D&D 5E (2024) Half Race Appreciation Society: Why don't they just make a list?

[Minigiant]

Personally I think they are just trying this rule on Half Races to gauge level of support.

Really they could just do a list. Especially if every race has 30 speed and most are Medium. Choose a size and a speed,average the lifespan, and get the two sets trait of traits from a list.

• Humans
  • 2 skills proficenies
• Dwarf
  • Dwarven Resilience
  • Dwarven Toughness.
• Elf
  • Darkvision
  • Fey Ancestry

Etc etc

 

[aco175]

I'm sure someone is writing a DMsGuild supplement on this right now. I do not see Wizards spending the time or page count to list off everything. Maybe a list like you are saying to provide half benefits, but then you might have to list what races can cross-breed with other races or shy away from that and open everything and allow half-tortle/half-goliath or worse. I can see people getting shouted down for wanting to limit it.

It seems like it is also a way to cherry-pick things like the problem with 3e and multi-classing.

 

[beancounter]

They should just grandfather half elves and half orcs and be done with it.

 

[Blue Orange]

FWIW as someone of (sorta) mixed ancestry I liked it, and gives you a chance to work in some backstory for each of your parents.

 

[Krachek]

Dark vision with one eye.
Got a skill but only use half proficiency bonus.
Have a new language But can use only half of the words.
Got some spells but can use them one session out of two.

 

[Blue Orange]

Dark vision with one eye.
Got a skill but only use half proficiency bonus.
Have a new language But can use only half of the words.
Got some spells but can use them one session out of two.

I know you're kidding around, but given incomplete dominance of many traits IRL partial darkvision or half-proficiency bonus might actually make sense. Of course, nobody says fantasy worlds have to obey real-life genetics!

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The reason they don't make a list is because they're trying to get ahead of the day when wider mainstream attention is turned on D&D and someone says, "hold on, exactly how much blood from another culture turns one into a savage brute?"

While there's a historical legacy for half races in D&D, the basic concept is from dated racist beliefs, which permeated the societies that both JRRT and EGG grew up in.

If this is supposed to be the version of D&D that will take us to 2034 or so, leaving in the fantasy equivalent of quadroons and octoroons is a no-go for a big business. WotC gets way more attention than any other RPG company (luckily for White Wolf, given all the nonsense they had in their first version of the fifth edition Vampire line) and it's just a matter of time before this is going to be called out. It certainly would have blown up in WotC's face before 2034.

 

[niklinna]

Dark vision with one eye.
Got a skill but only use half proficiency bonus.
Have a new language But can use only half of the words.
Got some spells but can use them one session out of two.

Kinda like that half elf in Order of the Stick who had one pointy ear and one round ear.

 

[Minigiant]

The reason they don't make a list is because they're trying to get ahead of the day when wider mainstream attention is turned on D&D and someone says, "hold on, exactly how much blood from another culture turns one into a savage brute?"

While there's a historical legacy for half races in D&D, the basic concept is from dated racist beliefs, which permeated the societies that both JRRT and EGG grew up in.

If this is supposed to be the version of D&D that will take us to 2034 or so, leaving in the fantasy equivalent of quadroons and octoroons is a no-go for a big business. WotC gets way more attention than any other RPG company (luckily for White Wolf, given all the nonsense they had in their first version of the fifth edition Vampire line) and it's just a matter of time before this is going to be called out. It certainly would have blown up in WotC's face before 2034.

As a type of person I am, I don't think a "Elf on the outside Orc on the inside" is any better at all and creates a different issue if issues is something WOTC is avoiding.

Just like humans rangers have wood elf girlfriends that create magical but not jerk-face half elves

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

As a type of person I am, I don't think a "Elf on the outside Orc on the inside" is any better at all and creates a different issue if issues is something WITC is avoid.

Just like humans rangers have wood elf girlfriends that create magical but not jerk-face half elves

I'm not saying this implementation is necessarily perfect, but the old system is almost certainly gone.

WotC is probably going to leave more granular mechanics to DMs Guild and thirty party publishers, both of which already have products like this.