Level Up (A5E) Just remove all racial ability bonuses and tweak the point buy system:

[Horwath]

Now with Tasha's book coming out soon and "floating" ability score bonuses from race,

just make it simple and remove them all together and focus on minor exploration/combat/social bonuses from race, and every bonus could have at least two options.

And tweak the point buy system;

New point buy system(or old if you include 3.5E);

point buy pool increased from 27 to 32 points.
minimum score 8
maximum score 16

cost

ability score 8 - cost 0
ability score 9 - cost 1
ability score 10 - cost 2
ability score 11 - cost 3
ability score 12 - cost 4
ability score 13 - cost 5
ability score 14 - cost 6
ability score 15 - cost 8
ability score 16 - cost 10

or if you just want default array; it's:

16,16,14,12,10,8


As and additional optional rule; if you want to keep some racial flavor, you can set racial minimum or/and maximum starting scores.
I would recommend only minimum scores:

I.E.

elf; min dex 12, high elf; min int 10, wood elf; min wis 10, drow; min cha 10

dwarf; min con 12, mt.dwarf; min str 12, hill dwarf, min wis 10

half elf; min dex 10

half orc; min str 12, min con 10

 

[Eyes of Nine]

I personally like the point buy system (having spent 12+ years playing GURPS), and I think this is a good tweak.

 

[Haldrik]

For a standard array (including former adjustments)

• 16, 15, 14, 12, 11, 10

• 2d4 + 8

 

[Morrus]

Level Up currently doesn’t feature any racial ability bonuses.

 

[Horwath]

Level Up currently doesn’t feature any racial ability bonuses.

Just in case

but, you can also remove them from background and go with increased point buy pool.

 

[tetrasodium]

Just in case

but, you can also remove them from background and go with increased point buy pool.

That is the kind of change for the sake of change without enough consideration to what is lost or damaged that caused so many problems in 5e &doesn't improve anything

 

[Quartz]

If stat bumps are a thing then I prefer them to be class-related. E.g. the Wizard class should give a +2 Int stat boost. Or you could riff off MERP / Rolemaster and simply say "Your Int is now 16."

 

[Stalker0]

If stat bumps are a thing then I prefer them to be class-related. E.g. the Wizard class should give a +2 Int stat boost. Or you could riff off MERP / Rolemaster and simply say "Your Int is now 16."

Having made several sample characters recently, I agree with this. I am not liking the ability bump for backgrounds....I feel like it dominates the conversation on why I take a background. I would rather the background just give me some cool little ability and some skills....and let the class take on the stat burden.

This ensures that your always getting a stat thats aligned with your class, and you can still leave it as +1 key stat, +1 any other stat to ensure flexibility. Its also fine if classes offer some options here as well. For example, Fighter could be +1 str or +1 dex, +1 to any other stat, Paladin could be +1 str or +1 cha, +1 to any other stat, etc.

 

[Horwath]

Having made several sample characters recently, I agree with this. I am not liking the ability bump for backgrounds....I feel like it dominates the conversation on why I take a background. I would rather the background just give me some cool little ability and some skills....and let the class take on the stat burden.

This ensures that your always getting a stat thats aligned with your class, and you can still leave it as +1 key stat, +1 any other stat to ensure flexibility. Its also fine if classes offer some options here as well. For example, Fighter could be +1 str or +1 dex, +1 to any other stat, Paladin could be +1 str or +1 cha, +1 to any other stat, etc.

this.

Or if we are to have any stat bumps in character generation the could be spread out to go from every part of character.

+1 from heritage. Every heritage has 3 abilities that can be chosen.

+1 from culture. Every culture has 3 abilities that can be chosen.

+1 from background. Every background has 3 abilities that can be chosen.

+1 from class. Every class has 3 abilities that can be chosen.

no ability can be raised more than +2.


But, I would still prefer if there is no stat bumps at all from character creation.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Having made several sample characters recently, I agree with this. I am not liking the ability bump for backgrounds....I feel like it dominates the conversation on why I take a background. I would rather the background just give me some cool little ability and some skills....and let the class take on the stat burden.

This ensures that your always getting a stat thats aligned with your class, and you can still leave it as +1 key stat, +1 any other stat to ensure flexibility. Its also fine if classes offer some options here as well. For example, Fighter could be +1 str or +1 dex, +1 to any other stat, Paladin could be +1 str or +1 cha, +1 to any other stat, etc.

I agree. If we're not going to put it into culture or ancestry, class is the best option. ASIs are so important mechanically that the only place where they're not going to dominate choice is class.