Halfelf, Halforc, Halves or Wholes?

[Xarlen]

For the purposes of Bane Weapons, Favored Enemies, etc, are Half elves cosidered Elves, Humans, or Half Elves? Equally, are Half Orcs considered the same?

They have Elf blood or Orc Blood, and thereby are treated as Elf and Orc for special weapons and such.

Other examples would be like a Half dragon being subject to Dragonbane weapons, and Favored enemy. So, how's it work?

 

[Crothian]

Half elves count as elves, hlf dragons count as dragons, etc

 

[Always_a_DM]

I have played that half elves are half elf half human. So they suffer from bane weapons vs elves and also bane weapons vs humans.

On the up side, they can also wield elf only weapons as well as human only weapons.

of course, your mileage may vary

 

[Tewligan]

Well, the race descriptions in the PH say that they're considered elves or orcs respectively for all special abilities and effects. I'd say that a bane weapon property, favored enemy status, etc., would all be effects they would qualify for.

 

[hong]

Surely it would depend on whether you're talking about the left half or the right half.

 

[0-hr]

Left or right? Clearly the rules say that they are divided front and back, not left and right. I beleive that the Sage clarified this is in a email on another thread, but I can't find the link right now...

 

[Gez]

I always thought it was upper and lower body...

But to be more serious, look at the traits: Half-elves have elf blood, but not human blood; half-orcs have orc blood but not human blood, half-dragon becomes of the Dragon type... To know what a half-thing is, remove the "half-" part of the name. It's a rule of thumb, but it works quite well.

 

[SpikeyFreak]

Actually Skip said it was inside and outside.

--Dead Horse Beater Spikey

 

[dead_radish]

So why is a half-elf elf, then? Why is it not a half-human (besides the fact that we're humans, and a bit humanocentric)?

Does a half-elf only exist from a human-elf mating? Are there Elf-Orcs? And would that be a half-elf or a half-orc?

Really, the concept of Half-X is a bit silly. I know that Half-Dragons can be half anything else (recent Dragon Mag), which would suggest that you could have a half-dragon, half-elf.

It's just a bit wonky. Let's just call them Helfves, Horcs, Hragons, Orfs, Humanlings, Huwarfs, etc, eh?

 

[Umbran]

Does a half-elf only exist from a human-elf mating? Are there Elf-Orcs? And would that be a half-elf or a half-orc?

In core rules: Yep, Nope, and impossible, respectively.

In house rules - the only name for a half-elf/half-orc would be "abomination."