what does Orc+Elf equal?

HardcoreDandDGirl · Apr 30, 2014

TLDR: would you let a PC in any version of D&D play a half elf/half orc (yes as one character) and if so how would you do it?

From time to time I get to play some old AD&D with my ex's father and some of his friends. They play a Heavily house ruled game. All of the players have whole stables of characters, the world is a huge living creation that they have been playing in since before I was born. They have characters and family lines and multi things going on all the time. I am one of the few women, and by far the youngest person to play most of the time I am there. I often play a character from someone else's stable of characters, they find it very odd to have a woman play the female characters after so many years...

So it looks like I may get the chance to join in some what regularly for a few months, and as such I get to make up my own characters...

So one of the characters I have played before is the Warlock(title not class) Deis-omuph who is half drow (drow are albino in this world) and half high elf. She is a Wizard/Cleric (of lolth) and has on many occasions mentioned her bastard children. Being that she is almost 400 years old she has a lot of them.

So one of the guys suggested I play one of the Bastards as my first fully mine PC, and I was fine with this, until we started making jokes about who the father could be. Last year when I was playing her I made an off hand comment about taking liberty with male prisoners in the past. Now one of the guys suggested we make her father a half orc.... (Why yes for those of you counting at home that is 1/4 drow 1/4 high elf 1/4 human and 1/4 orc)

Now they play with some huge house rules as is. (I mean really big ones like using Call or Cthulu skills on 1e characters but they take feats from 3e and 4e but only as trained in game) SO I know the DM will let me make it up. I just don't know if I want to play that weird a character.

Anyone want to give me some opinions?

more background: It will be in part of the world where a whole valley has flooded by someone opening a rift to the elemental world of water, but some dungeons kept there air because of how fast the flooding happened so there are now deep divers looking for pockets of air and treasure... oh and there might be an undead army down at the bottom of this new lake/former valley.

I would be 3rd level and be hired on to 'dive for dungeons' with a crew aboard a ship that is one part spell jammer one part air ship and one part submarine.

the Jester · Apr 30, 2014

Well, in my game, elves are one of the only things orcs can't breed with, per the 1e Monster Manual... but it sounds like an awesome character concept.

I really like the bastard idea, regardless of what race you go for.

delericho · Apr 30, 2014

HardcoreDandDGirl said:
TLDR: would you let a PC in any version of D&D play a half elf/half orc (yes as one character) and if so how would you do it?

In 2nd Ed (and, I think, 1st), it was explicitly called out that a half-orc/half-{something else} was just a half-orc. And also, incidentally, that orcs just couldn't mate with elves.

I wouldn't have any particular problem with allowing such a character. But it would just be a half-orc.

Minigiant · Apr 30, 2014

In most games, I've played with breeding explained said orcs either can't have living children with elves or orc+elf is just a half orc with higher dexterity and lower constitution (when orcs raid an elf village, they get a bunch of archers in a decade).

My personal setting, orcs are a race originally nanufactured by elf wizards as frontline troops.. Orcs are a mix of elf, hobgoblin, orge and human. A orc+elf is a dark skinned half elf with really high constitution.

A famous orc+elf NPC is a now immortal rogue who survived a rock slide to the face.

mhensley · Apr 30, 2014

... it's the secret origins of the human race

Shiroiken · Apr 30, 2014

HardcoreDandDGirl said:
TLDR: would you let a PC in any version of D&D play a half elf/half orc (yes as one character) and if so how would you do it?

Nope. If the player pressed the issue, I would say "Ok, you meet an Elf/Orc. They kill you"

Halivar · Apr 30, 2014

mhensley said:
... it's the secret origins of the human race

Dang! Beat me to it!

Kinak · Apr 30, 2014

I'd probably allow it with the human blood in there, just to drive home the "humans can breed with anything" that seems to be their superpower. That said, I'd consider it closer to a half-elf or normal human than an elf/orc crossbreed.

For an actual elf/orc crossbreed... that depends a lot on the setting. A lot wouldn't allow it. Others would make them humans

It gets interesting if people use the Tolkien orc origin (as warped elves), because they probably should be able to crossbreed. The question becomes which race they take after. I'd actually make that a cultural distinction based on who they're raised by, but no idea if there's Tolkien canon on that.

Cheers!
Kinak

Elf Witch · Apr 30, 2014

Shiroiken said:
Nope. If the player pressed the issue, I would say "Ok, you meet an Elf/Orc. They kill you"

I don't understand this attitude. I would ask the player why they wanted it and if it was for something non cheesy I would find away to accommodate them.

amerigoV · Apr 30, 2014

Orc + Elf = Orf, obviously.

Its the El Comino of the fantasy world - the worst of both: Low Con, Low Charisma, bad vision (Darkvision + Low Light Vision results in crossed eyes), short lived, dumb.

In short, "Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son."

On the serious side - for me it would be either treat them as 1/2 Elf or 1/2 Orc - just decide what traits (Elf or Orc) were dominate in the union.