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Message: <blockquote data-quote="D1Tremere" data-source="post: 8134847" data-attributes="member: 61148">I want to use this reply to voice two things.1 (A bit off topic): Wealth (Socio-economic status, SES) is linked with high IQ, depending on how IQ is being measured. It is also linked with performance on standardized tests. There are a lot of reasons why we know this correlation to be real and problematic. The main thing is that standardized IQ tests are based on working memory and education, which are mostly factors of wealth. The components of standardized tests are essentially the same as those in IQ tests, so we are basically testing the same construct at a different level of education (As prabe eluded to). The wealthier you are the more education you will be exposed to and the less detriments to capacity for working memory (such as environmental anxiety). We are now beginning to expand our definition of IQ to be more multi-faceted. There is a biological component to capacity in working memory, but except for those who are born with extreme deficits it makes no practical difference. It is just too little an effect compared to environment in most measures.2: My approach to decoupling racial bonuses from race is to frame them is this light, of environment and exception. Most Dwarves will still have the racial bonuses in the PHB because they are still living with the same cultural and environmental forces shaping their lives (most don't even have class levels). PCs are rare, and can have great backstory reasons for why they have their bonus in Cha instead of Con. I actually told my players they would need to make a short writeup of why their character grew up different from most whatevers. I think it does nothing to change the average NPCs in a D&D game, and encourages PCs to create more elaborate reasons for why they defy the norms in virtually every way to begin with. After all, most Elves do not leave their ancestral homes to live a life of danger and uncertainty as an adventurer.</blockquote>

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