Level Up (A5E) Changes to race (species?)

[Crimson Longinus]

The purpose of this complexity is to channel mechanical options across vivid narrative tropes and flavor.

I't just an illusion and very transparent one. These things do not really affect anything there is so much freedom that they do not have any mechanical weight in practice. You can just let people choose whatever bonuses and choose whatever fluff to go with it. No need to pretend that there is connection if in practice there isn't.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

I don’t need your help, or your condescension. There isn’t anything to see, here. You’re chasing a phantom.

Your inability to see the problem doesn't make it go away nor does it stop me from calling you out.

 

[Stalker0]

. No one is suggesting that they should be able to drop a score down to 3.

I am quite confident there are players that want to put 3s in a stat. My point is that there are people that want to do everything and anything ...and that’s DMs and house rules are for.

if a Dm wants to allow his bookish Minotaur player to play a str 3 character...then go for it! But we don’t need to design the system for that.

dnd has a long tradition of racial stat bonuses...we dont need to toss that because a subset of people want to play outside the norm...they can always do that through house rules.

 

[Undrave]

Also, another idea I just had: What if certain races had stats that could exceed the maximum of 20? At first level it wouldn't make any difference, but by level 20, an Orc or Goliath who went all in on STR could have a 22 instead of the human's 20.

Or would that just be punting the problem forward?

 

[Crimson Longinus]

For what it's worth I agree, but I can also see how it can get problematics. I don't know if I would agree that Vulcans are necessarily smarter than humans in Star Trek... their technology is more advanced, that's for certain, but nothing that is beyond humans' ability to understand or manipulate. Vulcans, and Gnomes, have the benefit of living longer life and have more chances to improve however.

Vulcans definitely are smarter exactly in the way D&D defines Int. They have super memories, can compute and otherwise process information super fast etc. i.e. they're smart in the sort of things that IQ tests measure. They're not smarter in certain other ways though, but I guess in D&D terms those things would be more of wisdom stuff. I can easily see the Gnomes being smart in the same way than the Vulcans are.

 

[Haldrik]

I't just an illusion and very transparent one. These things do not really affect anything there is so much freedom that they do not have any mechanical weight in practice. You can just let people choose whatever bonuses and choose whatever fluff to go with it. No need to pretend that there is connection if in practice there isn't.

If the player freely chooses the abilities by an array, the narrative can mention the abilities that are notable within a species:

For example.



ELVES

Charisma: They often live in places of ethereal beauty, in the midst of ancient forests or in silvery spires, glittering with faerie light, where soft music drifts through the air and gentle fragrances waft on the breeze. Elves tend to love art and artistry, music and poetry.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

If the player freely chooses the abilities by an array, the narrative can mention the abilities that are notable within a species:

For example.



ELVES

Charisma: They live in places of ethereal beauty, in the midst of ancient forests or in silvery spires, glittering with faerie light, where soft music drifts through the air and gentle fragrances waft on the breeze. Elves love art and artistry, music and poetry.

Sorry, I honestly don't get what you mean.

 

[Haldrik]

Sorry, I honestly don't get what you mean.

I am saying, the description of a species specifies which three abilities are prominent, and explains how the species tends to express each ability.

The player may or may not want to choose one of these three abilities, depending on whether they are going for a typical or less typical character concept.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

For what it's worth I agree, but I can also see how it can get problematics. I don't know if I would agree that Vulcans are necessarily smarter than humans in Star Trek... their technology is more advanced, that's for certain, but nothing that is beyond humans' ability to understand or manipulate. Vulcans, and Gnomes, have the benefit of living longer life and have more chances to improve however.

You could argue: are gnomes naturally smarter than humans, or does their civilization simply values knowledge and technical skills more highly than humans and thus produces more technologically inclined people who then push the overall tech level of the civilization? In that case, the cultural component would explain the bump to INT.

I mean either way is fine if we split race and culture, but if we don’t then I’m not down for removing the Int bump.

Your inability to see the problem doesn't make it go away nor does it stop me from calling you out.

You aren’t calling anyone out, you’re just yelling at people for no reason and making claims with no support for them.

I am quite confident there are players that want to put 3s in a stat. My point is that there are people that want to do everything and anything ...and that’s DMs and house rules are for.

if a Dm wants to allow his bookish Minotaur player to play a str 3 character...then go for it! But we don’t need to design the system for that.

dnd has a long tradition of racial stat bonuses...we dont need to toss that because a subset of people want to play outside the norm...they can always do that through house rules.

Tradition is irrelevant.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

You aren’t calling anyone out, you’re just yelling at people for no reason and making claims with no support for them.

You are literally saying that capabilities of person can be assessed by their culture. In what world is that not racist?