Half-orc dad, half-elf mom --> 'human' child?

[ecliptic]

Wouldn't work.
Real-world example:
My mom is half german and half irish
My dad is half german and half danish
So I am half german, quarter irish and quarter danish.

That is not a good example. Irish, German and Danish are of all Caucasian decent. There is very little variation between the three.

 

[Voadam]

How about Mongrel Men?

As far as dragons breeding with other stuff, I was always under the impression that they did so while polymorphed into the species that they were mating with. of course, this begs the questions of other races that are polymorphed doing the same. Can I have a half-pixie?

.

In 3.5 only Bronze, Gold, and Silver Dragons have the alternate form ability and none of the other dragons have polymorph as a spell like ability.

Yet "“Half-dragon” is an inherited template that can be added to any living, corporeal creature (referred to hereafter as the base creature)." and all the different metallics and chromatics can produce half dragons from the chart listed in the half dragon entry.

 

[Umbran]

Umbran - unless I'm mistaken, which I could very well be, it isn't completely impossible to get a Black Lab back out. The odds are just approximately 4^(however many chromosomes dogs have) to 1 against.

You are slightly mistaken - there's a process called crossover that happens in replication/cell division, in which paired chromosomes will trade genes. So, Spot will hand over some chromosomes that were originally black lab, but they'll have some standard poodle genes on them. No amount of sorting of the chromosomes will save you! Bwahahahaha!

But I don't even want to see the die you'd have to roll to determine that in-game.

And no amount of mathematical proof or dice-rolling will get the AKC to recognize your new doggie as a purebreed anyway

 

[kirinke]

That is not a good example. Irish, German and Danish are of all Caucasian decent. There is very little variation between the three.

Tell that to the germans, irish and danes. Heheh.

Actually, (for the most part) at least genetically, there is very little difference in the human 'races'. Only when you get to some of the more obscure, genetically isolated tribes, do you get noticable differences. Correct me if I'm wrong. My genetic history ranks are relatively low. lol.

 

[Umbran]

Actually, (for the most part) at least genetically, there is very little difference in the human 'races'. Only when you get to some of the more obscure, genetically isolated tribes, do you get noticable differences.

Depends upon what you call "notable". Humans, as a species, have a very low amount of genetic variety. It's conjectured that this is due to the human population being very small at some point some time in the past. It is often found that two individual humans of different races will have fewer genetic differences than two humans of the same race.

 

[Fenris]

And no amount of mathematical proof or dice-rolling will get the AKC to recognize your new doggie as a purebreed anyway

That is because the AKC tracks breed based upon an established and verifiable lineage. That same dog, could however pass as a purebred lab in a dog show since in dog show they look at breed traits. Assuming that a significant portion of alleles were black lab and (dare I introduce yet another twist...I dare) that those genes are expressed. And in truth, that is what truly matters from the original post, not the genotype of the progeny but the phenotype!

But to weigh in on the original question, I would thow my hat in with the sterile offspring crowd. Certainly it could look human, but if elves and orcs do not normally produce viable progeny, then we have some barrier to gene flow. Whatever that barrier is could easily be manifested as sterility in this odd case. If this were the casue of elf-orc genetic incompatibility, then I think that with recombination being what it is, that there would not be any viable births between the half-orc and the half-elf in the first place.

 

[arscott]

In 3.5 only Bronze, Gold, and Silver Dragons have the alternate form ability and none of the other dragons have polymorph as a spell like ability.

Then it would appear some of them have 3.0 genes

Seriously though, they can all cast sorcerer spells, and all achieve the minimum level for polymorph in later age categories.

 

[Goblyns Hoard]

I always felt that the dragon cross-breeding was on the basis of the inherent magical nature of dragons, rather than on a species/genetic basis. On the other hand I felt that elves humans and orcs were not inherently magical, so their cross-breeding had to stem from their biology. Hence they are all the same species as each other and not just massively differentiated species of dragons.

If we want to break the molecular biology down - it could run that dragon genes are woven with some inherent magic which allows them to reconfigure to match any other species. Celestial and Fiendish genes - as extraplanr beings - don't have genes but have the ability to magically impose a genetic 'shape' on their in-built desire to procreate. Therefore all of these can breed with any creature and produce viable offspring (half-dragon, half-fiend and half-celestial).

 

[Goblyns Hoard]

It is often found that two individual humans of different races will have fewer genetic differences than two humans of the same race.

Interesting - can you point me at a source... I'm wondering how this can be the case when organ donation problems become a serious issue in certain populations that's individuals are less frequent donors.

E.g. There were posters around London that point out that something like only 2% of black people in England carry organ donor cards or are willing to donate organs, yet 33% of black people will need a heart or maybe it was kidney donation at some time (been a while since I saw the posters - don't live in London anymore).

Also there was a case where some racist tosser said he would donate organs but only if they went to white people. The doctors had to refuse because they aren't allowed to make those sort of restrictions - but at the same time they were saying that they would only ever go to a white person because of organ rejection.

I'm not trying to say you're wrong - just that the info I have is pointing the other direction and if you can point me to a new source that would be great! I still work in genetic information and haven't seen anything on this (though I don't read the journals as much as I should)

 

[Bagpuss]

All half-races are sterile in my campaign, so it isn't an issue.

If you want to bring genetics into it, then it would depend on which genes are dominatant. My money would be on the orc genes, and the child would most likely be a half-orc.