New core races or canon half races?

[Desdichado]

Half-elf should be a small sidebar under elf. Half-orc should be a small sidebar under orc.

 

[Greenfaun]

What I want to see is a small template (actually less than a template, approximately balanced as a feat, but with the limitations of inherited templates) included in each race's description. This feat/template/whatever would be called xxx-blooded (where xxx is the name of the race) with a single benefit that is iconic to the race (toughness for dwarves, grace for elves, stealth for hobbits halflings etc). A character of any other race could take this feat or talent at character creation. This would allow a character with one elf and one human parent to be either a human-blooded elf or an elf-blooded human, for instance, at the players discretion. The other effect of taking the feat/template would be access to the racial feats of the other race, assuming the hints are true about 4E race as more of a pool of potential feats than a set of identical features. That way, like a multiclass character, the xxx-blooded would have more choices in racial advancement but still be limited to the same total number of feats as single-race characters.

I'm assuming they aren't going to do this, though. I might make it a houserule when I see how they actually handled races in the game.

 

[dmccoy1693]

Point of Interest: Tiefling is a half race. Well, they're technically demon/devil-blooded and not half demons/devils, but they are not full humans nor full demons/devils.

 

[Wormwood]

Boo on half-races. Give us playable real orcs, not some half-arsed version that only exists to justify an orc character being one of the good guys.

Exactly my thoughts on this matter.

D&D has come up with hundreds of interesting races in the past three decades. How about we showcase a few of them and drop those whose only defining characteristic is 'almost like an elf' or 'kinda orcish'.

 

[dmccoy1693]

D&D has come up with hundreds of interesting races in the past three decades. How about we showcase a few of them and drop those whose only defining characteristic is 'almost like an elf' or 'kinda orcish'.

Yea, how about if we drop Tieflings and give us full playable demons/devils (with a heart of gold)

 

[Mad Mac]

Down with Half-races! At best, they should be sidebar material for those who really want to play them. Half-orcs were always just an excuse to allow playable Orcs, and Half-elves...I understand the roleplaying appeal, but a new race is 1000x better than another elf varient.

Tieflings aren't a half race, unless you're really big on playable demons.

 

[GreatLemur]

Interesting results, here. I'm honestly surprised to see so much support for scrapping any traditional, grognard-approved PC races.

Myself, I'm all for replacing half-elves and half-orcs with first-level-only feats called Elven Blood and Orcish Blood. Half-races don't really need full write-ups, and the idea that elves and orcs can interbreed with humans but no other races (not even each other!) was always pretty dumb. Greater modularity and flexibility would be awesome.

 

[Desdichado]

I'm not in favor of scrapping them; but I think sidebarring them as a subset of elves and orcs is a great idea.

 

[Plane Sailing]

Keep half elves, ditch half orcs

 

[am181d]

They should be feats ("Elf-blood", "Orc-blood") that give you a small bonus and allow you to take other racial feats for that race.