D&D (2024) Half Race Appreciation Society: Half Elf most popular race choice in BG3

[Micah Sweet]

No surprise there really. Charisma (or its equivalent) is king in a lot of CRPGs, allowing one to bypass or avoid battle in the first place.

It can be king in TTRPGs as well. Remember the reaction roll.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Half-Elves have been one of most popular D&D races for decades (and Critical Role's first campaing had fully 50% of their PCs as that race), yet a few people on the Internet decided they were problematic in around 2019 so now we must be rid of them.

And people wonder why I claim WotC's design decisions are fear-motivated.

 

[Frozen_Heart]

Considering Tanis Half-Elven is a major character, and Simon the Sorcerer is a half elf, AND that Eberron has two half elf dragonmarked house, half elf is a requirement.

However, given WotC’s, pardon my frankness, boneheaded moves the last year, they will stay on course and remove it.

Just watch them decide to no longer make Eberron content going forward. Especially with its creator leaving.

It lets them no longer have to support the artificer which they clearly hate doing, while also axing the setting in the same way as Dark Sun because it has 'problematic' content (lots of focus on half-elves and half-orcs).

 

[RareBreed]

We invented psychology and sociology in the interim and it turns out that whole sentiment is BS.

Turns out, when people use those words to justify discrimination, abuse and straight murder, they really can hurt you.

In martial arts, one of the things they stress is to not let your opponent control your emotions. If he has, he has won half the battle already. But this statement goes to my earlier point: where do you draw the line between hate speech and disagreement?

One of my middle names is Arabic (I have Muslim relatives, because where my mother comes from is the Islamic region of the Philippines). Right after 9/11, I got pulled aside at airports, for extra screening...supposedly "at random". Was I being profiled? Probably. Did it offend me? No it didn't. But, I also understand why that action was taken (even if they are at least partially misguided).

As I've gotten older, I realize that whether I become offended, outraged, or emotionally distraught is on me. There will always be people who don't like you for whatever reason. Worse, no amount of logical argument or "fact checking" will change some people's minds. Trying to force them to not say what you want to hear is not only impossible, it is inherently hypocritical. Because what you say may be considered offensive to someone else, whether you realize it or not.

So the burden of responsibility of being emotionally distraught should be on the listener, not the speaker. Yes, this is difficult. I should also note the difference between anger and angry. It requires a level of tolerance, patience, maturity and understanding that is hard to come by. If people say ask me what ethnicity or race I am, it does not offend me. It's a natural question. We develop heuristics, or shortcuts in thinking, that fit "the normal". Having to step on eggshells to make sure what we say doesn't offend is backfiring.

While I find WoTC's handling of this somewhat racist, I also give them the benefit of the doubt that

• They may have had good intentions (though we know what the road to hell is paved with....)
• They just didn't think about it

 

[QuentinGeorge]

We invented psychology and sociology in the interim and it turns out that whole sentiment is BS.

Turns out, when people use those words to justify discrimination, abuse and straight murder, they really can hurt you.

Thanks for your rather condescending comment to someone who was speaking of their own experiences as a mixed person. You certainly schooled them.

 

[Frozen_Heart]

So the burden of responsibility of being emotionally distraught should be on the listener, not the speaker. Yes, this is difficult. I should also note the difference between anger and angry. It requires a level of tolerance, patience, maturity and understanding that is hard to come by. If people say ask me what ethnicity or race I am, it does not offend me. It's a natural question. We develop heuristics, or shortcuts in thinking, that fit "the normal". Having to step on eggshells to make sure what we say doesn't offend is backfiring.

Thing is, 'words' can also be used to incite physical responses and not just emotional. So while it's true that if you can control your emotional state, words can't hurt you, that says nothing for others being incited to physically harm you by those same words.

So in a roundabout way, words can hurt you no matter how good you are at not getting offended by them.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

This whole "well, you can be a half race, but you're really just one or the other" is racist in and of itself in my opinion.

This is the big issue that means I think it's very unlikely WotC will go forwards with it. Because the blowback will be significant. I notice they haven't mentioned it for quite a while.

It really just an American approach - the "one drop" rule and so on - and it is a racist approach. Even spinning it in the most progressive way, it's still saying, only one part of your heritage even counts when we're being real, when the chips are down. Pick what racial side you're "really" on.

One of my middle names is Arabic (I have Muslim relatives, because where my mother comes from is the Islamic region of the Philippines). Right after 9/11, I got pulled aside at airports, for extra screening...supposedly "at random". Was I being profiled? Probably. Did it offend me? No it didn't. But, I also understand why that action was taken (even if they are at least partially misguided).

Cases like those of Jean Charles De Menezes show this isn't as simple or safe to ignore as one might hope. Without a climate of racism and racial paranoia such a case could never have occurred. Most cases of racial or homophobic physical violence are preceded by verbal abuse, too.

 

[Frozen_Heart]

This is the big issue that means I think it's very unlikely WotC will go forwards with it. Because the blowback will be significant. I notice they haven't mentioned it for quite a while.

I am wondering if they will continue with the path of removing half-elves and half-orcs, while simply removing the entire mixed ancestor sidebar too. And then not replace it with anything.

'Solving' what they consider to be a problem in classic WotC fashion: Removing it entirely.

 

[Scott Christian]

While I find WoTC's handling of this somewhat racist, I also give them the benefit of the doubt that

• They may have had good intentions (though we know what the road to hell is paved with....)
• They just didn't think about it

They hired several very prominent editors specifically for this purpose. I am going to assume those people still work there and reviewed this material. I think the entire debate is blown out of proportion. They will keep half-elves. The entire debate about mixed species is silly at best and painful at worst. Silly, because they could just make halves not exist instantly and the problem is solved. Painful, because a few people of mixed heritage tend to look at this as a reflection of themselves, rather than a role they are trying to play. (To be clear, I don't think there is anything wrong with playing like that. But it does lead to complications such as: Why doesn't this fantasy world follow my worldview?)

We all have read the trope of the half-elf or half-anything that has a hard time straddling the two worlds. Of belonging to both but wanted by none. It not only plays out in fantasy, but it also plays out in real life too. So many MMA fighters and football players and soccer players have had profiles on them that highlight this specific thing. It is an easy and poignant point of conflict that makes us want to root for them.

This is why the half-elf is not leaving. It is too integral. Heck, it is the internal conflict in The Little Mermaid. So they aren't ditching this idea.

 

[jasper]

Everyone knows humans have two feets not threes.

You will go far my friend.
Catapult fire!