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Message: <blockquote data-quote="mlund" data-source="post: 5939778" data-attributes="member: 50304">There's no reason "better stats for the exceptional" can't be human's racial niche, though.So what? Are you saying there's some pressing need for racial balance between commoners? If anything that goes against the general conceits of the genre. Common humans, as they are in their day-to-day lives, are inferior to elves. They are less graceful. They lack Keen Senses, Free Spirit, etc. They have the relative lifespan of a gnat. We're not balancing "Serfs and Servants" here.Because the human racial is about dynamic potential and not everyone lives up to their potential?They are level 0 nobodies. They don't get character sheets. They don't get codified mechanical skills. They don't get feats. They get a circumstance bonus to something related to their career or station in life if the DM is feeling generous. That's it.Reavers of Harkenwold, Book 1, page 15: Harkenwold Bystanders have 4 10s, an 11, and an 8 - even worse than average! They have 1 HP, no feats and no skills and all is right with the world. Either that or someone's been going around replacing human commoners with pod-people. On top of that, 5E presents options for removing all the baggage of Feats and Skills from the game and going old-school. Now what's the Human Player Character (the only ones that count in a balance discussion) got to make up for not having racial-abilities outside of Skills and Feats? There's no racial level caps anymore.Stats are a nice space to work in because they are simple and ubiquitous.What separates commoners from exceptional humans (be they adventurers, aristocrats, artisans, or warriors) is that they are mundane. Their human capacity for greatness has been otherwise expended on things that aren't even worth the a footnote in the DMG.- Marty Lund</blockquote>

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