Racial Scores Fix

[Charwoman Gene]

Does anyone else out there think that the 4E ability score bonuses are too encouraging to run certain class/race combos?

No one seems to run a human anything, and no one runs a character that is not +2 in a primary and secondary stat.

I find this incredibly boring.

What is the argument against to allowing humans +2 to two abilities and letting choose one bonus freely and restrict them to taking at least one of the bonuses associated with their race?

I'm really thinking about using this.

 

[Pale Jackal]

I am seriously considering the same thing, though I do think some racials are balanced around the current stat bumps. For example: Dwarven and Eladrin Weapon Training seem to exist to make up for the fact that neither class gets a Strength bump, and to allow them to play Fighter types more effectively. Of course, neither feat scales with tier. I have no idea why Goliaths get excellent Barbarian stat bumps, AND a feat like Dwarven Weapon Training (for two handed weapons) which DOES scale with tier.

One thing that I did not think of, though, is how the PHB 2 seems to change is how attributes work. For example: a Dwarf who wants to use an axe as a primary source of damage with PHB 1 classes (Paladin, fighter, ranger, and so on) is at a disadvantage because of his lack of strength, so he gets Dwarven Weapon Training, which partially balances things out. However, in the PHB 2, he could be an Avenger, and thus have an 18 or 20 in Wisdom and still use a maul with Dwarven Weapon Training.

I do like your idea that requires one of the two stat bumps to remain "racially oriented," since I had not thought of that.

I'd also possibly debuff humans a little bit: maybe just get rid of the +1 to all defenses perk, since it seems to be there to balance out the fact that human defenses are often going to be one lower. Maybe let them keep the extra feat... since some racials seem to be better than an extra at-will (and this further depends on class), but others don't.

 

[Elric]

One house rule that I've seen is to give every character a +2 they can apply to any ability score, besides the ability scores their racial bonuses apply to. Then lower point buy from 22 points to 20 points to compensate. Characters will have slightly better stats overall, and race will be less linked to class than it currently is.

 

[Pale Jackal]

One house rule that I've seen is to give every character a +2 they can apply to any ability score, besides the ability scores their racial bonuses apply to. Then lower point buy from 22 points to 20 points to compensate. Characters will have slightly better stats overall, and race will be less linked to class than it currently is.

I like this idea, though I actually screwed up a moment ago.

It changes 16/16/12/12/10/8 (+2 to 2) to 16/16/12/10/10/8, yielding a 14 if you really want it for your third stat. Also, in RAW, you can go 20/16 if you have +2 to both your desired stats, now you can only go 20/15. So I'm not sure about this. 20/16 strikes me as superior to 18/18/12, but 18/18/14 strikes me as generally superior to 20/15/13... though I suppose you could go 20/14/14. Hmm, same natural defenses in either case, at least, assuming an equal spread. I think I like it!

 

[Elric]

I like this idea, though I actually screwed up a moment ago.

It changes 16/16/12/12/10/8 (+2 to 2) to 16/16/12/10/10/8, yielding a 14 if you really want it for your third stat. Also, in RAW, you can go 20/16 if you have +2 to both your desired stats, now you can only go 20/15. So I'm not sure about this. 20/16 strikes me as superior to 18/18/12, but 18/18/14 strikes me as generally superior to 20/15/13... though I suppose you could go 20/14/14. Hmm, same natural defenses in either case, at least, assuming an equal spread. I think I like it!

You could just make taking the +2 to an ability score and 20 points instead of 22 points optional. Then if someone wants to play a character with the 18/14/11 array, he still can.

 

[Runestar]

What is the argument against to allowing humans +2 to two abilities and letting choose one bonus freely and restrict them to taking at least one of the bonuses associated with their race?

What do you mean by one of their bonuses being associated with race? Aren't humans always humans? Or do you mean class? Why wouldn't you choose to put the 2 stat boosts in the stats which complement your class?

 

[Kwalish Kid]

No one seems to run a human anything, and no one runs a character that is not +2 in a primary and secondary stat.

For many classes, the extra at-will and the extra feat are killer. It's not even that good for the Warden that I'm playing, but I would still miss them. Any class that depends primarily on one Ability Score will be tempting for human PCs.

I imagine that humans will be very popular monks.

 

[Elric]

What do you mean by one of their bonuses being associated with race? Aren't humans always humans? Or do you mean class? Why wouldn't you choose to put the 2 stat boosts in the stats which complement your class?

I believe he meant:

What is the argument against to allowing humans +2 to two abilities and letting [non-human races] choose one [+2] bonus freely and [one +2 bonus of the two +2s they currently get].

 

[Charwoman Gene]

Sometimes my posts get imprecise. Thus why I usually avoid the rules forums. Elric fixed it for me

 

[eriktheguy]

What is the argument against to allowing humans +2 to two abilities and letting choose one bonus freely and restrict them to taking at least one of the bonuses associated with their race?

I'm really thinking about using this.

I think you are assuming that the human's '+2 to any' is balanced by the other races '+2 to two, but no choice'. This isn't the case. Humans get +2 to only one ability because their other bonuses make up for this. For example, to make up for lower defenses from one less ability bonus, humans get +1 to all F/R/W defenses. (This is huge, other races only occasionally get a bonus to a defense, and never to two or three). Finally, humans get a bonus feat and a bonus skill, (another huge bonus).
To see the human's ability scores bonus as unfair because they only get one is an easy mistake. They more than make up for it in other areas. If you house rule that humans get +2 to two ability scores, you make them significantly more powerful, while giving the other races a bit more choice does not make them much better.

Simply house rule that non-human races can choose two ability score bonuses, one of which must belong to the two listed in the players handbook, without changing humans. This does not throw off the balance of individual characters (or at least it probably won't). In your campaign, this change might affect only the characters (NPCs still tend to favor their race's classes) or it might affect your whole world.