This. 100% this. I think that races need to matter more, I think that you need crunch and fluff, and I think you can't offer the racial stuff as an alternative to class power - it has to come also. I don't know when you gain what, is it levels like now, or sub-levels or what? I don't know. But I really want race, class and theme to matter.
A design goal: making different races FEEL different.
This. 100% this. I think that races need to matter more, I think that you need crunch and fluff, and I think you can't offer the racial stuff as an alternative to class power - it has to come also. I don't know when you gain what, is it levels like now, or sub-levels or what? I don't know. But I really want race, class and theme to matter.
Each approach has its merits and simulation on its side.
With racial classes, you may choose to advance your racial abilities instead of class abilities- and in MC's design, these racial abilities are equivalent in utility to class abilities- or not as you see fit. This is realistic sincepeople have to make decisions about improving their natural abilities and their professional ones (though there may be overlap). Based on what talents i had, some of my past coaches felt I might have been able to participate in certain sports at a (low) pro level if I had worked on it...but I went with becoming a lawyer who sits on his ass all day. What athletic potential I had has largely evaporated. Analogously, a 7' slab of meat might choose to become a Mage than to pursue the way of the warrior...and wind up not quite as beefy as his kin.
The other way simulates things about race you simply can't normally avoid developing barring some kind of defect or accident. A bird WILL grow feathers & wings; a Minotaur WILL have horns.
With racial classes, you may choose to advance your racial abilities instead of class abilities- and in MC's design, these racial abilities are equivalent in utility to class abilities- or not as you see fit. This is realistic sincepeople have to make decisions about improving their natural abilities and their professional ones (though there may be overlap). Based on what talents i had, some of my past coaches felt I might have been able to participate in certain sports at a (low) pro level if I had worked on it...but I went with becoming a lawyer who sits on his ass all day. What athletic potential I had has largely evaporated. Analogously, a 7' slab of meat might choose to become a Mage than to pursue the way of the warrior...and wind up not quite as beefy as his kin.
The other way simulates things about race you simply can't normally avoid developing barring some kind of defect or accident. A bird WILL grow feathers & wings; a Minotaur WILL have horns.
To make something really feel different, you have a couple of choices: offer mechanically different options or change the cost/benefit choices of existing options in the game.
I'd be more a fan of almost going back to 2e varying xp rewards. If that's too much to contemplate (especailly considering how many people say they ditch xp anyway) then alter the achievable game mechanics such as when a milestone is achieved: Dwarves get a milestone upon drinking a pint, elves with a 30 minute quiet introspection, halfings need a good meal, and humans after every two encounters, for example.
The change in reward structure wil drive different behaviours for the players and that change is onservable behaviour is what really provides the appearance of otherness.
The trick is to make the make the variances different enough that the PCs will pursue different tactics and yet equally common/capable of being achieved.
I'd be more a fan of almost going back to 2e varying xp rewards. If that's too much to contemplate (especailly considering how many people say they ditch xp anyway) then alter the achievable game mechanics such as when a milestone is achieved: Dwarves get a milestone upon drinking a pint, elves with a 30 minute quiet introspection, halfings need a good meal, and humans after every two encounters, for example.
The change in reward structure wil drive different behaviours for the players and that change is onservable behaviour is what really provides the appearance of otherness.
The trick is to make the make the variances different enough that the PCs will pursue different tactics and yet equally common/capable of being achieved.
tuxgeo
Adventurer
Since fourth edition doesn't grant any powers at 4th or 8th level (nor 14th, 18th, 24th, 28th), how about getting racial stuff then?
I wouldn't change the milestones (which are a party achievement, not an individual character achievement); but how about these:
- = : Level 4 / Racial encounter powers: = -
Human: "Buck Up!" (No action) You may make a saving throw with a +2 bonus. This is in addition to any other saving throws you make. You may make this saving throw even if it is not your turn.
Dwarf: "Stay At It" (No action) You may convert one move action to a standard action. You may only do this on your own turn.
Elf: "Recheck" (Free action) Choose one Skill check that you have made during this encounter, or as your last action immediately prior to this encounter. You may retry that Skill check with a bonus equal to +2 (+3 at 11th Level, +4 at 21st Level). You must use the second result, even if it is lower.
Halfling: "Step Aside" (No action) You may convert one minor action to a move action. You may only do this on your own turn.
Gnome: "Despite Whatever" (Free action) You may make a Stealth check regardless of whether you have any cover or concealment.
Beliefling: "Curse It!" (No action) You may treat one unbloodied enemy as being bloodied for the duration of one turn.
Flagonhorn: "I'm Dangerous!" (No action) Any ally at least as far forward toward the enemy's position as you are gains flanking for the next attack it makes against an enemy adjacent to it, regardless of how far away you are from that enemy.
Mixed-breed (Half-Elf, Half-Orc, Half-Centaur, Half-Minotaur, Half-Deva, Half-Githzerai, Half-Revenant, Half-Wilden, Half-Shardmind, etc.): Consult with your DM to determine which of the above benefits is appropriate to your character, and gain that benefit.
Fanaelialae
Legend
You might be interested in a recent OGL system named The Legacy of Heroes. It uses paradigm you described above.
You get to select new racial features as you level. It's done as a point buy, which I'm not entirely crazy about, but it does accomplish the goal of making an elf even more elven as he increases in level. Since the base racial features are also point buy, two members of the same race can be almost entirely distinct yet still distinctly of that race, which I think is a nice plus. There might be too many options among the racial features, but in all fairness too many is quite subjective, and inevitably better than too few.
Then there's class (which covers mostly the gamut of standard D&D classes), for which you get to select different builds (bard has the jester, skald, swashbuckler, etc.). The builds are quite distinctive, and seem like they'd influence play style significantly.
Finally, there's the character's heroic arc. You get this at level 1, and it's like a theme, giving you additional abilities and such. As you level you get more abilities. The cool thing here is that at certain levels you can either improve your heroic arc or take an entirely new arc (usually, you retain the abilities from your previous arc). Arcs range from pseudo multiclass options, to pseudo racial class options, and even cover lichdom, lycanthropy, and vampirism. There's even a bonus arc on the website that let's you play a brain in a jar, lol. I'd say it's the best treatment of a theme mechanic that I've encountered in any d20 system to date.
All in all, it's a pretty well thought out game with elements of both 3e and 4e, albeit distinct from either. I expect it isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I'd recommend it, even if you just use it to borrow ideas for your own system.
A start, but to gain a feel of otherness, you want to drive different PC behaviour, which passive "do-over" effects won't. In the the ideal situation, one player should be thinking "That's not how I would approach the problem..." or "How is that going to help? Oh right, he's an elf..." So you want to set up the effects such that, for a reasonably common situation, a normally impossible or tactically bad option becomes a good one for that race to pursue.
The other method is to reward the player for taking that approach without penalising the group. Hence the notion of offering alternative xp or new methods of allocating milestones.
Plane Sailing
Astral Admin - Mwahahaha!
I love the fun inherent in this idea - the way it encapsulates desirable stereotypical behaviours (and associated roleplaying hooks).
howandwhy99
Adventurer
Many Euro games like Puerto Rico and Agricola are like competitive puzzle solving. Each player builds their sheet (farm / character log) to reach a predetermined winning condition, normally a specified number of points. Like a race, the first to reach this condition is the winner. I don't think RPGs necessarily have an endgame condition, but I do believe many are built upon the increasing and enhancement of abilities as the game goes on. Buy a plantation, a mill, or a warehouse and the player gains more options.
While classes could be construed as the role of plantation farmer, races could be construed as character traits attributed to physiology. This does not mean they cannot be morphed, only that they are a set of abilities held when that race or species. Be an elf and you can detect secret doors, be a dwarf and you can detect sloping passages. It's not that other races cannot do this things, but these races do them better. They get a bonus on rolls and may even perform these acts automatically, like seeing in the dark.
Arkham Horror is more akin to RPGs in my opinion because it's based on cooperation. Each of the players is doing their own thing, but the game's objective is shared by all of them. With each turn they can choose to work together or apart to achieve it, but ultimately personal success relies on the success of the whole. Racial differences in this game have more to do with the individual traits of the investigators. Each has different starting abilities. While they are all human, they have different physical traits which carry throughout the play of the game.
It isn't hard to see how a teleporting Eladrin could be a great benefit as an investigator. We attribute the teleporting ability to the character as well, but assign it as a racial trait. They are a different species, so they can breathe water, survive in poisonous fumes, move through the 4th dimension, and so on. The key to race here is it is categorical*. Humans average 4-6 on speed, Slyferians teleport anywhere they wish to every other turn, but average 1-2 on speed.
While class may be me playing a farmer while you play a race car driver - and we have very different play experiences because of it, even in a co-op game - a shared race can mean we both have the ability to read the surface thoughts of intelligences nearby. This isn't the focus of the game for use because we're not trying to improve these racial abilities. Even attempting to do so or gain extra racial abilities would simply evolve us out of one race anyways, something not necessarily undesired. But the majority of the game remains the focus of the class actions, not racial constants.
*Categorical in that a human is not understood to be a 50' long fire breathing flying lizard with magic abilities, genius intellect, and an eons long lifespan. Nor are they an eggplant, an aardvark, or applesauce. Nor are we omnipotent omniscients. YMMV.
While classes could be construed as the role of plantation farmer, races could be construed as character traits attributed to physiology. This does not mean they cannot be morphed, only that they are a set of abilities held when that race or species. Be an elf and you can detect secret doors, be a dwarf and you can detect sloping passages. It's not that other races cannot do this things, but these races do them better. They get a bonus on rolls and may even perform these acts automatically, like seeing in the dark.
Arkham Horror is more akin to RPGs in my opinion because it's based on cooperation. Each of the players is doing their own thing, but the game's objective is shared by all of them. With each turn they can choose to work together or apart to achieve it, but ultimately personal success relies on the success of the whole. Racial differences in this game have more to do with the individual traits of the investigators. Each has different starting abilities. While they are all human, they have different physical traits which carry throughout the play of the game.
It isn't hard to see how a teleporting Eladrin could be a great benefit as an investigator. We attribute the teleporting ability to the character as well, but assign it as a racial trait. They are a different species, so they can breathe water, survive in poisonous fumes, move through the 4th dimension, and so on. The key to race here is it is categorical*. Humans average 4-6 on speed, Slyferians teleport anywhere they wish to every other turn, but average 1-2 on speed.
While class may be me playing a farmer while you play a race car driver - and we have very different play experiences because of it, even in a co-op game - a shared race can mean we both have the ability to read the surface thoughts of intelligences nearby. This isn't the focus of the game for use because we're not trying to improve these racial abilities. Even attempting to do so or gain extra racial abilities would simply evolve us out of one race anyways, something not necessarily undesired. But the majority of the game remains the focus of the class actions, not racial constants.
*Categorical in that a human is not understood to be a 50' long fire breathing flying lizard with magic abilities, genius intellect, and an eons long lifespan. Nor are they an eggplant, an aardvark, or applesauce. Nor are we omnipotent omniscients. YMMV.
Rune
Once A Fool
I think I would (generally) prefer not to have new racial abilities spring up as a character advances in level, but would rather the choice of race alter the way the character approaches their actual class abilities.
I'm not exactly sure how this would work mechanically, but it would be nice, for instance, to see an elven wizard tapping the power of ley lines while a dwarf wizard must scribe ancient runes to cast and a human would have to reference his spellbook.
If these same races were fighters, perhaps the elvish fighting style would reflect a great elegance, the dwarf would be sturdy as a rock (4e already does this pretty well), and the human would be inherently opportunistic (think Mad Martigan).
These all could be reflected just with fluff, but, I think, also could be reflected through solid mechanics.
I'm not exactly sure how this would work mechanically, but it would be nice, for instance, to see an elven wizard tapping the power of ley lines while a dwarf wizard must scribe ancient runes to cast and a human would have to reference his spellbook.
If these same races were fighters, perhaps the elvish fighting style would reflect a great elegance, the dwarf would be sturdy as a rock (4e already does this pretty well), and the human would be inherently opportunistic (think Mad Martigan).
These all could be reflected just with fluff, but, I think, also could be reflected through solid mechanics.
KidSnide
Adventurer
Mechanically speaking, I think that recent rules design work with backgrounds is probably the right design direction, at least if you're starting with 4e. As a default, you want a combination of level 1 abilities, more powerful abilities gained at higher levels and some special powers that are only available to members of that race. I would add two twists to this:
First, I would make the inherent abilities as generically useful as possible and use the racial-only powers as the primary way of connecting races to favored classes. For example, Eladrin could have a number of Arcane powers that would give Eladrins with the Arcane power source access to the "special faerie magic of the Eladrin." Dwarves might have a combination of Martial and Divine powers for special military training and divine devotion of the dwarves.
Second, I would design Backgrounds with this in mind. Each race would have a few abilities (all at the same level) that would be designated as "cultural teachings" in the minds of the designers. If a character uses the Backgrounds advanced rules, they lose the "cultural teachings" part of their race and get to replace it with the special benefits of the Background. Backgrounds would also come with a small set of powers to which characters would gain access.
Notably, you could easily generate a collection of backgrounds along the lines of "raised by elves" in which you get some Elven cultural abilities (and access to Elven powers that aren't dependent on biology).
-KS
First, I would make the inherent abilities as generically useful as possible and use the racial-only powers as the primary way of connecting races to favored classes. For example, Eladrin could have a number of Arcane powers that would give Eladrins with the Arcane power source access to the "special faerie magic of the Eladrin." Dwarves might have a combination of Martial and Divine powers for special military training and divine devotion of the dwarves.
Second, I would design Backgrounds with this in mind. Each race would have a few abilities (all at the same level) that would be designated as "cultural teachings" in the minds of the designers. If a character uses the Backgrounds advanced rules, they lose the "cultural teachings" part of their race and get to replace it with the special benefits of the Background. Backgrounds would also come with a small set of powers to which characters would gain access.
Notably, you could easily generate a collection of backgrounds along the lines of "raised by elves" in which you get some Elven cultural abilities (and access to Elven powers that aren't dependent on biology).
-KS
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