Would you allow half-races?

[diaglo]

for 3.11ed for workgroups i'll just say look to the Book of elf pr0n.


for older editions i have always used the halves and the halves nots.

 

[MonsterMash]

I actually worked out a list of what can breed with what in my homebrew world.
Dwarfs and Ogres would produce sterile hybrids. (Dwarfs are giants in this world, just very short giants...) However in over a millenium of written history it has never happened.
The Auld Grump

Does this mean (subject to use of ladders and balance checks that Dwarfs and Giants can breed?

Dragons breed only with dragons, and spawn in great numbers when they spawn at all. (Dragonspawn are fishlike amphibeans, going through multiple stages before becoming a full dragon.)

The Auld Grump

This is interesting - mind if I steal it?

 

[Starglim]

I'll offer what seems to be a dissenting opinion. Half-elves are a lot older than Tolkien, as are half-celestials and half-fiends (Merlin was one). I find that an ugly and scorned group provides many useful story elements, so half-orcs are in.

I don't like the idea of mixing modern genetics with D&D any more than I'd mix in modern chemistry or modern particle physics. I run my worlds on pseudo-mediaeval and legendary principles of science. Creatures of different sorts can interbreed, as well as develop new traits through long exposure to strange environments, magic or other creatures.

 

[Starglim]

Which leaves us with elf/orc hybrids. They are also very unlikely and sterile, but one orc nation keeps them at a special place. They are the "dreamers", in a perpetual unconscious state, but forming a large dream realm with their collective minds. This gives orc shamans some special advantages.

Very nice. I'll have to think about some more ways to use Philip K Dick ideas in a D&D world.

 

[diaglo]

Does this mean (subject to use of ladders and balance checks that Dwarfs and Giants can breed?

don't forget the spriggan.

some giants and gnomes/dwarves can breed.

 

[RFisher]

I'm generally against half-races. Although, there certainly is precedence for half-elves in myth & literature.

On the other hand, it's a fantasy game. So, I tend to be open (at least a bit) to almost anything.

 

[Drowbane]

I'm Anti half orc / half elf.

I don't mind half dragons though. Go figure.

I guess it boils down to... the first two are "base races"... meaning they're relatively common. Where as half dragons are only common in a Campaign with a heavy Draconic theme... and most DMs keep them as NPCs.

I'm totally down with Forceuser's Aelfborne and Anharad. Though I think his Gnomes are almost too good.... o.0 And the SoB removed Dwarves as a standard race!!

 

[mhacdebhandia]

I voted "No", with the caveat that I wouldn't delete them from worlds in which they already exist - especially worlds like Eberron where half-elves and half-orcs are both very interesting races.

I'd find other races to use in a world of my own.

 

[Tonguez]

IMC I have neither Orcs nor Elfs thus:
O'Punga (Half-orc stats) are human throwbacks 'blessed' by Punga the god of ugly creatures* - most are killed at birth
Half-fey take the place of half-elfs as sometimes fey from the mountains find human partners interesting

both O'Punga and Half-fey are raised as humans

Also imc Goblins are amphibians and start as tadpoles, Bugbears are jungle dwelling ape-men, Gnomes are mortal fey and Giants (8 - 10 ft tall) although humanoid in appearance are a divergent species unable to interbred.

*The god Punga (revered by the 'halforc' analogue) is also the father of Sekola (mother of Sharks and Sahuagin), of Takere (father of Octopus and Abberations) and of Mokoalii (mother of Sea serpents and Dragons). Goblins descend from Punga's brother

 

[Turjan]

Very nice. I'll have to think about some more ways to use Philip K Dick ideas in a D&D world.

Thanks . And thanks for the hint where I might have got that idea from. It's probably more than 20 years ago that I read his books. I'll look whether I still have that one; no idea what the title was .