Half-elves in 3.5 (or: Half-elves got the shaft!)

[Ruvion]

Just give 'em half-breed the Skill Focus Feat at level 1.

...oh and I used the following modified Half-Elf IMC:

Half-Elf: They get +2 racial bonus to Charisma for the purpose of determining extra spells per day due to high Charisma as sorcerer or bard (this is mainly owed to their exotic breeding), +2 racial saving throw bonus versus Enchantment spells and effects, and +1 racial bonus to Spot, Listen, and Search checks. They are not immune to sleep spells and effects (because they sleep as humans do), but have Low-light Vision. They gain 1 martial weapon feat chosen from the list of elven bonus weapon proficiencies, if they were raised in an elven community. If they were not raised in an elven community or if they are proficient with all martial weapons as a class feature at level 1, they gain the Skill Focus feat instead. Favored Class is the current highest class. A half-elf is considered to be a human for all purposes of magic and abilities such as Favored Enemy; however, a half-elf sorcerer or bard can take a Rebirth ceremony that endows them the Elf Blood feature and sleep immunity (go into trance like elves), but loses the +2 racial bonus to Charisma. It takes more than a few generation of intermarriage to produce a true Half-Elf (the usual result of crossbreeding between an Elf and a Human results in an Elf for several generations). Their unusual mixed heritage empowers them to be excellent bards and sorcerers. More Half-Elves tend to adventure than any other races other than Half-Orcs.

 

[Particle_Man]

Half-elves used to have an advantage, wayyyy back in 1st ed ad&d, before the first unearthed arcana came out, when they were the only race that could be cleric/fighter/magic-users.

Following on that, I would give the half-elf two advantages: Favoured Class: ALL (so they can take 3, 4, 5 classes, without any worries of ever losing 20% of their experience), and a +2 Fort Save bonus. I would also give the Half-Orc that +2 Fort Save bonus. This is because, being half-breeds, they are of hardier stock (mongrel dogs tend to be healthier than purebreds).

Just my two cents

 

[I'm A Banana]

Yep, they're weak, and half-elves have never really been rare in D&D (and half-orcs only during the 2e days). They shouldn't be as weak as they are -- adding the human skill points is just a way of mitigating that suckage.

But I can honestly say they could remove the half-elves and half-orcs from the game and I wouldn't miss them in the slightest. Regular orcs and regular elves are cool enough for me.

 

[Felix]

Is it possible that WotC is pulling our collective leg on this one? I mean, they say they're improving the Dwarf (well shoot, why not go on and give the Gnome more automatic spells?) when the dwarf needs no improvement.

So far, the revisors have paid fairly good attention to what the gaming public is concerned about in 3.0E, and they'll work towards fixing it in 3.5. (how many Rangers and/or Bards Suck threads have you seen running around?) But now it looks like they're deciding to fix something that's not broke. Bad idea. Suspiciously bad idea. Especially when they say the Half-elf doesn't need a change (and was the subject of almost as many "suck" threads).

Let's all hope that this is a smokescreen, and the Half-elf and not the dwarf gets the changes in 3.5e.

Then the question becomes... Why a smokescreen?

 

[Piratecat]

Nope, Felix. I doubt it.

But here's an interesting concept: In the classes, the designers created Favored Classes to encourage the traditional stereotypes. Without forcing players to only play certain classes, doing this reinforced the concept of "dwarven fighters" and "elven wizards."

Could they be doing something similar to races?

Let's think, which races have "gotten the shaft" in 3e, getting less racial benefits and thus getting played less? Half-elves and (to a lesser extent) half-orcs. When you look at racial charts, which races are supposed to be remarkably rare?

Uh huh. The half-breeds.

How do you reduce their frequency in most peoples' games? Make them less interesting to play. So suddenly I'm almost wondering if half-elves are sucky because they're supposed to be rare in D&D's fantasy demographics. This would imply that the races' game design and relative balance have been tweaked to model the assumed game world's demographic mix. This would eliminate the previous 1e and 2e situations where half-elves were supposedly rare, but were a powerful race, and thus whole adventuring parties were filled with them.

It's a moderately paranoid theory, but explains observable phenomena! But it leaves me wondering... will the city population charts see a sudden increase in how often you run into dwarves?

 

[Zappo]

I don't mind Half-Elves being a hair underpowered since I feel they shouldn't be that common as PCs.

Me too. Same thing for half-orcs.

 

[Branduil]

Gee, I seem to remember reading in my PHB that PC characters were supposed to be above average compared to NPCs. PC characters are supposed to those rare people that are heroes. Just because something is rare does not mean it should be weak.

 

[Fenes 2]

Gee, I seem to remember reading in my PHB that PC characters were supposed to be above average compared to NPCs. PC characters are supposed to those rare people that are heroes. Just because something is rare does not mean it should be weak.

Took the words out of my mouth.

PirateCat, if WotC really had such a stupid idea I expect them to make humans the uber-race - since the outnumber any other PHB race by far.

 

[kingpaul]

And then Dwarves get all their other massive bonuses, particularly the bonuses recieved for saving throws (+2 to on saving throws against all spells... can you say Iron Will, Great Fortitude, and Lightning Reflexes all rolled into one?)

Umm...not quite. Those 3 feats grant you a +2 on all saves. Dwarves only get it for spells and spell-like effects. There are other reasons to make saves than just those...especially if you have a devious DM.

 

[mooby]

Let's think, which races have "gotten the shaft" in 3e, getting less racial benefits and thus getting played less? Half-elves and (to a lesser extent) half-orcs. When you look at racial charts, which races are supposed to be remarkably rare?

Uh huh. The half-breeds.

How do you reduce their frequency in most peoples' games? Make them less interesting to play. So suddenly I'm almost wondering if half-elves are sucky because they're supposed to be rare in D&D's fantasy demographics. This would imply that the races' game design and relative balance have been tweaked to model the assumed game world's demographic mix. This would eliminate the previous 1e and 2e situations where half-elves were supposedly rare, but were a powerful race, and thus whole adventuring parties were filled with them.

I wholeheartedly agree, and I've been saying this for a while.

If you're really interested in playing a Half-Elf (I do think they offer interesting role-playing scenarios, playing the 'outcast' role), then do so.

I remember seeing a suggestion on these boards a while ago, saying that being Half-Elven should be a feat, available to humans, only at first level. The feat would give you +1 to listen, spot, and search, Elven blood, and some sleep and charm resistances. Not game breaking, and it's an interesting option. Of course, this would probably increase the number of players in your games playing Half-Elves.