irl Ranger @HalfElfatHeart@TheEdVerse
What would the general opinion of half-dwarves in larger cities along the Sword Coast look like? I wasn't sure if they were so rare that it would provoke extreme attention.— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 9, 2020
1)
Half-dwarves that someone glancing their way will THINK are half-dwarves are rare indeed; most half-dwarves so favor either the human or the dwarven parent (usually the latter) as to pass for human or dwarf. A “pass for human” 2)
…half-dwarf will usually be short, stocky, and burly of muscle. A pass-for-dwarf half-dwarf will look like an unusually tall dwarf. A visibly half-dwarf will be even taller, and will attract attention, but will only stand out…#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 9, 2020
3)
…when walking alone or with one or two companions of different heights; otherwise, there’s enough variation in human heights, especially when youths are in the mix, that the half-dwarf will tend to “blend in with the crowd.”#Realmslore— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 9, 2020
Gary Gygax baked cross-species fertility into the game very early on. I recall an entire Up On A Soapbox column discussing it. Odd it may seem, but it's part of D&D. Hence half-orcs and half-elves as playable races almost from the outset.
— Ed Greenwood (@TheEdVerse) April 9, 2020