Half-orc dad, half-elf mom --> 'human' child?

[Driddle]

The player proposes that his half-orc PC and half-elf NPC love interest could actually have a fully human offspring, using the logic that each half human part of the parents' genetic makeup might actually get matched correctly with the other -- a 25 percent chance, he says.

Your perspective, please.

 

[kirinke]

Wouldn't work.
Real-world example:
My mom is half german and half irish
My dad is half german and half danish
So I am half german, quarter irish and quarter danish.

For your half orc/half elf couple a child produced would be:
Half human, quarter orc and quarter elf.

 

[painandgreed]

IMC, there are no female orcs. The child of any orc or half-orc with a non-orc race produces a half-orc. A child of an orc with a half orc or two half-orcs produces a full blooded orc. So the product of the above woulld produce a half-orc as the orc heritage takes over. This is one of the reasons that orcs and half-orcs are so dispised and distrusted even by other humanoid races as they are an intrusive race that must prey upon others to survive (so demands Gruumsch!).

This is closely related to the spiritual side of my world as there is only one orc god, Gruumsch, and he is male. As below as above, so since there is no female orc god, there can be no female orcs. It's said that Gruumsch has spawned female orcs before, but that he kills them as soon as they are born. This keeps his race strong by not only encouraging them to prey upon other races but also causes other races to fear his offspring, which is what he wants.

 

[Gynsala]

So many ideas...

This is entirely the DM's call... so many ways to play this....

For all gaming purposes, it could be ruled that the char is entirely human. For roleplay, either non distinguishable from other humans, or easily distinguishable (this would only enhance roleplay, and would be kinda a gip, as they would take racism penalties on something they don't benifit from directly in-game).

They could be given all the abilities of both (the completely half orc, half elf pairing, no human characteristics), which would be somewhat disturbing to see I think. Probably would have to be given a -1 lev adjustment or some other sort of negative (perhaps everyone in this world is so wildly repulsed by the character that all Roleplay suffers... but that would kind of suck).

My favorite idea so far is to take all the stats from Human, half-orc, and half-elf, put them into one giant list, and roll for random racial bonuses. You could end up with a +2 strength, -2 con char with immunity to sleep spells and +4 skill points at base level and +1 every additional level... or someone with +2 Dex and -2 Charisma, with darkvision, counts as an orc for all intents and purposes ingame, and an extra feat at the first level... I'd just make sure that it's random to prevent min-maxing.

[addendum: as some racial bonuses are obviously better than others, you'd have to either separate the bonuses into 'minor' and 'major' categories, or submit it for DM's approval]

 

[Sejs]

The player proposes that his half-orc PC and half-elf NPC love interest could actually have a fully human offspring,

Human racial stats, but 'genetics' ...eh. Genetics don't matter for much in D&D.

 

[Mordane76]

The player proposes that his half-orc PC and half-elf NPC love interest could actually have a fully human offspring, using the logic that each half human part of the parents' genetic makeup might actually get matched correctly with the other -- a 25 percent chance, he says.

Your perspective, please.

Real-world example:
My mom is half german and half irish
My dad is half german and half danish
So I am half german, quarter irish and quarter danish.

Well, the real-world example isn't a truly correct analogy to the example given. The real world example is human + human = human. We're dealing with different species mating, not different heritages in one species.

Your DM is using a property of real-world biology to explain his reasoning, but you have to understand his reasonings. Without given everyone here a lecture on freshman genetics, he's saying that the elf traits are discrete, the orc traits are discrete, and the human traits are discrete; the half-elf basically has a packet that reads ELF and one that reads HUMAN, while the half-orc has one that reads ORC and one that reads HUMAN. Thus, these packets can segregate from each other and mix according to Punnett Square ratios. From the pairing, you could end up with someone who was a Orc/Elf, an Elf/Human (a half-elf), and Orc/Human (a half-orc), or a Human/Human (a normal human). If he's willing to go this route, then he has to not only accept the possibility that a half-orc and a half-elf mating could create a full-blooded human, but he also has to accept that it could create the Orc/Elf, something for which there are no present rules.

Now, since the interspecies mixing in D&D breaks basic principles of genetics not covered above in the first place, the DM can do whatever he wants, really. He could say that the Orc/Elf mixture is fatal and does not produce a viable offspring, thus eliminating that problem. But using a basic extension of Punnett Square ratios and Mendelian genetics, he is correct.

 

[Shazman]

Actually the Kingdoms of Kalamar supplement, "Dangerous Denizens" has stats for unlikely half-races including a half-elf/half-orc mixture. I can't remember the stats right now, but it's an interesting concept.

 

[HellHound]

Sure, he would be 1/4 elf, 1/4 orc, 1/2 human, but in game terms we'd be dealing with a full-blooded human in most campaigns I've seen. (including mine, when running my few campaigns that allow half-elves)

 

[Mordane76]

Actually the Kingdoms of Kalamar supplement, "Dangerous Denizens" has stats for unlikely half-races including a half-elf/half-orc mixture. I can't remember the stats right now, but it's an interesting concept.

Didn't know that - don't have any KoK at this time.

 

[Tinner]

Not arguing genetics, or whatever, but if it would make for an interesting story, I'd allow the child to be fully human, but have the Orc-Blooded, and Elf-Blooded special traits.
Essentially weapons, spells, etc. that work in a certain maner for humans, orcs or elves would all respond to him as if he were of that species.
The real question then is, what Racial Paragon classes can this kid take?
This child certainly sounds like fulfilled prophecy in any case ...