We discuss several “half” races in Aperita Arcana, from such common (in fantasy games) types as half-elves and half-orcs, to odder mixtures such as our blauwnder (dwarf-goblin crossbreeds) and kheiron (elf-centaur crossbreeds).

But half-breeds in fantasy don’t necessarily marry other half-breeds, and it’s not uncommon for a character in a fantasy work to have “just a bit” of ancestry from a different race. If you want to add these sorts of characters to your games, here are our suggestions:

First, include the ancestry in their race or background aspect.

Second, treat the character as having an Extraordinary race, even if their primary race would not normally be one — that is, they are required to use two of their starting talent slots on racial talents. One of those racial talents must be from their other ancestral race.

Beyond that, the character is built normally. However, they may never take more racial talents from their secondary race than they have from their primary race. Further, if their ancestry tends toward that of one of the “established” half-breed races, their secondary race should be that race.

Example: Phenaella, on p 183-184, has the racial aspect A Bit of Elven Blood (Human). Since half-elves are an established half-breed race, however, she doesn’t take an elf talent; instead, she takes the half-elf talent of Putting on a Face. She has the human racial talent of Human Determination; before she can take another half-elf talent, she’ll need to first take another human talent.

We recommend excluding several races, on grounds of logic. The single-sex races are written as having children of their own race if those children are the appropriate sex, or of the other parent’s race if they are not. Thus, it doesn’t make sense for them to be of “mixed blood” — they’re always mixed, technically speaking, but they don’t manifest traits of the other race.

These are: faun, kitsune, lamiae, nymphs, tanuki, and yisisir. In addition, mosi do not have mixed blood, since they reproduce by budding.