I remember an article in Dragon Magazine, or Unearthed Arcana, or some other early D&D source material wherein it stated that any crossbreed consisting of more than half of one side of its parentage was to be considered a full-blooded member of that race for all game purposes.
Thus, the offspring of a half-elf and a human, being 3/4ths human and 1/4th elf, would simply be a human for class, race, statistics, etc. In early editions, all this did was allow a player to have fun playing a human that looked like an elf, since the way a character looked had no effect on game play.
The children of Sir Xaris (human) and his wife, Lady Xristine (half-elf) are all examples of this. Though three quarters human and considered human for all purposes in the game, I decided that their oldest child, their daughter Alejander, takes after her mother and actually looks like an elf. Since her father is 6' 7" tall, she turned out to be 5' 11". So, she appears to be a very tall female elf, but has no elven (or half-elven) special abilities.
So, it isn't necessary to say that less-than-50/50-crossbreeds are sterile. Just apply the rule above and there is no problem having to come up with a wide variety of special rules for partial crossbreeds.
Note that in 3rd Ed. and Pathfinder, there are feats and traits characters can take that do give them small benefits for having small amounts of the blood of a different race in their ancestry. This is another easy way to deal with that possibility.
Btw: First couple of minutes, Larping genesis of the argument but works for the table top as well.
Interesting idea: curious about the community opinion?
Time for a poll...ready, set, go!
...interesting idea, but other than the aforesaid horses + donkey's = sterile mule, I've never gone with it, and probably too late now.
SirXaris wrote:
I remember an article in Dragon Magazine, or Unearthed Arcana, or some other early D&D source material wherein it stated that any crossbreed consisting of more than half of one side of its parentage was to be considered a full-blooded member of that race for all game purposes.
Thus, the offspring of a half-elf and a human, being 3/4ths human and 1/4th elf, would simply be a human for class, race, statistics, etc...
Note that in 3rd Ed. and Pathfinder, there are feats and traits characters can take that do give them small benefits for having small amounts of the blood of a different race in their ancestry. This is another easy way to deal with that possibility...
When I work on NPCs in a community, I actually do the genetic blow-by-blow.
In the case of race, I assume that "human" and "elvish" both have associated genes. Thus, a human ("hh") plus an elf ("ee") produce "he" or "eh" (half-elf).
Now, that half-elf (say, "eh") and an elf ("ee" could produce an "ee" (elvish) child or an "eh" (half-elf) child. with a human, it would be "eh" (half-elf) or "hh" (human). With another half-elf, there's a 25% chance of "hh" (human), a 25% chance of "ee" (elvish) and a 50% chance of a half-elf ("eh" or "he"). In the case of a child who turns out as "ee" or an "hh" who had a half-elven parent, or of a "half-elf" who is actually one-quarter or three-quarter's ancestry, I sometimes use of the feats you mentioned.
Current Application: As it just so happens, my new player has a half-elf PC. Based on his last name, his father would have some elvish ancestry (elf, half-elf, or half-human elf), and I gave him the choice of mom who was either a half-elf or human (he chose half-elf). I've decided to make dad a half-human elf (possibly from Greenkeep or the Tangles). Maybe they're 2nd or 3rd cousins (TBD). We determined that both parents were deceased, but since he has 8 older siblings, I still have to reverse engineer them to determine what those siblings are like (the ones who are still alive, anyway). Anyway, he might have some full-elvish or full human siblings, some of whom might have (or had) those modified feats.
Again, I never thought to apply it to humanoid types, but I guess I could, but it's a little too late to generalize it. Maybe he gets a sterile sibling?
Never really considered this in any detail but have had cross-breeds have offspring in my campaigns (generally half elves).
I have always followed a rule, though, that only two elf parents can produce elf offspring. The offspring of half elves are only ever human or half elven. I read this somewhere probably in 1E or 2E days but can't remember where (possibly an old Sage Advice or other article in Dragon).
Never really considered this in any detail but have had cross-breeds have offspring in my campaigns (generally half elves).
I have always followed a rule, though, that only two elf parents can produce elf offspring. The offspring of half elves are only ever human or half elven. I read this somewhere probably in 1E or 2E days but can't remember where (possibly an old Sage Advice or other article in Dragon).
I think it appears earlier but is outlined in the 1989 PHB.
I'd have to check.
Grateful for the interest, but rather surprised most responses involve canonical and fractional comments.
Frankly; I would have thought the motivational aspects are more tantalizing. For instances; under these circumstances, half-orcs might be hyper-aggressive to leave their mark while half-elves tend to subscribe to the eat, drink and be merry...
Elves would consider a "love affair" tantamount to racial suicide, especially involving daughters, due to the comparatively low birth rate.
I'd say that they are not sterile, just for two reasons:
1. There are so many half-elves and half-orcs in the Flanaess that having two half-elves produce a half-elf and two half-orcs produce a half-orc not only seems plausible but also gives the players more options for backgrounds ("I'm a half-orc and product of pure love! No raping was involved!") I'd say that 95% of half-orcs are products of rape but 5% are born to half-orc parents. That helps the statistics a little bit since they say that there are A LOT of half-orcs in the world.
2. Ligers are not sterile. All this stuff about half-breeds being sterile has been exaggerated just a bit. http://www.ligerworld.com/are-the-ligers-sterile.html
Sure, you can go with mules, but you can with ligers too. Your choice.
For simplicity's sake, if one bloodline is dominant, like 56% elf/44% human, the character should be a pure elf. Half-breeds are half and half, so any other mix should result a creature of the dominant race. If someone wants to mix more than two races, it should be a mongrelman. That's why we have that race.
I would definitely like to make a 1/8 elf, but just for background reasons.
From what I understand, female ligers are fertile, while male ligers are sterile. Crossbreeds of polar and grizzly bears are always fertile. Mules and hinnies are rarely fertile. It depends on how closely related the two species are, and if they have matching numbers of chromosomes. Does any of that apply in your campaigns? Do chromosomes exist, or is inheritance passed on through blood? Are humans and elves descended from a common ancestor or are they separate creations? If the latter, the will of the gods who made them may be the determining factor. Perhaps Gruumsh wants the seed of his creations to spread through the wombs of the races they conquer and despoil, so he made them in a way that would ensure orc hybrids are as fertile as possible. Corellon, however, wanted his creations to be aloof and apart, so he made sure that elven hybrids would be sterile, or at least that they could never bear true elves.
Last edited by rasgon on Fri Nov 27, 2015 7:08 am; edited 1 time in total
Grateful for the interest, but rather surprised most responses involve canonical and fractional comments.
Frankly; I would have thought the motivational aspects are more tantalizing. For instances; under these circumstances, half-orcs might be hyper-aggressive to leave their mark while half-elves tend to subscribe to the eat, drink and be merry...
Elves would consider a "love affair" tantamount to racial suicide, especially involving daughters, due to the comparatively low birth rate.
From what I understand, female ligers are fertile, while male ligers are sterile. Crossbreeds of polar and grizzly bears are always fertile. Mules and hinnies are rarely fertile. It depends on how closely related the two species are, and if they have matching numbers of chromosomes. Does any of that apply in your campaigns? Do chromosomes exist, or is inheritance passed on through blood? Are humans and elves descended from a common ancestor or are they separate creations? If the latter, the will of the gods who made them may be the determining factor. Perhaps Gruumsh wants the seed of his creations to spread through the wombs of the races they fonquer and despoil, so he made them in a way that would ensure orc hybrids are as fertile as possible. Corellon, however, wanted his creations to be aloof and apart, so he made sure that elven hybrids would be sterile, or at least that they could never bear true elves.
More proof that Old One Eye is smarter than the Big Fairy.
From what I understand, female ligers are fertile, while male ligers are sterile. Crossbreeds of polar and grizzly bears are always fertile. Mules and hinnies are rarely fertile. It depends on how closely related the two species are, and if they have matching numbers of chromosomes. Does any of that apply in your campaigns? Do chromosomes exist, or is inheritance passed on through blood? Are humans and elves descended from a common ancestor or are they separate creations? If the latter, the will of the gods who made them may be the determining factor. Perhaps Gruumsh wants the seed of his creations to spread through the wombs of the races they conquer and despoil, so he made them in a way that would ensure orc hybrids are as fertile as possible. Corellon, however, wanted his creations to be aloof and apart, so he made sure that elven hybrids would be sterile, or at least that they could never bear true elves.
I like this. It makes sense.
Corellon wants his people to be pure and so half elves can never bear true elves and Gruumsh just wants as many orcs / half-orcs / or whatever as possible. Seems logical to me.
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