Lanefan
Victoria Rules
Perhaps there are better ways, but bonuses-penalties to stats are simple, straightforward, and easy to grok.Simply, an attribute bonus / penalty system is a slippery slope. There are better ways to account for biology
If you-as-player don't want to deal with bonuses-penalties, play a Human.
And from there it's a very short step to removing creature type entirely as a mechanical variable, which while being fine for thems as wants it, makes me ask why even bother having different PC creature types?No. I’m suggesting that delivering an inclusive and diverse D&D game means a radical change. It means move away from a race based system to a class system.
Makes it easier to balance, to be sure.
And makes it a whole lot blander.
On the topic of NPCs using generic decriptions - e.g. Elves are dextrous but unwise, Gnomes are smart but weak, Orcs are tough but ugly, etc. - but allowing PCs of any creature type to be just as flexible as Humans and to mechanically ignore said generic descriptions, my immediate question is this: if you want to play a particular non-Human creature type why can't you accept that said non-Human creature type (no matter what it is) comes with certain strings attached?
Put another way, what's the problem with having PCs of a certain creature type reflect the general tendencies of that creature?
This seems to me like a broad-based case of players wanting to have thier cake and eat it too.