Well Doc, as far as a combat simulator, that Half-Orc is still one feat shy of the human, and that makes all the difference to me. Whether or not you can justify dropping your wis and cha or not. Is you do drop wis, I guarantee you will cause a TPK to the first level 2 wizard with charm, as you subsequently drop your whole team, my level 7 barbarian has a will save of +1, and I tell you, I fail every single will save, and always will.
None of the stats are throwaways, its what makes the human SO good. They get no penalties. They get only bonuses, and, IMO, of the bonuses that exist in D&D, extra skills and extra feats are the two absolute best that dont also come with a level adjustment. Call me crazy, but.
I dont like one dimensional characters, because in D&D, they tend to die. The fighter with the 5 wisdom has 1 good will save to death. The wizard with the 5 con is 1 fort save from death. And in both cases you'll fail any and every save.
I heard the "roleplaying perspective" of balance from White Wolf long enough. I dont accept it anymore. I want the rules to strive for balance, not for balance to be a joke, and characters to be an arms race of who can make the best templated d00d to wreck monsters fastest. I want a good reason to make a tiefling, beyond, they look cool and would be an interesting race to rp. Stat wise, they SUCK. There is nothing good about them. They should give me a level back to play one. It offends my sense of balance just to look at them. Many races strike me similarly.
When I look over race lists for a new campaign, I invariably come back to humans. They get the best bonuses and no penalties, and I just dont quite get that. I agree with the posters who said humans arent overpowered, most of the other races are underpowered, though. I think many of the +2/-2's could go to +2 and no penalty, in return for that feat they miss out on. If I were doing a homebrew, the first thing I'd do is rework the balance on the allowed races.
