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Message: <blockquote data-quote="CapnZapp" data-source="post: 8068234" data-attributes="member: 12731">I could not reply since I agree to both<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I agree with the proposition: PCs do not have to follow average population stats of NPCs</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">I disagree: if the average NPC orc is stronger, PC orcs also have to be stronger on average</li> </ul>That is, PCs should not have to follow the same rules as NPCs. They are also far from average - they start out significantly stronger than average, which for a human is 10 in all six stats.As for the second statement, just like the average strength of females in most settings is not reflected in the average strength of female heroes (NPC women much more frequently depicted in peaceful than wartime occupations - mirroring history where the overwhelming majority of warriors were men; while few ttrpgs hand out a realistic-ish -4 penalty to Strength to female heroes) I don't necessarily need every "racial trait" to be given wholesale to hero characters. Again NPCs need to follow different rules than PCs.This is most relevant for "stronger races/ancestries". We should not be compelled to give PCs wings (already at level 1) just because most members of that race/species are depicted as having wings. A PC Vampire would only get a sprinkling of the Vampire's true power at first. Balance comes before verisimilitude.That doesn't mean I want race/ancestry to become a mechanically meaningless build choice. I oppose the notion where every gnome or elf or hobgoblin can do everything equally well. That just makes race a "skin" - meaning that you're playing a blue hero, a small hero, a scaly hero - but with no mechanical differentiators.Every step towards generic races, generic classes and so on is a step towards the Strong, Fast, Smart heroes of D&D Modern. But that's the death of D&D - for good or bad, the feeling of playing D&D includes having to choose between lots of idiosyncratic choices! I know lots of players are annoyed by D&Ds crufty choices, but please resist any and all desire to "straighten out" the choices, make them more comparable, or turning them into a buffet. The whole point is to package things to force players to take some good with some bad, since that makes up the "texture" that IS the feeling of playing D&D as opposed to some generic fantasy game.That route leads to a game I no longer can recognize. I don't mean to say it's wrong. I really mean that it changes the game. Meaning that it is probably should remain off limits to a project specifically intended to remain compatible to 5th edition.There are a lot of ideas in this subforum, but most of them are much better suited to a brand new game than to Level Up. After all, each feature added to the project must be evaluated on one very important criteria: the impression of compatibility it gives off. Anything that gives off the impression Level Up is "its own thing" likely lowers the rate of adoption among gamers just wishing to get a compatible extension to their existing 5E games. By being different, the risk is that Level Up is seen as a particular taste, rather than a generally welcomed upgrade.I understand racial modifiers can be viewed as just as modern as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phrenology" target="_blank">phrenology</a>, which is to say "entirely obsolete". On the other hand, we could just realize we're playing a game of pretend elfs, and not let any real-world connotations seep into our fantasy experience. <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=":)" />Is it really the job of Level Up to "fix" 5th edition in these regards? That's not a rhetorical question by the way - I have a hunch you are about to say "yes", Morrus. Personally though, I would leave those battles for WotC and 6th edition to fight, and focus on making Level Up look and feel as close to 5E as your lawyers let you! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />PS. As for that last question, I would answer "it's all about levels". The difference between a Halfling hero and a Orc hero should only be relevant between two heroes of the same level. As soon as the Halfling has a couple of levels on the Orc, she should be able to whoop his ass, including wrestling him down. As for exactly how many (or how few) levels, that touches upon the greater question of whether to use "bounded accuracy" or "adding level to proficiency", to use the terminology (and approach) of 5e and PF2 respectively.</blockquote>

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