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Unearthed Arcana: Gothic Lineages & New Race/Culture Distinction
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<blockquote data-quote="Faolyn" data-source="post: 8199245" data-attributes="member: 6915329"><p>Halflings get +2 to Dex, which makes them <em>equally </em>good at being rogues, monks, or any sort of martial that chooses to rely on ranged or versatile weapons. Orcs get +2 to Strength, but that can benefit them as any martial, a monk, many types of cleric, or even a frontline hexblade warlock. </p><p></p><p>In neither case does the stat bonus actually guide you to what class to play. What <em>actually </em>guides you are the tropes in your head, which is why most people think halfling rogue and not elf rogue, even though elves are just as Dexterous as halflings are and wood elves are even <em>batter </em>at hiding than halflings are. Instead, you tend to think of an elf druid, ranger, or wizard--even though their actual ASIs only tangentially support those builds.</p><p></p><p>You may be imagining cheery halfling thief or arcane trickster and brutal orc berserker as the "typical" build, but a murderous halfling long death monk and kind-hearted orc devotion paladin in shining armor are <em>equally typical </em>going purely by racial stats. Which means that these stats are not actually at all helpful. </p><p></p><p>In the game I'm running, there's actually both a (mostly cheery) halfling arcane trickster and an orc barbarian (who is actually more sweet than brutal), and they're both great characters. But neither of them were quick builds.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Look, there's nothing wrong with a sidebar saying "historically, people gave thri-kreen +2 Con," even though the idea of healthy thri-kreen could be just as easily explained in a less-clumsy way in the flavor text. <em>And </em>your existing books are not suddenly going to be rewritten to exclude all that previously-written information. </p><p></p><p>The <em>problem </em>is with people who insist that nothing, not even divine intervention, can allow a nontypical member of a race; or who claim that players who want to put a +2 in a stat other than their racial stat are somehow not as good at roleplaying as players who don't, but that making a player play a race they don't want to just to get that +2 bonus us somehow <em>not </em>minmaxing.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Faolyn, post: 8199245, member: 6915329"] Halflings get +2 to Dex, which makes them [I]equally [/I]good at being rogues, monks, or any sort of martial that chooses to rely on ranged or versatile weapons. Orcs get +2 to Strength, but that can benefit them as any martial, a monk, many types of cleric, or even a frontline hexblade warlock. In neither case does the stat bonus actually guide you to what class to play. What [I]actually [/I]guides you are the tropes in your head, which is why most people think halfling rogue and not elf rogue, even though elves are just as Dexterous as halflings are and wood elves are even [I]batter [/I]at hiding than halflings are. Instead, you tend to think of an elf druid, ranger, or wizard--even though their actual ASIs only tangentially support those builds. You may be imagining cheery halfling thief or arcane trickster and brutal orc berserker as the "typical" build, but a murderous halfling long death monk and kind-hearted orc devotion paladin in shining armor are [I]equally typical [/I]going purely by racial stats. Which means that these stats are not actually at all helpful. In the game I'm running, there's actually both a (mostly cheery) halfling arcane trickster and an orc barbarian (who is actually more sweet than brutal), and they're both great characters. But neither of them were quick builds. Look, there's nothing wrong with a sidebar saying "historically, people gave thri-kreen +2 Con," even though the idea of healthy thri-kreen could be just as easily explained in a less-clumsy way in the flavor text. [I]And [/I]your existing books are not suddenly going to be rewritten to exclude all that previously-written information. The [I]problem [/I]is with people who insist that nothing, not even divine intervention, can allow a nontypical member of a race; or who claim that players who want to put a +2 in a stat other than their racial stat are somehow not as good at roleplaying as players who don't, but that making a player play a race they don't want to just to get that +2 bonus us somehow [I]not [/I]minmaxing. [/QUOTE]
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