Editing Tel-Amhothlan

[[File:Tel-Amhothlan Female.jpg|300px|thumb|right|When you think about it, drow/orcs are probably the most common kind.]]
[[File:Tel-Amhothlan Female 2.png|300px|thumb|left|Because who says elf-orc breeding can't make something better?]]

It's long been a subject of curiosity amongst the [[Dungeons & Dragons]] crowd on /tg/: if [[elf|elves]] and [[orc]]s can both successfully interbreed with [[human]]s and produce [[half-elf|fully viable]] [[half-orc|halfbreed spawn]], then what happens if you mate elf and orc? After all, in [[Tolkien]], orcs were just corrupted elves.

Well, in most D&D official media, the official answer is "nothing happens, it doesn't work, it just doesn't, trust us, okay?"

[[Kingdoms of Kalamar]] isn't your typical D&D setting. Alongside other unconventional hybrids like the [[Half-Gnoll]], [[Half-Dwarf]] and [[Half-Gnome]], we have the '''Tel-Amhothlan''', a hybrid of elf and orc also known as the "Guruk-vra" amonst their orcish kindred.

As per the typical half-orc, a Tel-Amhothlan is usually born of rape, though in a rarity, male elves are also known to be raped by female orcs to produce more of these hybrids. For the most part, tel-amhothlans look just like ordinary half-orcs; only their leaner build, elf-like ears and larger eyes give them away, which is why the race's existence hasn't been noticed by most every other race in the world. Personality-wise, tel-amhothlans are described as inheriting the strongest mental traits of both progenitor races, which makes them more dangerous than either, as this marries elven creativity and curiosity with orcish greed and violence. A tel-amhothlan is described as the kind of sadist who'd set a farmhouse on fire in the middle of the night to see if the sleeping people within will wake up and escape.

Ironically, despite the elven hatred of orcs, the respect for their own bloodline means elves aren't violently opposed to the existence of tel-amhothlans. Of course, this doesn't mean that they ''like'' them, just that their kinship is acknowledged; a tel-amhothlan born in elven communities isn't normally killed at birth, and when they meet, elves treat them like distant relatives - politely and with courtesy, but with no real sense of friendship.

This is a really unique race, and sadly it's a concept that's never appeared in any other setting. Which is really a shame, since there's a lot of inherently interesting ideas you could do with elf-orcs. Beyond that, they also make a lot of sense; [[drow]] keep many [[orc]]s as slaves, and as everyone knows, the female drow are hardly the nicest to their bedmates. Admittedly, there's never been anything explicit about them ''eating'' their menfolk, but it is canon that they'll dispose of them as soon as they get bored. It's not exactly a stretch of the imagination to envision male drow taking female orcs as concubines in response; whatever flaws they may have, at least they're not female drow.

::+2 Dexterity, -2 Intelligence, -2 Charisma
::Medium
::Base Speed 30 feet
::Low-Light Vision
::Orc Blood: Treat as an Orc for all racial effects keying off of race
::+1 racial bonus on saves against Enchantment school spells and spell-like abilities
::+1 racial bonus on Listen, Spot and Search checks
::[[Favored Class]]: [[Fighter]]

Obviously, this isn't much mechanically. How does it compare to the Half-orc? Well, you've traded a Strength bonus for an equivalent Dexterity bonus, and you've downgraded from Darkvision to Low-light vision, but you've also gained +1 to saves vs. Enchantments and +1 to perception skill checks, which is more skill bonuses than the half-orc got. So... mediocre, but not quite as terrible as the 3.0 half-orc.

[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]][[Category: Dungeons & Dragons Races]][[Category:Races]]