Professor Murder
Hero
Honestly I don't want the game to go so modular. It's one of the things that turns me off Pathfinder tbh.
Unfortunately I think you are correct. I see it as a lost opportunity in this regard in that the current races could be redefined in that way with out changing anything about them but it leaves the way for further expansions to expand the traits of the races, separating culture form biology and really empowering DMs down the road.Maybe in 6e but I just don't see that level of massive concept change in the revision - which I think you predict as well as you're saying you have no great expectation of it.
Seems like the creators keep stressing it's just a revision of existing rules and not even a half edition, but people on message boards (and I am guilty of this as well) keep filling the concept with new-edition level changes.
I recall being told Uruk-hai were essentially half-orcs.I had been thinking about this. What was the impetus of introducing Half-Orcs into AD&D? Half-Elves have Tolkien. Are Half-Orcs also cribbed from somewhere or are they an actual original creation?
In Tolkien, half orcs were meant to move freely among Men as spies. Hence why the AD&D half orc could be an assassin. They weren't misunderstood. They were evil.I recall being told Uruk-hai were essentially half-orcs.
And having read the whole thread, I've changed my mind: half-orcs should stay in as a distinct race or variant (ie subrace of humans or some such)
The Tal'dorei Campaign Setting Reborn book has guidelines for "mixed ancestry", though I'm not sure how meticulous they are.The discussion reminds me that in Critical Role there has been several Uniya, that is elf-orc, NPCs. I don't know if Mercer has written any PC rules for them in case someone wants to play one.