D&D 5E 5e Hybrid Races: Let's Make Them Actual Hybrids

[Nivenus]

I can't vote because I think your mechanics are sound, but I hate the purpose of having hybrids of everything (I don't even like half-elves and half-orcs...), so I wouldn't want to see this in the corebooks. Maybe in some Savage Species book or another very late and very optional supplement.

Good point. I did make the first option "I like it! Hope this is included either in core or as a well-supported optional rule!" but the emphasis is definitely on the core option. Take that as however you will.

My original thought was that this would be in core, but only as an optional appendix to the "races" chapter. But I'd certainly be happy with it (or something suitably similar) as a supplement instead.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I think we should wait and see how core races will be designed first.

With 4e like races, I believe we have a) broken combos, and b) uninteresting half-eves.
A half elf always was chosen, because of his ability to multiclass and his infravision, while not having a penalty to con.

And since half elves used to be my favourite race, I would hate it when it has no unique position.
I also don´t want to see every combination of races as possibility... i don´t want to imagine half giant half pixie

 

[The Little Raven]

Also using this method I could make a PixieForged. Which hurts my head.

Might not be so bad...

On a serious note, I've always preferred a Tolkien approach. Elrond and Elros were both half-elves, but Elrond ended up elfy and Elros ended up Numenorean/human.

In 4e, I would express it as something like a Background whose mechanical benefit is giving you the race keyword from the other race, thus allowing you to purchase feats/paragon paths/epic destinies that have that requirement, but not others you don't have (such as requiring elven accuracy, or the Fey origin). So, you could build that into whatever module Background-style stuff falls into.

 

[Rechan]

For the record I really like 4e Half-Elves as a race.
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[SKyOdin]

I don't think that this will work, for the same reason that a multiclass Fighter/Wizard is never going to work as well as a dedicated Swordmage or Duskblade class. A hybrid class needs to be more than the sum of half of its two parent classes, it needs to have a unique aspect that arises from the combination of the base concepts behind the classes. A multiclass Fighter/Wizard just fights poorly and casts spells poorly. A good Swordmage can channel lightning through his sword.

Likewise, a good hybrid race needs to look beyond just mechanics and find its own identity in the melding of the concepts behind the parent races. I think the 4E half-elf is a pretty good example of that.

 

[Nivenus]

I don't think that this will work, for the same reason that a multiclass Fighter/Wizard is never going to work as well as a dedicated Swordmage or Duskblade class. A hybrid class needs to be more than the sum of half of its two parent classes, it needs to have a unique aspect that arises from the combination of the base concepts behind the classes. A multiclass Fighter/Wizard just fights poorly and casts spells poorly. A good Swordmage can channel lightning through his sword.

Likewise, a good hybrid race needs to look beyond just mechanics and find its own identity in the melding of the concepts behind the parent races. I think the 4E half-elf is a pretty good example of that.

See, I don't understand this sentiment. Why would you want a hybridized character to be anything but a hybrid? Isn't that the entire point?

I suppose I might just be wrong, but I always figure the point of playing a half-elf was to play an elfy human or a more human-like elf.

 

[SKyOdin]

See, I don't understand this sentiment. Why would you want a hybridized character to be anything but a hybrid? Isn't that the entire point?

I suppose I might just be wrong, but I always figure the point of playing a half-elf was to play an elfy human or a more human-like elf.

I would imagine that someone wants to play a half-elf because they want to play something that has something that neither elves or humans have, which at the very least includes the idea of character that doesn't quite fit into human or elf society. That very idea is something not existent within the idea of human or elf alone, and is an example of how hybrid races add something not present in the parent races.

The idea of the half-elf draws on the concept of a more mystical person who is somewhat separate from normal human society due to their unusual heritage, yet not as foreign and unknown as elves themselves. In other words, a person with special abilities or knowledge that dwells outside of society, yet is still close enough to help in times of need. Aragorn from Lord of the Rings, a distant descendant of a half-elf, fits this thematic mold pretty squarely. It is the existence of archetypes like this one that explain why the half-elf race in particular out of all possible hybrids is popular and enduring in fantasy and D&D. In short, a half-elf fills a completely different story role than either a human or an elf.

 

[Nivenus]

I would imagine that someone wants to play a half-elf because they want to play something that has something that neither elves or humans have, which at the very least includes the idea of character that doesn't quite fit into human or elf society. That very idea is something not existent within the idea of human or elf alone, and is an example of how hybrid races add something not present in the parent races.

The idea of the half-elf draws on the concept of a more mystical person who is somewhat separate from normal human society due to their unusual heritage, yet not as foreign and unknown as elves themselves. In other words, a person with special abilities or knowledge that dwells outside of society, yet is still close enough to help in times of need. Aragorn from Lord of the Rings, a distant descendant of a half-elf, fits this thematic mold pretty squarely. It is the existence of archetypes like this one that explain why the half-elf race in particular out of all possible hybrids is popular and enduring in fantasy and D&D. In short, a half-elf fills a completely different story role than either a human or an elf.

Fair enough, and I get that sentiment. However, Aragorn (nor any of the other Dunedain) does not have special abilities possessed by neither humans nor elves - he's just a human who lives for an exceptionally long period of time, essentially. That's much closer, in my mind, to my hybridized approach.

Aragorn isn't a great leader because he's part elven and mostly human. He's a great leader because of his personal characteristics. Any and all racial characteristics he has are inherited from his parent races, not anything particularly unique to him or the other descendants of Numenor.

The kind of thing you're getting at is frankly more akin to the idea of planetouched, who aren't half-breeds so much as they are humans or the descendents of humans who were altered by magic in some way (albeit, in many cases, through magic-enhanced breeding). The mythological Merlin, for example, is a prime example: he's not half-demon, half-human. He's a human who was born with extraordinary abilities because his mother was raped by an incubus.

Half-elves are much more mundane in my mind. There's nothing particularly "magical" about them. The same goes for half-orcs or half-dwarves, or whatever. They're just two different races getting together. Tieflings, aasimar, and genasi, on the other hand, fit more into the mold you're describing. At least in my opinion.