A thought on Human-hybrids.

[Dankus Memakus]

So, i was just poking around and reading about humans and who they can mate with because half dwarves intrigue me and I was curious. During my research I found this quote here on d&d beyond

"A lot of humans have a dash of nonhuman blood, revealing hints of elf, orc, or other lineages."

This got me thinking, how related to other races can a human be while still being classified as human? Could someone be 1/10 orc and still have some orcish qualities? Would they have human stats or would they still technically be a "half orc" rules wise? How diluted would ones orc blood have to be to show 0 orc traits. Also in Forgotten realms what else could mate with humans?

[danpit2991]

So, i was just poking around and reading about humans and who they can mate with because half dwarves intrigue me and I was curious. During my research I found this quote here on d&d beyond

"A lot of humans have a dash of nonhuman blood, revealing hints of elf, orc, or other lineages."

This got me thinking, how related to other races can a human be while still being classified as human? Could someone be 1/10 orc and still have some orcish qualities? Would they have human stats or would they still technically be a "half orc" rules wise? How diluted would ones orc blood have to be to show 0 orc traits. Also in Forgotten realms what else could mate with humans?

well without going into mendelian genetics, yes all of these are possible, but here is the thing D&D crunch only subdivides by half so if you want the flavor of say a 1/4 orc you need to either use half orc or straight human for the stats it is entirely up to you.

lets look at mankind's stalwart companions and defenders the dog you can cross a Dane, and a bulldog and get a halfbreed but if you breed those offspring with nothing but bulldogs after a few generations you will have only bulldogs some of which might show dane traits like colors but will effectively be bulldogs in every way that matters so in my opinion anything less than quarter blood and you are whatever the the majority of your genetics are so 1/8 elf 7/8 human = human

but since this is a game and not reality if you want your 1/8 elf to use half elf stats go ahead. you can ALWAYS change the flavor just not the crunch(without dm approval that is)

[Dr. Cliché]

well without going into mendelian genetics, yes all of these are possible, but here is the thing D&D crunch only subdivides by half so if you want the flavor of say a 1/4 orc you need to either use half orc or straight human for the stats it is entirely up to you.

You could always use a Variant Human, adding +1 to whichever ability scores are most appropriate (e.g. a human with some elf blood could have +1 Dex and +1 Int or Wis, depending on the type of Elf). And then pick whatever feat seems most appropriate for the descendant of that race (someone with Halfling blood might be Lucky, someone with Elf blood might be Alert etc.).

[bc56]

You could always use a Variant Human, adding +1 to whichever ability scores are most appropriate (e.g. a human with some elf blood could have +1 Dex and +1 Int or Wis, depending on the type of Elf). And then pick whatever feat seems most appropriate for the descendant of that race (someone with Halfling blood might be Lucky, someone with Elf blood might be Alert etc.).

That is a really cool idea!

[Asmotherion]

You could always use a Variant Human, adding +1 to whichever ability scores are most appropriate (e.g. a human with some elf blood could have +1 Dex and +1 Int or Wis, depending on the type of Elf). And then pick whatever feat seems most appropriate for the descendant of that race (someone with Halfling blood might be Lucky, someone with Elf blood might be Alert etc.).

I seccond this. It's generally how we play it on our table, with Half-Elves being more of an actual Race (Developed a culture of their own, and there are a lot of generations of Half Elves that preceed them).

Half Elves who would breed with humans for many generations would have their Elven traits gradually fade away (but never entirelly) to a point of normal lifespan Humans, with slightly pointy ears (barelly noticable), and for example +1 Dexterity, +1 Charisma and a Feat of Choice (Magic Initiate is appropriate, or Alert).

The same for other partial Humans who are not exactly half.

[Dankus Memakus]

You could always use a Variant Human, adding +1 to whichever ability scores are most appropriate (e.g. a human with some elf blood could have +1 Dex and +1 Int or Wis, depending on the type of Elf). And then pick whatever feat seems most appropriate for the descendant of that race (someone with Halfling blood might be Lucky, someone with Elf blood might be Alert etc.).

And a vast array of new characters have opened up to me. I think this idea is genius

[Bohandas]

So, i was just poking around and reading about humans and who they can mate with because half dwarves intrigue me and I was curious. During my research I found this quote here on d&d beyond

"A lot of humans have a dash of nonhuman blood, revealing hints of elf, orc, or other lineages."

I like this; it provides an in world explanation for the versatility of the game's humans


Also in Forgotten realms what else could mate with humans?

Dragons, fiends, celestials, genies, the god Bhaal...

[Regitnui]

I like this; it provides an in world explanation for the versatility of the game's humans.

It essentially makes humans mongrelfolk. It's a neat reason why they're the youngest of the races as well. Humans are essentially what you get if you boil down the genetics of every other humanoid race to the most average. Perhaps it was started by the orcs, with their legendary fertility, and humans are a weaker, skinnier, but more versatile offshoot of the orcish race.

[Sigreid]

In one of the older campaign settings (I can't remember if it was the Realms or Greyhawk) they had a settlement that had a large population of half elves stating that a half elf that bred with and elf had elven offspring. A half elf that bred with a human had human offspring. 2 half elves would breed true and produce half elven offspring. So this settlement was the only known place with a large population of second or later generation half elves.

[Naanomi]

Dragons, fiends, celestials, genies, the god Bhaal...
Counting spiritual and elemental beings isn’t fair, they can mate with anyone (because procreation for them isn’t a physical process).

Dragons can also mate with virtually anything, possibly because they are the archetype from which all other Prime Material Plane life was based on (a popular theory by in-game Planescape scholars)

[Honest Tiefling]

Dragons, fiends, celestials, genies, the god Bhaal...

If you go by the games, Bhaal banged a drow, an orc, a giant, and a dragon. Bhaal got around. Through Bhaal himself was once a human, so that shouldn't have been surprising.

[danpit2991]

its kind of interesting how humans are a "hub" species , in cannon you get 1/2 orcs, 1/2 elfs/ 1/2 dwarfs ect all with a human parent but you never see elf/dwarf orc/elf orc/dwarf ect.

[Dankus Memakus]

its kind of interesting how humans are a "hub" species , in cannon you get 1/2 orcs, 1/2 elfs/ 1/2 dwarfs ect all with a human parent but you never see elf/dwarf orc/elf orc/dwarf ect.

It's interesting but kind of a bummer. A dwelf would entertain me

[Bohandas]

Wasn;t there a half dwarf half gnome race or something like that it one book, or half-gnome half-elf or something? I forget the details

[ImproperJustice]

I listened to a podcast recently where one of the PCs was named “Trinket”.

She was a half Halfling with a halfling father and human mother. She was 4’ tall and hd trouble fitting in with halflings because she was too tall, and felt too short around the humans.
Her characterization went into more detail but I thought it was an interesting concept.

[Luccan]

Wasn;t there a half dwarf half gnome race or something like that it one book, or half-gnome half-elf or something? I forget the details

I remember reading in an old monster manual (I think for AD&D) about gnolls. Apparently they weren't originally hyena-men. The original concept was half-troll half-gnome. In the old days, weird (and disturbingly implicated) hybrids were pretty common. Now the closest thing we have is Half-Orcs, since most of the other half-humans parents either aren't very monstrous or can polymorph.

[Bohandas]

I'm familiar with that one, but there was almost definitely also one between two non-human humanoids

[Callin]

The Mul from Dark Sun are Human Dwarf hybrids

[Talamare]

I'm personally a bit of a fan of treating "Half" Races as being any other potential Race.

So a Half Orc could be Half Orc and Half Dwarf or Half Orc and Half... Halfling?...
Tho the problem with that is when you claim to be a Half Orc - Half Elf

Tho mechanically they wouldn't be anything special~
Quick Someone Homebrew a Complex Half 'Race' Combination system!

The original concept was half-troll half-gnome.
I've seen that movie~... episode?