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

[Micah Sweet]

That they are fictions does not make them devoid of real-world references, meanings, or implications.

Fictions are full of symbolism. Fictions have meaning. Fictions are a large part of how we communicate our culture and values to each other.

Frodo Baggins isn't "just a fiction," with no relation to anything in the real world! He and Samwise Gamgee are stand-ins for Tolkien's ideal of the English country folk. Unassuming, not terribly sophisticated, but with an unmatched strength in the cores of their being that make them the overall heroes of the story!

Harper Lee's, To Kill a Mockingbird is fiction, with some very direct things to say about racial inequality. Do you wish to deny its power?

Given how we use fiction, and what we take from fiction, you cannot just assert "it is a fiction" to deflect criticism.

Sure you can. You just have to accept that some people will find that unacceptable.

 

[jdrakeh]

Laughs in Over the Edge

Seriously, though, while this approach to character building may be new to D&D, it's old hat elsewhere and fairly well-liked. Maybe give it a try.

 

[Frozen_Heart]

I'm still not sure why making hybrid-species have different traits to their parent species is racist or problematic? Irl hybrid species are like this.

I get why it's an issue mechanically though... Having just elf-human and human-orc but nothing else leaves people wanting things like dwarf-humans or elf-orcs with nothing. But implementing things to allow mixing of every species is just a powergamers dream, and would be by definition not backwards compatible with everything before 1dnd.

 

[Corinnguard]

But implementing things to allow mixing of every species is just a powergamers dream, and would be by definition not backwards compatible with everything before 1dnd.

And give DMs everywhere a headache as they would then have to decide on whether or not to allow such hybrid characters into their game. As DMs make the final call as to what they will or won't accept into their games.

Before a DM accepts such a character, the player wanting to play a hybrid character had better come up with a good and very convincing backstory on how the latter came to be.

 

[Bagpuss]

They’re not getting rid of them. They are just changing how you express them.

Yeah I find that hard to believe when they are also saying things like...

"We also haven't been thrilled for years with anything that begins with "half." The half" construction is inherently racist. They'll still be in D&D Beyond and the 2014 PHB if you want to play them."

Basically means they won't be appearing in any products going forward. Which is effectively trying to remove them.

If they didn't include the rules for dwarves in editions going forward, didn't have any dwarf NPCs in products, but said you can just play as either short stocky Goliath, or use the legacy rules from 2014 (but not at any official events). Then you would say they got rid of dwarves.

 

[Hussar]

I'm still not sure why making hybrid-species have different traits to their parent species is racist or problematic? Irl hybrid species are like this.

I get why it's an issue mechanically though... Having just elf-human and human-orc but nothing else leaves people wanting things like dwarf-humans or elf-orcs with nothing. But implementing things to allow mixing of every species is just a powergamers dream, and would be by definition not backwards compatible with everything before 1dnd.

It’s not that having shared traits is the issue.

The issue is the language used in half races. Misfits. Cannot belong to either culture. Face fetishization or bigotry. On and on and on.

And it’s based on a history in the game that’s even more problematic. In 2e it was impossible for a half elf to have a half elf child unless the other parent was a full elf. After all, in 2e rules, being less than 50% elf made you human. Never minding the language that states that you could be 99% elf but still be considered a half elf.

That’s the problem.

 

[Frozen_Heart]

It’s not that having shared traits is the issue.

The issue is the language used in half races. Misfits. Cannot belong to either culture. Face fetishization or bigotry. On and on and on.

And it’s based on a history in the game that’s even more problematic. In 2e it was impossible for a half elf to have a half elf child unless the other parent was a full elf. After all, in 2e rules, being less than 50% elf made you human. Never minding the language that states that you could be 99% elf but still be considered a half elf.

That’s the problem.

Yeah I really dislike the language used for them. But just like the language which was previously used for orcs and drow, that can be rewritten.

It doesn't mean that hybrid species have to be mechanically deleted from the game.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Instead, he stated that half anything is 'inherently racist'.

Except he didn’t at that, he said that the “half” construction (ie the terminology) is inherently racist.

And it was very clear he was referring to the term, not to people. People are spinning up a controversy in order to generate engagement.

 

[Frozen_Heart]

Before a DM accepts such a character, the player wanting to play a hybrid character had better come up with a good and very convincing backstory on how the latter came to be.

I'd say that it depends on the combo. It's easy to see how a human and an elf or a human and an orc could potentially reproduce. Irl animals of different species but same genus reproduce on a semi regular basis. And there are multiple documented cases of animals in different genus reproducing. For example chicken-peafowl hybrids are extremely rare, but they exist.

But if a player wants that aarokocra thri-kreen hybrid.... yeah that's gonna need some serious persuasion checks to get past me.

 

[Corinnguard]

Irl animals of different species but same genus reproduce on a semi regular basis.

This is sort of the case in the Shadowrun RPG. All of the metahumans (humans, dwarves, elves, orks and trolls) and their metavariants (trolls, giants, ogres, hobgoblins, etc.) are members of the same genus and species (Homo sapiens) but of differing subspecies (elves being Homo sapiens nobilis } . All of them are capable of mating and having offspring with one another. However, there are no hybrid races in Shadowrun. Instead the offspring born to two different metahumans take after one of the parents, not both. So a human and an elf can have human or elven offspring, but no half-elves. Even stranger is the possibility that the offspring of a human and an elf producing an ork or a troll child. This is because magic and genetics are something of an odd couple in this setting.