Half-elves: What's the problem?

[Thresher]

Problem with Mr Half Elf is that he hasnt got anything that someone else has and what he has, someone else can do better.

 

[Nightstorm]

And from now on, each and every PC sorcerer is a half-elf.

ok, so give them a +2 charisma AND-2Constitution or strength
there are more options then ALL being just sorcerers.
OR
do what I did my last time dming, make the half elf with either the racial traits of either elf or human parent. So you play an half elf because you want to play an half elf.

 

[Scarbonac]

Me, I play half-elves (when I play them) because of a character concept that I may have; right now, I have come up with one who is a scrappy street-kid type whose father was a wandering elven wizard/rogue and mother was a human hedge-wizard/midwife.

He's learned some things from his mother (generally to do with low-level magic, healing and birthin' babies) and he's learned less-than-legal things from the gang that he ran with. He never knew his father cos he went off not long after bagging the kid's mother (restlessness, basically, like a Kender), so he's bitter and wastes energy challenging authority.


The kid's father is also another character of mine, who has gone off to pretty decent success, power, political connections and true love.


When and if he meets Junior and discovers who he is, the guilt will be tremendous.


My DM will also do whatever it takes to make sure that this happens, regardless of my personal preferences.



She's evil, and I play to that in coming up with backstories for my characters; it's fun and a little frightening to see what she'll unleash upon my own unsuspecting PCs...

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

I don't think half-orcs are underpowered -- they seem to be a worthwhile compromise mechanically between the orc and human.

IMO half-elves should fall about half-way between elves and humans in racial abilities -- ie, roughly half elf abilities, and half human abilities.

Right now they have about half of an elf's abilities (appropriately toned down), but the only thing from the human is favored class -- good but not enough. I'd vote them the extra skill points a human has (a feat would be too much, but the skill points are a nice half-measure).

 

[L0rd_Dark0n]

I started a thread similiar to this one a couple of weeks ago wondering if anyone else thought that the half elf was a bit underpowered. In my experience, yes, they are. Low Light Vision has been handy, but Favored Class Any has been done away with in any campaign I've played in, and so far, no one has ever cast sleep at either my now 12th lvl HE Rogue or any other HE that's been in the same party as I. BUT to my IMMENSE frustration, my Rogue was knocked unconscious by a spell that, to my knowledge, basically mimicked Sleep with the exception that it explicitly works AGAINST Elves and HElves. It was in the Witch Fire Trilogy from Iron Kingdoms. I hate that wench. Anyway, I know that it wouldn't be that way in every campaign, just the ones that I've been in. I've experimented with the +2 CHA bonus due to exotic breeding, but I felt that it overbalanced my game. Something that seems to be working for me and others that I suggest this to is that Half Elves get an extra skill point at every level except first where they dont get any extra points.

 

[Shin Okada]

Hmm ... interesting. In my play group, halfling are getting more complaint than any other core race. And Gnome is the one who is often ignored.

For Halfling. They have a lot of bonuses to enhance rogue skills. But they are the only demi-human race which do not have low-light vision or dark-vision, which are very useful for a rogue. And they are slow, that means they are not so good at taking a flanking position. Also, they have low-strength. We found that is even bad for a pure rogue. Even mithral chain shirt and mithral buckler have some wait. Adding some container (like HHH) and some missile weapons, now they must be very careful not exceeding light load.

So there is no halfling rogue around me. Elven rogues and even Dwarven rogues (stonecunning rocks!) are more popular. There are some halfling Sorcerers and Wizards, though. As strength is truly not a problem for an arcane casters. Still, some players are saying that gnomes and dwarfs can be much better casters. Thanks to their vision & high con.

Regarding Gnome, I think this is a specific problem around me. We are living in Japan. And skipped most of AD&D things. Many old players were playing red and blue boxes D&D. So we do not know much information or stories regarding D&D gnomes. So just by reading core rules, we can't catch what is the "taste" of gnome. They look like something between halfling and dwarves. But that is all and we can't be interested in that "new" small race. Again, I guess this is the only problem around me.

 

[Atticus_of_Amber]

I've often toyed with the idea of house ruling half-eleves so that they have favoured class "all" - that is, they never suffer xp penalties no matter how many classes they take.

I like this idea becasue it fits with the "jack of all trades"/"between worlds" nature of half-elves and, by profviding an incentive for multiclassing and making the race attractive, it would provide an in-game explanation for the common cultural "fact" in many campaigns that a disproportionate number of half-eleves are adventurers.

What do people think?

 

[Scarbonac]

I've often toyed with the idea of house ruling half-eleves so that they have favoured class "all" - that is, they never suffer xp penalties no matter how many classes they take.

I like this idea becasue it fits with the "jack of all trades"/"between worlds" nature of half-elves and, by profviding an incentive for multiclassing and making the race attractive, it would provide an in-game explanation for the common cultural "fact" in many campaigns that a disproportionate number of half-eleves are adventurers.

What do people think?

I think that I have to find some way, by hook or by crook, to get my DM to adopt this idea.


Hope that's a good enough answer...

 

[Atticus_of_Amber]

I think that I have to find some way, by hook or by crook, to get my DM to adopt this idea.


Hope that's a good enough answer...

Thanks!

But do you think it's balanced? Half-eleves are pretty "blah" as written. Does this overcompensate?

Note that another house rule that I've used is this new feat:

Additional Favoured Class

You have become very good at practicing different proffessions simultaneously.

Benefit: You choose one core character class to be an extra favoured class, in addition to your racial favoured class for the purposes of xp penalties. This must be a specific class - you cannot choose "any". When you come to calculate multiclassing xp penalities, you may ignore levels in your additional favoured class as well as in your racial favoured class. If your racial favoured class is "any", then you can ignore all levels in your additional favoured class and the class in which you have the highest number of class levels (if these are the same class, you only get to ignore levels in that one class).

 

[Scarbonac]

OK, I don't think that it's that unbalancing, but I'm also not a big fan of the ''balance'' fetish that seems to have overtaken the game.

*shrug*


It strikes me as reasonable and justifiable, considering the flavor that you're trying to impart; it helps to liven up an otherwise OK but bland PC race, giving it something unique that raises the crunchiness ratio a bit.


As for the feat, I'm not certain if I get your full meaning; this bit --

If your racial favoured class is "any", then you can ignore all levels in your additional favoured class and the class in which you have the highest number of class levels (if these are the same class, you only get to ignore levels in that one class).

-- has me kinda scratching my head, but it could be it's because it's late and I should be long abed by now.