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

[Faolyn]

I'm saying it should be included as a heritage characterization possibility in the core game. The PH has to have  something to describe what being a dwarf or a tiefling or an orc, or a character of mixed heritage is actually like, and I don't think it should be entirely heroic and positive and cosmopolitan.

One: Why is "subjected to prejudice" a good way to describe a race? "Of course people don't like you; it's your fault for being a half-elf." That's just victim-blaming. If anything, other races should have "prone to being bigots" as their descriptor.

Two: Why do you assume that, in a fantasy world that often includes anthropomorphic animals and humanoid elementals and fey creatures and sentient slimes, that it's somehow realistic that people would be prejudiced against half-whatevers? It would be equally realistic to say that they are more accepted than their full-blooded kin are, since at least they're half-"our" people.

 

[Incenjucar]

One of the things I'm realizing is as the number of cultures your work is disseminated to increases, the greater the chance some term that's harmless in your home region is going to be offensive somewhere else.

That and a lot of folktales around the world revolve around beating up or driving off the invaders from the region/country next door. But now the people in that region/country are reading those folktales.

And a lot of "safe" legends are only safe because nobody knows quite who was being turned into a monster or because the original people are all dead now.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

That and a lot of folktales around the world revolve around beating up or driving off the invaders from the region/country next door. But now the people in that region/country are reading those folktales.

I'm trying to whip up a simple setting for Shadowdark dungeon crawls and trying, even just for me and my players, to avoid this sort of trope while enabling classic dungeoncrawling is tougher than it first might appear. Already one player has asked "so, there wasn't anyone else living here?"

 

[Yaarel]

Would the term "Mixed" work better? My character is a Mixed Heritage Elf/Human? Yeah it's a tad longer than just Half-Elf but there ya go.

Name: Arnor Thistleknot
Heritage: Mixed Orc/Halfling (how did that work?)
Class: Wizard

Maybe pluralize the format, something like:

Name: Arnor Thistleknot
Species: Orc, Halfling
Class: Evoker Wizard 3, Ranger 1

 

[Micah Sweet]

One: Why is "subjected to prejudice" a good way to describe a race? "Of course people don't like you; it's your fault for being a half-elf." That's just victim-blaming. If anything, other races should have "prone to being bigots" as their descriptor.

Two: Why do you assume that, in a fantasy world that often includes anthropomorphic animals and humanoid elementals and fey creatures and sentient slimes, that it's somehow realistic that people would be prejudiced against half-whatevers? It would be equally realistic to say that they are more accepted than their full-blooded kin are, since at least they're half-"our" people.

cosmopolitan. Of that answers my implicit question: what do you use as heritage description in the core of a fantasy RPG? Negatives, even as a possibility only, seem to be out. Positive/heroic/cosmopolitan only seems very limiting and, yes, unrealistic to me, both in how people act in real life and in countless fictional depictions the game draws on. Physical only? That's fine for veterans, who have their own resources and experience to draw upon, but not very helpful for the new players for whom this revised game is supposed to be written.

So what do you do?

 

[Incenjucar]

A species should not be built mechanically with the assumption that it suffers from prejudice. Prejudice is a background element that can be decided at the campaign and player level, so that the DM and player aren't bound to design choices or forced to homebrew.

 

[Blue Orange]

I'm trying to whip up a simple setting for Shadowdark dungeon crawls and trying, even just for me and my players, to avoid this sort of trope while enabling classic dungeoncrawling is tougher than it first might appear. Already one player has asked "so, there wasn't anyone else living here?"

I've come to the conclusion people evolved to fight the adjacent band or tribe over the hunting grounds or watering hole, and sports and D&D (which had famously non-overlapping fan bases a few decades back) are expressions of that.

 

[Bedrockgames]

I understand that many people don't mind the term "Half". But anecdotally, it seems to me that many are offended by the term "Half". But how many are offended by the term "Mixed"? Anecdotally, IMHO, I think "Mixed" is less offensive to more people and would be a more inclusive word to use in the official rules of a game sold globally, than using the word "Half." For me it's not about telling you you're wrong. It's about inclusive design for a fantasy game.

Hobestly I think you will find people offended by mixed too.

 

[Frozen_Heart]

Apparently, you never heard of Lucky, Alert, Dual Wielder, Fey Touched, Elven Accuracy, Fighting Initiate, Eldritch Adept, Metamagic Adept, Gunner, Inspiring Leader, Polearm Master, Resilient, Shield Master, Shadow Touched, Skill Expert, Telekinetic, Telepathic, or War Caster.

You might want to look into those.

1dnd is giving a free feat at character creation anyway. So there is definitely enough room for it. A single classed character will be getting 6 options for feats by lvl 19. That's easily enough to spend one on being a tiefling.

They also get an epic boon at level 20. So you could really push into the planetouched direction and give them an epic boon towards it.

(I have absolutely no clue what a tiefling epic boon would be)

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

(I have absolutely no clue what a tiefling epic boon would be)

In 3E, I would have said have them assume their final form as a full outsider. Maybe something comparable?