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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Khaalis" data-source="post: 4252775" data-attributes="member: 2167">Understanding Race Design and Balance…Understanding Race Design and Balance…After going over the books, I am having trouble determining what criteria was used for balancing racial traits. There doesn’t appear to be any hard rhyme or reason to how these are determined. This is especially true if you look at the racial traits of monsters from the MM, most of which seem to gain less then PHB races.•    Ability Scores: Every race EXCEPT human gain a +2 bonus to 2 scores. I assume they feel the human bonuses make up for this.•    Speed: Varies from 5 to 7 for PC races. Is 5 considered a “negative” trait? Is a 7 considered a racial bonus trait?•    Vision: Is Low-Light vision or Darkvision considered a bonus racial trait?•    Languages: Most races have 2-3. Does the number of languages they know really matter in the balance of the race?•    Skill Bonuses: Some races have a +2 to 2 skills but some only have a +2 to one skill. What is the balance factor here?•    Defense Bonus: Some races have a defense bonus. Is this considered an equal weight to a racial ability?•    Racial “Abilities”: There is a wide variation from 2 racial abilities to 5 racial abilities? How are these balanced from one race to another?Examples:ELF•    Ability Scores: +2 to 2 Stats•    Speed: 7•    Vision: Low-Light•    Languages: 2•    Skill Bonuses: 2•    Racial Abilities: 5 (one is an encounter power)vs. DROW•    Ability Scores: +2 to 2 Stats•    Speed: 6•    Vision: Darkvision•    Languages: 2•    Skill Bonuses: 2•    Racial Abilities: 2 (one is an encounter power)vs. HALF-ELF•    Ability Scores: +2 to 2 Stats•    Speed: 6•    Vision: Low-Light•    Languages: 3•    Skill Bonuses: 2•    Racial Abilities: 3 (one is an encounter power)Is it just me or are races really not balanced with any math like the rest of the system? Are races still basically an eye-ball rule?  What makes a race worthy of 5 racial traits vs. another race that only gets 2?On another race note…I have also noticed that the design philosophy of Net Gain on racial design was taken to the extreme. No race appears to have any form of “negative” racial trait (such as say 3.5’s Light Sensitivity).  What if I wanted to create a race that specifically has a mechanical “drawback”? Would I then balance that “negative racial trait” with 2 minor “positive” racial traits to maintain the net gain?Example: Negative Trait•    Blood Lust: You take a -2 penalty to attack rolls for any attack that doesn’t include the nearest bloodied creature.Example: Balancing the Negative Trait•    Blood Lust: You take a -2 penalty to attack rolls for any attack that doesn’t include the nearest bloodied creature. However, you gain a +1 racial bonus to attack and damage rolls against bloodied foes.Does this seem correctly balanced for introducing a negative trait?Anyone have thoughts on how to best proceed with racial design balance?</blockquote>

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