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<blockquote data-quote="EzekielRaiden" data-source="post: 9286488" data-attributes="member: 6790260">But you are turning trends into ironclad, permanent patterns. Every dwarf starts out always the precise same amount more hardy than every halfling. But that is simply not how trends work. Instead, there will be some genuinely, deeply sickly dwarves--as sickly as the sickliest halfling--and there will be some halflings who are as hardy as the hardiest dwarf, because real variation within species is HUGE, far bigger than a &quot;effects happen 5% more often&quot; could ever account for.My point is that the real variation in real populations means there should be 6 Con Dwarves (albeit rare ones) and 17 Con Halflings (albeit rare ones). We, as creators and players, do not hew to the average man (who, in general, doesn't even exist to begin with--everyone is far away from the norm on at least some measures). We hew to the outliers, the weirdos, the folks who willingly dive into murder-holes for money, who risk life and limb for foolish causes, who dare to defy fate. Adventurers are necessarily bucking trends in one form or another, that's why their lives are full of adventure and not comfortable monotony.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="EzekielRaiden, post: 9286488, member: 6790260"] But you are turning trends into ironclad, permanent patterns. [I]Every[/I] dwarf starts out always the precise same amount more hardy than [I]every[/I] halfling. But that is simply not how trends work. Instead, there will be some genuinely, deeply sickly dwarves--as sickly as the sickliest halfling--and there will be some halflings who are as hardy as the hardiest dwarf, because real variation within species is [B][I]HUGE[/I][/B], far bigger than a "effects happen 5% more often" could ever account for. My point is that the real variation in real populations means there should be 6 Con Dwarves (albeit rare ones) and 17 Con Halflings (albeit rare ones). We, as creators and players, do not hew to the average man (who, in general, [I]doesn't even exist[/I] to begin with--[B]everyone[/B] is far away from the norm on at least some measures). We hew to the outliers, the weirdos, the folks who willingly dive into murder-holes for money, who risk life and limb for foolish causes, who dare to defy fate. Adventurers are necessarily bucking trends in one form or another, that's why their lives are full of [I]adventure[/I] and not [I]comfortable monotony.[/I] [/QUOTE]

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