Author Topic: what is a half elf? (Read 1160 times)

Lilswanwillow · « **on:** May 12, 2007, 07:31:54 pm »

Another player and I were discussing something... what is a half elf, and what isn't.
sound clear cut, right? HAHA

Ok, we have 1/4 elf=human
1/2 elf
and maybe theres a 3/4 elf walking around somewhere, =elf.

got that.

Now what happens when the 1/4 elf is with a full elf.. and they are makin babies; is that a half elf or is it full elf since its more elf than human (doing the math, its 5/8th elf)
and vice-versa.

LynnJuniper · « **Reply #1 on:** May 12, 2007, 07:49:24 pm »

Yup , you get 5/8th elf babies.

Or demon spawn ..

*walks of whistling*

Interia_Discordius · « **Reply #2 on:** May 12, 2007, 07:51:42 pm »

I never really looked at "half-elf" to be completely 1/2... I just looked at half elves as in if they have human blood and elf blood, they can't be one or the other, so you got the middle.

darkstorme · « **Reply #3 on:** May 12, 2007, 08:08:05 pm »

I think once you get past one quarter in either direction, you have a human/elf with some minor physical attributes that come from their great-grandparents.

Dorganath · « **Reply #4 on:** May 12, 2007, 08:34:36 pm »

It's not possible to get a "full elf" by breeding half-elves with pure elves and continuing to introduce pure elven blood over generations...no matter how hard you may try. Best you can get is a half-elf.

Taken the other way, if an increasing number of human ancestors are added to the bloodline of a half-elf, you'll fairly quickly have something that's basically fully human.

darkstorme · « **Reply #5 on:** May 12, 2007, 08:36:31 pm »

Hooray for human genetic dominance!

jrizz · « **Reply #6 on:** May 12, 2007, 09:37:12 pm »

So elven blood once tainted with other blood can never go back? But human blood is more like a disease or virus?

Acacea · « **Reply #7 on:** May 12, 2007, 09:47:07 pm »

Good way to put it! *Grins.*

Dorganath · « **Reply #8 on:** May 12, 2007, 10:08:35 pm »

Yeah that...or just generally more dominant in the genetic sense of the word.

Hotaru · « **Reply #9 on:** May 12, 2007, 11:37:49 pm »

yar the human blood is a disease that you can never get out! .... darn tall folk *pouts*

Stephen_Zuckerman · « **Reply #10 on:** May 13, 2007, 02:46:56 am »

I thought that a half-elf and a half-elf could make full-elf babies... One-fourth of the time.

jrizz · « **Reply #11 on:** May 13, 2007, 03:28:20 am »

*falls off his chair laughing*

Hellblazer · « **Reply #12 on:** May 13, 2007, 04:02:38 am »

genetic wise yes Stephen, also even the dominant genes would fade out after multiple generations of retro breeding ( introducing back the native genes) After a couple of generation of breeding back with full elf with a lineage that had elf blood, the recessive human genes would be so scarce that the person would be elf in essence.

Weeblie · « **Reply #13 on:** May 13, 2007, 04:12:01 am »

To reflect what Dorganath wrote: That's not the case here.

Dorganath · « **Reply #14 on:** May 13, 2007, 08:40:13 am »

Quote from: Stephen_Zuckerman

I thought that a half-elf and a half-elf could make full-elf babies... One-fourth of the time.

Not the case.

Racial pairings don't split evenly along the lines of physical traits like things like eye color do. There are parallels we could draw here in RL, but I'll let you ponder that on your own.

In terms of race, it's more a matter of dillution and blending rather than a statistical division of traits. By your logic, Human/elf pairings would result 50% of the time in a full human and 50% of the time in a full elf. That, of course, doesn't happen either.

Further, if you look into standard D&D rules, the section under half-elves states that while most half-elves are children of human-elf pairings, some are the children of parents who are themselves half-elven.

Let's keep in mind that elves have absolutely no parallel in RL biology. When mixing, or attempting to mix, the various races permitted, the normal rules of genetics don't necessarily apply for the purpose of determining the final "race". For physical traits, yes. But even then, the genetic code of Elves and Humans are not necessarily on equal footing, and so one cannot really assume that with enough breeding, a half-elven line can be transformed back into a full elven line. Of course...that's also complicated by the fact that elves breed really slowly.

jan · « **Reply #15 on:** May 13, 2007, 08:55:56 am »

*grins*
guess it boils down to :
elves genetics are too weak to overcome the human cells. =)

Stephen_Zuckerman · « **Reply #16 on:** May 13, 2007, 10:07:41 am »

Right. Mayhaps we should call them something other than half-elves, then. *Chuckles.*

lonnarin · « **Reply #17 on:** May 13, 2007, 10:42:50 am »

My favorite method in making a half-elf involves one fully blooded elf and a hacksaw.

Lilswanwillow · « **Reply #18 on:** May 13, 2007, 11:26:20 am »

well, thank you.

I'll go along the answer of :the babies will be half elf

but now, with the game AI crud... would you use the 'elf' or the 'human' or the 'half elf subrace' for such children...

Dorganath · « **Reply #19 on:** May 13, 2007, 11:50:16 am »

Half-elf is not a subrace. It's an officially supported race in NWN. I would say you would not choose "Elf" because of the above. Depending on the parentage, I would use "Human" or "Half-elf". In either case, nothing should be listed in the subrace field.