D&D (2024) The Half Orc. Are they still needed?

[Mind of tempest]

ReallyI can see the harf-orc s being a shoe-in for the missing Thane Barbrarian.

I could see whole half orcen tribes of civilized but clannish folk of the wilds who withstand the dangers of the wilderness but still contain the human civil thought to think to the future.

Or they could go more civilized and be a sorta "Da Norf" of ASOIAF where half-orc are the Northmen and have a sense of brutality with nobility like House Stark or House Bolton.

thane barbarian?
also, clannish folk who live in horrible places is kind of dwarven stuff?

 

[Faolyn]

Yeah, in Level Up both orcs and humans have multiple traits to choose from (and you easier homebrew more). So any way you slice it, there are many combinations that would all count as "half-orc". Pick the one that feels right to you.

Plus it supports the idea that not every member of a "half-race" is going to be identical, which is nice.

 

[Faolyn]

If the Tasha's rules were actually optional, it would be a matter of taste. But WotC clearly never intended them to be.

Did WotC send their goons to break into house and steal all of your books other than Tasha's?

 

[Medic]

Did WotC send their goons to break into house and steal all of your books other than Tasha's?

It's hyperbolic. No, nobody is being coerced into using Tasha's on pain of death, but the book may as well be an "unofficial patch" that addresses common complaints about 5th Edition and a good deal of its contents will assuredly be folded into 5.5.

Anecdotally, when I banned it at my table because I didn't want to deal with more player-facing stuff, the overwhelming response was "But WHY, oh my GAWD, that's so LIMITING, UGH."

 

[beancounter]

It's hyperbolic. No, nobody is being coerced into using Tasha's on pain of death, but the book may as well be an "unofficial patch" that addresses common complaints about 5th Edition and a good deal of its contents will assuredly be folded into 5.5.

I often wonder if the "common complaints" are truly common, or just a (relatively) few squeaky wheels on the Internet who have no long term interest in D&D.

 

[beancounter]

It's hyperbolic. No, nobody is being coerced into using Tasha's on pain of death, but the book may as well be an "unofficial patch" that addresses common complaints about 5th Edition and a good deal of its contents will assuredly be folded into 5.5.

Anecdotally, when I banned it at my table because I didn't want to deal with more player-facing stuff, the overwhelming response was "But WHY, oh my GAWD, that's so LIMITING, UGH."

I love Tasha's for it's summoning spells, if nothing else.

 

[Medic]

I often wonder if the "common complaints" are truly common, or just a (relatively) few squeaky wheels on the Internet who have no long term interest in D&D.

We'll never know, will we? The demographic that likes things the way they are won't take to the internet to complain about it.

 

[Warpiglet-7]

We'll never know, will we? The demographic that likes things the way they are won't take to the internet to complain about it.

Oh but I do—-I just don’t have a problem with all of it. I pick my fights.

Nevertheless, when you do this be ready to be called a hater and a boomer! I kid I kid. Mostly.

 

[Chaosmancer]

I tend to find myself agreeing with Defcon and some of the others. I love half-orcs (one of my favorite characters was from a campaign that died and was a half-orc samurai from a "loving" home. Only stress was his mother [the orc] thought that a man as strong as his father deserved a larger harem and kept trying to set him up with other women) but I've almost entirely written them out of my games.

This happened back in 4e when I had a player who read the official lore and was very uncomfortable with the implied idea of a barbaric race of raiders leaving behind mix-race children. So, I've had "Half-orcs are just orcs" in my game for years now, even after me and that player parted ways.

But I think the larger reason that I would see them reduced in their role in the game is that

1) All "half" races are half human, and that's weird
2) There are not half-races for 99% of the possible combos (and I have had people ask about things like half-elf half-orc characters or half-gnomes or Tabaxi Genasi)
3) Making unique races for even 30% of all combos would be such an unwieldy chore as to be insane, for very very little actual value.

I could see them falling by the wayside, carried under the "custom lineage" just like a half-elf half-goblin is, with the players and DMs figuring out how they fit into the society and the story they want to tell. I do respect that people see them as representative, but I do wonder if making it more clear that these things can be handled as a custom lineage would help move those stories away from being told in respect to orc and elf societies, which... aren't necessarily super relevant to a lot of people, compared to some of the other options.

For another example, what about a half-sea elf half Aarcrockra? That has some heavy implications, but I'd never expect to see such a race officially statted out.

 

[grimslade]

What do I think WotC will do vs, What would I like WotC to do? I do not work for WotC and am not a telepath so ...
5.5E will keep Half-Orcs and Half-Elves. They will probably head up a section on mixed-race characters and how to achieve them with lineages. More options, no deletions. Formerly monstrous races will be addressed in the Monster Manual, like Mordy's Multiverse. Orcs might make it into the PHB, but most likely not.
5.5 will be tweaks to rules, not new rules. Play up Half-orcs in Eberron and Wild Coast Greyhawk.