Humanocentrism

[darkadelphia]

I don't know if this is a new edition thing, but so far, my players have been largely drawn to the non-human races (with only wizard players choosing humans). It seems to me that the assume humanocentrism of previous editions is gone. Humans are now balanced as jacks-of-all-trades. Which really just makes them lackluster at everything (except wizard because of the extra at-will).

Anyway, I'm not so interested in debating whether this is good or bad, but instead figuring out what would need to be done to humans to make them attractive enough to players to be the majority of characters again. Demi-human level limits need not apply ;-)

So, my initial thought was this: instead of humans getting +2 to one ability score of their choice, they get +2 to two ability scores in the same defense category. Or, another way to put it, humans choose between +2 Strength and +2 Constitution, +2 Intelligence and +2 Dexterity OR +2 Wisdom and +2 Charisma.

Would this be enough to tip the scales without making demi-humans feel unloved? I guess I should also ask if other groups are having similar experiences or if my group has just found an odd non-human fetish with the new edition.

 

[chronoplasm]

I usually just start humans off with extra gold.
If I give the other races 150 gp to start off with, the human gets 300 gp.

Either that, or I let human characters start off with a level appropriate magical item.

 

[darkadelphia]

hmm, I don't know that a small start bonus is enough--humans already are better at low levels (more at-wills and an extra feat are much cooler at heroic than paragon and epic). I'm looking for something that gives humans a slight edge over all levels of play.

 

[chronoplasm]

Faster level up perhaps?
Perhaps when a human participates in a fight that human gets a bonus 50 exp just for being human in a monstrous world?

 

[Starfox]

I created a number of human subspecies of my world. Each with a +2 bonus to two attributes. As long as you avoid making it racist, I think this is a pretty good way to give humans a little extra omph.

 

[darkadelphia]

Leveling up faster makes the DM's job harder and is a false reward (it just means encounters will be harder to balance out the higher level human PCs)

Human subspecies were a thought I had, except then we have the issue of every PC wizard is Suel and every PC ranger is flan (to use Greyhawk races as an example). I did, however, entertain this idea, and it could work.

 

[tankschmidt]

I think your double +2 method seems fine. You might also consider giving humans a single +3 to any attribute of their choice.

 

[MarauderX]

Loath to change stats

Can you change the setting instead?
Perhaps give humans better connections or better treatment than other races. Or the other races are so disparate or far-flung that they seldom have places to call home, let alone for a refuge. Perhaps humans have an easier time in the game world through lodging, haggling, dealing with others (diplomacy) than other 'mistrusted' races.

Overall the players just might want to get away from the typical human stock in the game world too, so they want to be odd as compared to norm. Let them be, and show them how vicious a few humans can be once in a while.

 

[Recidivism]

If you want humans to be more important setting-wise than other races, you need to give them more rules-space than other races. IMO that means developing subraces for humans, not necessarily just tacking on more bonuses to the generic human.

 

[SSquirrel]

Humans were pretty much skipped over in 2nd Ed in our games. Everyone was busy being a Bladesinger or something else horribly broken

3rd Ed I actually had a hard time seeing any greater mechanical benefit of the other races over humans. Extra skills, feat and such usually allowed me to make the character I wanted to roleplay more easily. Except for Halfling Rogues, they were just too fun...esp when you make them NE w/a taste for blood (literally) heh.

4th Ed my Wizard is human, but most of the other characters I have made have been non-humans. Largely I think it is a reaction to how I used to play 3E. Racial benefits are more interesting in general in 4E and I'm just sick of playing humans for a bit. One 4E game I have a Dwarven Cleric and the other I have a Human Wizard (and soon a Half Elf Paladin too, we need more characters). 2 out of 3 ain't bad.