D&D (2024) Half Race Appreciation Society: Why don't they just make a list?

[JEB]

It's just a small part of Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, but in the section on the Diarchy of Uthodurn, it mentions that elves and dwarves frequently get married and have children there, but they're not a new race, they just use whichever parent race's stats that you think would best fit the character.

Interesting that the CR folks dropped that in their own book, in favor of something more customizable, while Wizards made "you're 100% like one parent" the norm in One D&D.

 

[John R Davis]

Given how Hopepunk and fluffy things are heading I'd have thought more mixed, or whatever word, ancestries would occur not fewer?

They could have Tensers Book of Getting Jiggy and have 30 or so combos.

More inclusive and diverse in fact?

 

[tsadkiel]

The simple solution (not perfect, but simple) is just to bring over the Custom Lineage rules from Tasha's Cauldron, and make sure that there are interesting and appropriate feats available. Maybe stick a sample half-elf in a sidebar as a worked example.

 

[Mind of tempest]

honestly, I am okay with it but I never cared for half races anyway.

 

[Li Shenron]

I also never cared for half-races really, although for a while I did use Half-Orcs to represent WoW orcs in D&D as opposed to using Orcs for Tolkien orcs. But for that, I actually made them completely unrelated races, with the term "half-orc" being used just because of their look.

I think one problem with half races is that part of the gamer base would like to have an open-ended list with a simple rule (i.e. pick any two races, and mix them up) while another part of the gamer base find it bland and wants each half race to have something unique, which inevitably requires more design attention and ends up with a short closed list of half races available. Similarly, many would prefer to have an interesting narrative for each race beyond the "mom and dad just had a one night stand...".

The DIY "build your own race" rules approach is also interesting... D&D has a strong tradition of being a class-based and race-based game, but while I believe that going class-less would destroy the nature of D&D, I would not have much problems going race-less. However, that pretty much means either that race mechanics and race narrative must decouple, or that every DM has to come up with a narrative for whatever combo the players adopt for their characters.

In brief, IMO there is no one-size-fits-all solution.

 

[Sir Brennen]

It would be easy to implement, requiring less than half a column in a chapter where multiclassing is introduced.

Or even a keyword indicating a trait is "swappable" for a mixed-race character, and a short paragraph explaining the mechanic. Swappable traits should be about the same power level, roughly equal to a feat.

You might even have more than one Inheritable trait for some races. Personally, I'd make Darkvision inheritable for every race that has it, since it seems like a purely biological trait that would make sense for.

So, Human would read:

As a Human, you have these special traits.
Resourceful. You gain Inspiration* whenever you finish a Long Rest.*
Skillful. You gain Proficiency in one Skill of your choice.
Versatile (Inheritable). You gain the Skilled Feat or another 1st-level Feat of your choice. (If inherited, only the Skilled Feat is available.)

And Elf:

As an Elf, you have these special traits.
Darkvision (Inheritable). You have Darkvision with a range of 60 feet.
Elven Lineage (Inheritable). You are part of an elven lineage that grants you supernatural abilities. [...snip...]
Fey Ancestry. You have Advantage on saving throws you make to avoid or end the Charmed Condition on yourself.
Keen Senses. You have Proficiency in the Perception Skill.
Trance. You don’t need to sleep, and magic can’t put you to sleep. You can finish a Long

The mechanic description could be just a single sentence inserted into the existing mixed-race sidebar:

Children of Different Humanoid Kinds
[...]Then determine which of those Race options provides your game traits: Size, Speed, and special traits. You may exchange one Inheritable special trait of your chosen Race with an Inheritable special trait of your other parent's Race. [...]

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Given how Hopepunk and fluffy things are heading I'd have thought more mixed, or whatever word, ancestries would occur not fewer?

There are more.

CHILDREN OF DIFFERENT HUMANOID KINDS

Thanks to the magical workings of the multiverse, Humanoids of different kinds sometimes have children together. For example, folk who have a human parent and an orc or an elf parent are particularly common. Many other combinations are possible.

They're just getting rid of the notion that two people of different ancestries can produce a predictable result in their offspring. This is a toxic idea that, if we weren't talking about D&D, I think most people would immediately recognize as such.

If you went into your workplace and announced that people of X ancestry would do your job better or worse because of Y inherited trait, you'd almost certainly immediately find yourself with a lot more time to post on ENworld.

 

[Kobold Stew]

You might even have more than Inheritable trait for some races. Personally, I'd make Darkvision inheritable for every race that has it, since it seems like a purely biological trait that would make sense for.

Ha! I'd make darkvision a recessive trait -- there's too much darkvision already. Give it to dwarves and orcs only. (that, of course, is a separate discussion).

 

[Parmandur]

Interesting that the CR folks dropped that in their own book, in favor of something more customizable, while Wizards made "you're 100% like one parent" the norm in One D&D.

No, it's the same setup: you choose whether your character is a Dwarf or an Elf, but choose how they resemble their side purely aestheticly. Identical to this proposed PHB rule. And honestly I wouldn't be surprised if WotC is picking up on a common houserule.

 

[Parmandur]

Given how Hopepunk and fluffy things are heading I'd have thought more mixed, or whatever word, ancestries would occur not fewer?

They could have Tensers Book of Getting Jiggy and have 30 or so combos.

More inclusive and diverse in fact?

That's what they've done, effectively, just making it the realm of fluff and player design rather than mechanics.