Half races

[MGBM]

My group has a PC that is a half-Nordheimer, half-Aquilonian. I was wondering, does anyone here have any kind of house rules to reflect half races? Wonder what is the official ruling about half races. AE doesn´t have anything about creating a PC that has half races.

 

[VincentDarlage]

I ran across that issue when I was writing Aquilonia - Flower of the West. Conan and Zenobia's children are half-Nemedian/ Half-Cimmerian. I just picked and chose what seemed appropriate from each race. IIRC, I gave the first two kids the first two Cimmerian traits, then gave them Hyborian adaptability and background skills. I gave the third child Adaptability and Hyborian background skills, but gave him the Cimmerian penalty to Diplomacy and verbal-based Bluff.

 

[toothill man]

do the traits give more weight to how a person was brought up ie as a hostage in a foreign land or is a savage in a non savage land still a savage with all the traits of his homeland :?

 

[argo]

The easiest thing is to simply give the character the racial traits of the race that raised him. The racial traits in Conan are mostly about childhood trainning anyway. Certainly if the half-race character is a NPC then this is what I'd do.

The more time-consuming method is to try and blend the two race's racial traits while keeping them balanced. I'd only bother with this if it was for a PC and maybe not even then.

If you have a particular racial combination in mind you could post it here in this thread. I'm sure that the board members would love to offer suggestions on how to blend the two.

Hope that helps.

 

[Sutek]

How about a random roll of the dice? That's what inhereitance is, after all, and it's nearly even odds of gaining a trait unless it's some recessive ancestral thing.

I'd just look at each bonus and roll percentile dice for it:
45% mother, 45% father, 10% none.

You could get a spectacularly endowned person bearing nearly all the traits of both races (including drawbacks), but a fair and even mix is more likely.

 

[René]

My simple approach is: no half races - at least not in stats. Someone raised by Vanir is a Vanir even if he is the son of a Brythunian slave girl.

 

[Lucius]

I'd agree with most, and simply give them the stats of the race they were brought up in, unless it's something specifically passed through nature, rather than nurture. For example, a Pictish babe, brought to Aquilonia would have the Aquilonian abilities, but may still be petrified of snakes.

The only problem I can see from this approach would be the changes in abilities, races have. Would a Zingarian raised in Hyperboria have the inheritad -2 to Constitution of his race, or due to the style of life in his new home, gain the +2 most Hyperborians have?

 

[MGBM]

Thanks for all the answers!

If you have a particular racial combination in mind you could post it here in this thread. I'm sure that the board members would love to offer suggestions on how to blend the two.

Well, the only half-race PC in my group is a half-Aesir, half-Aquilonian, raised in Aquilonia by his Aesir father. Any suggestions?

 

[VincentDarlage]

I would give him the Nordheimir ability adjustments, racial bonus to damage with swords, and weapon familiarity, as well as Nordheimir favoured classes. I would give him Hyborian adaptability and background skills.