With the changes to D&D and D&D Beyond, it seems that Half-Orcs got the shaft. Orcs are playable due to the new rules and added books, but given that Half-Orcs are in the 2014 Core Game Rules, it feels like they're now an unplayable race. Am I wrong or are Half-Orcs still playable?
When you play D&D with the 2024 Player’s Handbook, it replaces all rules, classes, subclasses, spells, feats, equipment, species, and backgrounds in the 2014 version of the book. There are a few exceptions; the following options don’t appear in the 2024 book and are still usable from 2014:
Knowledge Domain (Cleric subclass)
Nature Domain (Cleric subclass)
Tempest Domain (Cleric subclass)
School of Conjuration (Wizard subclass)
School of Enchantment (Wizard subclass)
School of Necromancy (Wizard subclass)
School of Transmutation (Wizard subclass)
Half-Elf (species)
Half-Orc (species)
Dungeon Delver (feat)
Linguist (feat)
Martial Adept (feat)
Any subclass, spell, or feat from Xanathar’s Guide to Everything or Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything that appears in this book replaces the version that appears in the Everything book.
I thought if you want to play a half orc/elf, you pick either human or the elf/orc species and just call them a 1/2 X.
Otherwise how do you deal with origin type ASI bonus? In 2014 the species got the bonus, in 2024 the background gives you the bonus.
That has been a discussion during the playtest, but they abandoned it.
As far as the species asi, if you’re playing ‘14, you just use it as normal. If you’re using the ‘14 half-orc in ‘24, you would ignore the species asi and move the asi to your background.
With the changes to D&D and D&D Beyond, it seems that Half-Orcs got the shaft. Orcs are playable due to the new rules and added books, but given that Half-Orcs are in the 2014 Core Game Rules, it feels like they're now an unplayable race. Am I wrong or are Half-Orcs still playable?
The Khorarvar in Eberron Forge of the Artificer are Half-Elves but have a different name. I don't know if they count as updated 2025 versions or if they are separate and setting specific. I would assume that they are the update. Since Half-Elves and Half-Orcs were both fairly important to the setting, the fact that they updated Half-Elves only may hint that Half-Orcs won't see an update any time soon.
With the changes to D&D and D&D Beyond, it seems that Half-Orcs got the shaft. Orcs are playable due to the new rules and added books, but given that Half-Orcs are in the 2014 Core Game Rules, it feels like they're now an unplayable race. Am I wrong or are Half-Orcs still playable?
Half-Orc could still be used, based on the information WotC provided to us in Updates in the Player’s Handbook (2024) | Dungeons & Dragons:
I thought if you want to play a half orc/elf, you pick either human or the elf/orc species and just call them a 1/2 X.
Otherwise how do you deal with origin type ASI bonus? In 2014 the species got the bonus, in 2024 the background gives you the bonus.
That has been a discussion during the playtest, but they abandoned it.
As far as the species asi, if you’re playing ‘14, you just use it as normal. If you’re using the ‘14 half-orc in ‘24, you would ignore the species asi and move the asi to your background.
You can play an Half-Orc or Orc if you want to.
The Khorarvar in Eberron Forge of the Artificer are Half-Elves but have a different name. I don't know if they count as updated 2025 versions or if they are separate and setting specific. I would assume that they are the update. Since Half-Elves and Half-Orcs were both fairly important to the setting, the fact that they updated Half-Elves only may hint that Half-Orcs won't see an update any time soon.
How to add Tooltips.
My houserulings.