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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kinematics" data-source="post: 8069996" data-attributes="member: 6932123">Now, Location.This is a new component that I introduced in order to make things fit together a bit better.  Nomads in the mountains are different than nomads in the desert.  Agrarians in the sea are different than agrarians in the Underdark are different than agrarians in rural farms.The question is, how much of this is relevant to character creation, as opposed to character background (not to be confused with Background)?When we separate out race from culture, the purpose is to allow mix-and-match results that are different from the package deals the PHB offers.  A human raised by dwarves, or a halfling raised by goliaths, or maybe just a human from the mountain country vs a human raised in the fertile plains.This partly depends on how abstract we want to make the separation.  We can say "Elves" as a race, and then "Woof Elf", "High Elf", "Dark Elf", etc as cultures.  However if that's the only level of separation, we haven't really improved the situation to a degree that it's a useful modification of the rules, particularly for those races that don't have multiple sub-races.  We also make it too narrowly tied to the races themselves, which isn't necessarily a good match when we try to apply it to different world settings.On the other hand, it's also more usefully limiting to approach it that way. How many different cultural descriptions can we come up with? How many different ideas are there for mechanical benefits among those varied cultures are there? (Because if there aren't mechanical benefits, there's no point in making this a separate mechanic; just write out your description and move on.)So, is it useful break down like:Human. Desert. Nomadic.Elf. Woodland. Hunter.Dwarf. Mountain. Crafter.?Or is the location not necessary? Is it just fluff?  Can you make characters to sufficient fidelity with only two constructs (such as the Heritage + Culture that Morrus has said will be part of an early playtest module)?Can you make a Dark Elf using just Heritage + Culture in a way that won't break when you put that Heritage or Culture with a different combination? What happens when you put a Human in the Underdark culture? Does he get darkvision?  Is it meaningful to say that a Dark Elf was raised by humans, or is that just a normal Elf at that point?And not just "in the abstract". Actually look at the mechanical benefits that you'd have to assign to each section, and see how that would balance out, and how many options you'd have to create for all the other variants.The Wood Elf provides an obvious sample to consider for determining what goes where.  For the +5 movement speed, is that because the Wood Elf racial form is just intrinsically faster? Has life in the woods adapted them to quicker movement (where other environments would suggest more cautious (mountain, swamp) or less urgent (urban, plains) movement)?  Or is the culture (hunter type?) just more aggressive in movement, such that it becomes the norm for those inhabitants?The PHB packages make this a non-issue because you don't have any choice in the matter.  But in split form, would a dwarf raised in the woods as a hunter have his speed boosted to 30 feet?  If the 35 foot speed for Wood Elves is not racially intrinsic, then certainly the answer would be yes.  But is it environmental (such as suggested by races living in the Underdark getting Superior Darkvision) or cultural?As always, it comes back to the Dark Elves and their Darkvision.  Either Dark Elves should be their own race (+Darkvision, -Sunlight Sensitivity), or the Darkvision (and Sunlight Sensitivity, for that matter) has to be a product of the environment.  'Culture' is just inadequate to produce that trait.I guess it could be answered by whether Sunlight Sensitivity is a cause or an effect.  Are they sensitive to sunlight because they spend all their time underground? Or do they spend all their time underground because they're sensitive to the sunlight?If the sensitivity is the cause (eg: the curse that drove them underground made sunlight painful to them), then that suggests a separate race, rather than merely being a variant of the default Elf.  If it's an effect, then that suggests that Location is a necessary factor in character definition.This also has the issue of, for example, if "the Sea" is a valid location (such as for Sea Elves or Tritons), what happens if a Human tries to select it? Should it just flat out say, "You cannot pick this location if your race does not have the ability to breath underwater."?  Seems reasonable, really.  Might be similar restrictions in some other areas.A basic requirement for this is that it be simple and intuitive to create a character.  Race is easy, and in the PHB primarily revolved around which one gave you the stats you needed for your intended class.  If the ASIs are removed, then it will become more about the general collection of traits that each one provides.  Traits are always less useful than a stat mod increase, because the stats will tend to apply to most the things you do (for the primary stat), while the traits are far more situational.As such, the removal of the ASI would suggest you get a lot of room to expand on traits.  You could give up a +2 ASI for the equivalent of Mobility (movement speed and combat maneuverability), which is more powerful than just +5 movement speed and a better ability to hide.  If you allow for a penalty (such as Sunlight Sensitivity if you pick Underdark), you have even more room to work with on positive traits.So here we have more questions:<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Should there be a Location component to the Origin?</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Should there be a negative trait applied to Location options to allow for greater beneficial traits? (Note: the only place I'd consider allowing a drawback would be under Location; not Race or Culture)</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">How much design space should be allowed for 'Upbringing' (Location + Culture), regardless of whether Location is used?</li> </ol></blockquote>

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