D&D 5E Race Class combo, together, defines a character ‘type’

[Yaarel]

The Human Wizard has great flavor and great mechanics.

To play the Wizard class, I use the Variant Human because the feat can total the +2 to the Intelligence score for the primary spellcasting ability, plus add something useful. The Human makes a character that *EXCELS* at *WIZARDRY*, right out of the gate at Level 1. (Heh, I dont give flick about darkvision. It is besides the point.) The Human additionally achieves a +1 to Dexterity or to Constitution, with Constitution being more important for concentration. Heh, the High Elf can suck it.

As DM, the Gnome is fun enough to run as NPCs. As a player, I am less enthusiastic about small races, and never play a Gnome for my own character.

 

[Yaarel]

As a player, I am less enthusiastic about small races and monster races.

 

[Hussar]

@Hussar. 4d6Drop is the official default for D&D 5e. The +2 improvement matters, so even a 20 is possible, tho often enough an 18 is. It is less helpful if a discussion ignores this. Failure to supply the +2 is effectively a feat tax.

No, it is ONE of the defaults. There are two. 4d6 drop PLUS standard array.

Presuming you won the stat lottery in chargen isn't all that helpful when discussing whether or not an additional +1 is going to make much of a difference. We have a VERY long thread telling me that a 17 or 18 is actually pretty darn rare - to the point where you should not even consider starting with that - less than 10% of characters will.

That or append your discussion here to state that IF you die roll your PC's, and IF you manage to get a starting stat of 18, THEN a High Elf will be a sub-optimal choice for wizard. Otherwise, there's no difference.

So, I'm thinking that discounting the 3% of die rolled PC's out there that start with an 18 in a stat, isn't all that big of a deal. They are certainly an outlier.

 

[Hussar]

The Human Wizard has great flavor and great mechanics.

To play the Wizard class, I use the Variant Human because the feat can total the +2 to the Intelligence score for the primary spellcasting ability, plus add something useful. The Human makes a character that *EXCELS* at *WIZARDRY*, right out of the gate at Level 1. (Heh, I dont give flick about darkvision. It is besides the point.) The Human additionally achieves a +1 to Dexterity or to Constitution, with Constitution being more important for concentration. Heh, the High Elf can suck it.

As DM, the Gnome is fun enough to run as NPCs. As a player, I am less enthusiastic about small races, and never play a Gnome for my own character.

If we're going PHB only, the only feats that will help you here are:

• Keen Mind - whoopee, you know where North is.
• Linguist - 3 bonus languages - not bad, nice a flavorful, although a High Elf comes with 2 bonus languages (Elven and one more) out of the gate.
• Observant - +5 to Investigation, not bad at all, that's a nice one.

So, three feats, two of which are pretty pointless and one that only applies to one skill. Yeah, that's an incredibly optimal choice.

 

[Yaarel]

The statistical average of 4d6 Drop is:

16, 14, 13, 12, 11, 9

The +2 matters more often than not.

 

[Yaarel]

Yeah. Observant is a not bad feat.

A Human Wizard with +2 Intelligence, +1 Constitution (concentration and hit points) and a +5 (!) to passive Wisdom and Intelligence checks.

Is noticeably better than.

A mediocre High Elf with +1 Intelligence, with poor concentration, an impressive but less relevant +2 Dex while fleeing from melee anyway, a redundant proficiency with Perception, and a darkvision whose stealth is ruined by other party members anyway. Oh, and lest I forget a negligible 5th-choice cantrip.

Yeah, the High Elf Wizard can suck it.

 

[Hussar]

The statistical average of 4d6 Drop is:

16, 14, 13, 12, 11, 9

The +2 matters more often than not.

Yup, if you choose to round up on your numbers, it does. Again, there's a really, really long thread discussing this if you want the actual numbers. The average is 15.buncha decimals, not actually 16. But, again, in any case, like I said, your "High Elf Wizard is sub-par" needs to come with some pretty serious caveats.

1. IF you die roll.
2. IF you manage to roll a 16 or higher
2a. UNLESS you roll a 17, in which case it doesn't matter.
3. THEN High Elf will be a suboptimal choice. And not by much. And only for a few levels until the ASI's catch up.

 

[Yaarel]

With the Human, if you roll a highest number even, use the feat to boost it. If your highest number is odd, use the feat for something else.

To need an ASI to fix a mediocre casting ability score, is a feat tax.

 

[Caliban]

Yeah. Observant is a not bad feat.

A Human Wizard with +2 Intelligence, +1 Constitution (concentration and hit points) and a +5 (!) to passive Wisdom and Intelligence checks.

Is noticeably better than.

A mediocre High Elf with +1 Intelligence, with poor concentration, an impressive but less relevant +2 Dex while fleeing from melee anyway, a redundant proficiency with Perception, and a darkvision whose stealth is ruined by other party members anyway. Oh, and lest I forget a negligible 5th-choice cantrip.

Yeah, the High Elf Wizard can suck it.

Cool story bro.

 

[WayOfTheFourElements]

Yeah. Observant is a not bad feat.

A Human Wizard with +2 Intelligence, +1 Constitution (concentration and hit points) and a +5 (!) to passive Wisdom and Intelligence checks.

Is noticeably better than.

A mediocre High Elf with +1 Intelligence, with poor concentration, an impressive but less relevant +2 Dex while fleeing from melee anyway, a redundant proficiency with Perception, and a darkvision whose stealth is ruined by other party members anyway. Oh, and lest I forget a negligible 5th-choice cantrip.

Yeah, the High Elf Wizard can suck it.

Which all assumes your group makes use of the optional variant human, which some groups do not.