D&D 5E (2024) Solasta 2 and the 1/2 elf

[Misanthrope Prime]

I was unhappy the first time around when half-orcs were removed. Taking them (and half-elves as well) out again feels like 1989 all over again, with a different group behind the "push".

 

[Valetudo]

These dudes have a hard time learning g from their mistakes. I like the 2024 upgrades for the most part but the flavor has gone bad.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

These dudes have a hard time learning g from their mistakes. I like the 2024 upgrades for the most part but the flavor has gone bad.

I really can't understand this. What's your problem? I mean, the main reason half elf was popular was it was mechanically overpowered. And there is nothing in the new rules that prevents you playing a character of mixed heritage. It just doesn't have a mechanical advantage for power gamers.

 

[Valetudo]

The mistake I'm talking about is taking certain races out of editions. Tsr dropped the 1/2 orc for 2nd edition.wotc then dropped the gnome in 4th edition. Then hurried to bring it back. I don't give a naughty word about the races powergaming potential. It was not used in 5.24phb for stupid reasons.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

I really can't understand this. What's your problem? I mean, the main reason half elf was popular was it was mechanically overpowered. And there is nothing in the new rules that prevents you playing a character of mixed heritage. It just doesn't have a mechanical advantage for power gamers.

First off, not everyone liked it because it was "mechanically overpowered". It got one extra ability point, a couple skills, and not much else. A strong choice, but even on the mechanical end it was more that it had features highly flexible to a variety of character concepts that made the half-elf good.

But plenty of us just like half-elves. About half my characters in Baldur's Gate 3 and Solasta have been half-elves, and their extra ability point was nerfed in both (as far as I remember?).

It matters what the default rules are. We don't all play every game at a table where we have full rules input (or feel comfortable rattling off the litany of homebrew rules and rulings we like, or even asking to use non-vanilla content for our character). Fluffing a character as a hybrid with no mechanical difference does not make it feel like a meaningful choice. The game had an option, but some mean wizards took it away, to help sand off the rough and interesting edges of the game and make everything more bland and interchangeable.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I for one do not find a single species whose mechanics are appreciably meaningful... especially not when you bury them under 20 levels worth of class mechanics.