Stalker0 said:
People are noting that the Half-Orc is better on offense while the dwarf is better at defense. What they are neglecting is that the defense applies ALL the time.
If I'm fighting a spellcaster, doing one more damage with a slightly better chance to hit doesn't matter.
Not if there is no spell cast at the Dwarf.
Not if there is no save versus the spell.
And, the defense does not help at all 90% of the time when there is a save.
You have a very strange use of the word ALL.
Most of the time (i.e. most rounds of combat), the +2 doesn't mean squat. Probably a good 99% of the time, the save modifier does nothing for the Dwarf.
The only time it matters is:
1) A spell is cast at the Dwarf (maybe 1 combat in 4 in most campaigns since many encounters do not have any spell casters).
2) A spell is cast within a given round at the Dwarf when enemy spell casters exist (maybe 1 round in 3 since PCs tend to take out enemy spell casters quickly and those NPCs casters might not target the Dwarf in any given round since spell casters often tend to target other spell casters first).
3) The spell has a saving throw (maybe 9 spells in 10).
4) The +2 makes a difference to the roll (1 time in 10).
More or less, that's about one round in 133. It hardly ever matters. Even if you made #1 all combats and #2 all rounds (an extremely spell heavy campaign), that's still 1 time in 11 rounds.
The +2 Strength, on the other hand, will occur on probably 90% of all rounds (i.e. the Half-Orcs with a high strength will probably attack with a melee weapon or a Strength Composite Bow 9 rounds out of 10 and maybe do full moves or other actions 1 round in 10).
90% of all rounds versus 1% to 9% (campaign dependent) of all rounds.
Your spell defense point is totally without appreciable merit.