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Message: <blockquote data-quote="doctorhook" data-source="post: 6360422" data-attributes="member: 58401">Good question. Let's think about it.I didn't really believe you until I had a peek at the half-elf traits. Holy man, they certainly put the human in his place! Let's compare:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Ability scores: Variant human gets +1 to two stats; Half-elf gets +2 to Cha, and +1 to two other stats; Winner: Half-elf.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Skills: Variant human gets proficiency in one skill of your choice; Half-elf gets proficiency in two skills of your choice; Winner: Half-elf.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Languages: Variant human gets Common and one other language; Half-elf gets Common, Elvish, and one other language; Winner: Half-elf.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Special features: Variant human gets one feat of your choice; Half-elf gets darkvision (60 ft.), advantage against being charmed, and immunity to magical sleep; Winner: Human (see below).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Size and speed: Variant human and half-elf both have the same size and speed. Winner: Tie.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Rarity: Relatively rarity of human and half-elf are too setting-/table-/DM-subjective for useful comparison, so I'm ignoring them.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Other: Age, height, and alignment are non-binding traits with little game impact, so I'm ignoring them too.</li> </ul>Based on the cursory assessment above, the half-elf seems like the overall better choice, but the catch is that this depends upon the value of the choice of one feat. (Note that we're discussing the value of the choice, not simply the value of the feat.) Each of the three "special features" the half-elf gets are pretty lame by themselves: darkvision is only slightly more useful than casting light (a cantrip) or by spending 1 copper piece on a torch; advantage against being charmed is nice, but only comes up in a small minority of encounters; immunity to magical sleep is neat, but surely only matters in a very tiny minority of encounters. Together, these three features might be worth one feat, but compared to the human's additional ability to choose which feat they get, I'd argue that humans have the better "special feature" by a slim margin.In terms of trying to balance the human and half-elf against each other, we have to consider that both races might be unbalanced. Without nerfing the half-elf, I'm starting to like the following for variant humans:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">+1 to any four ability scores; and,</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Proficiency in two skills; and,</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">One feat.</li> </ul>This arrangement avoids having humans "step on the toes" of other races with a +2 to any score--this was previously a major point of contention. As for non-variant (read: "non-feat" humans), go with +1 to all six ability scores as well as proficiency in two skills and one set of tools.Critiques?</blockquote>

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