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<blockquote data-quote="Mouseferatu" data-source="post: 5273605" data-attributes="member: 1288">I expect that I'm in the minority here, but this is actually one of the few tidbits we've seen about the Essentials line that I don't care for.It's not a seething hate or anything. It won't ruin my experience, and it's not a big deal. But if I had my druthers, the game wouldn't have gone that way.I applaud what I think/believe/imagine the intent was: to make the existing races more flexible, and expand them beyond their existing niches. But what I believe the effect is going to be is actually a reverse-sort of pigeonholing. A lot of people will choose a class, and then only pick a race that can contribute two relevant ability bumps. Instead of &quot;Gee, most dwarves and goliaths are fighters,&quot; we'll see &quot;Gee, most fighters are dwarves or goliaths.&quot;IOW, what was meant to be a tool of options becomes a tool primarily of min/maxing, and then a straightjacket where if you aren't playing one of the &quot;right&quot; races for your class, you'll be accused, in some groups, of doing it wrong.But then, I've finally come around to the belief that the game's hypothetical next edition (in a long, long time <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&nbsp; &nbsp; ;)"&nbsp; data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />) should slaughter the sacred cow of racial stat bonuses, and mechanically differentiate the races entirely with nifty little abilities/powers/quirks.Edit: Come to think of it, that'd be a great use for the new &quot;theme&quot; mechanic. When you pick your race, you get that race's default theme. If you want to choose a different theme, you can do so, but then you're choosing to deliberately minimize the impact of your race for some other background element of your character. And of course, you can't choose a racial theme for a race not your own.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Mouseferatu, post: 5273605, member: 1288"] I expect that I'm in the minority here, but this is actually one of the few tidbits we've seen about the Essentials line that I [i]don't[/i] care for. It's not a seething hate or anything. It won't ruin my experience, and it's not a big deal. But if I had my druthers, the game wouldn't have gone that way. I applaud what I think/believe/imagine the [i]intent[/i] was: to make the existing races more flexible, and expand them beyond their existing niches. But what I believe the [i]effect[/i] is going to be is actually a reverse-sort of pigeonholing. A lot of people will choose a class, and then only pick a race that can contribute [i]two[/i] relevant ability bumps. Instead of "Gee, most dwarves and goliaths are fighters," we'll see "Gee, most fighters are dwarves or goliaths." IOW, what was meant to be a tool of options becomes a tool primarily of min/maxing, and then a straightjacket where if you aren't playing one of the "right" races for your class, you'll be accused, in some groups, of doing it wrong. But then, I've finally come around to the belief that the game's hypothetical next edition (in a long, [i]long[/i] time ;)) should slaughter the sacred cow of racial stat bonuses, and mechanically differentiate the races entirely with nifty little abilities/powers/quirks. Edit: Come to think of it, that'd be a great use for the new "theme" mechanic. When you pick your race, you get that race's default theme. If you want to choose a [i]different[/i] theme, you can do so, but then you're choosing to deliberately minimize the impact of your race for some other background element of your character. And of course, you can't choose a racial theme for a race not your own. [/QUOTE]

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