D&D 5E Human Racial Benefits

[Juriel]

I prefer a second skill proficiency in place of the feat.

For games that don't use feats? That'd be so underpowered, as a single feat can give you multiple skill proficiencies...

Giving them the Lucky feat instead of letting them pick a feat would be widely applicable and useful, representing their versatility, and give them their own thing?

 

[Li Shenron]

For games that don't use feats? That'd be so underpowered, as a single feat can give you multiple skill proficiencies...

Yes indeed a feat is more worth than a skill... but like you say for games that don't use feats, it doesn't matter how much a feat would be worth Also, in those games there is no other way to get more skills. A more powerful variant would be to allow the human bonus skills to be expertise instead (i.e. if you pick a human bonus skill which you are already proficient in, it becomes an expertise).

 

[Wolfskin]

I think the variant is quite better than the standard benefits because the Feat- I'd have gone with Proficiency in 2 or 3 Skills instead of a Skill and a Feat.

 

[Juriel]

I think the variant is quite better than the standard benefits because the Feat- I'd have gone with Proficiency in 2 or 3 Skills instead of a Skill and a Feat.

There'd be no point to pick a Human ever then, though.

 

[thalmin]

For your third option, why not just pick a pretty universal feat to keep it simple and say every human gets that feat.

For example, +1 to two different ability scores, bonus skill, and resilient feat (+1 to any ability score and proficiency with that saving throw).

Human Resiliency.
I like it!

 

[Pyromantic]

Everything I've seen so far leads me to believe the human variant option will be my choice not only if I'm playing human, but for the majority of my characters. It opens up so many possibilities for the lower levels.

 

[Juriel]

Okay, assuming people are best served by pumping their main stat to 20 before anything else...

Without rolling for stats, they're starting with 15 + 2 = 17, and at 4th level, they push it to 19.

At 8th level (6th for Fighters), you could pick a half-feat (+1 to stat and a minor benefit) to get your main stat to 20, but that requires a specific build, IMO.

So the earliest you'd regularly get an actual feat would be 12th level (8th for Fighters, 10th for Rogues). Ouch, that's a long time to wait.

Human variant, meanwhile, can get that build- and character-defining feature at 1st level! Radical.

 

[Salamandyr]

I prefer the variant rule, because the standard human benefit (+1 to every attribute) isn't a benefit. Using standard array, it's plain awful. Using point buy (which I assume will be the default for most people) it's a bit better than standard array, but all it does is mildly lower point cost for each stat, which, compared to each racial also lowering the point cost of their stats, ends up being a wash. When all the points are allocated, the human fighter and the mountain dwarf fighter are going to have the same stats, except for possibly their lowest stat. They could have just said "The human racial bonus is to be slightly better at the thing you're worst at" and it would have amounted to the same thing.

The only advantage the standard array has is that it allows the human to be better at a class than a race who isn't suited to the class. So the human is a better wizard than the dwarf, and a better cleric than the halfling.

Yay.

 

[Mistwell]

What amazes me about some char-oppers isn't that they optimize. I've optimized before. No what amazes me is that this sub-set of char-oppers genuinely doesn't understand why anyone would not optimize, and imagines the world of D&D players is all optimizers or people who just don't understand optimization enough to do it.

Not everyone's character concept is about 2-3 high ability scores and the rest being dump stats.

 

[Stalker0]

Variant seems like the way to go to me.