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Message: <blockquote data-quote="irdeggman" data-source="post: 2884977" data-attributes="member: 16285">Are half-elves really mechanically weaker than humans?Humans get:1 bonus feat1 extra skill point per level (x4 at first level but still only 1 extra per level)Half elves get:Low light visionImmunity to sleep and similar magical effects+2 bonus to saving throws against enchantment spells or effects+1 bonus to Listen, Search and Spot checks+2 bonus to Diplomacy and Gather Information checksElven blood – considered elf for all effects related to race (e.g., bane/favored enemy effects {bad}, ability to qualify for feats, Prestige Classes (and potentially some weapons) available only to elves {good}) – overall an advantage.Get elven as an automatic languageNow a free feat (of the player’s choice is really pretty sweet) but essentially an elf is getting 2 feats, albeit pre-selected (+1 to 3 skills and +2 to 2 skills are considered to be equivalent to a feat)As for the advantage of the extra skill points. At first level is where it really factors in, but that depends on the classes. For example a human fighter compared to a half-elf rogue. Both have a +2 Int mod.  The human fighter gets (2+2+1) x 4 = 20 skill points. The half-elf rogue gets (8 +2) x4 = 40 skill points.  That is the extreme comparison, but it emphasizes the point that it is class dependent.Let us compare a human bard to a half-elf bard. (I chose this class comparison for a few reasons that will become obvious in a bit.)Human gets (6 + 2 +1) x4 = 36 skill points.The half-elf gets (6 + 2) x4 = 32 skill points.Half-elf gets +2 to Diplomacy and Gather Information checks. Both are class skills for a bard so a human needs to spend 4 skill point to get this.The half-elf gets +1 to Listen, Search and Spot checks. I haven’t found a specific feat that gets this combination of bonuses, but for argument’s sake let’s assume there is one – so humans uses his bonus feat.So far the human has now used up all 4 of bonus skill points at first level and his bonus feat.Half – elf get “free” elven as a language – human has to spend 1 sp for it (class skill for a bard).Half-elf gets Low light vision.Half-elves get immunity to sleep and effects.Half-elves get a +2 bonus to enchantment spells and effects.Regardless the tally puts the human not able to account for:1 languageLow light visionImmunity to sleep+2 bonus to saves against enchantment spells</blockquote>

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