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<blockquote data-quote="Bill Zebub" data-source="post: 8373423" data-attributes="member: 7031982">I do want to acknowledge something here.Even though I am fully in favor of floating ASIs, I do wish it were possible to make half-orcs stronger than the other races, and halflings more nimble, and elves all have higher charisma (which, really, makes more sense to me than dexterity) without it affecting optimization.&nbsp; I mean, I agree it &quot;makes sense&quot; for half-orcs to have a higher strength score.&nbsp; It does.&nbsp; It's just that with D&amp;D mechanics the price we pay for that is half-orcs (or any race that gets +2 Str) make the best fighters.&nbsp; Which is not ok with me.The argument is sometimes made that the other races &quot;make up for it in other ways&quot; but, really, they don't.&nbsp; Sure, the elf can't be put to sleep and the halfling is lucky, but neither of those really compares to a straight +1/+1 to all combat rolls.The fault is really in the simplistic combat model of D&amp;D.&nbsp; I really wish Int, Dex, and Str all contributed to martial combat roughly equally, but also differently, in a way that it was very hard to optimize.&nbsp; For example, it could vary depending on both tactical environment and the nature of your foe.&nbsp; That way your human swordswoman or halfing axeman...ling (?) could be just as effective as the half-orc in combat, but through speed and smarts, not just raw power.&nbsp; In my ideal world, two characters whose Strength, Dex, and Int bonuses all totaled to the same value would be equally effective; it's just that some combinations would hit more, some would do more damage when they do hit, and some would score more crits.&nbsp; Or something like that.&nbsp;&nbsp; And it wouldn't matter if you have a 22 in one stat and 10s in the other two, or all 14's.And then do the same thing for spellcasting.But, alas, that's not D&amp;D.&nbsp; So I'll play with floating ASIs (either officially or unofficially) and assume that &quot;Strength&quot; encompasses more than just your dead lift max.&nbsp; But I agree it's not a perfect solution, just the best we can do with D&amp;D.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Bill Zebub, post: 8373423, member: 7031982"] I do want to acknowledge something here. Even though I am fully in favor of floating ASIs, I do wish it were possible to make half-orcs stronger than the other races, and halflings more nimble, and elves all have higher charisma (which, really, makes more sense to me than dexterity) [I]without it affecting optimization[/I]. I mean, I agree it "makes sense" for half-orcs to have a higher strength score. It does. It's just that with D&D mechanics the price we pay for that is half-orcs (or any race that gets +2 Str) make the best fighters. Which is not ok with me. The argument is sometimes made that the other races "make up for it in other ways" but, really, they don't. Sure, the elf can't be put to sleep and the halfling is lucky, but neither of those really compares to a straight +1/+1 to all combat rolls. The fault is really in the simplistic combat model of D&D. I really wish Int, Dex, and Str all contributed to martial combat roughly equally, but also differently, in a way that it was very hard to optimize. For example, it could vary depending on both tactical environment and the nature of your foe. That way your human swordswoman or halfing axeman...ling (?) could be just as effective as the half-orc in combat, but through speed and smarts, not just raw power. In my ideal world, two characters whose Strength, Dex, and Int bonuses all totaled to the same value would be equally effective; it's just that some combinations would hit more, some would do more damage when they do hit, and some would score more crits. Or something like that. And it wouldn't matter if you have a 22 in one stat and 10s in the other two, or all 14's. And then do the same thing for spellcasting. But, alas, that's not D&D. So I'll play with floating ASIs (either officially or unofficially) and assume that "Strength" encompasses more than just your dead lift max. But I agree it's not a perfect solution, just the best we can do with D&D. [/QUOTE]

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