Staff's Currently Voting On Hybrid Species Restrictions in Character Creation

[Julius Sedaire]

Two max... To be blunt, much more, with any definable influence on character ability, and you're just pushing special snowflake category of silly. Now it you want 99999 species and the traits of two? Sure. Go ahead. You'll be the really silly looking guy.

 

[Reverance]

Once you get into the territory of controlling what race someone can be, or what combination, you get into the character background and creation (i.e. Rev wouldn't be the same character if there were restrictions on species). I'm not saying you all are susceptible to slippery slope, I just think the issue is so few and far between that global restrictions aren't really necessary (and just turn into one more thing someone has to read before they create their character).

My official response: "Meh."

 

[Darth Ferus]

[member="Darth Vitium"]

It's eight.

Technically Sithspawn. I'm not sure what the race thing is about.

/me follows the crowd.

 

[Ellie Mors]

I'm also a bit arbitrary when it comes to Roleplay but one thing I'd like to ask is how would this be dealt with?

I assume you wouldn't force approval now on character sheets and It'd probably be overwhelmingly tedious to have admins check character creation daily for inconsistencies. Of course you could rely on reports but there are things to consider.

For one what of people who get reported after the fact? Like people who've been roleplaying those characters for a while.

I've witnessed two people abandon developed characters because aspects that affected their roleplay greater were taken away OOCly leaving little explanation ICly as to how other than they had to pretend it was something else all along.

As I mentioned before, this is for the handful of people who just joined the site or just created a bunch of characters to fill in a niche idea that one of them had. The idea isn't bad, the characters aren't bad, but there are set-in-stone requirements already in place for custom species and sithspawn races that require non-canon races to be submitted to the codex prior to use in roleplay. This isn't about restricting people's Vahla, Epicanthix, and Zeltronian characters, it's about keeping people from creating intermix species to circumvent the codex.

 

[Ellie Mors]

[member="Tefka"], if I were to make a suggestion, would you want it here or in the suggestion section? I am aware this is still being discussed, but I feel as the person who probably instigated this reaction through complaints that I should probably voice an opinion in order to not punish everyone else.

 

[Zaahir Asad]

New thought...

If a creature is supposed to be Sithspawn...

Make a Sith actually create them >.>

Dev thread!

And then mark it not approved, and crush their dreeeeeams! :devil:

 

[Tefka]

but I feel as the person who probably instigated this reaction through complaints

You are not the reason for this discussion and I was not aware of your complaints.

I'd post it here.

 

[Jsc]

Factory Rule #5 already covers such a concern. You can 'deny' with pleasure [member="Darth Vitium"] . Mughghaha.

 

[Ashin Varanin]

I've been on both sides of this. In the end, I think that custom overpowered blends of species, while fundamentally daft, are only an actual problem so far as they're used for reportable crap, and we already have the report button for that. Do I feel like making a 32% Gran, 21% Dug, 11% Toydarian, 77% Hutt character to make fun of some people? Yeah. Yeah I do. But what I feel isn't relevant to the actual rules of the community.

 

[Ellie Mors]

[member="Krest"]
I say races because it's a habit of mine from a community wherein the human race was role-played as having a wide variety of sub-human races that had unique abilities. I mean species, however, as there are a plethora of sithspawn species that exist, as "Sithspawn" is not a species.

 

[Darth Ferus]

[member="Darth Vitium"]

.. More stuff I didn't know.

/me is an alchemist of metals. Knows nothing on Sithspawn (Save for technobeasts. I love them.)

 

[Jsc]

In the end, I think that custom overpowered blends of species, while fundamentally daft, are only an actual problem so far as they're used for reportable crap, and we already have the report button for that.

That covers all the bases for me. Are we getting so many reports that the Staff feels it must make a ruling here? Cause... Still not seeing it.

 

[Ellie Mors]

[member="Krest"]
Glad to make that known.

 

[The End Narrator]

There shouldn't be restrictions, but there should be logic. If someone wants to be a part vahla part epixhinex part human part kiffar, why not, they're all close enough. They shoudl jsut keep in mind that if they do inherit any of hteir ancestors traits, such as the epixthenex's mental resistance, it would be decreased. Prehaps it woud only be half as strong if you're half epi (just going to call them Epi because I have no idea how to spell it), or only a quarter as strong if your one fourth epi, for instance. Why not, as long as it's not being abused.

But things like half genosonians half transdoshan... I hope nobody has ever tried anything like that. Bug+lizard=nothing. If two species are close enough to breed, then why not let people make characters of that combination, as long as they're not exploiting it to get more strengths or storngers strengths. As long as those are kept balanced why limit it more?

Tl;dr: Don't restrict it, just make people realize that they can't be one twenty-fifth every fancy near-human species and have every single one of their traits. But also don't let people be half Herglic half Yodaling.


Edit: There was like 5 new posts between me starting to write this and me clicking post... So a lot of the things I just said were said just before I said them.

Logic is great but isn't always followed.

In a perfect world, yes. But in this world, restrictions help aid logic.

^

 

[Cira]

I have my own special snowflake blend races --

But with more tossed in then the lesser chance of anything actually relevant sticking.'

Hybrids have a high chance of being sterile, and just like standard genetics, could end up seriously messing up the bloodlines down the road.

Also, not all species are even compatible. You are not going to see a Twi'lek Wookiee... I am sorry but you are not.

Star Wars Canon exemplifies that too much mutations could end up tragically: Take the Theelins.

Unfortunately for the Theelin, a series of mutations arose among their species during the last years of the Galactic Republic.

These mutations led to genetic incompatibilities within their species, making it impossible to produce offspring. Even attempts to continue their species by cross-breeding with Humans and other Near-Humans could not stop the Theelin slide towards extinction, due to the high infant mortality rates such couplings suffered from.

They inevitably dwindled in number—only a few million Theelin and part-Theelin remained by the time the Republic fell, and pure Theelin were presumed extinct by 10 ABY. Some of their greatest works were produced in these years, however, as an epitaph for a dying people.

You get more than three races up in there? Chances are high mortality rates, horrible mutations, and definitely are not going to see all the min/maxed out racial benefits.

This ain't Dungeons and Dragons where I can trade an eyeball for a +1 in Wisdom.

 

[Fabula Caromed]

I'm torn between cheering at cutting off a particular brand of cheese, and not caring in general because these things don't really apply to me.

Upside: no more 15% Arkanian dragons running around.

 

[Ellie Mors]

How about we just make the rule that inter-species breeding must require a submission to the codex, as it would with any new race? I don't fancy the idea of restricting the blend of near-humans or such, I believe it isn't really an issue - any issues with those can be resolved with a report and a slap on the wrist. Inter-species blends, however, would require a retooling of a character completely if reported, and this can be avoided by deeming all products of inter-species mating to be considered a new species.

[member="Tefka"]

 

[Ludolf Vaas]

I don't like the idea of mixing species in general.

As [member="Cira"] points out, many species would not even be able to interbreed - and then of course, there's the issue of sterility. Secondly, I typically notice that people with highly mixed characters are just interested in whatever superficial abilities they might gain. "If I'm part x, part y, and part z, then I'll have the powers and abilities of x, y, and z."

I know this is basically a fantasy board, but that's not how genetics work.

Just pick one freaking species, and deal with whatever strengths and weaknesses that come with it.

 

[Jsc]

Upside: no more 15% Arkanian dragons running around.

How about 10% Dragon,15% Gundam, 20% Sith Lord, and 110% Tom Brady?

 

[Malok]

Vote: Leaning towards "No."

Reasoning: "If you don't like it, report it." - [member="Selena Halcyon"]

Simply put, if folks are putting a plethora of races into a blender in order to get OP, we have a system in place to address it already. The site staff is pretty dang good at identifying and quelling abuse, so I don't think a new rule is necessary when clicking report would suffice (imo).