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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Gargoyle" data-source="post: 6331883" data-attributes="member: 529">I think the reason that penalties don't exist is that penalties aren't needed.  We may not agree with all the numbers, or even the idea of it, but for balance and to reinforce fluff with mechanics there is clearly a certain target for ability scores for each race, based on the idea that humans are the base with few or no special abilities, and other races are more specialized.  They wanted humans to be all around ok, not good in any particular area.  They wanted halflings and elves to have slightly better Dexterity. Dwarves to have more Constitution, etc.  Conversely they may also want elves to be less strong than humans, dwarves to have less Dexterity, etc.  By giving humans +1 to all, they accomplish those goals without the need for penalties. Not only is this more streamlined and easier to assess than a list of plusses and minuses, but I feel there is a psychological aspect as well.  Penalties aren't as fun as bonuses.  It doesn't really matter, I know, whether you give someone a -1 or not give them a +1, but the perception of a penalty is that it is a negative thing to be avoided.  So it does matter to some.The question in my mind isn't really why didn't they add penalties, but why should they?  The only reason I can think of is nostalgia, and that's not a good reason IMO.  If your reasoning is that they should do so because their targets are wrong, then that's really a different debate...given the goals they had, I think using only bonuses is pretty elegant, at least with the races we've seen so far, and with the assumption that their goals are what I believe they are.</blockquote>

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