D&D 5E Discriminating Against Sameness: A Case for Readjusting Racial Bonuses and Ability Score Increases

[snickersnax]

​Humans and non-humans have been differentiated by their ability scores since the beginning of D&D. Non-humans are supposed to excel at one or two particular ability scores, and in older D&D editions non-humans often had penalties in one score (halflings were weak, elves had penalties on constitution and dwarves and half-orcs had low charisma). Humans were average, but they didn’t suck.

Surprisingly, in the current system, non-humans are effectively the same as humans in their primary scores (due to ability modifiers only increasing on even scores and standard array or 27-point buy). When compared to human variants, the human variants are now the ones with weak traits.

Sameness between races is further compounded by Ability Scores Increases as characters level up eventually red-lining several ability scores at 20 ( ie no differentiation)

It is interesting that when ability scores are listed for non-human races in the Monster Manual (or Volo’s) the ability scores tend to be double what player characters would receive (differentiation is preserved in those texts)

My homebrewed rules for racial ability score bonuses ramp up the distinct flavor of racial modifiers by making them more meaningful. The additional rules needed to balance this are simple and contribute in flavorful ways to the game.

1) Racial differentiation is preserved for player characters
2) Ability Score Increases are limited and Feats are special.
3) 1st level characters are slightly buffed, possibly improving survivability
4) At high levels secondary abilities are not easily maxed creating more Ability Score variation at high levels.

General Rules:

1. Humans don’t suck at anything: Humans get +1 on all ability scores AND a starting feat
2. Elves are nimble, dwarves are hardy: Racial bonuses are generally doubled for a total of +6 (see specifics below). Non-humans do not start with a bonus feat.
3. And they stay that way: If a racial bonus is +4 the maximum ability score is 22, if it is -2 the maximum ability score is 18. (0, +1 and +2 all have a maximum of 20)
4. Multiple ability scores are not maxed at 20 at high levels: Ability Score Increases are +1 (down from RAW of +2)
5. Feats are cool, but when everyone has them everything starts to feel the same: Feats cannot be substituted for Ability Score increases.
6. Fighters are loved and everyone else is a little less Lucky: Fighters get a Bonus Feat at level 6 and 14 instead of an ASI
7. Except Rogues: Rogues get a Bonus Feat at level 10 instead of an ASI

Yes... Level one humans, fighters and rogues are the only ones who get feats with this modification

Races: Having a +6 total to work with for ability scores means there is a little more leeway to fine-tune racial bonuses. I have taken liberties and adjusted races according to how I feel they should be.

Dwarves: +4 constitution
Hill Dwarf: +2 wisdom
Mountain Dwarf: +2 strength (not really sure why they got the boost in RAW)
Grey Dwarf (Duergar): +2 strength
Elves: +4 dexterity
High elves: +2 charisma (IMO elves should have charisma not intelligence)
Wood elves: +2 wisdom
Drow: females( +2 charisma), males (+2 intelligence)
Halflings: +2 dexterity, +2 constitution, +2 wisdom, - 2 strength (Yes, halflings are weaker than larger races, but there are also hardy, mentally tough and quick)
Lightfoot: +2 dexterity (+4 total)
Stout: +2 constitution (+4 total)
Ghostwise: +2 wisdom (+4 total)
Dragonborn: +2 strength, +2 constitution, +2 charisma
Gnome: +2 intelligence, +2 wisdom, +2 charisma, -2 strength (gnomes are small too)
Forest: +2 dexterity
Rock: +2 constitution
Deep: +2 strength (0 total), -2 charisma (0 total), +2 dexterity
River: +2 wisdom (+4 total)
Half-elves: +2 dexterity, +1 charisma, +1 wisdom, two scores by +1 (No longer need a weird story about how nobody likes them so they worked really hard to be likable and as a result are the most socially influential race and most powerful charisma based casters)
Half-orcs: +2 strength, +2 constitution, +1 wisdom, +1 dexterity
Tiefling: +2 intelligence, +2 dexterity. +2 charisma
Goliath: +4 strength, +2 constitution
Aasimar: +4 charisma, +2 wisdom

 

[Dausuul]

Is the goal of this thread to discuss the "case for readjusting racial bonuses?"

Or is it to solicit feedback on your homebrew, which assumes that the case has been successfully made?

 

[Caliban]

Meh. No thanks.

 

[snickersnax]

Is the goal of this thread to discuss the "case for readjusting racial bonuses?"

Or is it to solicit feedback on your homebrew, which assumes that the case has been successfully made?

Both would be great

 

[Corwin]

First, more power to you. I'm not one to criticize someone making preferential changes to 5e. Go crazy. Try things out. Have fun making it your own. I don't even have any serious issues with what you are basically trying to achieve here. I mean, it's a clear power bump, but so what. I think 5e can handle it.

Having said that, when I see a comment like this:

Mountain Dwarf: +2 strength (not really sure why they got the boost in RAW)

I have reservations about a person's level of intimacy with the under-the-hood mechanics of which they are futzing. There is a specific, important reason for the extra strength increase for mountain dwarves. Its because their other racial benefit is medium armor proficiency. Admittedly its a little subtle. You see, if you choose a class that already has decent armor options (fighter, paladin, etc.), that other racial benefit is superfluous, but you will mostly likely enjoy the strength bump. Inversely, if you choose a class where you gain a substantive benefit from the improved armor (wizard, sorcerer, etc.), you are probably not getting all that much bang out of the strength increase.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

At a high level, I'm very sympathetic to the OP's perspective. I'm not sure the case has been made, as Dausuul points out, but let's just skip that and say that yes, I personally agree that the races feel pretty samey. Since I have a fondness for Darksun, with its wildly-differentiated races, I am open to homebrew which adjusts the defaults.

Eyeballing the OP's suggested racial differences, I have some concerns about stat inflation, but I like the general direction. I'd probably go for something along the following lines:

Variant humans remain the same (floating +1/+1 and a feat); standard humans are boring and I don't want to think about them; for races with modifiers, I'm pretty happy with the current net modifiers, but adding penalties so you can have larger mods. But in addition! racial modifiers (except for variant humans) also affect minima and maxima: if elves have +3 to Dex and +2 to Int but -2 to Con, they can get Dex 23 and Int 22 but only Con 18. If half-giants have +4 to Strength and +2 to Con, they can get up to Str 24 and Con 22, etc.

I think some people would be afraid that this creates traps whereby wizards "have to" be elven in order to get the "optimal" Int; but I'm not too worried about that in practice, since maximizing stats is already competing with feats, and you'd still have to pay for the extra stats, which just puts more pressure on feats. (Besides, anyone of any race can already exceed the caps via Epic Boons/ASIs past 20th level.) I would expect a certain amount of elvish elitism and condescension toward "brutish" humans, but that's par for the course for elves. All we're doing is justifying the existence of tropes we wanted anyway.

Anyway, the main attraction for me is that it gives more room for races like Dragonborns and half-giants to differentiate themselves from the human baseline. After all, +2 Str just doesn't seem like a big enough deal for something that is twice or three times the size of a human. I like the general idea; but I'd have to think hard about the implementation (including the stat bonuses for individual races) before finalizing anything for my campaign. I rather suspect that I wouldn't go above +3 as a modifier for any stat except Strength.

 

[Yaarel]

Granting bonuses disrupts the 5e gaming system balance (namely bounded accuracy). The d20 only has so much room, and a +10 including various bonuses can mean infinite auto-win.

Instead of granting bonuses, treat races like classes that need minimum ability score prerequisites.

So, before making any racial ability score adjustments, if you want to play ...
• a Dwarf, you must assign at least Constitution 13.
• a Half-Orc, you must assign at least Strength 15.
• an Orc, you must assign at least Strength 17.

According to how the setting understands each race.

Bonuses tend to encourage high ability score assignments anyway because of min-maxing. But it is possible to enforce prerequisites for flavorful distinctiveness. Placing high points in one ability means there is less to spend on an other ability.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

It looks pretty good, over all. It might make barbarians relatively less powerful, if fighters are the only ones who can abuse power attack, but you could also just edit the list of available feats to get rid of the broken ones.

One thing that you're missing, the reason why mountain dwarves get +2 to Strength by the book is because their only other ability is useless to any character who would want the Strength bonus; every class that can reasonable use +2 to Strength will already have proficiency in medium armor, and +2 Strength to a wizard or rogue is basically just a ribbon. If you don't change that in your system, then mountain dwarves will just be a less appealing option over all (although it's still just a ribbon for wizards and rogues).

 

[mellored]

I'm all for making races different, but ability scores aren't really different. Your just getting a number boost and that's it. All archers are now elves and all barbarians are goliaths, and you will never see an Aasimar fighter/wizard/rogue/monk/etc...

You don't have a dwarf. You have a human with a bigger Con score. That's more sameness, not less. A much more interesting idea, (IMO), is to drop the racial ability scores modifiers completly, and only have special abilities.

Like a dwarf with advantage on drinking, finding your way underground, instantly knowing the value of an object, the ability to dig a tunnel, maybe the ability to sniff out gold, and a penalty if they walk away from it. Something that gives them personality, that shows them being dwarfs.

Humans can be adaptable by having a generic boost. Like once per short rest, they can add +5 to any roll they make.

Half-orcs can get bonuses when they deal damage, but penalties if they havn't fought anything in a day.

Wood elfs can use their highest ability score for stealth checks, and gain a bonus for running away, but take a penalty if more than 10 people can see them.

Halfings would go the other way. Bonus for being in a crowd, penalty for being alone.

Etc...

 

[snickersnax]

I have reservations about a person's level of intimacy with the under-the-hood mechanics of which they are futzing. There is a specific, important reason for the extra strength increase for mountain dwarves. Its because their other racial benefit is medium armor proficiency. Admittedly its a little subtle. You see, if you choose a class that already has decent armor options (fighter, paladin, etc.), that other racial benefit is superfluous, but you will mostly likely enjoy the strength bump. Inversely, if you choose a class where you gain a substantive benefit from the improved armor (wizard, sorcerer, etc.), you are probably not getting all that much bang out of the strength increase.

I was possessed by haughty elves when I wrote that, thanks for the exorcism