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"No. Obviously not, and this comes off as a blatant mischaracterization of my position." : )

They are suggesting that a race without a Str racial bonus, like halflings, are objectively less effective combat focussed PCs, and therefore set racial bonuses are unfair. This is false. Every race in the PHB can, even with static racial bonuses, get at least a +1 (and therefore a 16 in...

That's not a problem. If your combat-focussed PC of whatever race has poor hit points, then avoid melee and go ranged instead. D&D is nowhere near as unfair as reality. In D&D, you might not get +2 Str but you can get +2 Dex instead. You can easily play a Dex-based combat PC who is just as...

First, what the heck is a loxodon and why is it so badly designed? Second, the new system of totally floating racial bonuses takes away that abstract way to represent these physiological differences, but does not replace them with race specific equivalents that don't involve ability scores...

My problem is not that I think elephants can't be smart. The problem is that elephants cannot fail to be stronger than a mouse and the new system doesn't even reflect that in the smallest way.

A player's choice in everything affects their PC's efficacy in their chosen role: race, class, ability scores, feats, skills, which of the available magic items to use.... Why do you believe that their choice of race should be the only thing that has no impact! And what's the point of choosing...

"D&D hates realism. It loves abstraction" you say? Fair enough. In that case the game has to abstractly reflect the impact of those differences.

What's wrong with it?

Rubbish! This is an example of 'the perfect being the enemy of the good'. Just because D&D cannot perfectly model the different effects from 30lbs versus 600lbs does not mean we shouldn't model it somehow! The idea that a mouse is as strong as an elephant is absurd! The idea that the mouse's...

I agree with you that alignment and other cultural factors should not be limited like they were. There is nothing in, say, orc genetics that makes them evil. Or good. But there are physiological differences. Having no mechanical difference between weighing 30lbs and weighing 600lbs divorces the...

I agree that it doesn't have to be a perfect match-D&D isn't capable of that-but it has to be reflected somehow. I want a certain level of realism in my game. By that, I don't mean that magic should disappear; I mean that if these things existed, they would realistically have an effect. The...

Good! It's working then!

I was replying to a post that claimed the race fluff descriptions were written to match the already assigned racial bonuses. Your comment does not make sense in that context. My motive has nothing to do with thinking that previous editions were better. It's all about the game mechanics making...

Why do you think the player's choice of class leading to meaningful discrepancies is totally fair, but the player's choice of race leading to meaningful discrepancies is inherently unfair?

I was replying to Charlequin, who said, "I’m pretty sure everyone on the anti-ASI side would agree that we like races having distinct identities, we just think ASIs are the least interesting (not to mention least effective) way to achieve that". If they want to realistically model physiological...

But we know that is not the case! The concepts of elves being graceful, dwarves being hardy, minotaurs being strong, and all the rest came before D&D was ever invented! We know that the reason there are racial ability modifiers is that the designers wanted to represent these concepts in the...

We could do this be redefining the Strength ability score. Instead of the score being an absolute measure of the ability to lift weight, do damage, etc), Strength could be a relative measure of how much you can lift, how much damage you do, etc. combined with a creature's mass/size. So an...

Let's say you are invited to play a new fantasy RPG, whose rules you don't yet know, but you are familiar with the standard fantasy races. You choose to play a human. Because you are new to the game, the DM hands you a pre-gen. The sheet says your Strength score is 35. Is 35 strong? Weak...

If Tasha's approach to race is optional, this lets DMs keep (say) the halfling's +2 bonus to Dex OR allow the player to move that +2 to a different ability. The new lineages are following this design philosophy. This means that the DM can choose to keep the new race's (lineage's) ability...

There's the same amount of sense with dragon's breath! You can use magic to create a non-magical sword. Warlock patrons can use their abilities-magical or not-to grant a mortal the NATURAL ability to create a pact weapon! Just like they could grant a mortal the NATURAL ability to sprout wings...