Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Nonstandard Races You Love And Want Back
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Redthistle" data-source="post: 7092755" data-attributes="member: 6778305"><p>... which leads to this thought: the existence of half-elves and half-orcs demonstrates that elves and orcs are one species with humans, much as earlier modern humans crossbred with Denisovians and Neandertals. </p><p></p><p>[For the sake of this commentary, let's ignore the fact that all the races except humans in D&D are the product of intelligent design by gods created by the writers, not of evolution.]</p><p></p><p>Hmmm. </p><p></p><p>Is it possible that orcs and elves can also produce viable orc-elf offspring? Do they refrain from it simply because of mutual antipathy, or have each of their races, while still fecundable (a new word, or a grammatical travesty!?) with humans, evolved far enough away from each other to be genetically separate species from each other?</p><p></p><p>I'm starting to think that D&D might spawn its own school of taxonomy, insofar as our collective creativity is leading to greater diversity in our imagined life forms, and the problems arising from too many choices. </p><p></p><p>The term "humanoid", referring generally to bipedal creatures, has its mammalian group (humans, elves, orcs, dwarves, etc.), its reptilian group (dragonborn, lizardfolk, kobolds, some yuan-ti, etc.), and plant-based (myconids, treants, wilden). </p><p></p><p>The tauric, or sagittarean, lines muck it up a bit, putting a humanoid torso onto a quadrupedal base. The DM's Guild published Tauric Races, which groups them into mammals, reptiles, insects (thri-kreen and tosculi are the two types I'm aware of - the latter is a distinct offering from 13th Age/Midgard for 5e), and snakes (the other yuan-tis, and nagas, I guess).</p><p></p><p>Since I like creating at least one PC with each possible combination of race and class, I'm now looking at the need for about an extra 132 years of life to get it done. I'm delusional enough to be okay with that, because I think I'm a gnome.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Redthistle, post: 7092755, member: 6778305"] ... which leads to this thought: the existence of half-elves and half-orcs demonstrates that elves and orcs are one species with humans, much as earlier modern humans crossbred with Denisovians and Neandertals. [For the sake of this commentary, let's ignore the fact that all the races except humans in D&D are the product of intelligent design by gods created by the writers, not of evolution.] Hmmm. Is it possible that orcs and elves can also produce viable orc-elf offspring? Do they refrain from it simply because of mutual antipathy, or have each of their races, while still fecundable (a new word, or a grammatical travesty!?) with humans, evolved far enough away from each other to be genetically separate species from each other? I'm starting to think that D&D might spawn its own school of taxonomy, insofar as our collective creativity is leading to greater diversity in our imagined life forms, and the problems arising from too many choices. The term "humanoid", referring generally to bipedal creatures, has its mammalian group (humans, elves, orcs, dwarves, etc.), its reptilian group (dragonborn, lizardfolk, kobolds, some yuan-ti, etc.), and plant-based (myconids, treants, wilden). The tauric, or sagittarean, lines muck it up a bit, putting a humanoid torso onto a quadrupedal base. The DM's Guild published Tauric Races, which groups them into mammals, reptiles, insects (thri-kreen and tosculi are the two types I'm aware of - the latter is a distinct offering from 13th Age/Midgard for 5e), and snakes (the other yuan-tis, and nagas, I guess). Since I like creating at least one PC with each possible combination of race and class, I'm now looking at the need for about an extra 132 years of life to get it done. I'm delusional enough to be okay with that, because I think I'm a gnome. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Nonstandard Races You Love And Want Back
Top