Now hear me out: I know it's not likely, but while I'm playing a game with my friends I had a stroke of inspiration for a character design and while designing her I though "Man *insert half-orc name here* would really like her!" And then I thought "what would a baby be like if one parent was a full-blooded wood elf, and the other was half-orc (half-human)?"
What do you guys think? Would it still be half-orc, just with elvish blood? Would it be orc-elf? Would it be half-elf half-human? What kind of lifespan/racial traits would such a child have? What would it look like?
Well, probably the reason why we don't see non-human hybrids would indicate that only humans can produce viable hybrid offspring, therefore, the only pairing that would produce viable offspring would produce a half-elf. But logic aside, I would suggest that the race be either half-elf or half-orc.
A full blooded Woodelf with a half-blooded Orc would be facing 75% worth of incompatible genes if the lore supports the requirement of a Human half for interracial births. The Human part would only be a quarter and not half. I would vote for no children possible. The likelyhood of all the Human genes coming from the half-Orc with the remaining genes being Wood Elf are very slim. Any measurable mixing of the Orc and Elf genes would (by support of the commonly-accepted lore) would nix the pregnancy (which if a pregnancy began, I expect would end in heartache which will likely have far-reaching consequences for the couple).
I do not know of lore that supports 1/2-Human with no-Human couplings with children. It doesn't mean that there aren't any and doesn't mean it's impossible. One in a million shot that it'll be half Wood-Elf. Even less so it'll be all Half-Orc with no Wood-Elf genes or all Wood-Elf with no Human/Orc genes.
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
Well, probably the reason why we don't see non-human hybrids would indicate that only humans can produce viable hybrid offspring, therefore, the only pairing that would produce viable offspring would produce a half-elf. But logic aside, I would suggest that the race be either half-elf or half-orc.
Yep. This. On both counts. I'd recommend the same, essentially … there's not much likelihood of the pairing working, for reasons already pointed out.
… but, if I were going to do it anyway, it'd be either a half-orc or half-elf. I wouldn't invent new racial statistics for it, because it's already going to primarily be one or the other. Older editions had rules for certain corner cases where a race counted as one or the other of its parents, but not both.
On the other side of the argument, it is half (wood) elf. Then half other things. I'd use Half-elf stats with +1 in dex/wis and +1 in str/con, proficiencies in Intimidation and maybe Stealth etc.
On the other side of the argument, it is half (wood) elf. Then half other things. I'd use Half-elf stats with +1 in dex/wis and +1 in str/con, proficiencies in Intimidation and maybe Stealth etc.
What stats would you give a Hill dwarf with a regular Orc then?
From a mechanics perspective I'd say simply half-elf (perhaps with a higher than normal Con), but from a flavor perspective I'd say the offspring has some orcish features. Maybe their bottom canines are a bit more prominent, and/or their skin has a greenish or grayish tint, and/or their ears look more like orc ears than elf ears. Even normally, half-elves are going to have a wide variety of appearances, with some looking more humanish and some looking more elvish, so casual observers might not pick up right away on the character's orcish heritage, other than thinking, "Huh, that fellow looks a little odd."
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"We're the perfect combination of expendable and unkillable!"
Reminds me of my first time DMing and just to screw with one of the players (who was a dwarf fighter who had "traveled all around the world, and apparently had a thing for she-elves), while they were in wood-elf territory I had a young teenager bump into him. The youngster was kind of oddly proportioned. He looked like a human, but just kind of off. His legs weren't quite as long compared to his arms, his arms were too muscular for his skinny body, he had a really patchy neckbeard. And his ears definitely didn't look human.
And then the youngster looks at the dwarf fighter and goes "Dad?" Everyone's reaction was priceless especially the player playing the dwarf. We talked it over in private and I told him it was completely up to him whether the kid was actually his or not. He decided that it wouldn't be and we had a great time coming up with magical paternity test a la Jerry Springer, and determining "magical precautions" existed at that time.
Now hear me out: I know it's not likely, but while I'm playing a game with my friends I had a stroke of inspiration for a character design and while designing her I though "Man *insert half-orc name here* would really like her!" And then I thought "what would a baby be like if one parent was a full-blooded wood elf, and the other was half-orc (half-human)?"
What do you guys think? Would it still be half-orc, just with elvish blood? Would it be orc-elf? Would it be half-elf half-human? What kind of lifespan/racial traits would such a child have? What would it look like?
Well, probably the reason why we don't see non-human hybrids would indicate that only humans can produce viable hybrid offspring, therefore, the only pairing that would produce viable offspring would produce a half-elf. But logic aside, I would suggest that the race be either half-elf or half-orc.
EDIT: Misread the original post.
A full blooded Woodelf with a half-blooded Orc would be facing 75% worth of incompatible genes if the lore supports the requirement of a Human half for interracial births. The Human part would only be a quarter and not half. I would vote for no children possible. The likelyhood of all the Human genes coming from the half-Orc with the remaining genes being Wood Elf are very slim. Any measurable mixing of the Orc and Elf genes would (by support of the commonly-accepted lore) would nix the pregnancy (which if a pregnancy began, I expect would end in heartache which will likely have far-reaching consequences for the couple).
I do not know of lore that supports 1/2-Human with no-Human couplings with children. It doesn't mean that there aren't any and doesn't mean it's impossible. One in a million shot that it'll be half Wood-Elf. Even less so it'll be all Half-Orc with no Wood-Elf genes or all Wood-Elf with no Human/Orc genes.
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
Yep. This.
On both counts.
I'd recommend the same, essentially … there's not much likelihood of the pairing working, for reasons already pointed out.
… but, if I were going to do it anyway, it'd be either a half-orc or half-elf.
I wouldn't invent new racial statistics for it, because it's already going to primarily be one or the other.
Older editions had rules for certain corner cases where a race counted as one or the other of its parents, but not both.
On the other side of the argument, it is half (wood) elf. Then half other things. I'd use Half-elf stats with +1 in dex/wis and +1 in str/con, proficiencies in Intimidation and maybe Stealth etc.
What stats would you give a Hill dwarf with a regular Orc then?
its still a half-Orc.
whether it’s etc etc etc.
no need to excessively over complicate things.
Edit: OPs scenario- mostly elf. Half elf. Simple.
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From a mechanics perspective I'd say simply half-elf (perhaps with a higher than normal Con), but from a flavor perspective I'd say the offspring has some orcish features. Maybe their bottom canines are a bit more prominent, and/or their skin has a greenish or grayish tint, and/or their ears look more like orc ears than elf ears. Even normally, half-elves are going to have a wide variety of appearances, with some looking more humanish and some looking more elvish, so casual observers might not pick up right away on the character's orcish heritage, other than thinking, "Huh, that fellow looks a little odd."
"We're the perfect combination of expendable and unkillable!"
I love it!
Reminds me of my first time DMing and just to screw with one of the players (who was a dwarf fighter who had "traveled all around the world, and apparently had a thing for she-elves), while they were in wood-elf territory I had a young teenager bump into him. The youngster was kind of oddly proportioned. He looked like a human, but just kind of off. His legs weren't quite as long compared to his arms, his arms were too muscular for his skinny body, he had a really patchy neckbeard. And his ears definitely didn't look human.
And then the youngster looks at the dwarf fighter and goes "Dad?" Everyone's reaction was priceless especially the player playing the dwarf. We talked it over in private and I told him it was completely up to him whether the kid was actually his or not. He decided that it wouldn't be and we had a great time coming up with magical paternity test a la Jerry Springer, and determining "magical precautions" existed at that time.
Looks like dndnames liked this concept, too. They just posted a name generator for elf-orcs on their site.