D&D 5E Racial Ability Score Mods

[Ravenheart87]

Have Magnus Magnusson arm wrestle with the chimp

You are comparing a trained strongman with a few levels and feats to an untrained animal.

By the way the racial penalties for halflings are unnecessary, because stronger races have already bonuses. A halfling who rolled 18 will have 18 Str at 1st level, while a human will have 19 (racial bonus) or even 20 (pick the right feat), and no penalty in handling heavy weapons due to his medium size. There is no need for penalties, when the other has bonuses.

 

[Paraxis]

And while a halfling can have a very high strength the bonus to dexterity encourages no one would build such a character, your best bet as a halfling is to focus on dexterity, if you do that strength is pretty pointless.

Penalties just keep some races from ever taking certain classes, I like dwarf rogues and half-orc paladins personally.

 

[BigVanVader]

And while a halfling can have a very high strength the bonus to dexterity encourages no one would build such a character,

I would. Super strong Halfling dude sounds fun as hell.

 

[Paraxis]

I would. Super strong Halfling dude sounds fun as hell.

OK, I have done that too, just to piss off a friend of mine who hates it when characters physical appearance doesn't match their strength score. His wife played a strong female in one of my campaigns and wanted to look like River from Firefly, I was like cool by me, he went crazy over it saying it messed with his immersion and sense of disbelief. Next campaign I built a halfling barbarian just so I could be like 2' foot something 35 lbs shoeless god of death and stronger than his human paladin.

So there is a point to strong halfings annoying those people who have issues with strong halflings.

Two published worlds Darksun and Eberron both have halfling barbaric cultures too, so it is not that crazy honestly.

 

[BigVanVader]

Your friend is a snoopity goop.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

His wife played a strong female in one of my campaigns and wanted to look like River from Firefly, I was like cool by me, he went crazy over it saying it messed with his immersion and sense of disbelief.

It really depends on the edition. AD&D clearly stated that your stats had obvious inherent meaning, and anyone with a Strength of 18 or higher was not built like River Tam. Meanwhile, 4E clearly stated that the fluff is mutable and you can change any description you feel like, as long as the numbers stay the same.

There's no wrong way to play, but people have their preferences, and it usually helps to get a consensus on such things before you start the campaign.

 

[Mouseferatu]

I just find it too difficult to have a zero-level halfling with an 18 STR.

Which can be 100% accommodated through the radical step of not giving your halfling characters an 18 Strength.

 

[PnPgamer]

Use poiint buy system and nobody gets 18 strength.

 

[BigVanVader]

Our group uses the standard array given in the book. No rolling, no point buy. Everyone gets the highest stat of 15(before racial bonuses), and everyone gets the lowest stat of 8(before racial bonuses).

 

[bedir than]

Which can be 100% accommodated through the radical step of not giving your halfling characters an 18 Strength.

That does nothing to change the average strength of a world's halflings.