D&D (2024) Should 2014 Half Elves and Half Orcs be added to the 2025 SRD?

[Vaalingrade]

It's dumb because a vocal group is forcing something to only be allowed if it's offensive and then saying everything offensive must be removed.

Please remind me who is saying this... deeply confused sentence?

 

[Minigiant]

Please remind me who is saying this... deeply confused sentence?

Posters in this thread are only accepting lore that says half orcs are products of unsavory acts and that all other races distrust half elves and half orcs and will not fit in.

Anytime other inoffensive origins from D&D products is displayed, it is dismissed or ignored and the offensive lore is repeated.

 

[Remathilis]

Tiefling and assaimar were allowed to change. Half elf and half orc weren't.

Why?

Because they aren't named half fiend and half celestial.

Aasimar and tieflings are a mixture of a "mortal" and an immortal, planar "monster" type. Half-elf and half-orc are the mixture of two specific mortal species. Half-orcs don't happen because a human family got too close to an orc settlement, they happen because a human and an orc bump uglies. That's why the aasimar and tiefling got their lore changed to "influenced by planar energy somehow" and why the half-races are missing. Now, you could have a species of creature influenced by the fey (feytouched) and... Uh, idk? Ugly? (Calibans) But they explicitly won't be human/elf and human/orc crossbreeds. And again, if half-orcs and half-elves get their own species, where are the half-dwarves, half-gnomes, half-dtagonborn, and wilder mixed (dragonborn/orcs, dwarf/elves, goliath/gnomes?)

 

[Minigiant]

Aasimar and tieflings are a mixture of a "mortal" and an immortal, planar "monster" type. Half-elf and half-orc are the mixture of two specific mortal species. Half-orcs don't happen because a human family got too close to an orc settlement, they happen because a human and an orc bump uglies. That's why the aasimar and tiefling got their lore changed to "influenced by planar energy somehow" and why the half-races are missing. Now, you could have a species of creature influenced by the fey (feytouched) and... Uh, idk? Ugly? (Calibans)

Why not?
Maybe some half orcs do appear if they settle near other species.
This is exactly what I mean. Tiefling is allowed to be change.. Half orc can't. Why because we refuse to update lore, change some lore, or change the name.

Also you can't take fey touched as an origin feat.
Nor shadow touched or any dragon feat or giant feat as an origin feat in 2024.

half-orcs and half-elves get their own species, where are the half-dwarves, half-gnomes, half-dtagonborn, and wilder mixed (dragonborn/orcs, dwarf/elves, goliath/gnomes?)

Why not?

They could make those species.
They could give each species a mixed legacy/lineage.
They could even make a "Mixed Species" species and have 10 mix-match minor features.

Nothing was done. WOTC spent more time bungling Aardling than attempting to get an acceptable half elf.

 

[Vaalingrade]

Posters in this thread are only accepting lore that says half orcs are products of unsavory acts and that all other races distrust half elves and half orcs and will not fit in.

Anytime other inoffensive origins from D&D products is displayed, it is dismissed or ignored and the offensive lore is repeated.

That's not nearly the same as 'only allowing' things if they're offensive.

 

[Maxperson]

Can I address this specific point for a moment: Do we need "Racism, the species?"

We do not have and have never had this in D&D. Sure there was the possibility of racism when playing a half-elf. And when playing an elf. And when playing a dwarf. And when playing a halfling. And when playing a tiefling. And...

Racism isn't inherent to any D&D race.

 

[Maxperson]

Maybe because I didn't see much Half-Elf play in the 2nd ed era, this isn't something I've come across. In Rolemaster, and 4e D&D, and now in my Torchbearer game, Half-Elves have one human and one Elven parent, but don't particularly bring this Tanis stuff with them.

Yeah. I saw it once in a while, but the vast majority of half-elves that I've seen played over the years don't lean into the racism aspect.

 

[pemerton]

I see seeking to erase said themes from the most famous fantasy RPG as a strike against storytelling for everyone because some people don't want it in their games.

Who is seeking to erase anything?

Opinions have been expressed about the merits of this theme. People are allowed to express those opinions, and to urge others to act on them. That's not erasing anything.

 

[Maxperson]

It's just that being a half-elf does not make you a weaker elf with a couple of different proficiencies.

I keep getting told that half-elves are one of the most powerful races out there.

Now, you're mechanically an elf. Or whatever you choose.

IOW, every single half-elf is now a unique mechanical creation that is no longer bound by a single definition that all half-elves are identical.

Which is utterly horrible. Now there's no such thing as a half-elf. Just elves or humans painted with tacky lipstick.

They went from a unique set of mechanics to being identical to elves or humans. They are the opposite of uniquely mechanical now. Not one half-elf under that system has unique mechanics. All are identical mechanically to either humans or elves.

 

[Maxperson]

Why is fantasy racism is worse than fantasy murder, torture, grave robbing, desecrating corpses, assault and battery, kidnapping, and much more?