D&D General No More "Humans in Funny Hats": Racial Mechanics Should Determine Racial Cultures

[Scars Unseen]

So what? Is it not "logical" to have the possibility of an Orc/Half-Orc that has a once-in-a-million genetic disorder that causes them to be weaker than the average human, or as weak as the weakest human (8 with point buy/standard array, 3 with rolling)? How is that illogical or impossible? Again, the PCs are the exception.

Fun fact: if you want to play a character that goes so completely against the norm that the rules don't explicitly allow it, you can still play that character usually if you talk to the DM and aren't using your idea as an excuse to intentionally break the power scale. "Hey DM, I want to play an orc that's noticeably weaker than usual. Can I give him a 6 Strength score?" is not a request a lot of DMs are going to refuse. Alternatively, don't use the ability score generation method most highly designed to avoid "unplayable" ability score results.

Sometimes exceptions are made at the gaming table, not at the writing table.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Fun fact: if you want to play a character that goes so completely against the norm that the rules don't explicitly allow it, you can still play that character usually if you talk to the DM and aren't using your idea as an excuse to intentionally break the power scale. "Hey DM, I want to play an orc that's noticeably weaker than usual. Can I give him a 6 Strength score?" is not a request a lot of DMs are going to refuse. Alternatively, don't use the ability score generation method most highly designed to avoid "unplayable" ability score results.

Sometimes exceptions are made at the gaming table, not at the writing table.

Eh, there is no reason to not simply put it into the players hands. Having defaults is good, and I think it’s nonsensical to not have even suggested high stats for new races, but it has also always been silly to not allow a player to just play a clumsy halfling.

 

[Scars Unseen]

Eh, there is no reason to not simply put it into the players hands. Having defaults is good, and I think it’s nonsensical to not have even suggested high stats for new races, but it has also always been silly to not allow a player to just play a clumsy halfling.

RAW can't account for every option a player may want to try. Even an 8 is only slightly below average, so I'd say that the array method already doesn't allow a truly clumsy character regardless. Sometimes you have to take advantage of the fact that the game has a human element to its arbitration. I was making all kinds of weird characters in 2E, and that system was nailed down tighter than anything in the WotC era from a player option standpoint.

 

[Aldarc]

And you dont need to 'simply saying Dwarves get a +2 Constitution'.

Do all the various interesting things, add in Paragon racial abilities or feats (3.5 OGL, or Level up), have better special rules.

And you can still have ASI fixed.

The false narrative that this is a binary needs to go away.

I'm not saying that it is a binary, but maybe the Attribute bonuses are holding back more interesting design features while also having a range of other negatives.

 

[Aldarc]

If you say so.

This was the basis of my Paladin. Worked great.

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But Tieflings received a +2 Charisma in 4e and 5e. That is a +4 Charisma difference between this and the past two editions. That seems to suggest that some qualities of the Tiefling are quite mutable and not all that inherent to the species as far as the designers are concerned.

 

[Scribe]

But Tieflings received a +2 Charisma in 4e and 5e. That is a +4 Charisma difference between this and the past two editions. That seems to suggest that some qualities of the Tiefling are quite mutable and not all that inherent to the species as far as the designers are concerned.

No, it suggests a poor edition changed things too much, and they then designed the race to align with the Warlock instead.

Thank god, for SCAG.

 

[Azzy]

RAW can't account for every option a player may want to try.

No, but no fixed ASIs obviously help.

 

[Azzy]

Thank god, for SCAG.

I don't think the WotC team qualifies for divinity.

 

[Aldarc]

No, it suggests a poor edition changed things too much, and they then designed the race to align with the Warlock instead.

Thank god, for SCAG.

No, it suggests that you're itching for an edition war and that your opinion on tieflings and 4e is clouding your judgment.

 

[Scars Unseen]

No, but no fixed ASIs obviously help.

So would no fixed racial traits at all. But that doesn't necessarily mean either is good for the continued lines of distinction between racial options. And it wouldn't help at all if the desired result still lies outside the bounds of the stat generation method you're using (e.g. a clumsy character when using stat array).