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

[Frozen_Heart]

I honestly never blamed the authors. D&D was always more of a Western than a Medieval fantasy game and if you're going to play cowboys and Indians, SOMEONE has to play the Indians. People wrote what they knew.

I think it's largely because I've always played DnD as a 'eurocentric' fantasy back then (stereotypical I know), and so basing the orcs around european cultures just worked a lot better for that.

These days I try to avoid just dropping real world human cultures in though, for all sorts of reasons.

 

[Yaarel]

I honestly dont see a problem.

Human-Elf and Human-Orc and Elf-Orc and so on, exist.

But they arent separate species.

 

[QuentinGeorge]

A lot. Racial prejudice (from both sides) is basically his entire backstory.

It is his whole narrative arc!

 

[Scribe]

It is his whole narrative arc!

I'd have to think about it, but honestly even right to the end it really is. Which is interesting. His 'class' is pretty much irrelevant to the story, but his 'race/species/origin' is pretty much reinforced and central to his story for the entire time hes part of the books. From his love interests, his upbringing, his leaving to find a 'family' of his own, and acceptance, to his eventual 'burning through' his elvish blood and aging, while his wife remains untouched and timeless.

Its an interesting thing, because right now, 5e, the species portion of a character is largely or increasingly meaningless.

This is the importance to me, of the Half Elf as a player option.

 

[DavyGreenwind]

I think it is important to parse what is actually happening.

1. WotC is moving away from the name "half-elf," because the naming convention, not human-elf hybrids themselves, is based on a problematic history of calling mixed people "half" something. (I myself am mixed, half-Arab. If, upon reading "half-Arab," your subconscious immediately assumed my other half was white, then you see the issue. If not, good for you).

2. WotC is not getting rid of human-elf hybrids from a lore perspective. There will still be plenty of them in the Realms, as well as plenty of other hybrid species. The "half-elf" in Phandalin was probably changed to "drow" not because they are permanently removing human-elf hybrids, but because they are still in the process of figuring out a better naming convention.

3. WotC is removing mechanical support for specifically the human-elf hybrid, in favor of flavor text regarding any possible hybrid species. This may or may not be the best thing from a game play perspective.

These are three separate issues, and arguments conflating one issue with the other should be avoided. WotC is not canceling hybrid races, just changing nomenclature and (for now, at least) removing strict mechanical support for 2 and only 2 hybrid PCs.

 

[QuentinGeorge]

I think it is important to parse what is actually happening.

1. WotC is moving away from the name "half-elf," because the naming convention, not human-elf hybrids themselves, is based on a problematic history of calling mixed people "half" something. (I myself am mixed, half-Arab. If, upon reading "half-Arab," your subconscious immediately assumed my other half was white, then you see the issue. If not, good for you).

I'd only make that assumption since I presume you are American. Amongst my Malay in-laws when they use the term it of course means, Malay-Arab. It's a contextual term.

2. WotC is not getting rid of human-elf hybrids from a lore perspective. There will still be plenty of them in the Realms, as well as plenty of other hybrid species. The "half-elf" in Phandalin was probably changed to "drow" not because they are permanently removing human-elf hybrids, but because they are still in the process of figuring out a better naming convention.

That's speculation. Regardless, what this clumsy attempt at avoiding "problematic" terms ends up looking like is that it is easier for them to delete and/or ignore the existence of characters of mixed human/elf ancestry. (Note they didn't change the character to human or elf, but to drow...for some reason)

3. WotC is removing mechanical support for specifically the human-elf hybrid, in favor of flavor text regarding any possible hybrid species. This may or may not be the best thing from a game play perspective.

These are three separate issues, and arguments conflating one issue with the other should be avoided. WotC is not canceling hybrid races, just changing nomenclature and (for now, at least) removing strict mechanical support for 2 and only 2 hybrid PCs.

You are giving an organisation the benefit of the doubt which in the past has shown itself to handle these matters in an incredibly panicked, knee-jerk manner which ends up pleasing nobody. Remember when alignment disappeared for two books and then returned with little change?

 

[Vaalingrade]

Alignment should have stayed gone.

 

[QuentinGeorge]

Alignment should have stayed gone.

 

[Yaarel]

(Note they didn't change the character to human or elf, but to drow...for some reason)

The NPC in question, is a "silver haired" "half-elf". The hair led to the decision that this half-elf is a drow half-elf. Hence, translating into a "drow", until the nomenclature becomes clearer.

Note, the game Baldurs Gate 3 uses the following nomenclature: "Drow Half-Elf". In this sense, the Half-Elf is fully "Drow".


I propose the following nomenclature for 2024: "Drow Human-Elf".


I am less sure about the entry lemma for a character of Red Dragonborn and Abyssal Tiefling, perhaps: "Red-Abyssal Dragonborn-Tiefling"?

 

[Veltharis ap Rylix]

The NPC in question, is a "silver haired" "half-elf". The hair led to the decision that this half-elf is a drow half-elf. Hence, translating into a "drow", until the nomenclature becomes clearer.

Moon elves are also known to have silver hair on occasion, so the claim that silver-hair is explicitly the reason for making the character a drow is dubious - particularly since the same description could also reasonably describe many generally elderly people whose hair color has faded just as easily.