D&D 5E Reimagining racial ability scores

[delph]

Hi, I found this post on DnD Beyond and found it interesting. I do not agree with everything, but it's much more like my ideas than as it is now.

Reimagining Racial Ability Scores

How do you improve D&D’s races? Here’s one way for you to try at home: cut out the restrictive ability score modifiers and put them some...

www.dndbeyond.com

I prefer option 3. And maybe add racial maxes - halflings can have str and con max 18, half orc than dex,... to have some balancing.

 

[theapoapostolov]

The idea has been explored months before D&DBeyond by DMDave.

 

[DND_Reborn]

Yep, all this kind of stuff has been done over numerous times by many people, myself included. I like an option where you get +1 race, +1 class, and +1 background, or remove any one of those and just make a +1 any.

I agree also with the idea of racial limitations on scores. No way should a halfling or gnome have the potential to be as strong as a human, half-orc, dragonborn, etc. I like the idea of reducing humans to baseline 18 max again, and adjust others around that (max 20 dex for elves, max 20 str for half-orcs, max 16 str for gnomes, etc.)

 

[theapoapostolov]

I am toying with a concept for a homebrew compendium where I treat Backgrounds as Races, but Races have Racial Feat choices and instead of modifying the stat, you modify the max stats.

For example, a Half-Orc's Strength is based on his Background as a Gladiator BUT his Half-Orc race gives him 22 as maximum Strength.

On the Racial Feats I am inspired by PF2. You choose one Racial feat at L1, and another at L3~5 (maybe L5 since entry in 2nd tier of play) but that's where it ends.

 

[delph]

I am toying with a concept for a homebrew compendium where I treat Backgrounds as Races, but Races have Racial Feat choices and instead of modifying the stat, you modify the max stats.

For example, a Half-Orc's Strength is based on his Background as a Gladiator BUT his Half-Orc race gives him 22 as maximum Strength.

On the Racial Feats I am inspired by PF2. You choose one Racial feat at L1, and another at L3~5 (maybe L5 since entry in 2nd tier of play) but that's where it ends.

Racial featsor racial traits are interesting without ASI and it could be done in the other way. I like your idea. But it have to have enough choices to prevent "every half orc warrior will have gladiator backgroud"

 

[Arnwolf666]

I recently did a game where I let players put their racial adjustments wherever they wanted. It did not change the game much beyond I saw my first high elf sorcerer and half-orc war cleric. And finally a gnome fighter.

My brother played a gnome fighter back in 2E that had a 18/92 strength. He couldn’t resist doing it again.

 

[Xeviat]

I don't like a whole lot of Pathfinder 2, but I do like how their ability scores work. Races give 2 +2s, and often a floating +2 and a set -2. Background gives a set +2 and another floating +2. Class gives a +2. Then you get 4 more +2s (you can never stack them when you get them from the same source). Most concentrated, you could start with an 18 if all the stars aligned.

I like ability penalties for races. I also like higher caps for non-humans.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I’d never play with racial ability score limits, tbh. PCs can be exceptional, so even if I imagine halflings as somehow incapable of becoming as strong as humans can in general, I wouldn’t ever apply that to PCs.

OTOH, I’d be fine with simply adding a floating +2 to the game at level 1.

 

[Arnwolf666]

I’d never play with racial ability score limits, tbh. PCs can be exceptional, so even if I imagine halflings as somehow incapable of becoming as strong as humans can in general, I wouldn’t ever apply that to PCs.

OTOH, I’d be fine with simply adding a floating +2 to the game at level 1.

That’s one thing I personally really don’t like about modern role playing games. And wish there was more limitations. I don’t like humans overhead pressing 800 pounds. It ruins the immersion for me.

 

[Hawk Diesel]

Personally, I like the idea of divesting ability score bonuses away from races, since it encourages people to create characters that are less common in the current system. I like the idea of fighter gnomes and elven barbarians and goliath wizards. I don't know that I would want to see racial caps on ability scores though. For one, it creates the same pressures to pick race/class combos that currently exist. Secondly, unless you play in grittier or more "grounded" games, the player characters should be superior to others of their kind. Average gnomes would be far weaker than half-orcs, and elves far more graceful than goliaths. But I don't think those same standards and expectations should apply to the literal heroes of the story. But that's just my take and how my table rolls.