Do We Really Need Half-Elves and Half-Orcs?

[cbwjm]

You can definitely do away with the half races as well as any other race if it fits your setting, even a small change can alter the feel of a setting although it should be done as part of the setting rather than just not liking the race. I've come up with the bare bones of two settings, the first the players start as members of a tribe which limits the races to humans and also limits the classes. In the second, when developing it I started with a general history with elves, dwarves, and goblins. Humans came up from the south. A goblin shaman found a gemstone that enhanced the strongest goblins clans turning them into hobgoblins. A renegade elf that studied arcane magic left their homeland and taught humans wizardry in addition to fathering half-elven children. This leaves me with the following races in the current era: elf, dwarf, human, half-elf, goblin, and hobgoblin. This means that there are no gnomes (exceptions made for dual rapier wielding paladins), half-orcs, halflings, dragonborn, or tieflings.

I feel like the obvious solution to this problem would be to make half-whatever into subraces for humans. Base human stats are +1 to two different ability scores, and subraces provide abilities roughly equivalent to a Feat and a Skill, with variant human as the (ugh, these words feel really gross together, but there’s nothing for it...) pure human subrace.

They did that in Pathfinder 2 for the half-orc and half-elf, at least that was the set up at the start, I haven't checked the updates to the system to see if this is still the case.

 

[Charlaquin]

They did that in Pathfinder 2 for the half-orc and half-elf, at least that was the set up at the start, I haven't checked the updates to the system to see if this is still the case.

It still is in the latest update. Only difference is, instead of Ancestries being a Feat Tax, they're something every character gets one of. Which was a much-needed buff for the half-humans, since now they can take the bonus Class Feat at 1st level. It's a smart idea, especially because DMs who want half-elf-half-dwarf or whatever can just open up those Ancestries to be available to other races than human.

 

[MNblockhead]

I, myself, don't like coffee. To me, it tastes of ashes and sadness

My favorite flavor. Coffee, scotch, tobacco (gave up the last, but not because the taste).

Anyway, I pretty much let my players play what they wish but we work together on back stories and what kind of game they want to play. I don't want to "pick on" a player because they are playing a character that looks like a monster to most of the people they will need to interact with. At the same time, if you are going to go with some exotic race because of some min-maxing calculations you made, you can put a bit of that energy into some backstory.

That said, you are not a *bad* GM if you don't want to allow certain races. A GM is a player as well and part of the fun is selecting or building a world. If you are playing a published WoTC adventure set in the Forgotten Realms, I think you should let your players play any race they want.

But I may want to run a campaign where everyone has to play a human barbarian, or the entire party is made up of gnomish wizards, or kobold monks. Hell, I converted We Be Goblins to 5e because playing a party of all goblins was pretty damn fun.

Of course you need to find players that want to play that kind of game. They are free to go elsewhere, but that doesn't make you a poor DM for wanting to play a limited-class, limited-race campaign.

 

[cbwjm]

It still is in the latest update. Only difference is, instead of Ancestries being a Feat Tax, they're something every character gets one of. Which was a much-needed buff for the half-humans, since now they can take the bonus Class Feat at 1st level. It's a smart idea, especially because DMs who want half-elf-half-dwarf or whatever can just open up those Ancestries to be available to other races than human.

That's a good change. I remember reading about it after it first released how many players were put out by the loss of a feat to becoming a half race.

 

[MechaPilot]

The "half-" races aren't necessary because virtually no individual thing is necessary.

Want to get rid of them? Cool.

Want to keep them? Cool.

Want to add more of them? Cool.


On the subject of "half-" races, the thought once occurred to me that since most "half-" races are half-human and half something else, what if humans were universal breeders, capable of reproducing with all the other humanoid races.

 

[Draegn]

I allow half races, however, I limit them by area and have racial preferences. Areas where there has been a lot of conflict, piracy, or slavery practiced. Border areas and along certain trade routes. An elf and a faerie might produce a child together, whereas an elf and a troll producing a child would be highly unlikely. I leave it to my players to explain their character origins during the session zero meeting to everyone.

 

[Wiseblood]

When I DM I usually impose very few restrictions. Half races and such are the easiest thing to remove. Truthfully they are not really much of anything at all. Most of the campaign worlds out there say yeah they are where you might expect them. By and large they aren’t numerous or monolithic.

When I play as a player I prefer higher setting realism? Fidelity? Buy in? I’m not sure. I also tend to like higher difficulty. By that I mean actions with consequences and a degree of predictability. When I DM no one and I mean no one has plot armor unless I forget something.....which I do from time to time.

The best way I can explain it is the campaign world being a little more there.

I guess what I am getting at is I want to play D&D in a living breathing world. I do not want to play the D&D players handbook.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I disagree. Look at the origins of Dragonborn, Tieflings, and Haf-Orcs. All three have origins that are from creatures viewed as monsters or marauders, creatures where parents tell their children stories to scare them, etc. Even good dragons are viewed with fear as well as awe because commoners know they are basically powerless against them. So, while cultures might be cautious of strangers, they won't often shutter their windows and lock their doors at their approach.

And my players have no problem with it at all. When I explained the reaction they would likely receive as a group, one suggested they are a fantasy version of the Suicide Squad. So far, we've embraced the concept and, most importantly, everyone is having fun. Anyway, I am not sure where your "modern dnd norm" comes from...



"[Dragonborn]... a world that greets them with fearful incomprehension." (PHB p.32), so I don't see the standard dnd world seeing Dragonborn from your view. A creature that can breath fire or lightning, capable of killing "commoners", is not one quickly to be embraced by strangers.

And I have no idea what history you are referencing to counter the first line of the Tiefling description in the PHB. In my experience, I have only read about two Tieflings (from the Drizz't books) so far: one was a dominating evil warlord and the other a vile warlock who managed to change, albeit still not really "good".

Tieflings have been around for centuries, and are intelligent and charismatic. They aren’t going to not make it into history books/stories, and we know from the phb that they aren’t all evil.

We dont need Forgotten Realms novel characters to have a sensible history.

You can make any assumptions you want, but nothing about any dnd 5e phb race necessitated them being shunned or mistreated in every town the go to.

 

[Hjorimir]

You don't any particular race. In fact, that's one of the things you can meddle with to give your campaign a unique tone. It's easy to pile on more races (there are so many now); it's far more interesting when you start removing some. They could not be a part of your setting, or they could be extinct and your setting could contain ruins of the fallen people. Be creative!

 

[Henry]

I'm especially baffled at the current incarnation of half-elves where they're marginalized and semi-outcast by both elven and human society but somehow have a bonus to Charisma because they're what, likable, despite being second-class citizens? Especially good at begging the jocks to stop giving them wedgies?

Actually it makes perfect sense to me that on average people who are stigmatized would have developed social skills to compensate for their stigmas - class clowns, over-achievers, people who are considered “hard-nosed” or very imposing because they had to stand up for themselves to avoid getting bullied constantly. Whereas half-elves might have developed the “people-pleasing” mechanisms to survive due to average physiques, half-orcs would rely more on intimidation and physical imposition to ward off bullies.