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

[Scribe]

Getting down into the weeds of the 'let's have quarter origins' or 'how do we limit minmax' is why the who custom origin thing is a mess and goes well beyond what I think Wizards really wants to deal with.

Half Elf and Half Orc, should be grandfathered, since they are part of the evergreen edition, and then Custom Lineage via Tashas, can cover anything else.

 

[Remathilis]

Getting down into the weeds of the 'let's have quarter origins' or 'how do we limit minmax' is why the who custom origin thing is a mess and goes well beyond what I think Wizards really wants to deal with.

Half Elf and Half Orc, should be grandfathered, since they are part of the evergreen edition, and then Custom Lineage via Tashas, can cover anything else.

I was thinking how the custom lineage from Tasha, with a few tweaks, could work as a catch-all. Give them three choice points:

Darkvision or a skill
A ribbon ability (free tool prof, hold breath, climb speed, fey ancestry)
A larger ability (stonecunning, free spells, or a feat)
Flavor and fluff to taste.

Use the half races of old as examples.

It wouldn't be robust enough to make an aarakroca-dragonborn, but it could cover a lot of generic mixes and things not covered directly in the rules.

 

[Horwath]

I was thinking how the custom lineage from Tasha, with a few tweaks, could work as a catch-all. Give them three choice points:

Darkvision or a skill
A ribbon ability (free tool prof, hold breath, climb speed, fey ancestry)
A larger ability (stonecunning, free spells, or a feat)
Flavor and fluff to taste.

Use the half races of old as examples.

It wouldn't be robust enough to make an aarakroca-dragonborn, but it could cover a lot of generic mixes and things not covered directly in the rules.

Pick your racial traits;
you have 6 trait points:

skill proficiency, max 2 times
combination of 3 tools, languages and/or weapons, max 2 times
expertise in one racial tool or skill
darkvision 60ft
darkvision 120ft, worth 2 points
hardy: +2 HP, +1 HP for every level after 1st, worth 2 pts
damage type resistance(except bludgeoning, slashing or piercing), max 2 times
healthy: advantage and resistance vs poison and disease
durable: advantage on one saving throw
+5 move speed, max 2 times
climb speed equal to move speed
swim speed equal to move speed and hold breath 1hr
burrow speed, half your speed
fly speed(wings), worth 4 points
cantrip, max 2 times
one level 1 spell known, cast for free once per long rest
one level 2 spell known, cast for free once per long rest
one level 3 spell known, cast for free once per long rest, worth 2 points
extra feat: worth 5 points
natural armor 13+dex or +1 AC when wearing armor you are proficient
natural weapon 1d6+str or 1d4+dex, one attack as bonus action
large frame: count as one size larger for carry capacity, grappling and similar

negative traits:
slow: -5ft speed, gain one trait point
small size: gain one trait point
sunlight sensitivity: gain one trait point
-1 to one ability; gain one trait point, max 2 times, cannot be taken on ability 8 or lower.

 

[Scribe]

Pick your racial traits;
you have 6 trait points:

skill proficiency, max 2 times
combination of 3 tools, languages and/or weapons, max 2 times
expertise in one racial tool or skill
darkvision 60ft
darkvision 120ft, worth 2 points
hardy: +2 HP, +1 HP for every level after 1st, worth 2 pts
damage type resistance(except bludgeoning, slashing or piercing), max 2 times
healthy: advantage and resistance vs poison and disease
durable: advantage on one saving throw
+5 move speed, max 2 times
climb speed equal to move speed
swim speed equal to move speed and hold breath 1hr
burrow speed, half your speed
fly speed(wings), worth 4 points
cantrip, max 2 times
one level 1 spell known, cast for free once per long rest
one level 2 spell known, cast for free once per long rest
one level 3 spell known, cast for free once per long rest, worth 2 points
extra feat: worth 5 points
natural armor 13+dex or +1 AC when wearing armor you are proficient
natural weapon 1d6+str or 1d4+dex, one attack as bonus action
large frame: count as one size larger for carry capacity, grappling and similar

negative traits:
slow: -5ft speed, gain one trait point
small size: gain one trait point
sunlight sensitivity: gain one trait point
-1 to one ability; gain one trait point, max 2 times, cannot be taken on ability 8 or lower.

Yeah, something like that. If Wizards cleans up their templating, they could easily get this into the book + keep everything from the 5e release.

I just dont see a net gain in dropping Half Elf for Wizards, but I think we have probably beaten the horse to death.

 

[Remathilis]

Pick your racial traits;
you have 6 trait points:

skill proficiency, max 2 times
combination of 3 tools, languages and/or weapons, max 2 times
expertise in one racial tool or skill
darkvision 60ft
darkvision 120ft, worth 2 points
hardy: +2 HP, +1 HP for every level after 1st, worth 2 pts
damage type resistance(except bludgeoning, slashing or piercing), max 2 times
healthy: advantage and resistance vs poison and disease
durable: advantage on one saving throw
+5 move speed, max 2 times
climb speed equal to move speed
swim speed equal to move speed and hold breath 1hr
burrow speed, half your speed
fly speed(wings), worth 4 points
cantrip, max 2 times
one level 1 spell known, cast for free once per long rest
one level 2 spell known, cast for free once per long rest
one level 3 spell known, cast for free once per long rest, worth 2 points
extra feat: worth 5 points
natural armor 13+dex or +1 AC when wearing armor you are proficient
natural weapon 1d6+str or 1d4+dex, one attack as bonus action
large frame: count as one size larger for carry capacity, grappling and similar

negative traits:
slow: -5ft speed, gain one trait point
small size: gain one trait point
sunlight sensitivity: gain one trait point
-1 to one ability; gain one trait point, max 2 times, cannot be taken on ability 8 or lower.

No no no. Two complicated and abusable. A few choice points and options, not a complex point system.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

It is fine when a character has parents who belong to different species. Likewise, it is fine when there is a community who descends from mixed ancestry.

The "racist" part is when a "half-breed" is considered as if a separate "race", somehow no longer a member of the races of ones parents.

The solution is to mention the Human-Elf and other multispecies in a context that shows they are still members of their parental species. So a Human-Elf is still a Human and is still an Elf

Biologically, that's not how hybrids work. A liger is not a lion and a tiger, it is a liger. It shares some traits with it's parent species, but it also has it's own traits to make it a unique thing.

 

[Mirrorrorrim]

It is fine when a character has parents who belong to different species. Likewise, it is fine when there is a community who descends from mixed ancestry.

The "racist" part is when a "half-breed" is considered as if a separate "race", somehow no longer a member of the races of ones parents.

The solution is to mention the Human-Elf and other multispecies in a context that shows they are still members of their parental species. So a Human-Elf is still a Human and is still an Elf.

I take for granted, the Human-Elf and the Human-Orc will be in the 2024 Players Handbook but not as separate species. They will appear in a section about characters who descend from multiple species.



Not sure what is going on where Phandelver changes an NPC Half-Elf into a Drow. Probably, the adventure designers know from the playtests that "Half-Elf" is no longer considered its own race, but doesnt yet have official info for how to describe a multispecies character.

Meanwhile, there is an effort to show the dark-skin Drow is part of normal society without being inherently Evil. So in this case, an NPC that is a "Half-Drow" is listed as if a full Drow. Uncertain about "Half" and positive about "Drow".

Probably, when the multispecies descriptions become official, this NPC will again list as a Human-Drow.

In BG3 I chose a half-drow over drow for two reasons: The big one is that I liked the face design better, and second, I felt that proficiency with a shield would be helpful for AC. (Half-elves get a "Civil Militia" ability that adds some proficiencies).

If there were more face options that I liked, I would not have cared whether the character was a drow or a half-drow.
Mixed species characters should count as both species, not be something different that are not those species. It's fine if they genetically favor one parent or the other for special abilities and they are cosmetically varied in appearance.

I think for 2024 it would be good for Mixed Parentage characters to choose between updated Custom Lineage rules from Tasha's, and an updated version of the rules in playtest packet 1, or somehow merge the two into a rule for Mixed and Chimeric lineage.

 

[Mirrorrorrim]

Because it will no longer have a full write up? No associated lore nor even a picture? Only a sidebar at best?

Despite the designers feeling they had to create racial writeups over the years, half-elves do not have a common racial identity, nor does it make sense for them to have unified racial abilities. They aren't unified and don't have their own civilizations or societies, rather they were additions to other societies. And that's not bad. Now of course there is Eberron lore that says that half-elves breed true (I believe no matter their parentage, if a half-elf breeds with an elf or a human, their progeny would always be a half-elf). But that turned out to be problematic too, as in previous discussions I've had someone posited that the commonly-held racial tensions would inevitably create a larger tainted bloodline racial story, suggesting that half-elven bloodlines erase other races, causing racial purity conflicts, and that made it weird for me.

I'm fine with mixed-heritage characters being uniquely created with "Custom Lineage" options with open-ended skills and feats, or have it be cosmetic (the player's choice), or be a mix of the two.

 

[Mirrorrorrim]

Despite the designers feeling they had to create racial writeups over the years, half-elves do not have a common racial identity, nor does it make sense for them to have unified racial abilities. They aren't unified and don't have their own civilizations or societies, rather they were additions to other societies. And that's not bad. Now of course there is Eberron lore that says that half-elves breed true (I believe no matter their parentage, if a half-elf breeds with an elf or a human, their progeny would always be a half-elf). But that turned out to be problematic too, as in previous discussions I've had someone posited that the commonly-held racial tensions would inevitably create a larger tainted bloodline racial story, suggesting that half-elven bloodlines erase other races, causing racial purity conflicts, and that made it weird for me.

But I am also ABOSLUTELY FINE with a Khoravar race for Eberron (essentially traditional half-elves), which can be repurposed in any campaign that approves it.

 

[Micah Sweet]

No no no. Two complicated and abusable. A few choice points and options, not a complex point system.

I like complex point systems. Why deny the option to those who want it? If it's abused, let the DM handle it.