D&D 5E Half Elf vs Human

[Sadras]

As I see it, if you're playing a character for whom Charisma is a primary stat, half-elf over human is a no-brainer unless there's a feat you absolutely have to have at 1st level. If it's an important secondary stat, it's a tough call. Otherwise, human wins solidly.

(The "+1 to all stats" human, however, gets its butt solidly kicked by the half-elf.)

This I can agree with, should one base their character concept purely on mechanics.

Let me be clear. As a player (which is hardly the case) I would 9 out of 10 times play human, and that is not because of this or that edition, its because I prefer playing human characters despite any short-comings mechanically I might perceive them to have within the system.

You seem to be using a different definition of "dump stat" from what I'm used to.

Yes, apologies, I did broaden its use. Look if it were the +2 Charisma alone I wouldn't be posting. I guess it also matters how much weight one puts into all the other little extras, which comes down to DM style. It appears that many do not put that much weight or not as much as the "feat extras"

Look if you are building to a specific design (and not of the Cha classes), I would say go Human, you can get the Feats that you need, but otherwise for me, the Half-Elf scores mechanically. But I think its great that others do not think so - it means people out there believe its a viable choice.