Hi all, long time no see
What do people think about the idea of having the races' racial bonuses work instead as a floating modifier to ability scores? But the caveat is that you can't stack them into the same ability score.
So for high elves, their +2 Dex and +1 Int can instead be applied into, say, +2 Cha and +1 Wis for a charismatic diplomat who is always seemingly one step ahead in the great game of intrigue. Or for a high elf honed to physical perfection and peak fighting edge, that +2 Dex and +1 Int could instead be a +2 Str and +1 Con.
This way, you could get micro-cultures within the same racial make up.
My preference is to go with the 13th Age approach.
Each race has two stat options. Pick one for a +2 bonus.
Each
class has two stat options. Pick one for a +2 bonus--so long as it isn't the same as the one you picked for race.
That way, nobody can complain that they couldn't get +2 Int to play a Wizard, or +2 Strength to play a Fighter, or whatever else,
unless that's what they want. Conversely, nobody is
forced to play a Wizard with ultra-high intelligence if they would prefer to roleplay the whole "playing against type" thing. Some combos provide a ton of diversity this way, so you have up to four different options: e.g. if race is +A or +B and class is +X or +Y, then you could have A&X, A&Y, B&X, B&Y. Options that do "play to type" so to speak have only one option, since A&B is the same as B&A--meaning there is a real, but small, benefit to playing against type: more variety. Every Dragonborn Paladin is going to have +Str/+Cha, but a Wood Elf Paladin could be +Str/+Wis, +Str/+Dex, +Wis/+Cha, or +Dex/+Cha--anything from a proselytizer-in-plate to a puckish rogue.
This method preserves the idea that you have
some notion of what it means to be X species, without pigeonholing every single member of that species to one and only one physiological expression. It recognizes that training and inclination matter--that maybe you chose to be a Wizard because you're quite sharp, or because you chose
And it make the
Human floating +2 actually quite strong: every human character is always capable of having any bonus stat they want
and a bonus to whatever stat they desire from their class. Ultimate flexibility, truly a pure bonus rather than a mixed blessing.
@CubicsRube, just saw your post, would this sort of idea work for you? I find it pretty great conceptually, and it's easy as pie to implement it in 5e if you want to: just have every class give the option of picking one of the two stats for which it gets saving throw proficiency.