Half-elf house rules (3.5e)

[msully4321]

Does anybody have any suggestions for how to re-tool half-elves to be less lame?

I have a player who wants their backup character to be a half-elf for fluff reasons.

[Morty]

Popular(read: the ones I can remember right now) fixes include giving them a +2 Charisma and/or letting them ignore the limitation in cross-class skill ranks(but not the increased cost).

[Zaq]

Let them keep the human bonus feat, and gain the full elf bonuses to senses (probably including secret door sense).

[Starscream]

I allow them to count as both humans and elves for any prerequisites. So a Half-Elf Wizard could take Elf-Wizard substitution levels, or qualify for the human/doppelganger only Chameleon prestige class and so on. I do much the same for Half-Orcs, although there isn't much in the way of "orc only" options.

I've also been known to give away free levels that can either be spent on either offsetting the "HD+LA" of monster races, or on levels of Racial Paragon Classes.

I do this because A) it encourages more exotic characters than the usual "bunch of humans and a dwarf" my campaigns kept ending up with, and B) it makes the selection of a species more important to your character's abilities. At level 1 a human fighter and an elf fighter might have some differences, but by level ten their class abilities have long since overshadowed them, and they are almost the same. This makes elves feel more elvish, dwarves more dwarven, etc.

Because the half-races can choose levels from either of their parental classes, they become more popular and versatile options as a result.

[Spiryt]

Let them keep the human bonus feat, and gain the full elf bonuses to senses (probably including secret door sense).

That could put them too strong on the other hand - the only thing human would have on them would be bonus skill points - against solid bonuses to skills, saving throws, and better vision.

[JonestheSpy]

My house rule is that at 1st level, half elves can choose a bonus feat OR one extra skill point at every other level. Makes them just about right in my opinion: some of humanity's versatility, but not so much that it overpowers the race.

[Rixx]

I play a Pathfinder Half-Elf - they're very versatile in that system.

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/half-elf

[Vangor]

I include the full Listen, Spot, Search bonuses from Elves (+2), allow the +2 to Diplomacy to be used on Intimidate, Bluff, or Diplomacy, and and include an additional +2 to Knowledge:Local and Sense Motive. This offers slightly more versatility, a focus on Half-Elves as the character to establish connections, and an advantage of 7 skill points. Should define a role while balancing the loss of proficiencies, automatic searching, and stat adjustment or a feat and additional skill points; the feat simply is worth a great deal.

[Starbuck_II]

I say do the 3.5 + a bit from 4E version.
All 3.5 traits + 1/10 minutes useage- spell used as a spell-like from any class chosen at 1st level (caster level 1/2 Character level, minimum 1). 1 extra skill point at every even level.

Not a big bonus pass level 9, but at low levels that is tempting (CLW, etc).

[Veles]

Pretty strange nobody mentioned Skilled Half-Elves from UA. I use that OR (player's choice) a bonus feat. This pretty much guarantees some versatillity, though humans remain solid. And, yes, taking both Paragon classes can benefit for a gish.

[Johanas]

I usually add in that Speak Language is always a class skill too.

[BooNL]

For a while now I've used +2 CHA and +1 skill/level, which has always worked out well. Half-elves get used a lot more, but they don't overshadow any other races.
In fact, most players are glad they get a newly balanced half-elf, so there's almost always one in the group.

[Orzel]

Bonus skill focus, metamagic, or weapon prof feat. + 1 AC.

[BooNL]

Bonus skill focus, metamagic, or weapon prof feat. + 1 AC.

How does that fit into any of the existing half-elf fluff?

[Curmudgeon]

I let them count as class skills (for all classes) all those for which they receive a racial bonus.

• +1 racial bonus on Listen, Search, and Spot checks.
• +2 racial bonus on Diplomacy and Gather Information checks.

[PhoenixRivers]

Pretty strange nobody mentioned Skilled Half-Elves from UA. I use that OR (player's choice) a bonus feat. This pretty much guarantees some versatillity, though humans remain solid. And, yes, taking both Paragon classes can benefit for a gish.

Not as much as something like Duskblade, methinks.

[Orzel]

How does that fit into any of the existing half-elf fluff?

They get beat up as kids and are sent on dangerous missions by their parent race. They learn fast and hard.

[Andras]

Give them the human's skill point bonus and the full listen/search/spot that elves get.

[Diamondeye]

I give them the Human skill point onus, and let them ignore non-synchronized multiclassing EXP penalties. I also let them count as both humans and elves, or whichever is more favorable for any purpose. For example, if they take Weapon Familiarity they can get familiarity with elven weapons or either of the human sets (I allow people to select either Bastard Sword and Two-Bladed sword or Great Scimitar and Great Falchion as human racial weapons depending on character background.

[J.Gellert]

My half-elves are basically an elven subrace. Posting them here would not make sense because they are basically D&D version X but if you take the elf, swap some skills around, and change the proficiencies to free proficiency: One martial weapon then you get a pretty balanced race.

[Dixieboy]

My half-elves are basically an elven subrace. Posting them here would not make sense because they are basically D&D version X but if you take the elf, swap some skills around, and change the proficiencies to free proficiency: One martial weapon then you get a pretty balanced race.

Though their racial abilities then overlaps with class abilities, resulting in waste if they pick certain classes.

Not really a huge problem since if you're using the race anyway you won't go for super optimized.
Just a small thing.

[Starsinger]

I'm fond of +2 Charisma, and the ability to qualify as an elf or human for PrCs and feats.

[Person_Man]

In my homebrew world, you can play any half race you want. But you have to pick one of your two parents, and you gain their racial bonuses (and LA, if any). For example, a traditional Half-Elf would get either human or elf bonuses. Or you could be a half dwarf half gnome, and pick either parent's racial bonuses. Or whatever. Your lineage should be a fluff decision, not a statistical one.

[taltamir]

Does anybody have any suggestions for how to re-tool half-elves to be less lame?

I have a player who wants their backup character to be a half-elf for fluff reasons.

MECHANICALLY a human, with the appearance of a "half elf". One bonus, and one penalty:

Bonus: they get a +2 resistance against sleep effects.

Penalty: They get to choose ONLY ONE from:
1. Must spend their 4 bonus skillpoints at level 1 from being a human on spot and listen. (but can spend future bonus skillpoints on whatever they want).
2. Favored class: wizard (instead of any)
3. Must use their bonus feat for being a human to take alertness.

Also considering making feat called "elvish alertness"...
Elvish alertness:
Prereq: must be half-elf, must have alertness feat
Benefit: You have all the alertness capabilities of your elven parent, you can make automatic checks without specifically paying attention.