Half-Race Genetics.

[dave_o]

So, I was thinking - we've got all sorts of half-elves, half-orcs, and half-everythings in most DnD campaigns. Be it a template or a race or a whatever. My question lies in the genetics of these halfbreed combinations.

If you breed a horse, and a donkey, you get a mule. And while having the strength and stamina of a donkey, and the speed and larger size of a horse, it is what it is - a hybrid. And thus, it is sterile.

How do you handle this in your games? Are Humans and Elves/Dwarves/Etc. different enough that any half-combinations are sterile? Or are they similar enough that they're like Irish/German/Japanese, etc.?

Previously, I adhered to the second most. But now, I'm wondering...

 

[CRGreathouse]

IMC, humans, elves, and orcs are all the same 'species' and can produce fertile offspring. Orc/elves are generally killed at birth (by either race), but human/elves and human/orcs are possible.

Edit: Dwarves and humans aren't close enough to produce offspring at all, let alone fertile offspring.

 

[fusangite]

Obviously, D&D is not a world where there is Mendelian genetics or Darwinian evolution. If you're interested in exploring how breeding and inheritance works in D&D, I'd suggest you come up with other principles for how it works. I don't know a lot about medieval ideas about inheritance and breeding but this seems like the logical starting point. Does anyone know what the Aristotelian thinkers like Aquinas thought about inheritance, hybridity and breeding?

 

[DerianCypher]

Well.. before mendelian genetics there general consensus was a concept called blending. The basic example is if you have a tall person and a short person who have kids, all the kids will be medium sized.

I believe the example that was used to explain it to me was like having 2 buckets of paint: red and white. Mix the two and that's what you get.

 

[Norfleet]

Personally, I rule that either a half-breed race is sterile, thus identifying them as completely seperate species, or that they are, in fact, the same species, with all the hairy ethics this entails.

For example, if half-orcs are fertile, that indicates that humans and orcs are, in fact, the same species, and that for a group of adventurers to go and wipe out a tribe of orcs would be outright genocide, exacerbated by the fact that orcs are humans.

 

[Dark Jezter]

I believe that half-dwarves existed in some old Forgotten Realms suppliments, although they were very rare. Perhaps some of the D&D players who have been playing for a long time could elaborate.

Half-dwarves also exist in Dark Sun. Called Muls, they are sterile crossbreeds that are bred for gladitorial combat.

 

[kingpaul]

Edit: Dwarves and humans aren't close enough to produce offspring at all, let alone fertile offspring.

What about Muls from Dark Sun?

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Race blender.

My world has inter-species breeding between those races that are relatively close in size. Tall races: Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Half-Orcs. Small races: Gnomes and Halflings. The resulting child is fertile and a blend (physical characteristics-wise) of both parents.

However, for simplicity I've ruled that half-breeds usually take after one parent more than the other, and are PH-rules-wise either one, or the other. So one Half-Dwarf (half-human) might look like a blend of human and dwarf, but for rules purposes be considered Human, and another might also look like a blend between the two, but rules-wise be a dwarf.

 

[Norfleet]

What about Muls from Dark Sun?

They're sterile. It neatly confirms that humans and dwarves are a seperate species, as they do not produce fertile offspring.

 

[David Argall]

all sorts of half-breeds

Consider here the centaur. Obviously the result of human-horse breeding. And presented in the ancient literature as quite interested in human females. And consider the chimera. Again the result of some unusual breeding.

No, the ancient, and magical, idea is that male [any species] + female [any species] produces something. All races are presumed to prefer their own kind, but in a pinch...


it is easy enough to adopt basic genetics for the game. Elf + human = half elf. Half elf + half elf = [when done often enough] 1 elf, 1 human, & 2 half-elves. Those with mixed ancestry would retain a few minor features, but would be essentially the race they looked like.

Of course, we may see game utility in having a creature that is the total of both parents rather than a mix, and game utility trumps logic.