Unconventional Hybrids of D&D

[UrielAwakened]

I made a half-tarrasque a long time ago that was a result of genetic engineering done on the remains of a slain tarrasque.

They had an innate frenzy ability and a passive way to ignore damage resistance. This was 4e so I think they were +2 Con, +2 Str or Wis.

It'd be fun to make a 5e variant I guess.

[Nifft]

...I just want to play an orc/dwarf. Short, mean, green and burly.

All fear the mighty Dorc.

[SaurOps]

it makes even more sense when you realize that all demihumans on athas are actually mutated halflings :P



eh, half-giants are made with magic. muls are natural, just very risky pregnancy. it probably has to do with dark sun races being a little bit different :)

Half-giants were facilitated by magic roughly a thousand years prior to the present of the DS campaign setting and freely reproduce among their own. Muls are one-off events every time they happen. The reasoning is likely something that's ultimately outside the bounds of the story.

[Chugger]

This is DnD and so magic - I get it - but a consideration in half anything is chromosomes. Yes, I said a dirty meta word - fine. But horses and donkeys make mules which are sterile and can't reproduce. They're (horse and donkey) close enough to create viable offspring, but it can't reproduce (without cloning or magic).

That dragons and humans can breed and produce offspring - and they aren't "mules" (i.e. can possibly reproduce) - and that they live at all - is meta-level-really-silly to me. But I can say "magic/fantasy" and accept it.

I don't even want to think how half human/half ogres are made ... I really don't. I feel dirty already. It would have to be an Ogre mother (think about it - wait don't - don't visualize it...fugg too late...) and...gah...yeah let's move on.

I like the whole bizarre magic-science way of making these things because it implies a cool movie set instead of really disturbing other images - except for half elves n stuff. But half elf half dwarf ... no ... no I wouldn't allow that. Just no.... If you want to, fine. But not in my world. Some of these combos - I got other things to do w/ my fantasy world, thank you. But again if you really need and want to, I'm not judging - I hope you enjoy it.

[SharkForce]

Half-giants were facilitated by magic roughly a thousand years prior to the present of the DS campaign setting and freely reproduce among their own. Muls are one-off events every time they happen. The reasoning is likely something that's ultimately outside the bounds of the story.

muls are indeed sterile (which doesn't need any special explanation... it happens in real life. Mules, a crossbreed of donkey and horse, are also sterile).

but they are not magically created.

[JackPhoenix]

Changelings I'm less sure of. I'm fairly sure that they're like the Shifters, in that they existed as their own species with a unique origin.

Long ago there was a woman named Jes, and she had a hundred children. Her rivals conspired against her, and swore to kill her hundred children. These enemies numbered in the thousands and wielded dark magic, and the Children would never prevail against them. Jes begged the Sovereigns for help, but their only answer was the wind and rain. She sought the aid of the Silver Flame, but its keepers would not hear her. In the depths of her despair, a lonely traveler took her hand. ‘I will protect your children if they follow my path. Let them wander the world. None will know them. They will have no kingdom but the road, and no enemy will find them. They may be shunned by all the world, but they will never be destroyed.’ Jes agreed, and the traveler gave her his cloak. When she draped it over her children, their old faces melted away, and they could be whoever they wanted to be. And so it is until this day. Though the Children are shunned by all, the gift of the traveler protects them still, so long as they follow his path.

I don't even want to think how half human/half ogres are made ... I really don't. I feel dirty already. It would have to be an Ogre mother (think about it - wait don't - don't visualize it...fugg too late...) and...gah...yeah let's move on.

Are you, per chance, familiar with Arcanum: of Steamworks and Magic Obscura?

Wait, you don't want to think about it....

[GlenSmash!]

I wonder if we can't make a system of this.

Hybrid Races
Is your character the offspring of an unusual coupling? If so, you can (with DM permission) create a hybrid race of the two by doing the following:

• Take the attribute bonuses, size, and movement speed of one parent race.
• Take the other features of your other parent race.
• Take the attribute bonus of a sub-race from one parent.
• Take the other bonuses of a sub-race from the other parent.

Maybe something like that. The system wasn't designed for this, and this could be a problem with anything / variant human, just as one example. But it's an idea.

I think this is a cool idea. With variants for Tieflings and Half-Elves already I think it's doable.

[Regitnui]

Long ago there was a woman named Jes, and she had a hundred children. Her rivals conspired against her, and swore to kill her hundred children. These enemies numbered in the thousands and wielded dark magic, and the Children would never prevail against them. Jes begged the Sovereigns for help, but their only answer was the wind and rain. She sought the aid of the Silver Flame, but its keepers would not hear her. In the depths of her despair, a lonely traveler took her hand. ‘I will protect your children if they follow my path. Let them wander the world. None will know them. They will have no kingdom but the road, and no enemy will find them. They may be shunned by all the world, but they will never be destroyed.’ Jes agreed, and the traveler gave her his cloak. When she draped it over her children, their old faces melted away, and they could be whoever they wanted to be. And so it is until this day. Though the Children are shunned by all, the gift of the traveler protects them still, so long as they follow his path.

That's a story, but reading between the lines, we have an origin for the changeling involving magical mutation. Hybridisation with doppelgangers isn't outside the real of possibility.

[Nifft]

Long ago there was a woman named Jes, and she had a hundred children. Her rivals conspired against her, and swore to kill her hundred children. These enemies numbered in the thousands and wielded dark magic, and the Children would never prevail against them. Jes begged the Sovereigns for help, but their only answer was the wind and rain. She sought the aid of the Silver Flame, but its keepers would not hear her. In the depths of her despair, a lonely traveler took her hand. ‘I will protect your children if they follow my path. Let them wander the world. None will know them. They will have no kingdom but the road, and no enemy will find them. They may be shunned by all the world, but they will never be destroyed.’ Jes agreed, and the traveler gave her his cloak. When she draped it over her children, their old faces melted away, and they could be whoever they wanted to be. And so it is until this day. Though the Children are shunned by all, the gift of the traveler protects them still, so long as they follow his path.

Good old Jes, the infamous Doppelganger MILF.

(aka "The Doppelbanger")

[Regitnui]

Good old Jes, the infamous Doppelganger MILF.

(aka "The Doppelbanger")

Longer I look at this post, the better it gets. Can I sig this?

[Nifft]

Longer I look at this post, the better it gets. Can I sig this?

Of course.

[Joe the Rat]

Are we looking for options generically, or options to fit current fluff? Because fluff nips a lot of things in the bud. Hagspawn, for instance.

For Humans: Unless you really need to have extensive differences, VHuman base with an "X-Blooded Feat" could cover a lot of ground. Plane Shift: Innistrad is where I'm pulling this idea, only instead of "cultural group baked-in feat", you do "Racial subtype as feat".

Other crosses: My easy answer is trait dominance - children take after one parent primarily. Dworcs and Dwelfs would be Dwarves with minor orc/elf traits, or Orcs and Elves that run on the short and hairy side. Take your main traits from your primary; your subrace is mixed blood - use the Primary of the other race as your +1 (or their secondary, if both races have the same primary), and replace parent subtype features with comparable ones from the other race (If your Dwelf was raised by dwarves, you'd take Dwarven Weapon training; otherwise, take the appropriate Elf package).

If we are going this cosmopolitan on our parentage, eventually you'll need Mongrelfolk.

[Dated Reference]Can we get Phil & Dixie to explain "Sex and D&D" on this thread?[/Dated Reference]

That is dated. The BoEF included that particular long-awaited issue of "What's New".




So I hear.