How can we save these questions about cross breeds?

Question

"These questions", asked by different people, are Can sub-races breed and produce half-subraces? and Which are races, and which are species?, closed as "opinion based" and "unclear what you're asking".

Honestly, I have no idea, how can it be "unclear".

In every particular setting there are finite number of species (which are traditionally called "races"). Some of them can naturally interbreed, others can not. In the end of the day, the questions are:

• What species are able to create hybrid offspring?
• Would be that offspring infertile?

I agree that you can ask this only in context of a particular setting. If the setting wasn't explicitly specified though, the question can be answered like "this setting has various interbreeds, and this one has only half-orcs and half-elves". So these questions are answerable.

However, the only related question that wasn't closed was How could I play a Half-Dwarf Half-Elf?, and the answer was "use the 'Creating a Race' chapter of DMG, page 285", so it actually didn't answer were there dwarf-elf hybrids in the world or not.

Racial traits are base properties of a setting. If you play, let's say, a faerunian setting, you can't just "make up" such important details. There are different species. Some of them are intelligent, others are not. Some of them can interbreed, others can not. There are official sources, describing how are the things going in the world, for this particular setting. I don't understand how can it be "opinion based".

Answers can vary between editions, I thought, so I've asked What D&D editions describe any hybrids of non-human races? This one was closed as "too broad".

How can we improve these questions to make them answerable? Or would it be better to ask another one?

Answer 1

Detail the problem and request a family-friendly solution

To salvage such questions, they should include a description of the problem that needs solving. Idle curiosity is fine to a point, but when it's idle curiosity about breeding, folks' buttons get pushed, especially if indulging that curiosity requires an answer that delves into topics unsuitable for nonadults.

• In the case of this question, comments encouraged the asker to edit into the question the problem that needs solving. At the time of this answer, the asker hasn't.
• On the other hand, this question demands research across multiple editions of dungeons-and-dragons so as to compile breeding information, but how that information will be used remains a mystery. At the time of this answer, there's no problem except that the asker doesn't have the information.

Both questions would benefit from a description of the problem, starting with explaining how the question applies to a campaign the asker's involved in or planning.

Also, I've asked a breeding question myself and emphasized that answers be kept family-friendly, and that's not because I'm a prude or anything but because I want answers to take the question seriously. Such an inclusion in any breeding question is probably a good idea if only so the asker isn't perceived as possessing unusual predilections (not that there's anything wrong with that—this is the Internet, after all).