The Half-Elf. The Half-Orc. We all know these races, they've been in the game in almost every single edition since the name switched from "Chainmail" to "Dungeons & Dragons", as far as I'm aware. But... is it fair that they're the only halfbreed races to have any real prominence?
I mean, if you're willing to dig deep, there are actually stats for less iconic half-breeds. Half-Dwarves have two different incarnations; their Dragonlance versions from 3.5's Races of Ansalon, and the more famous Muls of Dark Sun. Dragonlance also has Half-Gnomes (aadmittedly based on their gawdawful tinker gnomes) and Half-Goblins. A D20 setting called Kingdoms of Kalamar had Half-Hobgoblins as more or less replacing Half-Orcs.
And yet... doesn't this make sense? I mean, typical gnomes are gregarious, inquisitive, friendly towards humans and pretty "try anything" minded - wouldn't you expect a few gnome/human dalliances? Dwarves are conservative-minded, yeah, but they do traditionally get on well with humans - why is the idea of them pairing up so implausible? Goblins and hobgoblins have much the same social structure as orcs, so why are their half-human progeny an impossibility? Heck, the Tallfellow and Stout halfling subraces were, in editions past, all but stated outright to be the result of kinky sex between halflings and elves or dwarves; stupid jokes about the name beside, why couldn't there be a similar "human-blooded" offshoot of the halfling race?
In short... do you think D&D should give us more half-breeds to play around with? And what half-breeds do you wanna see?
Talking of Krynnish half-goblins... we all know Kender are absolute crap, and we all know why (pic related). But, I have to wonder: looking at the half-goblin race, are they perhaps better than kender? I mean, I know that isn't exactly a high hurdle to clear, but as Dragonlance races tend towards the crappy end of the scale, still, isn't this a fairly decent bit of racial fluff?
Half-goblins are typically confident, self-assured, and filled with a zealous drive to surpass themselves and their heritage. This may strike a curious contrast to their poor Charisma, but in truth, their expression of their own divided bloodline comes across to most others as overbearing, arrogant, or aggressive. This can score them points in societies that value or respect this kind of approach, but most of the civilized races of Ansalon see half-goblins as very obnoxious until they reveal more of themselves.
A half-goblin will see the bigger picture when confronted by a gulf between any two groups, so he pushes the issue whenever the question of taking sides comes up. He will suggest that a compromise can be reached or that both sides must come together to oppose a larger problem.
Half-goblins have no independent society or culture. They adopt the social traditions of the people among whom they were raised, but they continually seek more. Unlike many other mixed-race characters, half-goblins have no internal conflict. Instead, they see conflict in the world around them. For a half-goblin, the ideal society would be one combining both goblins and humans, settled and nomadic, enabling the half-goblin to be part of a group that meets all of his cultural needs.
Aaron Hernandez
>why is the idea of them pairing up so implausible? Because Tolkien didn't have these. Let's just forget for a second that he also never really had half-elves.
Nathan Wood
Come again?
Charles Ramirez
He's an elf with a human parent, like his brother was a human with an elven parent.
Nathaniel Davis
That is what a half elf is.
Bentley Miller
Elrond is an elf. He shares the extended lifespan of an elf, the fate of an elf after death, because he chose to be an elf. That one of his parents was a human made it possible for him to make this choice. But at the end of the day he's an elf. Tolkiens half-elves don't work like DnD or any other half-elf.
Alexander Adams
I've always let my players make their own half breeds as long as both parents were humanoid (Minus egg layers and mammal children). Usually their character followed the same trope of >I'm very different and kind of an outcast which has worked out so far. It adds an added layer of player interaction when DMing. I can now have most NPCs regard their weird PC with some kind of mysticism, and their half-breed can be as unique as they want it, citing >Unusual breed = Unusual Characteristics
Josiah Brooks
The worst try on halfbreeds I ever saw was with a player in shadowrun.
He tried to justify a half-elf with the boni of both human and elf, with the small cost of just the human.
Context: In shdowrun are no half-breeds, trolls, humans, dwarfs, orcs and elves can breed, but the child alway belongs to one of the parent races.
Truth be told, Id like to see this aproach kinda in the classic fantasies too. Allow more halfbreeds, but don't give them all special rules. Give them fluff.
Dylan Phillips
From a biology perspective they are interesting, but it lends to the possibility of being fetish or magical realm. If you approach it just from an interest perspective then it's alright I think.
Probably my favorite half-character was a half-troll. Really neat to play and fun how the DM implemented it, even if it was really magical realm how it happened.
