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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Yaarel" data-source="post: 7166105" data-attributes="member: 58172">Fair point. The Elf can make sense with a Dex bonus. The problem is, if the Elf is about anything, it is about being magic, and beautiful and charming, doing everything the Bard does, songs, poetry, artistic, and so on. So while Dex makes sense, Cha makes much more sense. And of course, Wisdom. And Intelligence. Even Strength. Really Constitution too. So, if anything the Elf race should be the +2 everything race. Heh. For the sake of gaming balance, the player can decide which ability to emphasize with the +2 among the many good choices, in order to build the Elf concept that the player has in mind.That said. The way the Elf design is shaping up so far, the DM has much say on what the Elf will look like. The DM decides which Elf cultures are available in the campaign setting, and how closely an individual needs to conform to the culture.So for example, ... Due to the legal nature of homebrew, it is necessary to stick to the SRD only. But say you have Elf cultures that are comparable to the High, Wood, and Drow Elf cultures. • Quasi-High culture might emphasize Intelligence, Dexterity, and Charisma.• Quasi-Wood culture might emphasize Dexterity, Wisdom, and Strength.• Quasi-Drow culture might emphasize Dexterity, Charisma, and Wisdom.So these three are the cultures that are available in a Greyhawk campaign. If the player wants to have a Quasi-High Elf, with the Cantrip trait, then typically one of these three abilities will be the highest score: Int, Dex, or Cha. And the DM can enforce this because of the setting. Likely the +2 will go toward the highest score, being one of these three.So while an Elf can potentially be anything, they are shaped by a specific culture which is a more specific concept, featuring certain mechanics and flavor.So, in your case, your campaign setting emphasizes dextrous Elves, likely all good at longbows or handbows. That is appropriate for that setting.For my setting, I want to emphasize Bard-like Elves, thus charismatic and intelligent with the ability to heal. But I would probably throw in a Wood Elf too, for the sake of Ranger-like Elves forest dwellers being dexterous and wise or strong. And these two cultures would be appropriate for this setting. So players would have to pick which cluster of abilities to go with as a package deal with other traits.For myself, I like the setting to have a clear idea of what is ‘normal’ for the setting. That done, I tend to be flexible with a player who wants to play a concept that is unusual in that setting. They can pretty much do what they want, as long as they ‘sell me’ an appealing narrative that makes sense within that region of the world.</blockquote>

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