D&D 5E (2024) Should 2014 Half Elves and Half Orcs be added to the 2025 SRD?

[pemerton]

That is fair.
My probing @DEFCON 1 was to get an idea behind their thinking and if my ideas were more in-line with what they may consider mechanics for races.

I find DEFCON 1's preference for absolute successes on certain actions when it comes to your race, background, or class quite novel as I have historically been against that style of play, but in their description of it I find it could make quite an appealing D&D-lite game, perfect for a Narrative-styled game.

I prefer mechanical resolution to freeform - I think you've read posts of mine in other threads that explain this in terms of the unexpected.

But I do tend to find some of the endless mechanical minutiae of D&D-type races a bit unnecessary or unhelpful - as in, it pushes in the wrong direction.

In my Torchbearer 2e game, Elf vs Dwarf is a big part of the fiction but it isn't supported by D&D-style race mechanics. It is done by differences in a few key descriptors - Nature descriptors (analogous to personality-type descriptors in 5e D&D), one trait descriptor and one Wise descriptor (these latter two work a bit like your examples of when advantage might be granted).

 

[Mecheon]

Again, so what? How does their existence affect your game?

Being that popular means I'm probably going to find a way to include them in my world and try to do some unique stuff with 'em (Drag them away from the cartoonishly evil portrayal of the past for one) and also focus on the enviroment they're in, resulting in having to think about what the underground is like

 

[Hussar]

Yes there are. Those half-elf mechanics are a bit of human mechanics and a bit of elf mechanics.

The above do indicate half-elf and also half-human.

And no, there are no backgrounds that will allow you 4 background skills. The two half-elves get are for race, and they ALSO get the background. So it looks like this.

Dragonborn cleric with folk hero background:
2 skills from history, insight, medicine, persuasion, and religion.
2 skills that are animal handling and survival.

4 skills total.

Half-elf cleric with folk hero background:
2 skills of choice from race.
2 skills from history, insight, medicine, persuasion, and religion.
2 skills that are animal handling and survival.

6 skills total.

There no background that can allow the 2 bonus half-elf skills, because the half-elf also gets a background.

The point being though, like darkvision, everyone gets skills. Nothing about having skills is species defining.

Like I said, being trained in Athletics is not species defining.

 

[Maxperson]

The point being though, like darkvision, everyone gets skills. Nothing about having skills is species defining.

It's not simply having skills that is the half-elf ability. It's inherently learning more skills than races. All else being equal, a half-elf will always have more skills due to it's racial learning ability.

 

[Hussar]

I like @Defcon 1’s point here about stuff just working. I wonder if this is why races like Dragonborn and tieflings have become so popular. Their defining characteristics just work. There’s no check for breathing fire. You just do it.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Being that popular means I'm probably going to find a way to include them in my world and try to do some unique stuff with 'em (Drag them away from the cartoonishly evil portrayal of the past for one) and also focus on the enviroment they're in, resulting in having to think about what the underground is like

You do you then. I don't see how the general popularity of a lore element demands they be present in your personal game.

 

[CreamCloud0]

I like @Defcon 1’s point here about stuff just working. I wonder if this is why races like Dragonborn and tieflings have become so popular. Their defining characteristics just work. There’s no check for breathing fire. You just do it.

While I would agree that people like hard tangible abilities I would argue there is significant difference between a breath weapon and innate spells to the things @DEFCON 1 was mentioning, given what they highlighted were narrative fiat abilities, alot of people vehemently despised those background abilities they held up as examples because they ‘just happened’, I find it highly unrealistic the idea that just because i and the person i am talking to are both elves they’re innately inclined to help me out, as a human I’ve met alot of other humans and asked them for favours, i wish I had a fraction of the success they’re suggesting is meant to be present between members of the same species. That’s not what I would expect to be a ‘species ability’, species abilities I would mostly expect to be extensions of biological abilities.

 

[Mecheon]

You do you then. I don't see how the general popularity of a lore element demands they be present in your personal game.

I mean, when I started the world it was more a Warcraft thing, so "thing I can put in my world" and "available WC3 custom content" tended to be a bit of a circle of a venn diagram

 

[Remathilis]

It's not simply having skills that is the half-elf ability. It's inherently learning more skills than races. All else being equal, a half-elf will always have more skills due to it's racial learning ability.

Even so, that's not really all that awe inspiring when comparing it to fire breath, flight, tremor sense or spells. Even an extra origin feat is mildly more interesting.

I'm just not sure what you give them that if actually all their own and interesting, yet falls within the parameters of elf and human.

 

[Maxperson]

Even so, that's not really all that awe inspiring when comparing it to fire breath, flight, tremor sense or spells. Even an extra origin feat is mildly more interesting.

That's not really an objective measure, though. Fire breath is a negative for me. I don't like playing a PC with a breath weapon. I'd also rather have two more proficiencies than tremor sense. Flight for a PC is usually wings, and I hate wings on a PC as well. If it were some sort of magical flight that would be different. Spells are hit or miss, depending on what the spells are and what class I am playing. Sometimes I will prefer the spells, other times the proficiencies.

I'm just not sure what you give them that if actually all their own and interesting, yet falls within the parameters of elf and human.

I find them plenty interesting. You don't. That's cool. We all like different things.