How to be an Awesome Half-Elf in your RPG
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- Опубликовано: 19 авг 2024
- We take a look at half-elves and how you can use them in your role playing game when playing your character whether in Dungeons and Dragons or a system such as Pathfinder.
#PlayerCharacterTips #DnDHalfElf
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there is a german author, who named half elfs "inshindira" wich is elven for: Born in grief.
Because if an elf falls in love with a human, he/she will be in grief for potentially centuries. And will even see their own kids get older and die. I found the concept fascinating, that some elfs just protect themselves from falling in love with a human, so they would not be grief strucken for millennia.
Christian R that’s deep dude...
“Not gonna lie, they had us angry in the first half”
“And everyone cried. Then there was silence..”
I don’t know why I’ve put the second one in quotes, since I just made it up .-.
But because I couldn’t remember a quote that I _think_ I based it of
@@Space_Potat well, you just quoted yourself:)
This is the case for most mixed race relationships in fantasy as humans more often than not have the shortest lifespans of any other race.
I love the idea of half-elves. People that are a mix of humans and elves, but never truly fit into either. Half-elves are my most played race.
SpOck
My only choice!
As someone who's of mixed descent it mirrors real life well. You are raised in both cultures by your parents but never feel like you fully belong in either.
@@shinon748, that sounds like it is enriching and yet isolating at the same time.
I feel like raising a half elf, especially if only one species is present for raising, would consist so much guesswork.
“Is Tim sleeping enough?”
“How should we know? We’re elves, we don’t sleep.”
Half-gnome + half-halfling = Gelfling
It works better than I thought, considering it was an originally a joke.
The Hackmaster game has the gnomeling as a PC race.
LegendOfMoriad half halfing wouldnt be quarterfling?
I've always assumed that the whole "every half-thing is one part human" thing boils down to humans being the "adaptable" race. But the idea of mixing things up is an interesting one which could be fun to explore in-game.
“A very good example for example is the example that..” got me good 🤣
Spock is honestly a great example of a half elf even though he's a Vulcan. He's half human but seeks to let his Vulcan traits govern him despite living among humans.
Spock can let his Vulcan side govern him, BECAUSE he is living among humans. They won't notice he is not quite Vulcan.
One of the characters I run currently is a half-Drow. Since he has the urchin background, I've really enjoyed roleplaying his refusal to kill any Drow. He grew up an orphan and can't stomach the possibility that any Drow he kills could be his mother or father.
MrBeekhead this reminds me of an African American joke.
As a side note, I absolutely love the urchin background. I just think it makes for some great characters.
Funny
This guy's voice just makes me wanna do a campaign with him
I have a high Cha half elf with Dex as a dump stat. She is always getting low initiative. I roleplay it as, "sorry, just brushing my hair.." "I'll finish tying my bonnet before I attack" "I'll use the mirror I was looking at myself to.."
Genius
oof
"You are naturally talented, beautiful, and you live about 8 decades longer than a normal human. Why are there so many edge lords among you!?" - Vicious Mockery
I played a half-gnome half-human, and I had a lot of fun with the mix of gnomish and human characteristics. (His parents were both wizards, if you're wondering how such an individual came about.)
As a DM, I play half-elves as child actors grown up.
Imagine your average elf... they are considered to be adults between ages 60 - 100 years-old. So that explains why they are "refined and easygoing," because they have lived around a century or so's worth of childhood, and having the ability to explore almost every impulse over decades. Even an an elf with low mental scores (INT/WIS 8) is going to appear vastly more mature (emotionally or sensibly) upon adulthood than a bog-standard human at age 18 with minimal mental scores.
So now take a half-elf... the reach adulthood at the same(ish) time as a human... in a culture that either expects a century's worth of communal child-rearing (elves) or a faster paced, job-specific and hereditary or apprenticeship focused childhood (humans). A half-elf is going to appear as an eternal kid to pure-blooded elves and a celebrity to humans, that natural beauty and charisma working against them more often than not in case of the latter. Think about it, how do humans treat beautiful people? We tend to put them on metaphorical pedestals and expect more out of them than we do ourselves, even if they are our own kids.
Being a half-elf is like growing up as a child actor, with all the issues therein.
My most recent half-elf character is a half-elf samurai. Her father was a wandering samurai scholar from one of the Asian-analogue lands in our campaign world who settled in an elven community. She inherited her father's katana but was raised amongst the elves. Her adventuring career was sparked by a desire to learn more about her father's culture and society.
7:30 When you're describing the part where half elves occupy this unique space it just reminded me of the Player's Handbook, when it describes half elves as being excellent ambassadors and go-betweens with basically every different race, except for human and elf relations, because each thinks the half elf would be working to favor the other.
In the anime "Knights and Magic" The main character he goes to that story's version of elf to new a secret and is told that he can't learn the skill because he just doen't have the years required to to learn everything. He is still granted permission and by the story learns it all in 3 months.
I play a half elf bard who was raised by her human mother who was insanely jealous of natural elven beauty, and basically raised her as Honey Boo-Boo.
Flibber Nodgets that is a amazing and both funny and sad back story the half orc I played was born to a human mother and she died in child birth and after I was born my father left me in the woods where I was found by a family of humans that were hermits and as I grew up I found out that my real dad left me and that my real moms death was my fault because of my tusk riding her insides to shreds as I was born so I raped them out
The Reviewman 18 good grief!
Flibber Nodgets Ya but the cool part I managed to fit all that backstory one one page for my GM
Flibbet Nodgets
Honestly, I think your half elf's upbringing is the more depressing story. Honey Boo Boo, indeed. *shudders*
I've got a vaguely similar story. About the only "elfish" features my half-elf inherited from her elven mother were some beautifully strange eyes and some slightly pointed ears. She is otherwise short and fat.
My favorite kind of half-elf isn't the "best of both worlds" type, but rather "neither side wants me." In a world where humans and elves don't get along the best the rare half elves would be looked down on by everyone. A much better story lies here in my opinion.
When I read about them in the dnd players handbook, I immediatly knew this had to be my first character. I can relate to "neither side wants me" in real life, naturally I had to traumatize my character the way I was from that.
in D&D 5, you could feasibly have half creatures by starting with humans but taking the subspecies traits for half- gnome/dwarf. a thought i had for an adventure i developed and then life took away all players.
I have never played a half elf before I have play dragonborn half orc dwarf raised by elves and a human but I plan on playing a vampire soon your video on how to play monsters inspired me to do so
Amazing video and tips. I am an old GM, but after many years, I finally will play in Tagmar, one of mine favorite's RPG, the first RPG madein Brazil in 1991. I will role a half-elf priest, and this video help me a lot. Thank you!
I remember I was reading this one story that had this interesting brother/sister pair, they were a half-orc and half-elf siblings which I found interesting. Thinking of the half-orc things, I'm sort of designing a fantasy world where humans are these mysterious foreign species from a different continent entirely. An idea that I was thinking of would be "what would a half-elf/half-orc or half-something/half-something. Would be like?" This is something I enjoy fucking around with. Another character I was fucking around with was my wizard, Marc who claimed to be "quarter-tiefling" who looked a lot more like a dragon origin sorcerer.
My half-elf is mortally afraid of death (partially because of the aging difference between her and her parents) and became a necromancer to become immortal.
She's also not helped by beauty, since another reason is a near death experience as a teen that left her horribly scarred (on her face, a.o.). She wears a veil to prevent horrified staring. She's a force of personality, though.
She made it?
@@Ahrone1586 That campaign ended prematurely, unfortunately.
In the Pathfinder setting specifically it's stated that there are so many half-human-half-something-else because of human's inherent adaptability. In other words, no half-elf-half-dwarf combinations because neather race has the flexibility to breed with the other unlike a half-human-half-elf.
I'd love to see one of these for aasimar. Like the half Hunan races but with a touch of angels in them
In one of my game worlds, I use halflings as thematic half-dwarves, and gnomes as a rare half elf/half dwarf mules. It has worked out well in my world building, and is a fun feel for a bit lower fantasy setting.
laaame
@@kamikuru4014?
I'm playing a half elf, noble, bard for Strixhaven, and one thing I have to really play up her being a half elf is that I gave her two younger siblings who are full elves, and her family treats them differently than they do her. I'm a big fan of using foils whenever and wherever I can in any story. One big part of how she deals with it is by relishing in indulgent behaviors, mostly through courting and flirting with tons of people, as well as having quite the sweet tooth, enjoying chocolates, and glazed fruits.
I view Half-Elves, Halflings, and Gnomes, as crossbreeds of the three core races (Dwarves, Elves, and Humans).
Gnomes are half-Dwarf and half-Elf, possessing the ingenuity of the Dwarves and the chaotic nature of the Elves.
Halflings are half-Dwarf and half-Humans, they've been around longer and have only just established themselves as a separate race.
Half-Elves are half-Elf and half-Human, and are the most recent because Elves rarely breed with a being that lives such a short lifespan.
Half-Orcs are half-Orc and half-Anything else, and in my homebrew the males are often sterile.
I was watching a video on crossbreeding domestic and wild cats to make the Savannah breed - it takes 7 generations of crossbreeding the females with domestic and wild cats before a viable male hybrid is produced, at which point they can be considered a new breed of cat. So I apply that to the crossbreeding of races - Dwarves and Elves came first, so Gnomes have established themselves. Dwarves were the first to breed with Humans, so Halflings are still a growing race. Half-Elves are so new that they haven't even established a distinctive name for their race. Half-Orcs are often sterile because they're usually first-generation crossbreeds.
Deep
My latest character (pathfinder) is a half-elf against thats somewhat against type. Most Helfs are lithe and dextrous and charismatic. In comparison, mine is 6'8, 280lbs, extremely muscular (takes after his father that way), and multiclasses with fighter and oracle so he can use enlarge person on himself to become over 14ft tall with a large greatsword. He's much more human than elf, and strives to use the gift of his elven nature to achieve the pinnacle of combat prowess
Playing a half-elven paladin in Pathfinder and it's been an absolute blast. He was essentially raised as human, his elven father left when he was born, and he had a stable father figure in his human step-father, and a family in his mother and half-siblings. But he feels as if his elven heritage is a curse, that he's doomed to outlive everyone he loves. Not helped by the fact his parents died to trolls and he's haunted by his failure to ever be a stable older borhter DESPITE being a paladin of the god of family. RPing a paladin that can both be extremely confident and morally upright AND a socially awkward drunk is some of the best roleplaying I've ever done.
Once I made a half elf in a game where elf/human hate each other
He was named cliff and was seen with utter xenophobic/racist horror
What a great video! “Helves” have always been my favorite race and how I always felt I was. Any advice for a lifelong fan but wanting to start a dungeon adventure?
Did you get anywhere with it?
I currently play a half elf in my group's Curse of Strahd campaign. Zelda Alagondar is the rightful heir to Neverwinter and a powerful pawn in our campaign. I like to take advantage of her royal line as well as her beauty, intelligence and charisma quite often, especially when trying to negotiate with Strahd or members of his court. Recently she was able to get Strahd's second and youngest brother, Alexander Von Roeyen (Zarovich) on her side. He took a liking to Zelda and now he is courting the princess while also protecting her from his older brother. Alexander is a vampire like his brother but was able to maintain some morals. Zelda is helping him reclaim his sanity and lost nobility in hopes of him taking the throne once Strahd is defeated in order to establish a strong political alliance between Neverwinter and Barovia. The other members of the party are close with Zelda often acting as friends and advisers to the princess throughout the adventure. Evelyn Sunstar, another vampire in the party, has become close friends with Zelda and her unofficial Lady in Waiting while in Neverwinter. It has certainly become a game of thrones.
Great video, great analysis! If I may ask, PLEASE do a video about the Drow - they are my favourite race, and most approaches to the Drow Psyche are superficial at best. I play Drow characters more often than not, and would love to have a deeper view about how they look at life! Thanks for the quality videos and keep up the excellent job!
In my worlds I go with the nurture side of the nature v nurture debate when it comes to the various races of my world. Hero goblins. King orcs. Peace loving drow. Slaver elves. Beardless dwarves. Etc
I tend to play characters straight for what they should, there's often so many people making characters that don't fit into their own societies that makes me want to make characters that do. Instead, what I do is give them characteristics that totally fit everything you'd expect from them just for what they are, and instead give them one or several quirks that in some way both make sense but totally ruin your image of how they should be like.
For instance I have an elf rogue character based on a specific fantasy setting. She's from elf society but she's from a low class, fringe rural part of the society. She's very stabby, kills people, but she's also religious. So you see how those things come together and make sense yet they're sort of weird to happen at the same time.
can you do one of these for the aasimar race?
I suggested the Aasimar from Volo's Guide to Monsters when the first video in this series came out. I really hope they are on the list, I think the angelic guide mechanic they have in Fifth Edition offers up so much story opportunity.
I'd like this too. Not many seem to cover them and I play this race more than I would've ever expected.
Yes, please! My absolute all-time favorite character from Pathfinder is an aasimar, and I'd love tips to roleplay him better!
On the beauty and attractiveness, any kingdom could find its courtier class being slowly replaced by half elves. For Asiatic kingdoms, the history of concubines could be quite different.
This was a “helf” of a great video!
I like the idea, though I don't often use it, that when elves expect a war, they start making half-elves. I heard it somewhere, but I don't remember where. Probably nerdarchy.
If I remember correctly, the book of erotic fantasy actually had a table that told you if various races and monsters could interbreed.
Author
I'm disappointed you didn't talk about the drow, half elf. I am planning on playing one soon, and I feel would be the most interesting of the half elf options.
For what it's worth, I think the Drow-variant Half-elf would be so much to unpack on its own, that would pretty much require its own episode...
To start, the popular convention is that there's a sort of war between the elves (and mostly everything) of the surface world and the drow of underdark... So you're going to have some work cut out for your backstory, determining whether your PC is a child of rape, some sort of weird war-trophy (results of a union with a war-captured slave) OR somehow a child of actual loving parents... The case of loving parents is going to be convoluted and dubious at best. Even justifying such a union is going to be difficult, and don't forget to talk it over with the GM, bouncing some ideas before you go straight to story...
Now, with this "blood-oath" that so many GM's tend to endorse between surface world and drow, it's about growing up with that "half drow" stigma, and knowing that neither family is likely very willing to put up with the union (parents) while the PC-child is just "caught in the middle" and considered "guilty of some sin against nature by surviving"... SO it's a careful balance to believably "toughen up or die" in the early years, without creating something so anti-sociable that there's literally no choice in matters of trying to mesh with the rest of the Party...
An alternative, I might suggest, for the "in-game" setting, is a "splinter-factioning" for a source/origin of Drow... The Dark-Elves... AND if they did "splinter-faction" into two (not as distinct as you'd expect...wink-wink...) races, then you can still have the "half drow" with fairly powerful family turmoil and all the glory and guts of the formative years of strife... BUT publicly, your PC can still (sort of?) pass as "Half Dark Elven"... (cough-cough...) without too much trouble... It's still going to build a fine resource for some teasing throughout childhood (as much or little as you like) and arguably create some interesting dynamics with friends... BUT you're not necessarily "trapped" in that "emo-loner" antisociety mentality that lends no possible reason to trust a band of adventurers, since pretty much everyone else in his (her?) life has treated this PC like shit... sooner or later, either the loner mentality is all you get, or it's just ridiculous... AND let's face it, loners don't tend to work well with groups ("doesn't play nice with others" is a thing)...
For the GM's perspective, the suggestion of a "remnant faction" of Dark Elves, left behind or abandoned when the Drow went underdark and took up Lolthian worship "full time", CAN create a whole resource of elven related antics... just as magical and mysterious as Drow, but without the arachniphilia and associated demonic baggage... Even if the GM decides to arbitrarily stick a "middle ground" assessment on the Dark Elven advantages for magic, dark-sight, etc... racially... AND since Maw Kettel is still Drow, she won't have to "pass for" a true Dark Elf, while your PC might still manage (even only just...?) since Dark Elves probably consider the Drow something like "those weird ass cousins nobody talks about... EVER" SO it won't be like "a Player presuming to ram this new race into the game in spite of a GM"... It's closer to a "Player's suggestion for a racial middleground/origin... and the GM's tacit approval for a resource to be used later... (GM's usually say something like"Muwahahahaa!" over stuff like this)
Other than that, you get a weirdly exotic looking half-elf, and maybe even a perk or two (depending on the helpfulness of your suggested narratives to the GM) in trade for some oddly socially oriented deficits. There's probably going to be someone in every crowd who is "convinced" they know your PC's "true nature"... at least until those ideas run out of novelty for the GM / Table... BUT usually it's not too deadly. ;o)
@@gnarthdarkanen7464 Quite frankly, I don't believe he would need to a separate video on them because you have single-handedly gave us the 15 minutes of content we needed anyways. You nailed every point on the head, and very accurately at that. I personally have never used a half-drow in any game I've ever played and tend to use a good ole drow-elf. Makes thing a little bit less of a headache when creating the back story while still having plenty of time to put into it anyways. Since a drow race is typically populated elsewhere from the regular races (to me anyway lol) you get to come up with some concept of why you're character would be in with the group, whether their family is for some reason not from a drow land or you possibly moved or was outcast from your drow society. Love the many concepts you can think of when simply utilizing the regular drow-elf but being half-drow is something I would be interested in seeing played out. (well, played in an entertaining way for the whole party having their own quirks who make them who they are)
@@user-yf9jq9do5n Thanks all the same.... BUT I suspect there's still substance to be put to the subject.
AND anyways, it could expand the audience for this sort of thing. I'm just glad you find it interesting enough to maybe pursue it. ;o)
I am currently playing a slightly homebrewed half elf, but technically air genasi, and all of the questions that he proposed in this video as in my thought process as I homebrewed this character. It didn't sit right with me for a genasi born of elves to have the human lifespan when both parents have very long lives. Luckily my DM agreed. Anyway, what came out of answering these and many other questions is a very mutable, bard who is highly charismatic, has the deep need for open space and freedom that air genasi need, but has a reserved personality as the character was raised by elves in an elven culture. (College of glamour of course) this has been my most favorite character to play, and all my gaming partners love this character as well. They are unpredictable and change constantly but in a reserved way that sneaks up on you.Today, Zephyr may enjoy playing only their panflute and only in soft melodies, but tomorrow, out comes the violin with a firy fiddle peice out of nowhere without any hint that it was coming other than no one has heard any panflutting since waking up. And I do these little changes about everything, even decisions may change like once the character said "Ummm no, I do not like beer today. I'll have mead." Only to tell the bar tender shortly after, "Oh I guess I do like beer and not mead today. A beer please, I'll pay for both."
On the exploration note, there's a good way to blend the two sides in my opinion: have a background in anthropology. They go out and see what's out there, see different cultures, past and present, all for study to gain knowledge. I liked the idea of an anthropologist half-elf I made before I thought of that, but now I'm really into the idea.
Roleplayers playing half-elves just to be stand out in ANY situation make me want to eat my own face. Of course, it depends on the universe.
Not that it'd be entirely out of order, of course, I but I've seen way too many shallow characters made to take the best of both worlds depending on their needs. Suddenly you have a character that's an elf around humans and a human around elves without making any sense inside their own continuity, and characterization goes out the window quick.
I'd find it interesting, as people always wish for what they can't have, to find more half-elves that'd focus on the aspects of their life that they simply can't have or that they're disadvantaged in. A full-blooded elf might never *truly* think of you as an equal, no matter how hard you try to impress them. Humans might find you alluring and absolutely charming, but are you going to form friendships and start a family with people with whom you (maybe) share a culture and see as your peers, but that you're inevitably going to see deteriorating, growing old and frail while you still want to adventure with them?
As a half elf you're going to defy expectations no matter what you do. You'll be seen as inferior among elves, and as a snob among humans, and there's very little you can do to control how you're perceived. Also chance are you'll identify with whichever side you did NOT grow up with, if you grew up with humans, you'll fancy yourself an elf and act like humans are so crappy. If grew up among elves, you'll identify as a human and act like you know what being human is like, and you're so adventurous and elves are so dumb and inflexible they don't know how to truly live, not like you who are so damn hip.
That's (I think) essentially what I was trying to get to myself, I don't think we disagree at all, we're hitting the same points. My main beef is that a lot of people I've seen playing half-elves often just want a "special human" without the narrative "demands" or expectations of playing an elf, while still being able to claim the "perks" (at least from a story perspective) of being an elf when convenient. So a lot of times you just end up with a Snowflake Human rather than a half-elf.
As a mixed race person I find this borderline offensive
I played a half-Elf (more family of half elves and their father) who were distinctly ashamed of their elven ancestry. Their mother was going to banish their father from the elvish city state where she was a member of the nobility, so the three half elven sons at a young age conspired to assassinate her. Their father found out but as well did the guards of the city and they had to flee. The father took two of the younger sons both twins and they were raised by dwarf rangers of a far southern kingdom, in the mountainous wilderness where they honed their craft guarding the borderlands and fighting back encroaching hobgoblin barbarians. The south was largely untamed and safe for them. His oldest, and his favorite accompanied him as a buccaneer, sailing out of his father’s native island. To show his loyalty to his father he clipped his ears, trying to erase what was to him the shame of his mother.
I’ve played all four of these characters in 3.5 and 5e, the role playing as well as the lore any dm can use is typically pretty good.
You have a good timing on this. Next week will be session 4 with my wood elf ancestry half elf monk 4 (drunken fist) cleric 2 (Church of Ioun, Light domain)
In my game, the DM made a point that half-elves are rare in his world. And it is easy to see why, who wants children you know will die of old age, before you have even had your midlife crisis?
My half-elf was still young enough to not notice she was ageing slower than humans, so she basically thought of herself as a human. When one of us needed to dress up as a soldier, my character had the highest charisma and proficiency with disguise kit (warlock with entertainer background), so of course it was going to be her. Everything went well, but after the fact, I, and by extension my character and the DM, realized that there where not many half-elves living in the city, and since many people have seen my character performing, it won't take long finding her if the army starts searching for her.
Curious on what your take would be RP-ing as a male half-drow that was raised in Drow society that then went on to escape to the surface. Spurred on by the human nature to explore, but held back by the Drow's nature of backstabbing, plotting, and house loyalty.
I'm really enjoying this series of videos!!! They are really awesome and helpful!!!
Please make one on Tobaxi soon!
This is my favorite D&D channel and Tobaxi are my favorite race!!! 😸
In my setting Gnomes are the pygmyed offspring of Dwarves and Elves.
Just getting into d&d. Thx for this video. You just gained a subscriber.
Half-elf half-orc can be interesting from a narrative perspective. would they be bi-polar? would they have a deeper perspective of consciousness? (since they understand pure raw emotions and impulsiveness of orcs AND the the clam and almost apathetic nature of elves) how intelligent are they? just the average that is between elves to orcs or is their unique experience give them some kind of wisdom? how do other races see them? as a rear creature or as a tragic result of their parents encounter?
could be an interesting under-boss, a half elf/orc
In my setting the half elves are old noble families, and the elves are merfolk. It comes from an ancient alliance long abandoned. Merfolk features were half bred out, and Merfolk were very Elvish in mentality (and above the waistline). These mixed people preserve their difference by interbreeding, it's political and cultural, but basically look more half elf than Innsmouth look.
I'd be interested in a world where instead of the stereotypical haughy and arrogant elves, they looked upon the shorter lived humans (and others) a bit like pets (thought of this when you mentioned watching your dogs grow old). That might also make for an *interesting* taboo regarding the half-elves...unless they had a far more nuanced approach to interspecies relationships than is implied by my analogy.
There is also the potential for half-species to be more like the chimeras from Full Metal Alchemist: whilst they cannot produce viable offspring the 'old fashioned' way, they could be blended/spliced/assembled via magical (or other) means. Again, my use of that reference carries intrinsic 'baggage' with it that could colour the setting or the players responses to it...
...which actually has sidetracked me into an interesting thought: how does cultural/experiential bias (not just race, class and religion but what books, TV, movies etc. you like) affect the way in which our worlds are constructed? And also how does it affect the players interaction and experience with it? What preconceptions do we all bring to the table before then abstracting though the lens of constructed characters in an imagined realm of our design?
I think this video would have been stronger if there had been a video that really went into depth on elves before it. You sort of touched on the point of Half-Elves being a sort of idealized human, and that really connects to what I've always thought elves were supposed to be in most high fantasy. A sort of example of perfection humans should aspire to.
I am actually playing a kobold who was raised bye brownie (you may ask why I am bringing this up,but you will see) He never learned draconic, never really lived in a pack, eats sweets when he can sneak them away, learns bye talking to drunks, paranoid, and the youth because they do not try to kill him on sight,spent his life seeing the world as a literal planet of curiosities he is only limited bye his race where he lives based around the way the town tries to kill him because he is seen as a child eater cause of what he is... this has led my gm to have a good bit of fun with it and I nickname him (Ricket is his name) a Feybold. The reason I bring this up is cause of the nature versus nurture concept and halfling idea, and was curious what the ideal Feybold (if one was born) would be like.
All 3 of my Half Elves are from Aglarond(set in the Forgotten Realms).
Will soon be starting a campaign as a Half-Elf wizard whose mother had claimed to be raped by a human, a race which is looked down upon by elves in our campaign’s world. Due to this, my character (Magis) despises all humans, was raised very well by her village and guild (out of pity), and lies to others who don’t know her family history, stating that she’s a full elf (they believe it due to her mannerism and accent). This is my second D&D character, so hope I play her right! Really like her backstory so far! I even have down that due to her being spoiled, even her palace did, making her VERY well aquatinted with her prince (Prince Luzero) if you know what I mean... ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
I had a halfelf character named Biffian.. friends called him Biff for short. Since he was raised in an Oceanside town. So I made him a surfer dude. I played him like Spicolli from the movie Fast Times at Ridgemont high.lol I'd call people bro.. and used all sorts of surfer lingo. Had a lot of fun playing him. And for some, I started a habit of shouting Shakka brah! Anytime I went into battle. And after a victory. I'd high five my party members and say " Dude, that was narly!" I was bummed out when he got killed.
I thought i did a decent half human elf in my first fantasy game. He was a young paladin that wanted to do what was right. A bit naive and tried fix everything with words. Then my friend/gm turned him into a villain in season 2 that takes place 50 years later.
Guh. He even described him how some evil beings saw him; a pure white silhouette with blinding good light. Oh well. This is why my new character will commit sedoku at the end of season 2. Or dies. Either way will restore honor
That's pretty mean of the DM to spit on his memory. Though I'd have to ask if he asked permission from you or the group as a whole to use your characters however he wanted after your "season 1" wrapped up. Just because yeah... the experience can somewhat be tarnished knowing that the DM can take the ending you sought for the character and mess it all up especially without you knowing. Amongst other reasons, I don't see it as a good thing.
Shadow he asked yeah but he did it anyway
He asked and did it anyways?
Also it is my current characters goal to kill my old character. Made a decent backstory. my ninja, Gimshi, had a dad that started to be in line with my elf, Gregory. Gimahi didnt like it, spoke out, fought dad for honor or whatever, killed him, kill Greg next for revenge.
I'll try my best to make sure it's an awful. If it works out Gimshi will go home and kill himself back home
Huh. Got the impression you didn't like that happening in the first place, but fair enough. You could also just tell your DM not to do much with your character if you don't want to kill them off.
i use to play a half elf theif who fell in love and married the human fighter of the group. The way i played him was he sees himself as human since him and his now dead twin brother were abandoned in the alleyways as a baby and was raised by human traveling caravan. He's never bothered by not knowing his real parents, he often jokes with the other full elf in the party if he's his dad or just makes up what his birth parents might have been but the real thing that bothers him is his nature. This is because in Adnd full elves live far longer then in 5e. full elves can live almost to 2000 years while half elves it is 1000 and they reach maturity at 45. He lives in fear that he will live to watch both his wife and children will sicken and age while he remains the same. He sometimes grows embarrassed with his nature as he has more feminine features then his tougher looking companions so often flys off the handle on strangers mentioning his appearance since he wants to be taken seriously. Ironically he also the most scared since his adventuring career has chewed him up though the years.
I’m currently playing a half-elf in a region where there’s only humans and he’s actually perceived as a freak. It’s interesting how settings can change everything.
Im making a half elf who despite having a high Chrisma store he is very elef conscious and low self esteem he is a noble background who went to a wizard school in the royal academy however due to his half elf status he is treated worse by his peers and is very self conscious about his eleven features.
I really love this video! I watch it pretty much every other day! Do you have a video for the best builds for a half elf race?
Half-elves are my favorite race since the very beginning of my PnP-Way. this twist between beeing humand and beeing Elf . Both of them give them a bit dna and characteristika, but not enough to feel Home in human-towns or elvenwoods. and this twist makes half-elves so wounderfull to play imo. You can everything be, what a human coud be - but more mystic, more beutifull. You can also be everything what an elf coud be - but in a way, humans coud understand way better. Its easy to play an half-elf and challangeing at the same time. the race of my heart for the rest of my life.
Want to be super proficient in skills? Make a charlatan half-elf rogue (my backup character I have almost complete)...this vid inspired me to make a half-elf a rogue... Because of their charm...charlatan followed his backstory well...and I noticed my profiencies were building up...I don't want 8 proficiency's...I only want 7 😭....cause I'm stuck on what my last proficiency should be...though I also wanna roleplay,but I learnt at least how proficient it is and am upset...cause too many proficiencies while useful...is kinda annoying...either way,it works as he is a very efficient thief.
Half elves are commonly noble as human nobles like adding elf blood to their families.
I did a Goliath raised by Dwarves. And now his son with a goblin is using hobgoblin stats (fits rather well) having a blast.
Half-elves are for when you draw a cute elf character but they have short ears.
How would I play half elf raised by drow to be a slave/weapon by there drow family since she was very very young ?
Since beauty is discussed here, a few points: As someone who's widely considered attractive, life is actually very much normal, and finding romantic partners is not any easier (turns out people don't approach you) and can very, very much still be bullied in school. You also don't become narcissistic over it, normally other people will find you more attractive than you find yourself, you kind of are used to people treating you a certain way and don't really realize it's unusual (mostly you'll find people of the opposite gender feel like they're so much nicer people than those of your own), though you may also learn through experience that if you need something you're better served approaching the table where someone of the opposite gender is sitting and smile a lot to get your paperwork done, for instance, and it will be faster and if you have problems they'll help you solve them rather than dismiss you.
And when you find people who don't think you're attractive, it can be rather jarring, sort of like if someone claims your hair is blond when you've always had brown hair (which is also something that can happen BTW), but it doesn't feel like you'd think it does, you don't feel insulted or inadequate, it feels like if you have this tool, like... this trusty knife you've always been able to cut things with, and you suddenly can't cut this particular butter with it, like there's a series of doors you thought you had the key to and realize you don't, that they're closed to you too.
Altrantis ha, getting a life is strange vibe from this. Are you the main character?
I'm sorry to say I do not have time travel powers. Well, except the ability to move forward in time at regular time speed.
How to be an awesome Half Elf
Step 1
Choose Half Elf
Step 2
Choose a Charisma Based
Caster
Step 3
Choose a befitting Background
My half elf is drow/human & Rogue/cleric
If humans live up to around 75-90 years and elves live around 750 years then why do Half-Elves live around 180-200?
That's not even a third of the Elven lifespan
Just shows how much the human-half brings down the lifespan.
I play an half-elf with a noble background who was rejected by his family. Cliché, but I like it. I play an arrogant but good guy at the same time. I don't let my party down (human side) but also always bring back those snarky remarks toward my party friends. (elf side)
I never usually do this but I love you videos so
First!
Uh what about the size issues of mixing 2 races like does the goliath split the gnome or is the gnome throwing his hot dog down the goliath's hallway
oh the subject of which races can interbreed theres a convenient chart in the book of erotic fantasy which i think is from 3.5e which tells you which races can interbreed
Funny how Half-Elves are half elf but only live up to 25% the lifespan of Elves if even that
I just play my Half-Elf with a thick southern accent and a sharp wit.
I always disliked the special rules for half-elfs and half-orcs... i mean why are those not allowed to breed any further?
Can't there be Quarter-Elfs? Or Three-Quarter-Orcs?
What about a person that is a half Human a quarter Orc and a quarter Elf?
I assume after you're quarter race or less people just treat you the race you have more of. In the witcher universe, there's quadroons, that is, quarter elves, but they get treated as human, and it's assumed all humans have some proportion of elven blood. It'd get weird with people who are 3/8th human, 1/8th gnome, 2/8th elf and 2/8th orc. I think for people that racially mixed you'd have to just have a "mixed race" race.
I did a mixed orcish people merged into a Bedouin people. Third orc or so. A player liked them. Arabs "can" have an orcish look.
Well, specific racial blend like that, if they're widespread in a territory, they can come to be thought of as a race of their own and get their own name rather than some "half-something" designation. I know IRL races make poor subjects of comparison to fantasy races, but an example of this is "Latinos" (or more accurately mestizos, since Latinos aren't a race). Mestizos are a mix of native American and Iberian white people typical of Latin America (and often is what people think of when they think "Latinos".) It's a mixed race, but it's common enough and distinctive enough that it's like it's own thing. I imagine if you have a whole country where most people are some denomination of mixed elf and human, you wouldn't call them half elves anymore, but perhaps they'd be called after the territory they're from and be considered their own race.
Yeah, I gave them their own name. However, the Cormyreans and others just considered them a type of Half-Orc. Nuance gets overlooked, because they aren't like other orcs or even half-orcs, and their skin is muddier and duskier than green, and their features almost human. Later I did something similar with hobgoblins in another game and world.
Although there is mention of supposed half-elf communities, I reckon them moving into classes and professions is more likely. Like, half-elf courtiers.
I think Latinos was a very suitable comparison.
I mean, you could have say, an isle where it became normal for humans and elves to interbreed and eventually most of the isle was made of a nondescript admixture of elf and human, so the whole isle is essentially half elves, only not from one generation, but rather like, 35/64ths elf, many generations of people with different proportions of elf and human blood mixing together until any semblance of understanding them as being made of elf and human becomes pointless and they're their own thing now.
Will drow be the next race? I'd like to see your version of a non-drizzle dark elf :3
Thx
Interesting video but in my world I got rid of most half races, I have Muls which are half dwarves half humans and Halflings which I made essentially into a half Dwarf half Elf.
I made interbreeding difficult even between Humans, Dwarves and Elves, the half breeds in my world are generally looked down upon, so much so that they form their own communities that cling to the outskirts of the big cities.
the bit about age is true- my elf is older than her adoptive halfling parents (in a sense she is half elf half halfling because she was nutured by a similar but not exact match of her nature). And in comparison, shes nearly twice the age of her party mate whos a half elf, but in "human years" shes just over half her age. oh math.
That thumbnail makes you look more attractive then usual... why the clickbait man? Also can you do a video like this but for humans
Oh yes, I would be interested in a spotlight on humans as well!
Yeah, I have no idea how to role play a human... :P
@@MrBeekhead you...…..... you are a human...…. you know EXACTLY how to...……… oh it was a joke
Has anyone here played starship troopers the RPG game if so what are your thoughts because my group is planing on playing it and I want to know what I'm in for
Half-Elf Paladin of Helm with Oath of Heroism
What do you think of druids of decay (pathfinder) i would love to hear your thoughts about that
THANK YOU
My 'Half-Elf' actually has the curse of rivals who consider her Elven features to be bad things because she is biologically more Elf than Human yet she works harder than them (because they believe that they learn faster and better because they are full blooded humans)
Do some Elf-Orcs / Orc-Elves :D
Idea: I’m looking to play a male half drow because I’m looking to play up a character that is comically fearful of and deferent to women. He would be a big fan of playing a supportive role, healing, buffing and letting the rest of the party charge in headfirst. Maybe making poisons to lather the weapons with and reloading crossbows or making makeshift cover for the party to hide behind. Would all this be too much for my first ever game? If you can’t tell I’ve watched a ton of your and others’ videos.
Also I love the outro theme
Uhhh thanks I guess? Not sure if that was meant to be insulting or not but yeah good luck to you too
There are a number of examples you could copy from pop culture. Any "man" that is fearful of his wife or women. Seems a little retrograde "age of woman" sort of feminism, consequences of the third wave, man as meek and weak, but I think it could be very comedic.
Oh okay buddy, please understand that the way your comment was worded makes it easy to misinterpret as some random troll who thinks women need to be subservient to their men and so on we all know that type of troll. Sorry for the misunderstanding lol but yeah the point is definitely comedy
No pressure, no problem. It could be really funny... but it is part of the de-masculinisation of men. It is the playing of a role that we have seen in pop culture for quite some time now:
"one thing remains the same in most cases - you will find a very, very skewed version of manhood displayed in these advertisements and the wider film industry. There has been, over the last 15 years, a push to slip males into the category of “emotional, comedic, bumbling dudes who cannot take care of themselves,” who are wimpy, incapable of performing their husbandly duties; they cannot handle paperwork, kids, conversation, or basic human functions, and they certainly cannot lead a home as the solid and consistent strength that he needs to be in order for a home to work properly."
fromfrightenedtofather.wordpress.com/2016/10/26/the-de-masculinisation-of-men/
I have a question, would you play the reverse? A woman that was comically fearful of and deferent to men? Why not? What are you subverting by playing the man as weak and scared of women? What does this reinforce? Where does this come from? Is this a type of poison?
Have you seen any recent shows where women are the ball-busters and leaders, and the male characters are far more timid?
"who thinks women need to be subservient to their men"
Need matters not, they are, when men have strength, worth, are leading, and are not scared of them or of leading! :D
Elf
The Baskin Robbins of Races
Can you do half elf and orc please?
Why not Half-Dwarves?
Human cannot mix with the Elves...
*And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.* (Daniel 2:43)
And yet adding carbon to iron gives you steel. A very useful metal indeed. Don't be silly. Just enjoy the game. Peace.
Attributing properties simply based on race to the degree d&d is doing it makes no sense. I'm fine with "orcs are stronger and generally not as smart" for example, but not with "elves love nature and art." I argue that an elf who grows up in a human society will be as human as the next guy.
Halfling & a half 😂
Hmm. Orc+halfling = Goblin? :)
The helf, eh? In that case, what do you think of Tricia Helfer?
who?