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<blockquote data-quote="James Gasik" data-source="post: 9212748" data-attributes="member: 6877472">The potential issue with doing something like that is it puts Small sized characters in a particular role.&nbsp; If Small characters are exceptional spellcasters, archers, and duelists, but bad at being heavy melee, then you mostly won't see them in those roles.Now there are people who are like &quot;yes, that's how it should be&quot;, but in the past couple years, D&amp;D has been heading in a direction where every species can take on any role with more or less equal ability.&nbsp; Orcs can excel as Wizards, Goliaths can excel as Rogues, and Elves can excel as Barbarians.There's no real room in this paradigm for races that are pigeonholed in this manner.&nbsp; I'm not saying that's the way it should be- personally, I have mixed feelings about it.&nbsp; On the one hand, I've always enjoyed playing against type, and trying to make it work.&nbsp; I've had successes and failures over the years, but some very fun characters have emerged.On the other hand, it seems odd for a species to be able to pursue every role, yet be just be bad at some of them.&nbsp; Orc thieves, assassins, clerics, and shamans have long been a part of D&amp;D lore, but it seems really strange for a species that has +2 Strength to follow these career paths when their natural talents lie elsewhere.&nbsp; Back in the d20 era, when designing races, I'd always try to give them some trait that wouldn't make a species totally typecast; sure, you get a bonus to Strength, but maybe you have an option add your Strength to spell power or something.The gripping hand here is that WotC has taken the approach that all species have equal ability to pursue any class, and so it's no longer true that your Elf character has to be slender and agile.&nbsp; Dwarves can be gregarious and nimble.&nbsp; That's just how things are now, and in this light, there isn't much reason for small characters to have, say, disadvantages when using heavy weapons from a perspective of mechanical balance.&nbsp; WotC has increasingly marginalized narrative elements in this edition. Everyone matures at the same rate, there are no aging modifiers, penalties to ability scores have been removed, ASI's are now a la carte, there are no &quot;bad guy&quot; species...ditching size modifiers at this point seems fairly trivial.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="James Gasik, post: 9212748, member: 6877472"] The potential issue with doing something like that is it puts Small sized characters in a particular role. If Small characters are exceptional spellcasters, archers, and duelists, but bad at being heavy melee, then you mostly won't see them in those roles. Now there are people who are like "yes, that's how it should be", but in the past couple years, D&D has been heading in a direction where every species can take on any role with more or less equal ability. Orcs can excel as Wizards, Goliaths can excel as Rogues, and Elves can excel as Barbarians. There's no real room in this paradigm for races that are pigeonholed in this manner. I'm not saying that's the way it should be- personally, I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, I've always enjoyed playing against type, and trying to make it work. I've had successes and failures over the years, but some very fun characters have emerged. On the other hand, it seems odd for a species to be able to pursue every role, yet be just be bad at some of them. Orc thieves, assassins, clerics, and shamans have long been a part of D&D lore, but it seems really strange for a species that has +2 Strength to follow these career paths when their natural talents lie elsewhere. Back in the d20 era, when designing races, I'd always try to give them some trait that wouldn't make a species totally typecast; sure, you get a bonus to Strength, but maybe you have an option add your Strength to spell power or something. The gripping hand here is that WotC has taken the approach that all species have equal ability to pursue any class, and so it's no longer true that your Elf character has to be slender and agile. Dwarves can be gregarious and nimble. That's just how things are now, and in this light, there isn't much reason for small characters to have, say, disadvantages when using heavy weapons from a perspective of mechanical balance. WotC has increasingly marginalized narrative elements in this edition. Everyone matures at the same rate, there are no aging modifiers, penalties to ability scores have been removed, ASI's are now a la carte, there are no "bad guy" species...ditching size modifiers at this point seems fairly trivial. [/QUOTE]

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