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

[SteveC]

While we're at it, let's restore the racial and gender mods to ability scores and the original lore to hadozee and Vistani.

Privilege is a hell of a drug.

This is such a strange tangent to bring up. No one is asking for those things to happen, just like no one was asking for half races to go. Are you? If you think there's any correlation between ability score by sex and half races, well I suppose you could make that argument. Or you could just start an attack post too, which is what you're doing here. Any time someone leads with privilege where it has no relevance, I just think they're trying to stir something up rather than have a discussion. This falls into the "why even bother" category, I suppose.

 

[Bedrockgames]

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.

I really don't understand this. I mean I get real world racists can use that or something. But plenty of people regard themselves as half one ethnicity or race and half another ethnicity or race. And in D&D, these aren't even races anymore, and they never really were races in the sense that we use the term, so you are talking about someone who has an elf mom and a human dad, being a half elf (and you could reverse that but since humans are playing the games, I think it is just a convenient default).

My feeling is the game really loses something with this. I like the simplicity in D&D of choosing Race and Class, and those coming packed with stuff you don't have to fiddle with too much. I also love the half-orc, and I know plenty of half elf fans. There is a trope that is relatable to a lot of people of being between two worlds. I think anyone with mixed cultural or racial background can appreciate that. But it is also a deep trope in fantasy. And one that is usually used to increase empathy not to diminish it.

 

[Horwath]

While we're at it, let's restore the racial and gender mods to ability scores and the original lore to hadozee and Vistani.

Privilege is a hell of a drug.

we should return racial ability score modifiers, but with added change.

Ability scores are only used for ability checks.

attack, damage, saves, DCs, bonus HPs, all use proficiency modifier instead of ability modifier.

 

[Bedrockgames]

This is such a strange tangent to bring up. No one is asking for those things to happen, just like no one was asking for half races to go. Are you? If you think there's any correlation between ability score by sex and half races, well I suppose you could make that argument. Or you could just start an attack post too, which is what you're doing here. Any time someone leads with privilege where it has no relevance, I just think they're trying to stir something up rather than have a discussion. This falls into the "why even bother" category, I suppose.

Well, I personally still like the old Vistani lore for reasons I have given on the Ravenloft threads, but I don't see the connection here either. I have never really needed or wanted modifiers based on sex for characters. I do like half orcs and half elves in the game. I can understand some of the quibbles people have from a logical standpoint (it is fair for example to point out there are half elves, but no half halflings----and there I think the answer is just simplicity and demand). But it's the moral arguments against half elves and half orcs (or at the very least against that terminology and the way it is expressed mechanically) that I don't really understand.

 

[Von Corellon]

“Won’t someone please think of the Halflings?”
That’s no doubt going to offend the clout-chasers on DnD Twitter. (this is humor, folks)

 

[Vaalingrade]

I just wonder what will happen with Half-lings!!

They really ought to get another name because 'halfling' is kind of a terrible name for 'short people'. But that won't happen until the word hobbit enters the public domain.

Half of something, that’s no doubt going to offend the clout-chasers on DnD Twitter.

As yes, caring about the dignity of people is 'clout chasing', but trumpeting one's lack of said caring is not. Good. Good.

 

[Micah Sweet]

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

It was a choice based in fear, so they have no strong motivation to change in the current social environment.

 

[Von Corellon]

They really ought to get another name because 'halfling' is kind of a terrible name for 'short people'. But that won't happen until the word hobbit enters the public domain.

As yes, caring about the dignity of people is 'clout chasing', but trumpeting one's lack of said caring is not. Good. Good.

Ignore!

 

[Eubani]

As yes, caring about the dignity of people is 'clout chasing', but trumpeting one's lack of said caring is not. Good. GoGood.

Believe it or not some do chase clout by stirring up controversy.

 

[Micah Sweet]

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.

Yes. That's why IMO the hard drive towards simplicity is the problem. Level Up's solution, for example, is a bit more complex but very much worth it in my mind.