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The Half Orc. Are they still needed?
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<blockquote data-quote="Chaosmancer" data-source="post: 8687854" data-attributes="member: 6801228"><p>I tend to find myself agreeing with Defcon and some of the others. I love half-orcs (one of my favorite characters was from a campaign that died and was a half-orc samurai from a "loving" home. Only stress was his mother [the orc] thought that a man as strong as his father deserved a larger harem and kept trying to set him up with other women) but I've almost entirely written them out of my games. </p><p></p><p>This happened back in 4e when I had a player who read the official lore and was very uncomfortable with the implied idea of a barbaric race of raiders leaving behind mix-race children. So, I've had "Half-orcs are just orcs" in my game for years now, even after me and that player parted ways. </p><p></p><p>But I think the larger reason that I would see them reduced in their role in the game is that </p><p></p><p>1) All "half" races are half human, and that's weird</p><p>2) There are not half-races for 99% of the possible combos (and I have had people ask about things like half-elf half-orc characters or half-gnomes or Tabaxi Genasi) </p><p>3) Making unique races for even 30% of all combos would be such an unwieldy chore as to be insane, for very very little actual value. </p><p></p><p>I could see them falling by the wayside, carried under the "custom lineage" just like a half-elf half-goblin is, with the players and DMs figuring out how they fit into the society and the story they want to tell. I do respect that people see them as representative, but I do wonder if making it more clear that these things can be handled as a custom lineage would help move those stories away from being told in respect to orc and elf societies, which... aren't necessarily super relevant to a lot of people, compared to some of the other options. </p><p></p><p>For another example, what about a half-sea elf half Aarcrockra? That has some heavy implications, but I'd never expect to see such a race officially statted out.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Chaosmancer, post: 8687854, member: 6801228"] I tend to find myself agreeing with Defcon and some of the others. I love half-orcs (one of my favorite characters was from a campaign that died and was a half-orc samurai from a "loving" home. Only stress was his mother [the orc] thought that a man as strong as his father deserved a larger harem and kept trying to set him up with other women) but I've almost entirely written them out of my games. This happened back in 4e when I had a player who read the official lore and was very uncomfortable with the implied idea of a barbaric race of raiders leaving behind mix-race children. So, I've had "Half-orcs are just orcs" in my game for years now, even after me and that player parted ways. But I think the larger reason that I would see them reduced in their role in the game is that 1) All "half" races are half human, and that's weird 2) There are not half-races for 99% of the possible combos (and I have had people ask about things like half-elf half-orc characters or half-gnomes or Tabaxi Genasi) 3) Making unique races for even 30% of all combos would be such an unwieldy chore as to be insane, for very very little actual value. I could see them falling by the wayside, carried under the "custom lineage" just like a half-elf half-goblin is, with the players and DMs figuring out how they fit into the society and the story they want to tell. I do respect that people see them as representative, but I do wonder if making it more clear that these things can be handled as a custom lineage would help move those stories away from being told in respect to orc and elf societies, which... aren't necessarily super relevant to a lot of people, compared to some of the other options. For another example, what about a half-sea elf half Aarcrockra? That has some heavy implications, but I'd never expect to see such a race officially statted out. [/QUOTE]
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