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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Mordane76" data-source="post: 1973647" data-attributes="member: 7172">Well, the real-world example isn't a truly correct analogy to the example given.  The real world example is human + human = human.  We're dealing with different species mating, not different heritages in one species.Your DM is using a property of real-world biology to explain his reasoning, but you have to understand his reasonings.  Without given everyone here a lecture on freshman genetics, he's saying that the elf traits are discrete, the orc traits are discrete, and the human traits are discrete; the half-elf basically has a packet that reads ELF and one that reads HUMAN, while the half-orc has one that reads ORC and one that reads HUMAN.  Thus, these packets can segregate from each other and mix according to Punnett Square ratios.  From the pairing, you could end up with someone who was a Orc/Elf, an Elf/Human (a half-elf), and Orc/Human (a half-orc), or a Human/Human (a normal human).  If he's willing to go this route, then he has to not only accept the possibility that a half-orc and a half-elf mating could create a full-blooded human, but he also has to accept that it could create the Orc/Elf, something for which there are no present rules.Now, since the interspecies mixing in D&D breaks basic principles of genetics not covered above in the first place, the DM can do whatever he wants, really.  He could say that the Orc/Elf mixture is fatal and does not produce a viable offspring, thus eliminating that problem.  But using a basic extension of Punnett Square ratios and Mendelian genetics, he is correct.</blockquote>

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