How does sex work?

[MachineGod]

Human + elf = half elf
Human + orc = half orc
Human + dragon = Dragonborn???
Do gnomes + human = halfling? Or are they just tiny humans???

How this it all work?

[MachineGod]

Originally posted by ✙205🍉🐆→:

It Just Works

no that's starFAIL

[jinxzero1]

One has an out One has a in add booze and boom ....baby

[Ghost]

Originally posted by TheArmoredTitan:

If a human and a githyanki do it would they make an egg???? If the human is female is she giving birth to an egg?????

Since this was brought up and no-one seems to have answered it, no. Basically all Githyanki (and presumably Githzerai) are infertile.

Specific Gith have the ability (or are somehow granted the ability) to asexually lay eggs. Much like queen bees or ants, that's basically the entire point of their existence, in order to keep the race alive.

[seeker1]

Yet, strangely, despite reproducing asexually, Githyanki, still have male and female sexual organs, and sexual desire. Of course, one thing that makes the Lae'Zel romance so "special" is since Githyanki sex doesn't lead to reproduction, essentially this allows females (and males) to bang with abandon..... further, it doesn't seem like given how reproduction works in their society, that long-term bonding (i.e. "falling in love") happens between Githyanki males and females ... again, providing Lae'Zel with the shock that she can experience something which she says is as "insipid" as "love" ....

BTW, much of the above suggest the lore that Githyanki may have been an evolutionary offshoot millennia ago from humans ... since they CAN still have sex with humans and apparently even experience desire of them ... (and by "humans" I guess we have to include demi-humans) ... is correct.

[Bray of Cats]

I have been thinking about this sort of subject a bit, but this might go a bit off topic. Are all half-whatevers like sterile or can they only breed with other half-whatevers of the same type? If a half-whatever breeds with a member of one of their parent races do they make quarter-whatevers or three-quarter-whatevers? Do they still count as half-whatevers anyway? Do you need at least one full human for all this to work?

[MachineGod]

Originally posted by Bray of Cats:

I have been thinking about this sort of subject a bit, but this might go a bit off topic. Are all half-whatevers like sterile or can they only breed with other half-whatevers of the same type? If a half-whatever breeds with a member of one of their parent races do they make quarter-whatevers or three-quarter-whatevers? Do they still count as half-whatevers anyway? Do you need at least one full human for all this to work?

Exactly brother! How do sex work?

[Steffan]

Originally posted by Darth Cannabis:

Also found a fun chart concerning this subject. This one from the reddit is based off some of the less complete ones you can find in books.

https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fsd3qsgtaurc61.png%3Fwidth%3D2394%26format%3Dpng%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3Dc440b87793ed4b1b30fafe5998326aef9c95bf5a

Interesting. So if my dragonborn bard wants to have kids with another race, he can **** Orin (who is a changeling). Or compete with Astarion for the attention of the kobolds from the sewer cleaning service. Delightful!

P.S. Although I guess Githiyanki are possible as they were not on the document.

[seeker1]

So ... there are no quarter elves or quarter orcs mentioned in the lore or the game, so ... dunno ... can we draw conclusions from their absence?

My GUESS is half elf + half elf = half elf. What other mixtures result in ... dunno. If a human het-male Tav goes on to have kids with half elf Shadowheart, we can find out the result. (Or a pure elf Tav?) We'll see if Larian provides us with the experiment ...

[EricHVela]

All this changes in the UA ("One D&D" or 5.1 edition or 5.5 edition or whatever people are calling it now).

In the upcoming edition, your character can be 23% Human, 44% Orc, 1% Centaur, 1% Halfling, 87% Air Genasi, and 156% player character while looking like a 4-legged, grey skinned, translucent Human with only Halfling traits (including size = Small).

You can look like anything but have the traits of only one parent, and the traits can carry down the family tree. In the example, somewhere way back in the family tree, a parent was a Halfling and those traits were pass on to (and exhibited as character traits by) someone in each generation regardless how diluted the Halfling blood became. All parents in direct lineage to the player character would all be Small and Lucky regardless of their appearance otherwise.

[Bray of Cats]

Oh so the quarter elves and orc question don't matter any more, but was there any answers before these planned changes? I'm guessing the creators are making it more malleable than dominant and recessive genes IRL, by your description?

[GriffinPilgrim]

Originally posted by Bray of Cats:

I have been thinking about this sort of subject a bit, but this might go a bit off topic. Are all half-whatevers like sterile or can they only breed with other half-whatevers of the same type? If a half-whatever breeds with a member of one of their parent races do they make quarter-whatevers or three-quarter-whatevers? Do they still count as half-whatevers anyway? Do you need at least one full human for all this to work?

Most half whatevers are fertile and yes, they breed true; the offspring of two half elves is a half elf. In a few places this has led to small half elf cultures where there's lots of half elves whose human and elven ancestors are several generations back.
When a half elf has children with a human or elf the offspring has a low chance of still being a half elf but is more likely to be a human or elf with maybe a few inherited traits (a human with slightly pointed ears, and elf who can grow facial hair).
One of the setting's signature characters, Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsen was the human child of a half elf and a human. Since he grew up in the elven city of Myth Drannor he was bullied with the nickname "Less Than Half" by the nastier elves.

[seeker1]

The problem with implementing scientific genetics in a fantasy setting ...

Do devils, genies, angels/devas, etc. have DNA?
So fine, apparently orcs & elves are genetically similar enough to humans to reproduce with them, but ... are the offspring fertile (answer appears to be yes, but ...) And what about dragons (I'm talking about half-dragons, not dragonborn) ...

You know, I tend not to be on the hate train with most 5E changes, BUT, if One D & D is really turning everything into bizarre chimeras ... I'm not sure even I would go for that.

I also really would prefer racial ASI stay in the game, even if the rules make them optional. It just makes sense that a gnome would have less STR than a human. But then as a compensation, higher INT, cuz gnome cunning and tinkering, etc.

[His Divine Shadow]

Originally posted by GriffinPilgrim:

Originally posted by Bray of Cats:

I have been thinking about this sort of subject a bit, but this might go a bit off topic. Are all half-whatevers like sterile or can they only breed with other half-whatevers of the same type? If a half-whatever breeds with a member of one of their parent races do they make quarter-whatevers or three-quarter-whatevers? Do they still count as half-whatevers anyway? Do you need at least one full human for all this to work?

Most half whatevers are fertile and yes, they breed true; the offspring of two half elves is a half elf. In a few places this has led to small half elf cultures where there's lots of half elves whose human and elven ancestors are several generations back.
When a half elf has children with a human or elf the offspring has a low chance of still being a half elf but is more likely to be a human or elf with maybe a few inherited traits (a human with slightly pointed ears, and elf who can grow facial hair).
One of the setting's signature characters, Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsen was the human child of a half elf and a human. Since he grew up in the elven city of Myth Drannor he was bullied with the nickname "Less Than Half" by the nastier elves.

Damn racist elves.

[GriffinPilgrim]

Originally posted by seeker1:

The problem with implementing scientific genetics in a fantasy setting ...

Do devils, genies, angels/devas, etc. have DNA?
So fine, apparently orcs & elves are genetically similar enough to humans to reproduce with them, but ... are the offspring fertile (answer appears to be yes, but ...) And what about dragons (I'm talking about half-dragons, not dragonborn) ...

You know, I tend not to be on the hate train with most 5E changes, BUT, if One D & D is really turning everything into bizarre chimeras ... I'm not sure even I would go for that.

I also really would prefer racial ASI stay in the game, even if the rules make them optional. It just makes sense that a gnome would have less STR than a human. But then as a compensation, higher INT, cuz gnome cunning and tinkering, etc.

Half dragns are fertile, that's why there's a Dragon Ancestry option for sorcerers.

[Bray of Cats]

So there are the lore mechanics side of the question answered. How is the play mechanics balanced and such?