Humans as a generic race

[perchy]

Lets start off by noting how humans used to be generic. 3.5 other races had a +2/-2 some where and some minor abilities. Humans made up for this lack of stat costomibilty with a feat and free skill points.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dramp/20071221

no more +2/-2, all the races so have 2 +2's. (probably 1 physical, 1 mental)

So where do you put a human's stat bonus's, and what happens to our free feat and skills?

Ok well i already have 2 ideas for this. The 1st's is to just let humans choose where to put their 2 +2's, they are, afterall, the most varied and versitile race. The other is to give all humans +1 to every stat (so +6 in total, but spread out, so much of it is useless)

My problem is that with either of these solutions + the feat and the skill points, humans instantly become better than any other race as anything they want to be. for example, +2Dex +2 Wis, weapon focus (bow) and your out ranging an elven ranger

 

[TwoSix]

Another possibility is that humans aren't as generic in 4e. They did go to some trouble to flesh them, err, us, out in R&C, making them/us native to plains areas and the base flaw of corruptibility.

 

[Green Knight]

I'm hoping for a +2 bonus which can be applied to any one stat, along with bonus Feats and Skills, myself.

 

[Lackhand]

Lets start off by noting how humans used to be generic. 3.5 other races had a +2/-2 some where and some minor abilities. Humans made up for this lack of stat costomibilty with a feat and free skill points.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dramp/20071221

no more +2/-2, all the races so have 2 +2's. (probably 1 physical, 1 mental)

So where do you put a human's stat bonus's, and what happens to our free feat and skills?

Ok well i already have 2 ideas for this. The 1st's is to just let humans choose where to put their 2 +2's, they are, afterall, the most varied and versitile race. The other is to give all humans +1 to every stat (so +6 in total, but spread out, so much of it is useless)

My problem is that with either of these solutions + the feat and the skill points, humans instantly become better than any other race as anything they want to be. for example, +2Dex +2 Wis, weapon focus (bow) and your out ranging an elven ranger

I'm not convinced that you're outranging the ranger: The elf can, after all, reroll. You have a 1/20 chance of converting every miss to a hit (darn! Missed by one! Oh, wait. Weapon Focus. Hit! Woohoo!).
The elf has a... um, depends on a lot of stats, but "variable and probably greater than 1/20 for most rolls" chance of converting a single miss to a hit. Which means the power is guaranteed to come up, albeit not necessarily be useful, a lot more often.

Depends on what you're facing, but that sounds pretty nice to me. And the preternaturally sharp senses, fast movement, and (this is the guess part) elven-blood allowing use of later elf-only feats, powers, and magical items is pretty schweet.

So, giving humans +2/+2, feat, skill doesn't seem too bad, compared to the elf.

 

[GreatLemur]

I sure would love to see a setting where humans aren't the de rigeur middle-of-the-road race, unique only in their adaptability.

 

[Dfranco83]

Humans might not get a stat bonus. The article stated that would provide just stat bonuses compared to the stat bonus/penalties. They are a race that is suppose to be about 'dramatic action/recovery' without them having more HP/AC bonuses.

They might get a 'second wind' ability as well as action point bonus. I read and im not entirely sure where that 4th Ed will use action points.

Its another theory.

 

[Wulfram]

Humans are apparently the most "resilient" race, so +2 to Con might be indicated.

Then perhaps +2 to any other stat, or maybe any mental stat. Or something completely different.

 

[Aust Diamondew]

I'd only give humans +2 to any one ability of their choice.
I'd then give them extra skills and feat.

They don't get as much of an ability boost but they can choose where it goes, so it balances out. Hard not to like extra skills and a feat too.

 

[Kahuna Burger]

I sure would love to see a setting where humans aren't the de rigeur middle-of-the-road race, unique only in their adaptability.

Indeed, giving humans a niche was the first news from 4e that showed me something I'd want to change to.

 

[szilard]

I sure would love to see a setting where humans aren't the de rigeur middle-of-the-road race, unique only in their adaptability.

Yeah.

I recently wrote a blog post on this topic that's too long to post here, but I totally agree with you. On a side note, Decipher's LotR game did a not-horrible job of this.

-Stuart