New core races or canon half races?

[Aldarc]

With all due respect, I DO NOT want to spend a feat in order to be a half-elf or any hybrid character. I'd rather WotC would codify a hybrid race creation rules and use said rules to tweak the half-elf and half-orc.

And with all due respect, I DO NOT want hybrid races as standard core races when that space could be better utilized with more original core races. I'd rather WotC codify racial heritage feats and use said feats to show the ease of creation for multiple versions of half-elves and half-orcs.

 

[GreatLemur]

With all due respect, I DO NOT want to spend a feat in order to be a half-elf or any hybrid character.

I really think it could work pretty simply and elegantly, though. After all, there aren't a whole lot of mechanical differences between the 3.5 core half-races and humans, anyway. So consider these:


Elven Blood

Prerequisites: First level, humanoid race other than elf.

Benefits: Immunity to sleep spells and similar magical effects, +2 on saving throws against enchantment spells. Low-light vision. Considered an elf for the purposes of elven racial feats and magical items.

[Yeah, half-elves would lose their assorted skill bonuses, but a half-human half-elf would keep the bonus skill points for his human heritage, so I figure it balances nicely.]


Orcish Blood

Prerequisites: First level, humanoid race other than orc.

Benefits: +2 Str, -2 Int, -2 Cha. Darkvision 60 ft. Considered an orc for the purposes of orcish racial feats and magical items.

[The half-orc isn't losing anything here to counter the extra skill points he'd gain for being half-human under this system, which doesn't bother me at all. Half-orcs get screwed, anyway. Frankly, I think I'd get rid of one of those ability penalties, too, because a net -2 and darkvision hardly seems worth a feat.]


Anyway, the idea is that these feats would let elves and orcs interbreed with humanoid races other than humans, which just makes sense to me. Also, they don't require that the character be strictly half-and-half, which is another nice piece of flexibility. You could have a character that just "obviously has a little orc in his blood", rather than a specific family history.

 

[The Little Raven]

You must really hate 3e, then.

Why does he have to hate the entirety of something, just because he hates one small part of it?

 

[The Little Raven]

And with all due respect, I DO NOT want hybrid races as standard core races when that space could be better utilized with more original core races.

That's why he doesn't want space for hybrid races... he wants space for hybrid rules which will allow any player/DM to create their own hybrids, based on the traits of the parent races, rather than some weirdness (like half-elves being super inspiring, despite neither parent being so). A simple and elegant rule toolkit for hybrid races would take up less space and provide more options at the same time.

 

[The Little Raven]

I really think it could work pretty simply and elegantly, though. After all, there aren't a whole lot of mechanical differences between the 3.5 core half-races and humans, anyway.

Not a whole lot of mechanical differences? The half-elf and half-orcs share ZERO mechanics with the human. Humans have bonus feat, and bonus skills. The half-races have neither of those, and have watered down traits from their other parents.

 

[ZappoHisbane]

With all due respect, I DO NOT want to spend a feat in order to be a half-elf or any hybrid character. I'd rather WotC would codify a hybrid race creation rules and use said rules to tweak the half-elf and half-orc.

Y'know, I was just about to agree with you until I realized that as a human you'd still get the bonus feat at 1st level. If that wasn't the case then yes, having to burn your ONLY first level feat to set your racial heritage would suck. Sacrificing that feat for the Elven/Orcish Blood feats noted above though... hmmm, I might go for that.

 

[Gloombunny]

Not a whole lot of mechanical differences? The half-elf and half-orcs share ZERO mechanics with the human. Humans have bonus feat, and bonus skills. The half-races have neither of those, and have watered down traits from their other parents.

What do you mean, zero mechanics? They both use all the same PC rules. The only differences are a feat and skill point/level on one side, and some skill bonuses or stat adjustments plus better eyesight on the other. That is very much "not a whole lot of mechanical differences".

 

[GreatLemur]

Not a whole lot of mechanical differences? The half-elf and half-orcs share ZERO mechanics with the human.

My point is that neither humans nor the half-races half a hell of a lot of racial mechanics to start with, making this whole operation fairly simple.

 

[The Little Raven]

What do you mean, zero mechanics? They both use all the same PC rules. The only differences are a feat and skill point/level on one side, and some skill bonuses or stat adjustments plus better eyesight on the other. That is very much "not a whole lot of mechanical differences".

According to this definition, all races are very much the same, mechanically, because they all use the same basic PC rules. However, I think you can see the silliness in trying to argue that an orc and a drow are very similar mechanically.

Aside from the core structure of how races are presented, the individual mechanics of each race are completely different. Thus, the individual mechanics of the human (skill point bonus, bonus feat) are very different from the individual mechanics of the half-orc (ability score adjustments, darkvision, orc blood). Yes, they all share having a base speed, and a size, and languages, but arguing that those things make races almost mechanically the same is a semantic argument.

 

[Gloombunny]

The mechanical differences between half-elf, half-orc, and human are much smaller than the differences between many other pairs of races.

What's so bad about spending a feat on being half-whatever? You want to be a half-elf and still have two feats at level 1? Seems kinda greedy!