Mixing Races....and why DM's shouldn't allow it

[Olgar Shiverstone]

Hmmm ... I've never had kobold or halfling players. I must DM in the wrong part of the country.

Now, I did have a player's PC who was a half-elf/kobold/halfling, but not all at the same time. The character was a half-elf, who was killed and reincarnated as a kobold, who was later killed and reincarnated as a halfling ...

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

I guess there is ghost touch equipment involved, yes?

Well, ghosts (playing ghosts can be a viable character choice) in that world can learn special powers that allow them to create physical bodies for a limited amount of time - and then some other powers that will allow them to impregnate a mortal women.

However, it should be noted that the ghost who does the impregnation does not have to be male - and indeed, sexual intercourse does not have to take place. It is possible to use this power even in combination with a mere kiss...

So the Treants are really the result of some tree-shagging hippies blessing their shillelagh too rigorously?

Within the Exalted cosmology, treants would probably be Wood Elementals who maintain certain forests close to the Elemental Pole of Wood. They don't need human ancestors in order to exist. However, they can have human descendants...

Though I'll draw the line at animals and inanimate objects. Really, even with magic, there's no explaining some things.

It works within the context of the Exalted cosmology. There the world is an oasis of order within a great rolling sea of Chaos, and the "laws of nature" are maintained by an ancient construct known as the Loom of Fate that keeps the Chaos at bay and maintains that the Rules are observed - rules such as gravity, seasons, or indeed the inability of lions to procreate with stones.

However, at the boundaries of this world the Chaos is gradually seeping into the land, causing more and more of these Rules to break down the further you get away from the orderly center. Get into the Chaos far enough, and there are no longer any restrictions.

 

[Nellisir]

Planetary, #7: "To Be In England, In The Summertime."

I knew it sounded familiar. Planetary is frackin' brilliant.

 

[Nellisir]

I guess there is ghost touch equipment involved, yes?

Trojan Ghost Touch Condoms...for when the spirit moves you.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Frankly, I think the way this issue is set up in Exalted - with everyone fornicating with everyone and everything else - can make for a nice change of pace. No more worrying about fantasy genetics, and besides it has plenty of mythological precedents.

I mean, in most real-world mythologies you have stories of ancestries that make the combinations of D&D species described in the Monster Manual seem positively tame...

 

[Kae'Yoss]

everyone fornicating with everyone and everything else - can make for a nice change of pace.

I'm really not into that kind of roleplaying, thanks.

Back to that cosmology, though: If that Wyld (I see, the rules of spelling are the first to go ) messes with everything, why is a stone lion the offspring of a lion and a stone? I'd think that the offspring of a stone and a lion, in that kind of environment, would be the concept of agoraphobia. You get a stone lion by crossing the fear of tall men called dEATHmaCHINE cramer with pink rabbits (at least 4, but no more than 28.003).

 

[Thad Enouf]

Frankly, I think the way this issue is set up in Exalted - with everyone fornicating with everyone and everything else - can make for a nice change of pace.

I'm for civil unions, myself.

 

[Arashi Ravenblade]

I dont have a problem with things intermixing, but im not going to just allow it. If you really want a Half-Drow/Half Orc your going to have to give a darn good reason. And even then, Im making up exactly how it works.

Yeah it's a magical world, where the laws of genetics most likely dont even exist. If it fits, it mixes, is probably the Fantasy requirement for birthing offspring. Kinda gross when you really think about the possabilities. (Shudder)

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

Back to that cosmology, though: If that Wyld (I see, the rules of spelling are the first to go ) messes with everything, why is a stone lion the offspring of a lion and a stone? I'd think that the offspring of a stone and a lion, in that kind of environment, would be the concept of agoraphobia. You get a stone lion by crossing the fear of tall men called dEATHmaCHINE cramer with pink rabbits (at least 4, but no more than 28.003).

It's a gradual shift between Creation (the "normal" world) and the Wyld, which means that it takes some time until you get to pure randomness and chaos.

Besides, the inhabitants of these "Borderlands" - the Fair Folk - shape their environment through strength of will - but they have no true imagination or creativity. Everything they can come up with is basically a variant or recombination of what exists somewhere in Creation.

So in these areas, a stone lion might easily come into being. Why? Because it makes for a good story! Besides, why shouldn't a stone and a lion be able to made and produce a stone lion? Doesn't True Love conquer all? If you argue otherwise, you have been to the stasis of Creation for too long...

Mind you, creative Fair Folk can do a lot with a concept like the Fear of Tall Men, like inflicting it on other Fair Folk or any hapless mortals that might come along. And there's probably a Fair Folk noble out there who wields that Fear as his favorite weapon in the shaping of their stories. But combining it with someone or something called "dEATHmaCHINE cramer"? Please! The latter doesn't sound like it would be good for any good story. It sounds vaguely annoying and unpleasant, but nothing like the ideas and passions the Fair Folk thrive on. Probably something to be best forgotten.

And pink rabbits are for commoners. Or possibly for nobles who specialize in human children - those tasty little tykes don't need much to expose their passions...

 

[Banshee16]

Ok yeah, that right there is my prob: human/fiendish half-dragon...mixed with a vampire. This is the stuff i was talking about, now half-elves, half-orcs and the standard like. When I think of halfbreeds, I think more of the biological ability to mate. yes, divine beings can, and in legends, have been animals and mated with mortals, but I think that stuffs stupid. And yes, a dragon could polymorph into aperson and mate with them, but personally, I wonder "why would it care, or want to? Why would it even thing people were attacted, or anything of the like" I know its fantasy, and you can do what ever, you can always say well ITS MAGIC..but I think thats just easy, and a bit munchie.

And about the whole centaur, I never put them into my groups, or anything like that. Only lycanthropes, and thats rare, but I use it as a desease. And when orc's mate with people, its rape, so most women of the middle ages, if they bore such a crature, I assumed would kill it, or perhaps the male of the house would kill them both.

Now this all stems to the poing: are the other races closest to Humans, the same, or are they really different races. If they are tottally diferent races, then they cant mate, but if they are similar, but only different offshoots from one another down the evolutionary trail, then I'd say it be ok, and only in the particular races that would find one another attractive. And to me, thatd be Elves and humans, and orcs, but only by the way I've stated. Yes, a woman could mate with a Dwarf...but what twisting background would you have to make so that these two got together, and would it be excepted...would the parents think or care about how their child would be intergrated into their people.

My thing is, I dont think DM's or Players think to deeply into this, they just want to throw things together and see what new things they could do.

Some one said "just cause you could do it, doesn't mean it should be done." I agree, and was just wondering how far you, the DM's would allow your players to go, and if your a player, how far your DM's let you go.

To be clear...in the context of the novel, it made complete sense. I'm not advocating creating hordes of PCs like that. This particular character was unique....there was only one in the world.

I do think that some of these half-breed templates are overdone.....there are just so many characters and NPCs with them in 3E that they're not special and, yes, it makes it seem like dragons (for instance) are fornicating with thousands and thousands of humanoids. In 2nd Ed., when half-dragons were first created, they were an exception. It was pointed out that most dragons see humans the way we see hamsters, and would never want to breed with them. Originally, only a few species (gold, silver, bronze) bred with humanoids....then 3E came along, the designers realized the race was popular, and opened it up to everything, and hence, the perception that they're all over the place.

That's part of the 3E philosophy of taking away limits though. I *do* think settings should have some limits....then they have more internal consistency. Some like Dragonlance have a limit on what sentient races there are. They don't allow just anything. And they've got a thorough explanation of how the exceptions arose (ie. the Greystone).

In the end, I haven't seen the half-races as that much of a problem. I don't use too many of them, and none of my players pick them for PCs.

Banshee