Get Rid of the Half X and Half Y names

[JoeGKushner]

Cambions are half demons.

Dhampyrs are half vampires.

Half Orcs, Half Elves, Half Ogres, etc... have very generic and boring names.

Either make them so extremely rare that you eliminate villages of them or give them an actual racial name.

Opinions?

 

[Li Shenron]

My opinion is that I personally don't care very much about how they are called, but if there is some kind-of traditional (e.g. in real-life mythologies and literature) names for these half-race concepts, then it would be better to mention it in the MM. It doesn't necessarily mean that the other "half-X" name is completely abandoned. There can be more than one name for a race (mind flayer/illithid, hobbit/halfling...).

I agree that if a setting features a certain half-race as having a whole culture, entire cities/villages etc., then it should better have a name of its own, since it's essentially working as a full race.

OTOH I pretty much dislike most of the half races anyway. I'm fine with some of the celestials and fiends (the more human-like) to have some occasional offspring with humanoids, and maybe dragons (in which case however I prefer the concept of dragon polymorphing into a humanoid, and then the offspring being fully of the humanoid race + some draconic bloodline, but no half-dragons) and half-elves (but rare). If it were for me I would ignore pretty much ever other half-race including half-orcs, but the of course I have to cope with what the other gamers want to have at the table.

 

[harlokin]

Cambions are half demons.

Dhampyrs are half vampires.

Half Orcs, Half Elves, Half Ogres, etc... have very generic and boring names.

Either make them so extremely rare that you eliminate villages of them or give them an actual racial name.

Opinions?

Agree, I have never liked "half races", but Cambions for me at least are an exception.

Make Half Orcs Jagerkin???

 

[Jeff Carlsen]

The names half-elf and half-orc aren't wrong, they're just human centric, just I might say someone is half Japanese or half German. In an elven city, the half-elf would be called half-human, and the half-orc would probably be called half-orc because orcish features are more distinct. Or they'd all be called half-breeds.

My problem is the fact that they can interbreed at all, depending upon the setting, of course. If Humans, Elves, and Orcs all share a comman ancestor or origin, then sure. But then there should also be elven/orc half-breeds, and orcs should be a playable race.

Also, there should be degrees. How about someone who's 3 parts orc, 1 part elf?

 

[the Jester]

My guess: Not happening.

Think of the nerdrage. And for what gain?

It's easy enough for a dm to say, "Half-elves are called 'elfbloods' in my campaign."

 

[Remathilis]

Mostly already done. Heck, most aren't even "half" anything anymore, they're their own true-breeding races.

Half-dragon? Dragonborn!
Half-devil? Tiefling!
Half-angel? Aasimar/Deva!
Half-giant? Goliath!
Half-werewolf? Shifter!
Half-doppelganger? Changling!

At this point, only half-elves and half-orcs maintain their legacy names.

 

[Nivenus]

Well, are they a distinctive race deserving of their own name? Or are they just half-breeds. In the latter case, the half-name appellation makes sense.

 

[Lwaxy]

As in our campaigns, we allow most of the races to mix as the players want, including halfling and orc in one of my games now, we tend to make fun of the half-names or give them local names, as in a human/dwarf or human/halfling is called a stuck (as in doesn't grow that tall) by humans and pretty much all other races. Dwarfs would call a mixling (common name for halfs of any kind) with some of their race in it a prend (from pretenders) etc. Gives a lot of flavor.

We do treat them as uncommon, and some of them rare, because the genetics don't mix that well. Such couples will only have one child or two and not a whole army of kids as is common in some areas.

Orcs are a playable race, and they aren't all uncivilized either. We had an orc/elf in a game who died when she tried to find out the origin of the races. I hope some of the others will pick up on that idea because I actually did plan that out ages ago.

And dragons have to morph to pair up with other races.

It is all what you make it

 

[Oni]

Sometimes an easily and instantly understood name that immediately conveys a great deal of information is worth giving up a little flair for.

Besides, imagine you mention an elfblood in your campaign, the immediate question is going to be, "what's an elfblood?" and you will then surely find yourself back where you stared as you're forced to reply, "...it's a half-elf." Really it's a labor saving device.

 

[Kaodi]

Even if you do not have different names for them, you could perhaps establish common nicknames for half-elves and half-orcs. In human societies maybe they are colloquially caled " willows " and " barrels " , in reference to their physiques.