, but I'll put in my cents:
I think it may be the case that humans were one of the creator races in specific Prime Material words, as discussed by ThirdSundering: Faerun, Ravenica etc.
However, I think the lore at least in MToF, it's implied when elves arrived in these varied prime material worlds (as well as the Shadowfell and Feywild), they had already been in existence for quite some time. So they may be new arrivals, but actually more ancient a species. (Sort of like the race Gandalf and Sarumen come from, sure humans were "there" on Middle Earth prior to their arrival, but the wizards were on a more geologic timeline).
As long as we all agree Tortles are a the stabilized result of a toxic supernatural industrial accident, we're good. Tabaxi the same.
Kewl beans.
I'm not here to lore-battle, not really.
I think "humans are a young race, recently created/developed/arrived from someplace else" is a perfectly good idea. I've used it myself in homebrew.
In my campaign setting, humans and hin (halflings) are the mongrel get of Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes, Orcs, Goblins, and Hobgoblins all interbreeding before a powerful geas was placed on the world making it so the races would only mate with those “of the blood.” So everyone will mate with Humans and Hin, but not with each other. The very word “humie” means “mongrel” in the Orcish tongue.
Bugbears are specifically an interbreeding of Orcs and Hobgoblins, so those races will both breed with them. Ogres are a breeding between Bugbears and Giants, and Ogrillon specifically interbreeding of Ogres and Orcs/Hobgoblins/Bugbears/Humans (since Ogres have both Orc and Hobgoblin blood).
Okay, in D&D 5e, there are a lot of races that could have hybrids with each other. Here's the main group that are more likely to be able to mate with one another:
Humans
Elves
Dwarves
Halflings
Gnomes
Orcs
Goliaths
Changelings
Shifters
Kalashtar
Goblins
Hobgoblins
Verdan
Firbolg
Aasimar
Tieflings
Genasi
Here's the list of races that possibly could breed with the ones listed above, but are probably less likely to be able to:
Vedalken
Simic Hybrids
Satyrs
Tabaxi
Leonin
Bugbears
Tritons
Loxodon
Minotaurs
Yuan-Ti Pureblood
Here are the races that almost definitely cannot breed with the main group listed above:
Locathah
Grung
Lizardfolk
Gith
Aarakocra
Kenku
Dragonborn
Kobolds
Tortles
Warforged
Centaurs
Of the less likely races to have hybrids with the main group, certain ones of them could probably breed with other races, like Leonin and Tabaxi, Gith and Tritons, or Orcs and Bugbears. These races could be capable of breeding with some of the other races of different groups, but certainly not all of them.
Additionally, there are probably some races in the "almost definitely not breeding with the main group" category that can breed with other races, like Kobolds, Dragonborn, and Lizardfolk, and possibly Kenku and Aarakocra. There are also some races that almost definitely cannot breed with any other official playable race in D&D 5e, like Grung, Warforged, Locathah, Tortles, and Centaurs.
So, I propose a fairly simple solution to making these half-races.
First, choose the two main races you are descended from from the following list. Your size is the same size as the tallest of your parent races. Choose one ability score associated with either parent race to gain a +2 bonus in that ability score and another ability score from the other parent race to gain a +1 bonus to. If a parent race has a subrace, this instead becomes a +1 to 2 ability scores of your choice associated with a parent race. You may not gain a +3 bonus to one ability score from your chosen ability scores or subrace. If either parent race has darkvision, you gain darkvision 60 feet. You gain the languages of both parent races (if a parent race has no extra language, you gain one language of your choice). If more than one parent race gains a damage resistance, you gain both damage resistances, up to two of your choice (to prevent aasimar-dwarves from getting 3 damage resistances). If a parent race has a subrace, you choose one to gain the features of. If both parent races have a subrace, you can only choose one subrace total, but it can be from either parent race. If your two parent races have 2 different speeds, you have the highest speed of the two. Also, if either parent races give skills, you also gain any skill of your choice from either parent race, granting up to two skills. Additionally, choose any one feature from each parent race to gain. The features may not increase ability scores, grant skills, resistances, or languages, and if you would gain two features that would allow you to cast spells, you may only gain one of those features.
Humans | Choose any ability score
Elves | Choose Dexterity
Dwarves | Constitution
Halflings | Dexterity
Gnomes | Intelligence
Orcs | Constitution or Strength
Goliaths | Constitution or Strength
Changelings | Charisma
Shifters | Any ability score except Intelligence
Kalashtar | Wisdom or Charisma
Goblins | Dexterity or Constitution
Hobgoblins | Constitution or Intelligence
Verdan | Constitution or Charisma
Firbolg | Strength or Wisdom
Aasimar | Charisma
Tieflings | Charisma
Genasi | Constitution
The formatting could use some work, as could the language, but that's the basic idea. Essentially, instead of making individual races for each combination, you get to mix and match whatever two of these races you want. Individual races would be restricted by setting, so you can't play a half-kalashtar, half-verdan in a Ravnica campaign. There would also be other possible hybrid races, like kobold-dragonborn, but there aren't enough combinations for those to warrant a whole system like this. Just creating races for those hybrids would probably work better.
I hope that you guys like the idea behind this system. This took awhile to write up.
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In my campaign setting, humans and hin (halflings) are the mongrel get of Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes, Orcs, Goblins, and Hobgoblins all interbreeding before a powerful geas was placed on the world making it so the races would only mate with those “of the blood.” So everyone will mate with Humans and Hin, but not with each other. The very word “humie” means “mongrel” in the Orcish tongue.
Bugbears are specifically an interbreeding of Orcs and Hobgoblins, so those races will both breed with them. Ogres are a breeding between Bugbears and Giants, and Ogrillon specifically interbreeding of Ogres and Orcs/Hobgoblins/Bugbears/Humans (since Ogres have both Orc and Hobgoblin blood).
But why? And why would bugbears be the exception to the geas?
The over emphasis on humanoids is a shortcoming of the game design, but many of these chimerical races are not mixed with humans. The frequency of human interbreeding it probably attribute by the over population of humans in most D&D settings. While the players may choose every flavor of race hidden in the books, the actual composition of most settings population is broadly human.
Humans are also more prone to interact with more races. Certain races have religious and cultural feuds which put them at odds, while some may simply be uncompatible. Elves for instance are fairly infertile, accounting for their low population despite their longevity.
There's also the possibility of dominate race over representation. Magical races don't have to have an even representation of traits when they comingle. A half Dragon might wildly over represent dragon traits, and magical species might result in offspring that are visibly indistinct from one species, but have some magical lineage due to ancestry, this is apparent in certain sorcerers and such.
There's plenty of good and arbitrary reasons why other half races aren't represented, but ultimately, I think most ppl want original races rather than an exponential amount of mixed races. If you look at something like Elves, they are diversified by climate rather than comingling, it's important not to reduce fantasy origin to breeding.
I eliminated the "half" races from my game and made them feats you could take instead (everyone in my campaign gets a feat at first level). So, there's:
Fey Ancestry (instead of half-elf)
Infernal Ancestry (instead of tiefling)
Primal Ancestry (instead of Gensai)
Orcish Ancestry (instead of half-orc)
This eliminates the "why is it just half-humans" issue. You want to make a half-elf/half-dwarf? Just make a dwarf character and take the Fey Ancestry feat. I think it works out pretty well.
Wouldn't that make half-elf/half-dwarf a more powerful character than a full elf or full dwarf?
Actually it makes them likely less powerful, since to be a mixed race, they have to give up the option of taking some other feat. They will always be down one feat compared to a pureblood.
I mean, if I've balanced my feats correctly, the mixed race dwarf/elf and the the dwarf who takes Great Weapon Master or whatever should be equal.
I think that regardless of the situation, Humans being an original race and humans being a new race the argument could be made for humans being able to breed with everything. If humans are an origin race, then it would make sense that everything else would be created/evolve to be able to procreate with them. Alternatively if humans are a new race, it would make as much sense for them to have been created/evolved in a way such that they can procreate with everything, especially given their much shorter lifespan compared to other races like elves and giants. Its like flowers that are able to pollinate with themselves and also other types of flowers.
That being said, I think its up to the DM fully whether or not other half races exist in the world. Likening everything to traditional DND lore is like asking why there is no harry potter magic in my lord of the rings story. It would also be wrong to say that humans are the only ones that make half breeds, as Third Sundering as said previously.
I think the reason there aren't any non-half humans mechanically within 5e is for simplicity, because like it or hate it, 5e is a much simpler version of the game then the previous few.
In my campaign setting, humans and hin (halflings) are the mongrel get of Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes, Orcs, Goblins, and Hobgoblins all interbreeding before a powerful geas was placed on the world making it so the races would only mate with those “of the blood.” So everyone will mate with Humans and Hin, but not with each other. The very word “humie” means “mongrel” in the Orcish tongue.
Bugbears are specifically an interbreeding of Orcs and Hobgoblins, so those races will both breed with them. Ogres are a breeding between Bugbears and Giants, and Ogrillon specifically interbreeding of Ogres and Orcs/Hobgoblins/Bugbears/Humans (since Ogres have both Orc and Hobgoblin blood).
But why? And why would bugbears be the exception to the geas?
Because I though it was cool that Humans were the “mutts” of the the humanoid races.
Bugbears are not an exception. Bugbears have both Orc and Hobgoblin blood. So anything that has either is allowed under the geas. Since they had already bred with Giants prior to the geas, the resultant offspring being Ogres. Since the other races that have either/both Orc and/or Hobgoblin genetics are Orcs, Hobgoblins, Humans, Hin, Bugbears, Ogres, and Ogrillon, therefore Bugbears can mate with any of them.
In my campaign setting, humans and hin (halflings) are the mongrel get of Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes, Orcs, Goblins, and Hobgoblins all interbreeding before a powerful geas was placed on the world making it so the races would only mate with those “of the blood.” So everyone will mate with Humans and Hin, but not with each other. The very word “humie” means “mongrel” in the Orcish tongue.
Bugbears are specifically an interbreeding of Orcs and Hobgoblins, so those races will both breed with them. Ogres are a breeding between Bugbears and Giants, and Ogrillon specifically interbreeding of Ogres and Orcs/Hobgoblins/Bugbears/Humans (since Ogres have both Orc and Hobgoblin blood).
But why? And why would bugbears be the exception to the geas?
Because I though it was cool that Humans were the “mutts” of the the humanoid races.
Bugbears are not an exception. Bugbears have both Orc and Hobgoblin blood. So anything that has either is allowed under the geas. Since they had already bred with Giants prior to the geas, the resultant offspring being Ogres. Since the other races that have either/both Orc and/or Hobgoblin genetics are Orcs, Hobgoblins, Humans, Hin, Bugbears, Ogres, and Ogrillon, therefore Bugbears can mate with any of them.
The way you wrote it was very unclear that some races could still interbreed which makes it a bit weird that bugbears would be the exception.
Also very unclear why someone would care enough about interracial buggery to cast a literal reality-altering geas on the whole of creation...
Ahh. Yes, any race that has “blood” with another race can still interbreed with that race. (Since all of those races went into making humans for example, humans can mate with any of them.)
It is unclear isn’t it. Imagine how much less clear it is to the people of that world who have no idea that they are under that geas.... Wouldn’t that be a fine mystery for an intrepid party of adventurers to solve?
Quick correction. It's not only Dragonlance where Humans are one of the original races. In 5e, I believe they are one of the original races (before the gods) in the following settings:
Forgotten Realms (there were 5 founder races, humans were one of them), Theros, Ravnica, Eberron, and technically Ravenloft.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
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Humans weren't a founder race in Eberron or the Forgotten Realms- in both settings the worlds had existed for thousands of years with empires of dragons, giants, elves, and in the case of Eberron, orcs and goblins rising and falling before the first humans arrived. You're correct about Theros and Ravnica, though.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Greyhawk: indeterminate/murky origins and prehistory of humans and several other major races. The Olven calendar does run very far back, though. I think GH lore is vague enough that one can reasonably argue either way for this setting.
FR: Humans are one of the Creator Races, and predate most of not all demihumans as inhabitants of Toril. Humans were not the dominant race until later, but they are a very ancient species.
Dragonlance: humans a very old race, one of the root races created by the gods
Dark Sun: Halflings are the Ancients, ancestors of several humanoid types, including humans.
Ravenloft: humans were present at the 'creation', before demihumans arrived in any significant numbers
Spelljammer: hard to say with a meta-setting like this
Planescape: ditto
Mystara: Somebody else can likely provide a better answer than I for this setting. But I do know humans (specifically Neanderthals) are older than the Dwarves and various humanoid monster races. Definitely older than Gnomes.
Humans were one of the founder races in the Forgotten Realms. Also, humans didn't arrive in Khorvaire for a long time, but they were in Sarlona for thousands of years, if my knowledge is correct.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
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I'll dig up the reference for humans as a Creator Race to settle that bit. Wait one...
(Of course, it can be as the DM likes in any given campaign).
I don't really have a stake in hard core lore fights, but I'll put in my cents:
I think it may be the case that humans were one of the creator races in specific Prime Material words, as discussed by ThirdSundering: Faerun, Ravenica etc.
However, I think the lore at least in MToF, it's implied when elves arrived in these varied prime material worlds (as well as the Shadowfell and Feywild), they had already been in existence for quite some time. So they may be new arrivals, but actually more ancient a species. (Sort of like the race Gandalf and Sarumen come from, sure humans were "there" on Middle Earth prior to their arrival, but the wizards were on a more geologic timeline).
As long as we all agree Tortles are a the stabilized result of a toxic supernatural industrial accident, we're good. Tabaxi the same.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Page 5 of the Grand History of the Realms.
I looked it up on a wiki.
I should add that my recollection of the Savage Frontier was a bit off. The Creator Races are described vaguely in that book and it isn't clear that humanity is one of them. Later sources clarify that it indeed was.
Kewl beans.
I'm not here to lore-battle, not really.
I think "humans are a young race, recently created/developed/arrived from someplace else" is a perfectly good idea. I've used it myself in homebrew.
In my campaign setting, humans and hin (halflings) are the mongrel get of Elves, Dwarves, Gnomes, Orcs, Goblins, and Hobgoblins all interbreeding before a powerful geas was placed on the world making it so the races would only mate with those “of the blood.” So everyone will mate with Humans and Hin, but not with each other. The very word “humie” means “mongrel” in the Orcish tongue.
Bugbears are specifically an interbreeding of Orcs and Hobgoblins, so those races will both breed with them. Ogres are a breeding between Bugbears and Giants, and Ogrillon specifically interbreeding of Ogres and Orcs/Hobgoblins/Bugbears/Humans (since Ogres have both Orc and Hobgoblin blood).
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Okay, in D&D 5e, there are a lot of races that could have hybrids with each other. Here's the main group that are more likely to be able to mate with one another:
Here's the list of races that possibly could breed with the ones listed above, but are probably less likely to be able to:
Here are the races that almost definitely cannot breed with the main group listed above:
Of the less likely races to have hybrids with the main group, certain ones of them could probably breed with other races, like Leonin and Tabaxi, Gith and Tritons, or Orcs and Bugbears. These races could be capable of breeding with some of the other races of different groups, but certainly not all of them.
Additionally, there are probably some races in the "almost definitely not breeding with the main group" category that can breed with other races, like Kobolds, Dragonborn, and Lizardfolk, and possibly Kenku and Aarakocra. There are also some races that almost definitely cannot breed with any other official playable race in D&D 5e, like Grung, Warforged, Locathah, Tortles, and Centaurs.
So, I propose a fairly simple solution to making these half-races.
First, choose the two main races you are descended from from the following list. Your size is the same size as the tallest of your parent races. Choose one ability score associated with either parent race to gain a +2 bonus in that ability score and another ability score from the other parent race to gain a +1 bonus to. If a parent race has a subrace, this instead becomes a +1 to 2 ability scores of your choice associated with a parent race. You may not gain a +3 bonus to one ability score from your chosen ability scores or subrace. If either parent race has darkvision, you gain darkvision 60 feet. You gain the languages of both parent races (if a parent race has no extra language, you gain one language of your choice). If more than one parent race gains a damage resistance, you gain both damage resistances, up to two of your choice (to prevent aasimar-dwarves from getting 3 damage resistances). If a parent race has a subrace, you choose one to gain the features of. If both parent races have a subrace, you can only choose one subrace total, but it can be from either parent race. If your two parent races have 2 different speeds, you have the highest speed of the two. Also, if either parent races give skills, you also gain any skill of your choice from either parent race, granting up to two skills. Additionally, choose any one feature from each parent race to gain. The features may not increase ability scores, grant skills, resistances, or languages, and if you would gain two features that would allow you to cast spells, you may only gain one of those features.
The formatting could use some work, as could the language, but that's the basic idea. Essentially, instead of making individual races for each combination, you get to mix and match whatever two of these races you want. Individual races would be restricted by setting, so you can't play a half-kalashtar, half-verdan in a Ravnica campaign. There would also be other possible hybrid races, like kobold-dragonborn, but there aren't enough combinations for those to warrant a whole system like this. Just creating races for those hybrids would probably work better.
I hope that you guys like the idea behind this system. This took awhile to write up.
Please check out my homebrew, I would appreciate feedback:
Spells, Monsters, Subclasses, Races, Arcknight Class, Occultist Class, World, Enigmatic Esoterica forms
Cool writeup.
This is how you get mongrelmen.
But why? And why would bugbears be the exception to the geas?
The over emphasis on humanoids is a shortcoming of the game design, but many of these chimerical races are not mixed with humans. The frequency of human interbreeding it probably attribute by the over population of humans in most D&D settings. While the players may choose every flavor of race hidden in the books, the actual composition of most settings population is broadly human.
Humans are also more prone to interact with more races. Certain races have religious and cultural feuds which put them at odds, while some may simply be uncompatible. Elves for instance are fairly infertile, accounting for their low population despite their longevity.
There's also the possibility of dominate race over representation. Magical races don't have to have an even representation of traits when they comingle. A half Dragon might wildly over represent dragon traits, and magical species might result in offspring that are visibly indistinct from one species, but have some magical lineage due to ancestry, this is apparent in certain sorcerers and such.
There's plenty of good and arbitrary reasons why other half races aren't represented, but ultimately, I think most ppl want original races rather than an exponential amount of mixed races. If you look at something like Elves, they are diversified by climate rather than comingling, it's important not to reduce fantasy origin to breeding.
I mean, if I've balanced my feats correctly, the mixed race dwarf/elf and the the dwarf who takes Great Weapon Master or whatever should be equal.
I think that regardless of the situation, Humans being an original race and humans being a new race the argument could be made for humans being able to breed with everything. If humans are an origin race, then it would make sense that everything else would be created/evolve to be able to procreate with them. Alternatively if humans are a new race, it would make as much sense for them to have been created/evolved in a way such that they can procreate with everything, especially given their much shorter lifespan compared to other races like elves and giants. Its like flowers that are able to pollinate with themselves and also other types of flowers.
That being said, I think its up to the DM fully whether or not other half races exist in the world. Likening everything to traditional DND lore is like asking why there is no harry potter magic in my lord of the rings story. It would also be wrong to say that humans are the only ones that make half breeds, as Third Sundering as said previously.
I think the reason there aren't any non-half humans mechanically within 5e is for simplicity, because like it or hate it, 5e is a much simpler version of the game then the previous few.
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Because I though it was cool that Humans were the “mutts” of the the humanoid races.
Bugbears are not an exception. Bugbears have both Orc and Hobgoblin blood. So anything that has either is allowed under the geas. Since they had already bred with Giants prior to the geas, the resultant offspring being Ogres. Since the other races that have either/both Orc and/or Hobgoblin genetics are Orcs, Hobgoblins, Humans, Hin, Bugbears, Ogres, and Ogrillon, therefore Bugbears can mate with any of them.
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The way you wrote it was very unclear that some races could still interbreed which makes it a bit weird that bugbears would be the exception.
Also very unclear why someone would care enough about interracial buggery to cast a literal reality-altering geas on the whole of creation...
Ahh. Yes, any race that has “blood” with another race can still interbreed with that race. (Since all of those races went into making humans for example, humans can mate with any of them.)
It is unclear isn’t it. Imagine how much less clear it is to the people of that world who have no idea that they are under that geas.... Wouldn’t that be a fine mystery for an intrepid party of adventurers to solve?
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The main reason was too much writing. There are a thousand different combinations? Too much writing.
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale