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

[Bedrockgames]

If people follow the idea that mechanically having the abilities of one parent or the other is does not do it for them, they could add that mixed lineage characters can pick a feat to gain features of another ancestry. People who want more complexity can have it and the default choice can be simple.

Or you could have half race options like half elf and half orc available and get both the options you want without all the added complexity

 

[Remathilis]

WoTC: Half-Elf and Half-Orc are racist.

Me who is English, Italian, Irish, Jewish, German, smidgen of Dutch, and Cherokee somewhere according to my aunt.

I'm offensive???


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Would you like to be called a half-white?

That's what WotC is reacting to. The notion that being half-something makes you a distinct species. That what defines you is the non-human blood in your veins. That your species is a half-breed. What WotC is trying to do is turn mixed species into an aesthetic rather than a mechanical choice. Critical Role already has done this to a degree. You pick a race for its mechanics but define the rest by your heritage. Maybe you're mechanically an elf, but your family has human, halfling and even some tiefling ancestors and you can add physical or social traits from that into your story. What you don't get is the halfling luck, tiefling resistance and human bonus feat.

 

[DarkCrisis]

In the Arcana Evolved setting, Gnomes and Halflings were combined into one race, the Faen. Gnomes were called Loresong Faen. Halflings otoh were called the Quickling Faen. Members of the Faen could even undergo a metamorphosis and become Sprytes.

That's weird. D&D lore had Gnomes as a sort of off-shoot of Dwarves. Beareded and stocky and liked working with their hands but more magical and lived above ground.

Or the old Dragonlance Lore where they were all one race that got split into 3 after messing with chaos magic. Though only the Kender (Halflings) would ever agree to that being true.

 

[Corinnguard]

What also defines someone is what culture they were raised in. In Level Up, you could have someone who has the Human heritage, but who grew up in a Dwarven culture (like a certain character from the Discworld series ).

 

[Corinnguard]

That's weird. D&D lore had Gnomes as a sort of off-shoot of Dwarves. Beareded and stocky and liked working with their hands but more magical and lived above ground.

Or the old Dragonlance Lore where they were all one race that got split into 3 after messing with chaos magic. Though only the Kender (Halflings) would ever agree to that being true.

Yeah. Reorx transformed some of his human followers into the first Tinker Gnomes because they wouldn't stop tinkering with their inventions. Then thanks to the Chaotic energies of the Graygem, some Tinker Gnomes became the first Dwarves and the first Kender.

 

[Mallus]

season 3 is good.
season 1&2, horrible.

Ahem…

Season 3 is very good
Season 1 is (nearly) great
Season 2 is... 2 out of 3 ain’t bad

 

[Micah Sweet]

Would you like to be called a half-white?

That's what WotC is reacting to. The notion that being half-something makes you a distinct species. That what defines you is the non-human blood in your veins. That your species is a half-breed. What WotC is trying to do is turn mixed species into an aesthetic rather than a mechanical choice. Critical Role already has done this to a degree. You pick a race for its mechanics but define the rest by your heritage. Maybe you're mechanically an elf, but your family has human, halfling and even some tiefling ancestors and you can add physical or social traits from that into your story. What you don't get is the halfling luck, tiefling resistance and human bonus feat.

Well, it seems that some people are taking issue with WotC's unilateral decision in this case. Not everyone wants it to be just an asthetic choice. It is also, by utter coincidence I'm sure, the laziest design choice.

 

[Bedrockgames]

That's what WotC is reacting to. The notion that being half-something makes you a distinct species.

I think we are really mixing things here in an odd way though. I mean, human races and ethnicities ARE NOT distinct species. We are all human. Every person posting here shares the same humanity as anyone else, and their ethnicity or race doesn't change that at all. So if someone is half asian and half white, there is nothing substantially different from that person a someone who is all white or all asian.

But it still may be a very important part of that person's identity, their cultural experiences, etc. On the other hand, dwarves, humans, orcs, etc these are much more like distinct species. Sometimes they ideas from the real world (so I can see how someone playing a half elf and who grew up in a household that was dual culture, or has a mixed racial/ethnic background, would see something in that that resonates). But fundamentally saying something is half elven, isn't saying anything at all about people of mixed racial backgrounds. We say half elf, because we are humans and that is the default (I imagine elves would likely call such a person half human; or they might just say half human, half elf, or whatever).

This idea just seems extremely misguided to me. And the way it has been handled, is actually kind of offensive in my opinion (and I generally don't get offended unless something is very badly handled or done with bad intent). I don't think any ill intent was there, but to dismiss the term "half" overlooks how a lot of people experience life. It can be used in a bad way, but for a lot of people, it's an important part of who they are (and not the thing that defines them). It is a very paternalistic attitude that overlooks a lot of the nuances around how identity works.

 

[Bedrockgames]

That your species is a half-breed. What WotC is trying to do is turn mixed species into an aesthetic rather than a mechanical choice.

This is where I think they are losing the interest of a lot of people

 

[Alzrius]

Silverymoon, city in FR.
3rd ed, 37,000 population. half elves 12% of total. that is 4440 in kind of a small area.

All cities are small areas, at least as a general rule, compared to rural areas.

According to the 3.5 sourcebook City of Splendors: Waterdeep (affiliate link), Waterdeep (a major city in the Forgotten Realms) has a population of 132,661, of which 5% are half-elves, which is 6,633.

Likewise, half-orcs are 2% of the population, which is 2,653.