Born of Two Bloods – Personal plot for half-elves
Hullo, Gentle Readers. Ever since I read about Elrond Half-Elven back in Tolkien’s works, I’ve been fascinated with the idea of half-elves. When I graduated into Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, I found half-elves waiting for me as an option. They seemed to be relatively common, and I played a few in my day.
Role-playing a half-elf provides a player with a unique opportunity to straddle two worlds. While you can definitely take some of the advice from my previous articles about personal plot for elves or humans, this article will focus specifically on half-elven specific plot.
Before you even contemplate plot for a specific character, you should probably ask the question of what your campaign’s attitude towards half-elves are. By the D&D default, half-elves are seen as valuable go-betweens for elven-human relations. They have a natural charisma that attracts members of both races, and they’re often treated as natural diplomats. This doesn’t have to be the default, however. In Eberron, for example, half-elves have become essentially a race unto themselves, complete with their own dragonmarks. In the Dragonlance setting, half-elves are generally seen as objects of distaste (as evidenced in the way elves treat Tanis Half-Elven). Looking to Tolkien, half-elves are incredibly rare, and they’re almost always the product of difficult and strife-filled situations (as seen in the difficulties that Beren, Luthien, Aragorn, and Arwen face). You might decide to emulate one of these ideas, or you might go your own way altogether.
The first question to ask when contemplating a half-elf character’s intrinsic plot is what the circumstances of the character’s birth were. Was the PC a wanted child? Unwanted? An accident? Do they have one parent each of human and elven race? It’s suggested in earlier supplements that the child of half-elves is half-elves, as is the child of a human and a half-elf, or an elf and a half-elf. All of these are possibilities, and they may influence the story elements. Does your half-elf know both parents? In one game I ran, the half-elf knew his elven mother, but not his human father, and his personal quest was to meet his father, or learn about him. It made for some awkward moments when he later met his fully human half-brother. In my current campaign, the half-elf knew his human mother, and he knew an elf who visited her often. He assumed this was his father and treated him as such. Much later he learned that her visitor was his uncle, who had been betrothed to his mother. His real father was a thoroughly evil warlock that his uncle pursued. Much later, his father began to appear as a recurring villain, one who was very satisfied to finally destroy.
How does your half-elf feel about elves and humans? Do they favor one over the other? Do they try to balance the two halves of their nature? Also, what do humans and elves feel for each other? If the two are at war in your campaign, perhaps the half-elf will be the diplomat to help make peace. Perhaps the rift between elves and men stems from something that each side believes the other side is keeping from them, something akin to the Arkenstone or the Nauglimir in Tolkien. If the half-elf makes it their personal quest to restore the McGuffin to its rightful place, they can bring peace between the two peoples, thus balancing the two halves of their heritage.
One half-elf trait that probably doesn’t get the love it deserves is Skill Versatility. Gaining proficiency in any two skills is quite a potent trait, almost as powerful as the Skilled feat. Depending on which skills the player picks, this could help dictate some story as well. A character who choosing Acrobatics and Survival, for example, is likely a very different person than someone who picks Arcana and Religion.
I hope this article has helped spark a few idea for your half-elf players, or even the nature of half-elves in your campaign. Feel free to share your own ideas for half-elf plots!
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