D&D 5E PHB Humans are the most mechanically boring race. How do we fix this?

[Scribe]

The alternative route is to give humans some core, universally useful and adaptable way to contribute mechanically.

I'd still build on what it is you want humanity to reflect fundamentally. Are humans the federation builders? Are they out to form alliances with others? Your Help idea would make sense then.

It sounds like that's more what you want, something post creation that makes Humans distinct during play.

 

[Bolares]

Xanathar's added race exclusive feats for many races in the PHB

Aaaand later tasha's killed the racial restrictions hahahah

 

[Steampunkette]

So... here's what I do:

I split all races into Heritage and Culture. Heritage is Biological Traits (Darkvision, Lifespan, Etc) and Culture is, well... culture.

So you don't make a Human, you make a Musarran Raider Human with the cultural traits of a Raider (with Babylonian Flavor) and the heritage traits of humans.

All the races except humans gain either +2, +1 floating, three +1s, or something similar, Tasha's Style, for modifiers. Humans get 2 +1s and the "Adaptable" trait, which allows them, each time they level up, to move 1 point from any attribute to any other attribute, including at level 1.

It makes them incredibly customizable, and since it's a trait that continues past level 1, it's very attractive.

 

[ReshiIRE]

Aaaand later tasha's killed the racial restrictions hahahah

Did it? That's not according to this tweet, and from skimming over rules a while ago and reading stuff online, I thought the only racial restriction dropped related to Bladesinger no longer being restricted to Elves.

 

[ad_hoc]

+2/+2/+1

The problem with 6 +1s is that the bonuses have diminishing returns and 4 of the 6 are even in the standard array.

This will give you 16/16/14/12/10/8.

If you aren't using Tasha's floating bonuses this will be enough for people to take them.

Variant Human is then slightly less powerful overall but with flexibility with the feat and the skill.

 

[Jmarso]

Mechanically? Off the top of my head, give them 2 backgrounds. So you don't just have a Noble, you have a Noble Scholar. You don't just have a Criminal you have a Criminal Sailor (ie a Pirate).

I have no idea if that would work but I can think of a bunch of combos that don't seem overpowered but offer a lot of color.

I like this idea. Even as a partial application, such as a hybrid of two backgrounds rather than two full backgrounds. Cherry pick skills from each and coordinate with the DM on any goodies / features. Would have worked well with a char I rolled up influenced by Fronsac from Brotherhood of the Wolf. (Le Pact De Loups). I took anthropologist as his background because that was the closest, but I could have easily gone with some combination of anthropologist and then either soldier, noble, or some form of scout.

 

[Bolares]

Did it? That's not according to this tweet, and from skimming over rules a while ago and reading stuff online, I thought the only racial restriction dropped related to Bladesinger no longer being restricted to Elves.

Maybe I'm misremembering it. Maybe tue Unearthed Arcana that came out first said that.

 

[Bill Zebub]

I have only once seen a non-variant human at my table, and it was only because the player thought it would be fun(ny) to build a character with all 13's and 14's. (And used the first ASI to get two more 14's).

 

[commandercrud]

The "default" should be the most mechanically boring by defintion.

 

[ECMO3]

I would have to disagree and being able to cast misty step or invisibility for example as a 1st level character is far from boring.

Similarly going with heavy armor master or tavern brawler or a lot of other feats lets a fist level V. human (or custom) do things no other first level character can do.

At higher levels those feats are less impactful, but letting you carry that forward while also getting an ASI has its advantages.

Quite frankly a grappler build or a multi-class arcane trickster/caster has to be a human or custom IMO because it takes to long to get into your build otherwise.