D&D (2024) How did I miss this about the Half races/ancestries

[DarkCrisis]

I tried to find a thread talking about this but couldn't...

This is how One D&D will handle this?

So via their example your just a halfling who looks like a gnome and may have a different life span than either.

Game stats wise though, you’re a Halfling. Talk about the most boring solution.

They couldn't come up with someway to combine an attribute of each to make something unique? Not just a weird looking basic Orc or Dwarf or Elf etc. Like pic one special ability of the Dwarf parent and one of the Orc parent (I have the Stonecunning of a Dwarf and the Aggression ability of the Orc) decide how you look (I'm light green like an Orc but the size and shape of a dwarf... with a beard!) Instead it's Im just a somewhat green Dwarf. Yawn.

The most safe yet boring way to deal with the Halves... and Halve nots.

 

[cranberry]

I think they should have at least kept the legacy half elf and half orc.

 

[Alzrius]

This is how One D&D will handle this?

So via their example your just a halfling who looks like a gnome and may have a different life span than either.

Game stats wise though, you’re a Halfling. Talk about the most boring solution.

Yeah, it sucks. Hopefully they'll change that before the final release, but I don't have a lot of hope for it.

 

[Emberashh]

If they're really too scared to continue using Half-X nomenclature then the ideal solution would have been giving those combinations actual names, not reducing them to meaninglessness so they aren't missed when deleted.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I'd like them to name one feature of a species "signature" and allow swapping one signature feature for the other when you have mixed heriatge.

 

[Pedantic]

Yeah, it's not an acceptable solution, but it isn't terrible directionally. They just need to actually set aside some species traits that can be swapped between mixed species characters.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

It’s pretty bad, but they did say at the summit IIRC that you can still play the 2014 versions.

As a kid who grew up “the white kid in the brown family” on one side, and “oh you’re actually Mexican aren’t you?” On the other, I’m pretty mad at wotc about this.

We aren’t actually really just one or the other. We are both. Period. Represent that, or this is a waste of time.

 

[Osgood]

I agree that the "Half" in the name is a problem, but I feel like they can just come up with a better name... elfkin or orcling, or whatever. Have a list of options and have folks vote.
Personally, I think every species should have a section for blended ancestry that lists what traits would apply when mixes with anther species--kind of like they have for Multiclassing. That way you can actually have a distinctive blended species.

 

[Alzrius]

Personally, I think every species should have a section for blended ancestry that lists what traits would apply when mixes with anther species--kind of like they have for Multiclassing. That way you can actually have a distinctive blended species.

That's a laudable idea, but I worry about it branching out into unworkability. Coming up with combinations for nine base races is already a lot, and that number will only proliferate when you factor in the inevitable splatbook expansion (or even just existing races from 5E). Not to mention it leads to one wondering why it's only a one/one split; couldn't your half-orc have one parent that was a dwarf/human and another that was an orc/elf? What would that combination look like, in terms of traits?

The issue, as I see it, is that presenting the option of "universal interfertility" creates more problems than it's worth. The end result of that is that you end up needing some sort of table of racial characteristics, all with point values, and players get a pool of points to pick out their characteristics, after which they can define their lineage appropriately. And that leads to all sorts of issues, from game balance to expanded lists in new books to coming up with a reason why game worlds still have distinctive races at all if everyone's from a mixed background.

While less options tends to rub people the wrong way on general principle, keeping the game to the level of simplicity that the designers seem to want demands either an inelegant solution like the one presented in the OP, or simply sticking to the idea that most races can't interbreed, notwithstanding certain combinations such as the classic half-elf and half-orc.

 

[Uni-the-Unicorn!]

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I tried to find a thread talking about this but couldn't...

This is how One D&D will handle this?

So via their example your just a halfling who looks like a gnome and may have a different life span than either.

Game stats wise though, you’re a Halfling. Talk about the most boring solution.

They couldn't come up with someway to combine an attribute of each to make something unique? Not just a weird looking basic Orc or Dwarf or Elf etc. Like pic one special ability of the Dwarf parent and one of the Orc parent (I have the Stonecunning of a Dwarf and the Aggression ability of the Orc) decide how you look (I'm light green like an Orc but the size and shape of a dwarf... with a beard!) Instead it's Im just a somewhat green Dwarf. Yawn.

The most safe yet boring way to deal with the Halves... and Halve nots.

Yes, this is old news and I have already responded to it in a survey