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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Fanaelialae" data-source="post: 9723991" data-attributes="member: 53980">I tend to approach species description as descriptive, rather than prescriptive. The typical wood elf might love forests, but there's nothing to say that there couldn't be wood elf industrialists out there who want to raze the forests to make room for factories.With regard to mechanics, as with most things, I think it's a tradeoff with pros and cons for both viewpoints.For example, let's say two players are making strength-based fighters. One wants to play a half-giant while the other is a halfling. Let's assume a fixed array of ability scores, arrange as desired.If the half-giant gets a +2 to strength, while the halfling gets a -2 to strength, that arguably results in better verisimilitude. Assuming all other things are equal, we expect the massive half-giant to be stronger than the tiny halfling. It might feel a bit silly for the halfling to be an even match when arm wrestling the half giant.Of course, that strength penalty might also be less fun for the halfling player, and potentially result in no one wanting to play a strength-based halfling fighter. It can constrain practical character creation, funneling players towards making the same class/species combinations, while penalizing those who make sub-optimal choices for the sake of RP. That said, I've known players who actually enjoy making those sub-optimal picks, so it isn't always a negative.You could, alternately, represent the half-giant's strength mechanically by other means (maybe they get advantage when making strength checks against smaller targets) but this also has its own pros and cons. Using the example ability above, the half giant is no more effective at making strength checks against a larger target than the halfling is, which might strain verisimilitude for some.The point being, I don't think there's a perfect answer. Just use the option that has the best pros and minimal cons for your group.IMC, I have beings that are naturally Enkindled, and those that are not. Being Enkindled means you have free will. Elves, orcs, humans, etc, are all naturally Enkindled. Demons, angels, elementals, etc, are not, and instead follow their "programming". A typical demon has no more choice of being evil than the sun has of choosing not to shine.That said, the state of being Enkindled is like having a flame within you. Under the right circumstances, an Enkindled being might accidentally Enkindle a demon (or whatever). From that point onward, that demon does have a choice as to how it behaves. It may choose to embrace evil, or reflect on its actions and choose a different path. Likely, it will feel conflicted for some time as it comes to terms with its newly Enkindled nature.That's been my personal "workaround" for the issue of creatures with an inherent nature.</blockquote>

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