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<blockquote data-quote="Kannik" data-source="post: 8081868" data-attributes="member: 984"><p>Hmm, I'm not sure why some seem to be jumping to the idea that removing racial bonuses (and reworking the game mechanics and nomenclature around 'race/species/ancestry/background/etc') equates to "all 'races' will be exactly the same". There are plenty of ways to differentiate different species and different ancestries/upbringing that do not involve attribute bonuses or penalties, and they do it in far more interesting, inventive, and imaginative ways. </p><p></p><p>I've written about it before, but I feel that attribute bonuses are one of the least interesting and effective ways to differentiate between species. For example, while perhaps the average Wookie is big and burly, just as we have amazing diversity of body types among humans, why wouldn't we have the same with Wookies? Especially as we are playing heroes, who are by and large out of the ordinary. Not to mention, as others have been noting in this thread, that there is much more to an attribute than just meat. Upbringing, environment, interests, nourishment, and above all, training, interest, and development play a huge role in determining one's capabilities within the auspices of a particular attribute. So having some bonus or penalty be assigned to an entire species is both unnecessarily restrictive but also kinda weird.</p><p></p><p>(To forestall any question of "well, what's left then to differentiate?"... plenty! There are a tonne of interestingly designed stunts, abilities, talents, gifts, and so on that could reflect culture, style, worldview, and even the meat part of the species. My gaming group has been using this alternate type of system for many games now, and we have found the characters much more distinct, flavorful, and, best of all, exciting during play than "well, I got a +2 in Int." <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Kannik, post: 8081868, member: 984"] Hmm, I'm not sure why some seem to be jumping to the idea that removing racial bonuses (and reworking the game mechanics and nomenclature around 'race/species/ancestry/background/etc') equates to "all 'races' will be exactly the same". There are plenty of ways to differentiate different species and different ancestries/upbringing that do not involve attribute bonuses or penalties, and they do it in far more interesting, inventive, and imaginative ways. I've written about it before, but I feel that attribute bonuses are one of the least interesting and effective ways to differentiate between species. For example, while perhaps the average Wookie is big and burly, just as we have amazing diversity of body types among humans, why wouldn't we have the same with Wookies? Especially as we are playing heroes, who are by and large out of the ordinary. Not to mention, as others have been noting in this thread, that there is much more to an attribute than just meat. Upbringing, environment, interests, nourishment, and above all, training, interest, and development play a huge role in determining one's capabilities within the auspices of a particular attribute. So having some bonus or penalty be assigned to an entire species is both unnecessarily restrictive but also kinda weird. (To forestall any question of "well, what's left then to differentiate?"... plenty! There are a tonne of interestingly designed stunts, abilities, talents, gifts, and so on that could reflect culture, style, worldview, and even the meat part of the species. My gaming group has been using this alternate type of system for many games now, and we have found the characters much more distinct, flavorful, and, best of all, exciting during play than "well, I got a +2 in Int." :)) [/QUOTE]
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