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

[UngeheuerLich]

Btw, the Halfling gift Twilight Touched is for Kithbain Halflings. Kithbáin Halfling | Level Up

In a forgotten corner of the Dreaming lies a territory called the Twilight, a silent world perpetually under the dim light of the setting sun. This place is home to the kithbáin, or the twilight-touched, halflings who’ve lived for generations in half-light, filling up its silence with the voices of ken. There is no sound in the Twilight but one’s own thoughts, and after long enough, the thoughts of others.

There is no option to get generic halfling traits and generic elf traits for example. But I guess it is usually possible to combine them in a way that is close enough.

In a certain way it is makin a 2014D&D race by combining base elf with halfling subrace.

 

[Aldarc]

I prefer the playtest rules of you pick your mechanics from one parent, and mix appearance as you like.

I will miss the mechanical expression of the half-elf. I understand the argument and position that WotC is making, but we are still losing the half-elf and half-orc options, mechanical expressions and all.

 

[Corinnguard]

There is no option to get generic halfling traits and generic elf traits for example. But I guess it is usually possible to combine them in a way that is close enough.

In a certain way it is makin a 2014D&D race by combining base elf with halfling subrace.

You're referring to the traits commonly held by all members of a given heritage? curious

 

[Pedantic]

There is no option to get generic halfling traits and generic elf traits for example. But I guess it is usually possible to combine them in a way that is close enough.

In a certain way it is makin a 2014D&D race by combining base elf with halfling subrace.

I'd probably go with either an Elf base with the Tuft-Feet gift, or a Halfling with Prescient Vision, which I think gets you pretty close to your classic LotR flavors for both. The Mixed Heritage sidebar calls out that you can adjust size/lifespan/physical appearance, so you could play either as a small or medium character.

Part of the appeal though is that those could be both quite reasonable represent two different 1st generation mixed heritage characters. Level Up already emphasizes diversity inside Heritage by moving half your origin features to Culture, and giving you several "heritage gifts" to pick from, so it's already sort of expected that even just two elves will have different traits from each other.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Which still exist with the current proposal. You choose which parentage is the dominant one. Just like I have blue eyes if my parents have brown and blue eyes.

That can still be done, right? What's stopping a PC with a human dad and orc mother doing the same trope?

They can’t have human and or traits. Thus, the game is telling them “you may look orcish, but you’re really a human”.

Which is at least as bad as half-X.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I will miss the mechanical expression of the half-elf. I understand the argument and position that WotC is making, but we are still losing the half-elf and half-orc options, mechanical expressions and all.

I suspect they'll fix it. Especially given the recent "more changes" are coming.

The obvious solution would be some kind of toolkit for mixed characters that let you reconstruct the Half-Elf.

There was some fairly bizarre logic on display though, recently, from Crawford, where he insisted that all major D&D settings feature muskets and pistols (not true in any way that matters, as discussed at length, also hilariously insulting to Dragonlance - which they just put out a version of lol!), yet apparently the fact that Half-Elves have at least one community where they're basically the dominant "species" and breed true, and sometimes many, in "all the major D&D settings" doesn't mean anything.

 

[Alzrius]

There was some fairly bizarre logic on display though, recently, from Crawford, where he insisted that all major D&D settings feature muskets and pistols

I can't find any confirmation that Jeremy Crawford actually said this; the closest I can find is that this reason was put forward by an influencer (who I'm not sure was even at the recent summit), and while it's in quotation marks, there's nothing about who's being quoted:

 

[Greg K]

I think the easiest option for mixed species, is a feat that can be picked at 1st level. Then they only need 1 thing designed for each species they come up with. And you can get things like if your character is an Elf-Orc-Human descendant.

Still they'd have to pick 1 species at creation, and pick 1 feat to represent the other and wait for a later level to pick another, unless they pick Human as the base species and have Elven blood and Orcish blood as their 2 starting feats.

As I mentioned in another thread, I like how Fantasy Craft handled half-species with feats. For example, Half-Elf would be

Elf-Blood
Prequisite: Non Elf; taken at Level 1 only
Benefit: (insert Elf Blood feature(s))

Half-Orc would be:

Orc Blood
Elf-Blood
Prequisite: Non Orc; taken at Level 1 only
Benefit: (insert Orc Blood feature(s))

 

[Pedantic]

As I mentioned in another thread, I like how Fantasy Craft handled half-species with feats. For example, Half-Elf would be

Elf-Blood
Prequisite: Non Elf; taken at Level 1 only
Benefit: (insert Elf Blood feature(s))

Half-Orc would be:

Orc Blood
Elf-Blood
Prequisite: Non Orc; taken at Level 1 only
Benefit: (insert Orc Blood feature(s))

I also quite like this approach, but I think it hinges on FC also giving each of their base species a bunch of species feats to expand them. You can just be a lizardfolk, or you can take Angelic, Drcaconic, Elemental, Fiendish heritage, or any of the 5 lizard folk specific feats that give you a tail, or spikes or fins and so on, and then all of those choices have a second feat you can take to evolve even more traits later.

In that environment, where emphasizing your species and the traits it offers is one of several possible build paths, putting a feat cost on doing a mixed-species character isn't especially onerous, but in 5e I think it's quite a bit more intrusive.

 

[Frozen_Heart]

I feel like mix and match traits should be how hybrid species are handled for most species. With each species having group a and group b features. A hybrid picks a group A from one parent, and a group B from another parent.

For tieflings, genasi, aasimar, warforged, half dragons, and probably some others, it should be handled through feats. For example you pick a water genasi feat at lvl 1 (as this edition gives a feat automatically at lvl 1).

So for example you pick a group A ability from human, and a group B ability from elf. And then you pick a water genasi planetouched feat as the one which comes with your background.

You're now a water genasi half elf, and the entire thing is mechanically represented.