Half-Blank.

[Wooter]

I've always been bothered by the core races in D&D. There are the Half-Elves and the Half-Orcs, proving that the races can produce viable offspring. My question is why aren't there more mixed races. Why not a Half-Dwarf? A Half-Halfling? Perhaps a Half-Elf-Half-Orc?

[Jade_Tarem]

Because of this.

[Kel_Arath]

and because every time a dwarf makes whoopi with a human, an angel loses its wings... and implodes
also half-orc/half-elf would be a freak...

[MeklorIlavator]

The standard reason for fewer half-breeds would be that the other races can't safely reproduce(Halfling-Human could prove deadly, and genetics have some consideration) and that certain races don't interact enough in that manner to produce a sizable enough population for true specification to occur. Consider elves and orcs, these races are effectively taking part in a genocidal war with each other, so the likelihood of any offspring surviving (or even being produced) is to small to really take into consideration.

Though the real life answer is most likely that there isn't enough demand for wizards to go through the costs of making a new product, but you could always homebrew(and I remember a dwarf-human hybrid somewhere).

[Helgraf]

Yeah, Dark Sun.

They were called Muls. And they were sterile.

[Baerdog7]

There was a half-dwarven race called the Mul in Dark Sun, if that's what you were thinking of.

-Baerdog7

Edit: I was so simu-ed.

[broderickdruce]

Because not everything is compatible. You can't have a Fish/Elephant or a Duck/Lion but you can have a Cabbit or Mule. Also this has been asked before.

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showt...ght=half-dwarf

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showt...ght=half-dwarf

Half-Dwarf specifically;

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showt...ght=half-dwarf

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showt...ght=half-dwarf

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showt...ght=half-dwarf

Hopefully those can be helpful to the discussion.

[BCOVertigo]

For human/halfling just rename the strongheart halfling "the Quarterling" and call it a day.

Also dwarf or gnome / anything is unacceptable.

No.

[Ponce]

http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0322.html

Your ridiculous fallacies of these so-called "genetics" (*snicker*) clearly do not apply here.

But really, half-dwarf/half-gnolls? No one wants to see that walking around in public. Wear a bag, will you?

[TheOOB]

Well lets see, probally because elves and orcs are the only races similar enough to humans to breed true.

Think of it, elves and orcs are both roughly the same in size, shape, and proportion, thus it is not too unusual that they can breed, much like how a donkey can breed with a horse.

Dwarves and gnomes, on the other hand are very different physically, much less human-ish, thus they probally can't breed together.

Halflings allready are just short humans, aside from their size most their differences are cultural, so the mating of a human and a halfling (size differences aside) would just make a human who is rather short, but still within the bounds of medium size.

In theory half-elf/half-orcs could be possible, but since both races hate eachother any such child would likely be killed at death. On the other hand, since Corelleon Latherian (god of elves) and Grummish(god of orcs) hate eachother, an orc/elf pairing may be impossible. The world may never know.

[Tallis]

In theory half-elf/half-orcs could be possible, but since both races hate eachother any such child would likely be killed at death.

Well that seems a bit unnecessary.

[Emperor Tippy]

Well that seems a bit unnecessary.

Yeah, it does. Maybe he meant killed at birth.

[Falconsflight]

I think the reason why there aren't more is becuase nobody really cares nor wants to play those. The entirety of DnD is adapted from movies, popular culture and popular mythology. Mainly it's from Tolkien, but I don't recall Monks in Tolkein, so I'm not just going to point in that direction.

But anyway, the point is among those said items there is (almost) no mention of Half dwarves, or half gnomes, or half-halflings. *shrugs* I don't know why, but there aren't. And without such references, they didn't want to add it.

It's the biggest attraction of DnD "I just read Lord of the rings! I wanna play Bilbo!" or "I just read a fantasy book! I want to play an elf that can shoot arrows really quickly" (Sorry, My mind isn't pulling up any books.) "I just saw a Jackie Chan movie. I wanna beat people up."

Since none of this is possible nor legal, they play it out in DnD. That's the why.

This has no bearign on house rules or other such varients of mixed races, so if you are past that stage and REALLY want to have some other race, just make it up. It's DnD...

[Kyace]

Maybe humans are half-elf/half-orcs. It'd explain why they can mate with both.

[Wooter]

Well I'm going to play a Half-Elf-Half-Orc someday. It will be the best character ever!

Also wasn't a Gnoll a half Gnome half Troll in 1e? How would that work?

[Bag_of_Holding]

Well I'm going to play a Half-Elf-Half-Orc someday. It will be the best character ever!

Also wasn't a Gnoll a half Gnome half Troll in 1e? How would that work?

Half-Elf-Half-Orc, a race that has a racial charisma penalty AND a racial bonus to diplomacy.



For your second question, Classic edition is classic for a reason.

[Inyssius Tor]

There were gully-dwarves (or whatever) in Dragonlance, right? Half-dwarf, and repugnant to the point where the dwarves swore never to crossbreed again?

[Darkxarth]

Aren't the Derro or Duergar half Human, half Dwarf? I can't seem to find the Derro in the d20 SRD, so maybe they got pulled during the 3.5 rehash?

[Kantolin]

The reason?

The only race in the world perverted enough to run around sleeping with everything are humans.

I mean, when you tell someone "It's half-horse", nobody thinks mule. Everyone thinks Centaur, and the other half is human.

Sure, dragons try their darndest, they really do. But nobody quite does it like humans. There are no elf/orcs since neither elves nor orcs have those desires in enough quantity to produce a species.

There are half-dwarves... the dwarves just carefully work to cover this embarrasment up. 'Sides, then they can boast to the elves about it!

^_^

(My worlds, as a note, have a lot more part-races)

[AtomicKitKat]

Because not everything is compatible. You can't have a Fish/Elephant or a Duck/Lion but you can have a Cabbit or Mule. Also this has been asked before.

*Smack* There is no such thing as a Cabbit! Darn urban legends.

[Bag_of_Holding]

Because not everything is compatible. You can't have a Fish/Elephant or a Duck/Lion but you can have a Cabbit or Mule. Also this has been asked before.

The owlbear says you're very insensitive to his subconscious identity crisis.

[Arlanthe]

Given that a character has eight grandparents, we should invent the:

In-Eighths-Human-Dwarf-Elf-Orc-Halfling-Gnome-Gnoll-Kobold

[Dervag]

Also wasn't a Gnoll a half Gnome half Troll in 1e? How would that work?

No, no it was not. I've read the 1e Monster Manual; it was not.

As for the general topic, we already know that humans have a fairly polymorphous reproductive urge. If there were other humanoid species out there, it's a fair bet that you'd find humans interested in mating with those species.

However, a lot of the more unusual pseudo-human or semi-human species (centaurs, for instance) cannot reasonably be explained as the product of matings; instead, they have to be explained by "a god did it."

Alternatively, you can make the humanoid form one that different genetic types naturally trend towards. Old notions about things like the Great Chain of Being may actually apply in a fantasy world.

[daggaz]

Maybe humans are half-elf/half-orcs. It'd explain why they can mate with both.

That is such a great idea, its going smack dab in the middle of my next campaign. (tho it will be a lost secret not known to anybody in the beginning).

[Fhaolan]

Also wasn't a Gnoll a half Gnome half Troll in 1e? How would that work?

Nah, but you're close. It was in the red-book edition of Basic D&D. I quote the last sentence of the Gnoll entry: Gnolls are rumored to be the result of a magical combination of a gnome and a troll by an evil magic-user.

That sentence wasn't in the previous blue-book edition, but it may have been in the white-book edition prior to that. The oldest edition I have is the blue-book.

[Shiny, Bearer of the Pokystick]

Because if just anything could result in cross-racial pregnancies, D&D would have detailed rules for child-rearing and a good character's responsibilities toward their half-dryad childrens.

And I, for one, have no desire for my love for oversized psionics-using ladies to be sullied by the possibility of....I guess they'd be what, Quarter-giants?

[Viscount Einstrauss]

Easy answer- half-elves and half-orcs are the only two instances across the core races where mating can result in a hybrid race instead of one or the other. If an elf and a halfling were to boink, you'd get an elf or a halfling, never a half-halfling half-elf, because their genes can't mix that way. Hell, I'd be willing to say that half-elves and half-orcs are also a rare hybrid even when humans DO mate with these races, since a mix like that, according to what I recall from biology, would happen about 1/4th the time.

[Maroon]

Easy answer- half-elves and half-orcs are the only two instances across the core races where mating can result in a hybrid race instead of one or the other. If an elf and a halfling were to boink, you'd get an elf or a halfling, never a half-halfling half-elf, because their genes can't mix that way. Hell, I'd be willing to say that half-elves and half-orcs are also a rare hybrid even when humans DO mate with these races, since a mix like that, according to what I recall from biology, would happen about 1/4th the time.

Actually, half of something plus half of something else is still half-half. Only when you look at single genes does something like that happen. If, say, skin color was determined by a single gene, and pink skin was dominant whle green skin recessive, and assuming humans only have pink and orcs only have green, there'd be a 75% chance the baby would have pink skin and a 25% chance the baby would have green skin.

[hewhosaysfish]

Easy answer- half-elves and half-orcs are the only two instances across the core races where mating can result in a hybrid race instead of one or the other. If an elf and a halfling were to boink, you'd get an elf or a halfling, never a half-halfling half-elf, because their genes can't mix that way. Hell, I'd be willing to say that half-elves and half-orcs are also a rare hybrid even when humans DO mate with these races, since a mix like that, according to what I recall from biology, would happen about 1/4th the time.

Like 'A Muppet Christmas Carol's version of the Cratchit family? The sons were frogs and the daughters were pigs.

Edit:
Maroon, you're assuming that inheritance functions through genetics. In a fantasy world that may not be the case.

[SpiderBrigade]

Like 'A Muppet Christmas Carol's version of the Cratchit family? The sons were frogs and the daughters were pigs.

That's not even all too far-fetched from a biological standpoint. I mean, there are species that do all kinds of weird variants on what we consider "regular" sexual production. Bees, some lizards, mole rats, etc. So in this case it's not implausible that, say, the "Frog" gene is dominant, and on the Y-chromosome, but the "pig" gene is recessive but present on all X-chromosomes. Or something analogous to that. IRL it'd be more complex, obviously.

Woot, muppet DNA!