Racial Starting Stat Bonuses

[NMcCoy]

I noticed the Cha/Wis lack too, and I've been working on a race for it over here.

 

[Zephrin the Lost]

I'm right now playing a Dborn wizard with a 16 int and a 16 wis and a 10 cha. He's an cold-focused caster has white scales and has a cold breath weapon. If I could have a +2 boost to int instead of cha, I'd take it.

When my turn to DM comes up, I was thinking of allowing the players to make such a change. My worry is that it makes humans less special.

--Z

 

[Hereticus]

Eliminate all racial stat bonuses!

I start all characters with an 18, 16, 14, 12, 10 & 8... with no racial bonuses.

That's equal to a 22 point buy-in with two +2s to the higher stats.

This allows players much more variety, previously only certain races fit certain classes.

 

[Badwe]

i play a dwarf war cleric, 18 str, 15 con 15 wis (starting) and the rest is basically random. I'm happy with my character even though i don't have a racial bonus in my primary stat but i'm cool with that.

i missed the githyanki, but it's still an mm race. people don't realize how important racial feats and paragon paths are. just having a racial write up is going to cost you options.

 

[doctorhook]

Eliminate all racial stat bonuses!

I start all characters with an 18, 16, 14, 12, 10 & 8... with no racial bonuses.

That's equal to a 22 point buy-in with two +2s to the higher stats.

This allows players much more variety, previously only certain races fit certain classes.

This is actually not a bad idea! My only concern is that the remaining racial features wouldn't balance well against one another. For example, the Eladrin was balanced with the fact in mind that it has redundant ability bonuses for the purposes of calculating defenses. For another example, what would stop, say, Dwarves or Elves from becoming the best characters in every class? (The most obvious response is that their feats are geared to specific concepts, but that's easy to wreck with poor planning or editing.) And what about all those folks who would say, "All races are the same now!!1! Hurr..."?

I offer this idea: rather than the current ability score bonuses, what if each race only had a set +2 bonus to a single score determined by race, and another floating +2 bonus to any one score? (In this case, Humans would simply get two floating bonuses.) For example, an Elf Rogue would get Dexterity from being an Elf, but could choose Charisma for his floating bonus, while an Elf Fighter could have Dexterity and Strength. In this way, each race would still lean towards certain classes and certain builds within classes. It's just a though. (Please send royalties to-- )

 

[Tequila Sunrise]

My rule is that your +2s can go in any two stats, regardless of race. Humans get another +2 and can double-up one of their other racial traits (+2 to NADs, a fourth at-will, etc...).

Racial stat bonuses actually don't matter much one way or the other: it's just a +1 bonus. But those +2s are mental blocks for most players. It's very hard for most of us to pair a class with a race that doesn't have +2 to the class' primary stat. So, since the bonuses don't matter much anyway, I don't see a reason not to remove the mental block against unusual race/class combos.

 

[Jhaelen]

I'm getting tired of these endless discussions. I think I'll throw out all stats and replace them by a single stat called 'Awesome'. Every character will start with a '20' in Awesome and can use it to replace any stat mentioned in the descriptions of class abilities, powers, feats, items, etc.

That should do the trick.

 

[Hereticus]

This is actually not a bad idea! My only concern is that the remaining racial features wouldn't balance well against one another. For example, the Eladrin was balanced with the fact in mind that it has redundant ability bonuses for the purposes of calculating defenses. For another example, what would stop, say, Dwarves or Elves from becoming the best characters in every class? (The most obvious response is that their feats are geared to specific concepts, but that's easy to wreck with poor planning or editing.) And what about all those folks who would say, "All races are the same now!!1! Hurr..."?

Our game is very background driven, which means that you can not divorce your character from all the baggage of being a member of a certain race. While combat is important, an integral part of our game is the character's interaction with society. For example (as a player) my Cleric has an Assassin tailing him, which is a long story that grew out of a racial rivalry in my background. That Assassin showed up in our last dungeon crawl, and temporarily prevented our victory. Other characters have similar nemesis. More than a list of abilities, this adds color to racial identity.

Yeah I know... that style of game is not for people who just want to optimize and hack. They need "sanitized balance" so one hacker is not better than another.

I offer this idea: rather than the current ability score bonuses, what if each race only had a set +2 bonus to a single score determined by race, and another floating +2 bonus to any one score? (In this case, Humans would simply get two floating bonuses.) For example, an Elf Rogue would get Dexterity from being an Elf, but could choose Charisma for his floating bonus, while an Elf Fighter could have Dexterity and Strength. In this way, each race would still lean towards certain classes and certain builds within classes. It's just a though.

Better than the designed system, but it still points a race toward certain classes. I believe that the idea behind player characters is that they are the best of the best of whatever race they are of. There may not be many Dwarves with an 18 Intelligence and an 08 Constitution, but if there is one, it would likely be a player's character. And if your game is similar to what I described above, that character would be stigmatized as being an odd Dwarf with plenty of hooks for the DM to introduce into the game!

 

[Hereticus]

My rule is that your +2s can go in any two stats, regardless of race. Humans get another +2 and can double-up one of their other racial traits (+2 to NADs, a fourth at-will, etc...).

With a 22 point buy-in, that is equal to the 18/16/14/12/10/08 rule I use. I like that system, because if forces some low stats, and it helps players build flaws into their characters. Part of the character's background is how that low stat has affected them in a negative way.

My Wizard with an 08 Strength carries... err drags a two handed sword behind him. In a potential combat situation he can pick it up and strike a pose, but had never once bothered to use it in combat. He is equally ineffective with all weapons.

Racial stat bonuses actually don't matter much one way or the other: it's just a +1 bonus. But those +2s are mental blocks for most players. It's very hard for most of us to pair a class with a race that doesn't have +2 to the class' primary stat. So, since the bonuses don't matter much anyway, I don't see a reason not to remove the mental block against unusual race/class combos.

You are very correct... that +1 is a HUGE mental block.

For me too... and as a group we all realized it. That's why way back during 3.5 we adopted the standard stat rule.

One group (buy-in rules) started with two Wizards, mine had a 20 intelligence (+5) and the other had a 16 (+3). Our relative effectiveness was like night and day. Yes I was guilty of optimization.

 

[Zephrin the Lost]

These are some good suggestions. I like the standard stat buy with an 18 and a 16, but also an 8. Some of the 'these races fit these classes best' choices the designers made don't sit well with me from a flavor standpoint, but I recognize some of the decisions were made with balance in mind This is helpful in my grokking the big picture.

--Z