Get Rid of the Half X and Half Y names

[JRRNeiklot]

Lose them all save half elves and half orcs. Being half vampire is like being half pregnant.

 

[Nivenus]

Lose them all save half elves and half orcs. Being half vampire is like being half pregnant.

This particular one does strike me as strange, but dhampyrs are rooted in the original folklore surrounding vampires, so they're not a modern invention by any means.

As for other half-breeds, I say allow them. Where's the harm done?

 

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Keep the legacy names. D&D has enough real-world political correctness; it doesn't need to apply a modern sense of morality to in-world political correctness.

The D&D baseline has always been human-centric. If your campaign world isn't, that's fine -- you can relabel half-elves and half-orcs as half-humans.

 

[babomb]

Can half-halflings be called three-quarterlings?

 

[mach1.9pants]

If there is no Half-Orc race for me to roll up my Fighter/Assassin I will be very disappointed.
Half-Orc it is and was and shall always be IMO

 

[frankthedm]

If Humans, Elves, and Orcs all share a comman ancestor or origin, then sure. But then there should also be elven/orc half-breeds, and orcs should be a playable race.

Just because they have a common ancestor doesn't mean they are playable. Indeed the half orcs that were treated as playable in 1E were only those 10% that could pass for an ugly human. It wasn't until 3e they started letting the obvious half-orcs into the cities.

Also, there should be degrees. How about someone who's 3 parts orc, 1 part elf?

Looks like an orc, call it an orc, kill it like an orc.

 

[Lwaxy]

Can half-halflings be called three-quarterlings?

No, but they are called quarterlings as an insult at times

 

[Sammael]

Cambions are half demons.

Dhampyrs are half vampires.

Half Orcs, Half Elves, Half Ogres, etc... have very generic and boring names.

Either make them so extremely rare that you eliminate villages of them or give them an actual racial name.

Opinions?

Agreed.

Half-Elves > Elfkin or Feytouched
Half-Orcs > Orcspawn
Half-Ogres > Ogrillons

 

[Number48]

When I first saw this thread, I thought, sure why not change Half-Elf to Elven Heritage. Whatever floats your boat. Then I realized that Elven Heritage sounds more like a feat than a race. I think I like that idea. Obviously, it would have to be restricted to 1st level characters. It would probably be all-benefit with no detraction to the race you have written down but it might be possible to design it so you swap X of your choice for Y of your choice.

Nice, simple, makes it easy to design a feat for whatever suits your game and makes it easy to apply to any base race that suits the game. Downside is that it seems like a feat tax.

EDIT: A great implementation would be a statement that DMs get to decide which of the Heritage feats can be taken for free on a per-base race basis, which can be taken at 1st level if you pay the feat, and which are simply not available in this campaign. There, NOW we have quick and easy half-elves as elven heritage without cost for the human, but perhaps a cost for the orc with elven heritage.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Sometimes an easily and instantly understood name that immediately conveys a great deal of information is worth giving up a little flair for.

Besides, imagine you mention an elfblood in your campaign, the immediate question is going to be, "what's an elfblood?" and you will then surely find yourself back where you stared as you're forced to reply, "...it's a half-elf." Really it's a labor saving device.

so anything that requires a second of expalnation should be chopped down? Where would that leave Eladrin and other goofy races to people who've never played the game before. It takes more explanation I think to break down the branches of elf hood than to expalin what a half elf is.