doctorbadwolf
Heretic of The Seventh Circle
I have never heard anyone suggest such a thing in my life, and I find the notion rather odd. The tie between D&D races and IRL races is how D&D races can speak to an experience. Half elves speak to certain mixed race experiences, as do half orcs. They do so differently from eachother, as well.I like it, yes, because I find it very much less problematic than the hybrid vigor/blood quantum ickiness inherent in traditional D&D Half-Elves and Half-Orcs which TSR and WotC never managed to escape.
No. If you say, “you can call you elf a gnome” and provide no actual gnome mechanics, in a game based on concepts represented with distinct mechanics, you’ve removed gnomes. Full stop.Yes, mechanics are just mechanics. This provides a scaleable solution that allows for greater variety in character concept realization.