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<blockquote data-quote="Yaarel" data-source="post: 9151814" data-attributes="member: 58172"><p>Removing the ability improvement from all species, makes each species more interesting.</p><p></p><p>For example, the Playtest Human is the first time I want to play a Human character in D&D. I no longer feel like I am getting cheated out of an ability improvement.</p><p></p><p>The Human is flavorful. When the crutch of the optimizational "math porn" is removed from all of the species, the designers are forced to think more clearly about what makes one species different from an other species. The result is a more flavorful set of capabilities for each species. In the case of the Human, the Resourceful trait feels flavorful. When I think about Human flavor, I think about how the reallife human compares to other animals. Being aggressive and goal-oriented, forming knowledge groups with relevant skill sets, being tool users, being social animals − the Resourceful trait with its free Advantage to any d20 test matches all of these reallife human flavors. Humans have a spiritual streak, and the Inspiration hints at that too. The Advantage is powerful because the Human can add it when it is important for a test to succeed. The extra skill proficiency is almost a ribbon, but appropriate enough. (I would make it "skill or tool" proficiency, but ok.) Then the free feat! A Human can do any Human thing well. As player, I can build many different kinds of character concepts.</p><p></p><p>The flavor of every species spices up. For the Elf too. Sorry, but the earlier D&D Elf being "skinny" was unsatisfying as an <em>adventure character </em>concept. And for an entire species − what was that? Re the Elf of earlier editions. I hated the Dexterity straightjacket. It caused many design problems. First the abilities themselves are imbalanced compared to each other, even broken. Dexterity is by far the most powerful ability and impossible to ignore. There was no choice but to be a dexterous Elf. The dexterous Elf feels off. When Norwegians think about elves, using a bow and being "nimble" are irrelevant. Phrases like "elf spear" or "elf sword", in the sense of a luckily accurate weapon, show the longbow is the wrong weapon. The elves never fight with weapons anyway. They always fight by using magic, and sometimes carry the shamanic volva rod as part of their magic. Elves are known for being "multi knowledgeable", meaning good at every kind of magic. The Norwegian understanding of elf is a cultural perception thing. But even for the D&D game, the Dexterity is invariably wrong for the Elf concept. Where the Elves were supposed to be automatically culturally trained with a Longsword, they sucked at it because of the Dexterity straightjacket. And the Elf is supposed to be all about beauty, art, music, song, and poetry, but sucked at being a Bard because of the Dexterity straightjacket. And the D&D Elf is supposed to have Wizard as a "favored" class, but actually sucked at it or was at best mediocre because of the Dexterity straightjacket. As much as I love the mythological concept of the elf, playing a D&D Elf was always painful − because of that self-contradicting, design-concept-sabotaging, Dexterity straightjacket. I feel physical relief to see Dexterity gone. My arms can move more freely now!</p><p></p><p>When the designers can no longer resort to math porn for the Elf species concept, what do they come up with? What makes the Elf species feel different from other species? The Elf has affinity with magic and spellcasting cultures. Yes. Exactly. For the first time ever, the Playtest Elf actually makes the Elf good at the flavor that it is supposed to be good at.</p><p></p><p>And if a certain player likes using the Elf for a longbow plus a high Dexterity, the player can still do that. Because background is the place to do that. Win-win.</p><p></p><p>The Human and the Elf come with so many different kinds of character concepts. With the 2024 versions, the Human has flavor and is versatile in a flavorful mechanical way − without Fear Of Missing Out. The Elf can finally be good at all of the different kinds of flavors that the D&D Elves are supposed to be good at.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Yaarel, post: 9151814, member: 58172"] Removing the ability improvement from all species, makes each species more interesting. For example, the Playtest Human is the first time I want to play a Human character in D&D. I no longer feel like I am getting cheated out of an ability improvement. The Human is flavorful. When the crutch of the optimizational "math porn" is removed from all of the species, the designers are forced to think more clearly about what makes one species different from an other species. The result is a more flavorful set of capabilities for each species. In the case of the Human, the Resourceful trait feels flavorful. When I think about Human flavor, I think about how the reallife human compares to other animals. Being aggressive and goal-oriented, forming knowledge groups with relevant skill sets, being tool users, being social animals − the Resourceful trait with its free Advantage to any d20 test matches all of these reallife human flavors. Humans have a spiritual streak, and the Inspiration hints at that too. The Advantage is powerful because the Human can add it when it is important for a test to succeed. The extra skill proficiency is almost a ribbon, but appropriate enough. (I would make it "skill or tool" proficiency, but ok.) Then the free feat! A Human can do any Human thing well. As player, I can build many different kinds of character concepts. The flavor of every species spices up. For the Elf too. Sorry, but the earlier D&D Elf being "skinny" was unsatisfying as an [I]adventure character [/I]concept. And for an entire species − what was that? Re the Elf of earlier editions. I hated the Dexterity straightjacket. It caused many design problems. First the abilities themselves are imbalanced compared to each other, even broken. Dexterity is by far the most powerful ability and impossible to ignore. There was no choice but to be a dexterous Elf. The dexterous Elf feels off. When Norwegians think about elves, using a bow and being "nimble" are irrelevant. Phrases like "elf spear" or "elf sword", in the sense of a luckily accurate weapon, show the longbow is the wrong weapon. The elves never fight with weapons anyway. They always fight by using magic, and sometimes carry the shamanic volva rod as part of their magic. Elves are known for being "multi knowledgeable", meaning good at every kind of magic. The Norwegian understanding of elf is a cultural perception thing. But even for the D&D game, the Dexterity is invariably wrong for the Elf concept. Where the Elves were supposed to be automatically culturally trained with a Longsword, they sucked at it because of the Dexterity straightjacket. And the Elf is supposed to be all about beauty, art, music, song, and poetry, but sucked at being a Bard because of the Dexterity straightjacket. And the D&D Elf is supposed to have Wizard as a "favored" class, but actually sucked at it or was at best mediocre because of the Dexterity straightjacket. As much as I love the mythological concept of the elf, playing a D&D Elf was always painful − because of that self-contradicting, design-concept-sabotaging, Dexterity straightjacket. I feel physical relief to see Dexterity gone. My arms can move more freely now! When the designers can no longer resort to math porn for the Elf species concept, what do they come up with? What makes the Elf species feel different from other species? The Elf has affinity with magic and spellcasting cultures. Yes. Exactly. For the first time ever, the Playtest Elf actually makes the Elf good at the flavor that it is supposed to be good at. And if a certain player likes using the Elf for a longbow plus a high Dexterity, the player can still do that. Because background is the place to do that. Win-win. The Human and the Elf come with so many different kinds of character concepts. With the 2024 versions, the Human has flavor and is versatile in a flavorful mechanical way − without Fear Of Missing Out. The Elf can finally be good at all of the different kinds of flavors that the D&D Elves are supposed to be good at. [/QUOTE]
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