So I was thinking about how the 5th edition would handle half races of their common races (dwarf, elf, halfling, human) based on the way they are presented in the 3 books.
Imagine if there was a setting with just these four playable races and their gods allowed them to interbreed with no societal bans against it. How would 5th edition handle it.
Dwarves
Physically, 5th puts emphasis on them being short and stout. Mixing them with human or elf would maintain medium size but halfling blood should shrink them. Half human-half elves didn't lose darkvision so I'd imagine a half dwarf would not either. They'd keep their resilience too.
Mentally, dwarves in 5th edition are funny. For their possible three and a half century lifespan, dwarves don't get a base mental boost and the hill dwarves get theirs from "senses, intuition, and resilience". 5th edition say them "slow to trust" and having a "long memory". It makes me wonder if dwarves just have traditional cultures or if they are mentally wired to no explore new ideas unless told to be clan, deity, or king. A half dwarf would probably be equally stubborn and hard of head unless the other side unlocks it (aka human). And even that may not be enough.
Elves
With the half elf statted out, there is more info use. Interestingly, the NPC half elf in the DMG puts the 2 attribute choices of the half elf in Dexterity and Intelligence. So a nonheroic half elf retains elven grace and giving a human double life span boosts time to learn.
Here's a funny discovery. 5th edition says elves live for centuries and learn new skills and arts with relentless focus. However their get no bonus skills proficiencies due to knowledge and their weapon proficiencies are from tradition.
But make the other half human and boom. Two skills and another language. It most mean elves love learning elven cultural arts and "useless stuff." A couple drops of human blood focuses that elven fever with human ambition and your half elf get skills.
Therefore the way 5th would handle a half elf half dwarf would be scary. Dwarven conservatism and stubbornness with elven refinement and focus. A dwarf-elf would be just obsessive about his favorite thing and have the grace, power, and toughness to pursue what ever it is.
Halfling blood would probably shrink an elf to small and lock them out of bigger elf weapons. It might make them more inclined to act but they wouldn't that into skills.
Halflings
5th edition really just pushes halflings as short, communal, and practical. Physically they'd just be small versions of the base race.
As for mentally, 5th puts halflings as kind, curious, brave, practical. So a being with half halfling blood would probably be the same and many cultures would push them that way. But it would be easy to combine halfling curiosity and bravery with the mentality of another race (human) say 90% of them are low key but the last 10% (the PC version) are attributed to the "Napoleon Complex" myth and are aggressive fearless overachievers. So much so that is a sterotype.
So what are your thoughts? Expect to see them in a UA document? Anything I missed?
Imagine if there was a setting with just these four playable races and their gods allowed them to interbreed with no societal bans against it. How would 5th edition handle it.
Dwarves
Physically, 5th puts emphasis on them being short and stout. Mixing them with human or elf would maintain medium size but halfling blood should shrink them. Half human-half elves didn't lose darkvision so I'd imagine a half dwarf would not either. They'd keep their resilience too.
Mentally, dwarves in 5th edition are funny. For their possible three and a half century lifespan, dwarves don't get a base mental boost and the hill dwarves get theirs from "senses, intuition, and resilience". 5th edition say them "slow to trust" and having a "long memory". It makes me wonder if dwarves just have traditional cultures or if they are mentally wired to no explore new ideas unless told to be clan, deity, or king. A half dwarf would probably be equally stubborn and hard of head unless the other side unlocks it (aka human). And even that may not be enough.
Elves
With the half elf statted out, there is more info use. Interestingly, the NPC half elf in the DMG puts the 2 attribute choices of the half elf in Dexterity and Intelligence. So a nonheroic half elf retains elven grace and giving a human double life span boosts time to learn.
Here's a funny discovery. 5th edition says elves live for centuries and learn new skills and arts with relentless focus. However their get no bonus skills proficiencies due to knowledge and their weapon proficiencies are from tradition.
But make the other half human and boom. Two skills and another language. It most mean elves love learning elven cultural arts and "useless stuff." A couple drops of human blood focuses that elven fever with human ambition and your half elf get skills.
Therefore the way 5th would handle a half elf half dwarf would be scary. Dwarven conservatism and stubbornness with elven refinement and focus. A dwarf-elf would be just obsessive about his favorite thing and have the grace, power, and toughness to pursue what ever it is.
Halfling blood would probably shrink an elf to small and lock them out of bigger elf weapons. It might make them more inclined to act but they wouldn't that into skills.
Halflings
5th edition really just pushes halflings as short, communal, and practical. Physically they'd just be small versions of the base race.
As for mentally, 5th puts halflings as kind, curious, brave, practical. So a being with half halfling blood would probably be the same and many cultures would push them that way. But it would be easy to combine halfling curiosity and bravery with the mentality of another race (human) say 90% of them are low key but the last 10% (the PC version) are attributed to the "Napoleon Complex" myth and are aggressive fearless overachievers. So much so that is a sterotype.
So what are your thoughts? Expect to see them in a UA document? Anything I missed?
