Half-Races

[Eldariel]

Am I the only one who finds the present way of having "pre-made" half-races that are invariably Human/X around with no other options? Also, the fact that Half-X is a template seems stupid; having X-Blood should be a template, sure, but being Half-X would mean that half of your heritage comes from that source and half from another meaning you shouldn't really have multiple Half-X templates at once and that you should only get half the abilities of the base race. So I figured, why not simplify things? If there were stats for each Half-Race, it'd be a simple matter of combining the abilities of any two Half-Races to create the offspring of those two races. The beauty of that would be that it'd be incredibly easy for DM or players to make new Half-Races as the story and their whim dictates as the Halves would be the same no matter the other parent.

The only problem I see about this is how it removes the possibility of making a race like Half-Elf with bonuses to Diplomacy and such skills for being adaptable, but they'd get extra points for being Humans so it'd probably all work out. It's reasonable to assume you have a bonus to Charisma-based skills towards your own race anyways. I think a reasonable ruling would be to give the Half-Race halves of all ability bonuses and penalties the base race has along with a bunch of the abilities. It'd be something like this:


Half-Elf
-+1 Dex, -1 Con
-+1 to Spot, Listen and Search
-+2 to saves vs. any Sleep-inducing effects and any effects from the Enchantment-school
-Low-Light Vision
-Counts as an Elf

Half-Human
-+1 skill point per level, +4 on the first level
-Counts as a Human


Making the PHB Half-Elves mechanically:
Half-Elf
Medium
30' land speed
+1 Dex, -1 Con
+1 to Spot, Listen and Search
+1 skill point per level, +4 on the first level.
+2 to saves vs. any Sleep-inducing effects and any effects from the Enchantment-school
Low-Light Vision
Counts as an Elf and a Human


To add to that, statting Half-Orc out would give:

Half-Orc
-+2 Str, -1 Int, -1 Wis, -1 Cha
-Darkvision
-Recessive Light Sensitivity - If both races have Light Sensitivity, so does the offspring.
-Counts as an Orc


Which would give us PHB Half-Orcs as:
Half-Orc
Medium
30' land speed
+2 Str, -1 Int, -1 Wis, -1 Cha
+1 skill point per level
Darkvision
Counts as a Human and an Orc


And to really do what the system is supposed to, we'd get a child of an Elf and an Orc:
Half-Elven Orc
Medium
30' land speed
+2 Str, +1 Dex, -1 Con, -1 Int, -1 Wis, -1 Cha
+2 to saves vs. sleep and enchantment-school effects
+1 to Spot, Listen and Search
Low-Light Vision
Darkvision
Counts as an Orc and an Elf


If such races existed for all PHB races, it'd be incredibly easy to make all the hybrids you could ever want. They would also make sense and be actually playable powerwise. I suppose I'm posting this here to find out what all of you think of such an arrangement, and to post your own Half-Races here while at it.

Some points, like the weapon proficiencies inherent to an Elf and Favoured Classes (if using them; I intentionally shunned them as I ignore the whole rule), could be given out depending on where the character grew as opposed to his heritage as per DMG suggestion (in "Half-Human"; loses Favoured Class any, gains Elven Proficiencies due to growing up with Elves).

[Aleron]

Problem is, the Half-Elf doesn't get any sort of ability boost from their ancestery, just specail abilities. Also they don't get the free skill points

[The Necroswanso]

Just rule that Half-X templates aren't templates, it's what I do to avoid blatant stupidity and powergaming.

Your suggestion doesn't really, fix anything.

[Eldariel]

Problem is, the Half-Elf doesn't get any sort of ability boost from their ancestery, just specail abilities. Also they don't get the free skill points

They also suck, but I don't see that as a reason not to improve them. I think having minor attribute modifications along with those extra skillpoints and dual ancestry would go a long way to making them mechanically more appealing to play. Right now they're basically good for Diplomancers and since Diplomacy is either broken or something-you-don't-need-every-point in, that isn't very impressive. Personally, I never understood why the child of an Elf and a Human weren't more dexterous than a child of a Human and a Human; there seems to be no logical reason.

Anyways, the real point of the system is to make it easy to make any hybrids you want with the "Halves" available; Half-Dragon Human? Simple, just combine Half-Dragon and Half-Human! Half-Halfling Gnome? Combine Halfling and Gnome-halves and you're done! Basically, the point of this is to have coherent rules to making Half-X Races so that every possible combination in the multiverse doesn't require a new race (while also maintaining that no, Humans aren't the only creatures able to breed with others). As a bonus, the system avoids "lame" Half-races like Half-Elves without any abilities whatsoever as you're bound to get something good from both sides.

[Jayngfet]

what, no half dwarves, no half gnomes, no love for the humble quarterling?

[Eldariel]

what, no half dwarves, no half gnomes, no love for the humble quarterling?

Didn't get by making them yet. The system is pretty pointless without at least representatives of the common races. I just wanted to see if people consider such a list useful. If not, there's little point in making them.

[Green-Shirt Q]

Although I believe that half-elven orc makes sense, I think they would have the same racial stat bonuses as humans do.

Think about it. Orcs are known for being stupid but tough, elves are known for being smart but weak, so naturally the cross between them would cancel eachother out. Making the Half-elven orc a D&D racial paradox.

Of course, that is simpily my opinion, not to be taken all that seriously.

[Jayngfet]

Half orcs seem underpowered here, possible light sensitivity, more minuses than plusses, maybe no CHA penalty or remove light sensitivity?

[Lappy9000]

Man, if this was on the Wizards forum, you probably would have been ripped to shreds for posting odd ability bounses. Never really figured out why; only that an odd modifier doesn't gurantee that you'll get an additional + or - on an ability modifier.

I suppose it's fine; I just ruled out half-races in general and made some existing halves fill niche rolls of other creatures, 'cause I hate half-everything's. For example, only elves and humans can successfully produce offspring (they're the exception), half-orcs are actually an orc subrace, changelings are doppelgangers, etc. Half-dragons are not allowed at all (it implies that dragons and humans breed constantly).

The best part is that OoTS 555 satires this :smallbiggrin: