D&D (2024) Should 2014 Half Elves and Half Orcs be added to the 2025 SRD?

[Hussar]

I keep getting told that half-elves are one of the most powerful races out there.

Which is utterly horrible. Now there's no such thing as a half-elf. Just elves or humans painted with tacky lipstick.

They went from a unique set of mechanics to being identical to elves or humans. They are the opposite of uniquely mechanical now. Not one half-elf under that system has unique mechanics. All are identical mechanically to either humans or elves.

When did half elves ever have unique mechanics? They had exactly the same mechanics as elves, just watered down.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

Why is fantasy racism is worse than fantasy murder, torture, grave robbing, desecrating corpses, assault and battery, kidnapping, and much more?

Right. I don't get this desire to remove all negative elements for the settings; those are catalyst for conflict and interesting stories. To being able to tell a story about a bad thing being bad, we must actually be able to depict the bad thing!

Like if I play a tiefling, I actually want the Hellboy narrative of people being mistrustful of them despite them actually being good person. Like what's the point of playing a literal devil-spawn otherwise?

 

[Micah Sweet]

Who is seeking to erase anything?

Opinions have been expressed about the merits of this theme. People are allowed to express those opinions, and to urge others to act on them. That's not erasing anything.

"I don't think this narrative should exist" is erasure.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Why is fantasy racism is worse than fantasy murder, torture, grave robbing, desecrating corpses, assault and battery, kidnapping, and much more?

Excellent question. I've been wondering about this for a while.

 

[TiQuinn]

Right. I don't get this desire to remove all negative elements for the settings; those are catalyst for conflict and interesting stories. To being able to tell a story about a bad thing being bad, we must actually be able to depict the bad thing!

Like if I play a tiefling, I actually want the Hellboy narrative of people being mistrustful of them despite them actually being good person. Like what's the point of playing a literal devil-spawn otherwise?

Some negative elements have more relevance to reality than others. Graverobbing is not a major concern in today's world nor is society dealing with unresolved ramifications from it. Racism is still a real-world concern. The consequences of slavery still impact us today.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

Some negative elements have more relevance to reality than others. Graverobbing is not a major concern in today's world nor is society dealing with unresolved ramifications from it. Racism is still a real-world concern. The consequences of slavery still impact us today.

Sure. But but why does it mean we cannot address in this in game? A lot of excellent and compelling stories allegories of real world issues. Think about Star Trek. Many of the plots are scifi allegories for modern issues.

Like you don't need to do that if you don't want to, but doing so is not "problematic" thing to be avoided, often quite the opposite.

 

[Maxperson]

When did half elves ever have unique mechanics? They had exactly the same mechanics as elves, just watered down.

Have you looked at 5e half-elves? They share only one ability. I'm excluding darkvision since every race and it's mother has that ability, so sharing it doesn't mean anything. There's no other race with the 5e half-elf's racial abilities. 3e gave them a bonus with diplomacy and gather information that elves didn't have, and didn't have bonus weapon proficiencies that elves did have. They were very different in 4e as well. In 2e elves could not be bards, half-elves could be bards with unlimited level advancement. Elves could be clerics to 12th level, but half-elves to 14th. Elves could not be druids, half-elves could. In 1e there were also differences in level limits.

In no edition have they ever had exactly the same mechanics. Half-elves have always been unique, though less so in 1e and 2e since the only differences were in classes allowed and class levels.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Some negative elements have more relevance to reality than others. Graverobbing is not a major concern in today's world nor is society dealing with unresolved ramifications from it. Racism is still a real-world concern. The consequences of slavery still impact us today.

Murder, assault and battery, and kidnapping are on that list too, and those all still happen pretty frequently in the real world.

 

[Maxperson]

Some negative elements have more relevance to reality than others. Graverobbing is not a major concern in today's world nor is society dealing with unresolved ramifications from it. Racism is still a real-world concern. The consequences of slavery still impact us today.

So do murder, torture, assault and battery, desecration of corpses(common with murders), kidnappings, theft, fraud, and on and on. There are still lots of bad things in the game that people just shrug off that have a great deal of relevance to reality and are a concern in today's world, but don't shrug off fantasy racism. So again, why is fantasy racism different?

 

[Yaarel]

So again, why is fantasy racism different?

Fantasy racism is different because its existence in a game implies, players should roleplay a culture that legitimizes, institutionalizes, enforces, and normalizes crimes against humanity.

Keep this out of D&D. Absolutely away from Core.

To be clear, racism is a crime against humanity.