D&D 5E Racial bonuses as a floating modifier to ability scores

[Horwath]

 

[Corinnguard]

Which reminds me -- weapon proficiencies shouldn't be a right of birth, but instead awarded based on culture/upbringing.

Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition has it where weapon proficiencies are based off of the Culture you grew up in. So, you could be a human who grew up in a Mountain Dwarf Culture and learned their weapon proficiencies.

The human would gain these traits for being raised in a Mountain Dwarf culture:

Dwarven Weapon Training. You have proficiency with the battleaxe, handaxe, light hammer, and warhammer.

Dwarven Armor Training. You have proficiency with light and medium armor.

Heart of the Forge. You have resistance to fire damage. In addition, you gain proficiency in Engineering.

Mountain Born. You’re acclimated to high and low altitudes, including elevations above 20,000 feet or depths below 20,000 feet. You’re also naturally adapted to cold climates.

Stonecunning. Whenever you make a History check related to the origin of stonework, you are considered proficient in the History skill and gain an expertise die to the check.

Languages. You can speak, read, write, and sign Common, Dwarvish, and one other language.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

View attachment 398030

Ah. My apologies. I did not notice the date, only the recent reply. Given the current lack-of-consensus regarding whether it is good or bad for stats to come from Background instead of Species, I had thought it was dramatically more recent. Six years is a long time.

 

[aco175]

@Imminent.Demilich welcome to the site. You brought back a 6 year-old thread which had me thinking for a minute. I was in favor myself of racial bonuses over background when the debates came up over the transition from 5e to 5.5e. Your example of the goliath and halfling seem to show it. Points from old threads will say that the PC halfling might be that one in a million halfling who is extra strong for his race, or the 1:1,000,000 orc that is a super smart mage.

I felt that it worked in past editions and it was something to overcome of you were starting with a 14 strength halfling instead of 16. In 5e you could just be a DEX fighter instead so things start to become less needed. the 5.5 backgrounds seem like they will be one of the first things to change. I can see people just letting you pick and place to gain the +2/+1 instead of just the 3 attributes they think the background needs. Same thing with the starter feat. They have the part about making your own background and people just do this with that part anyways, so why bother.

I seem to be at the point with the modifiers that it does not matter much with the new edition. They are not really needed with the power of the characters and could just be thrown out.