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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Faolyn" data-source="post: 8199805" data-attributes="member: 6915329">Except that this affects the halfling PC, the orc PC, or the elf PC, not the entire halfling, orc, or elf race.Because as I keep saying, if you, the DM, want halflings to as strong as a human but not as strong as an orc, then literally every single halfling in the world except maybe one PC is going to only as strong as a human but not as strong as an orc.Which seriously, you object to halflings being as strong as half-orcs because they're so much tinier than half-orcs, but halflings are canonically as strong as humans, even though humans can be as tall as, or even taller than, a half-orc.Wrong.Floating ASIs view it as giving players a choice. I know you tried to pretend you weren't explaining my own beliefs to me, but allow me to repeat myself: it's about allowing players to customize their characters. Now maybe you would always put that +2 in your prime stat, but don't assume everyone is like that.And even if that were the case, so what? You have been saying that it's OK to play an orc barbarian for that +2 Strength, but not OK to play a halfling barbarian with a +2 Strength. They're both the same, ASI-wise.Your racial ASI only increases diversity in the most banal sense. You want to increase diversity between races? Try creating cultures for your races. Even the barest bones culture for a race is better and more interesting than "diversity" in the sense of where the +2 goes. And by having racial ASIs to create diversity, you are (A) turning each race into a monolithic Race of Hats, and (B) effectively saying that all halflings are not only the same, but all halflings, kobolds, and elves all have the same culture.If you are trying to say that halflings, kobolds, and elves in fact all have very different cultures, and each halfling is a person with their own interests and goals, then you don't need to have a static +2 Dex in there as well.Seriously, there are lots of things to hang a racial culture on. Even if you don't go into details. I had some thoughts about orcs and came up with the skeleton of some orc cultures based solely on their diet. I haven't sat down and fleshed them out, but as is they're still more interesting than "orcs are strong."Because there are a lot of players who won't play certain combos if there's no mechanical benefits. Because there are a lot of players who are encouraged to only think in terms of stereotypical combinations. Because there are a lot of players who have DMs who can't fathom the idea of a halfling who has become something other than Dex-based or an orc that has become something other than Strength-based and so won't allow it.Floating ASIs allow people to say "I've been wanting to play race X, and I've been wanting to play class Y, and now I won't be penalized for doing so. This means my character will be more interesting to me and better able to contribute better to the party."Racial ASIs say "I've been wanting to play race X, but it doesn't support my choice to play class Y. I can either play race X but not be as effective and possibly cause my party to suffer, or play race Y, which I don't want to do." (Because shockingly enough, one can roleplay quite effectively with high stats, and one can play up poor rolls caused by hateful dice--which can be much more fun than having to consistently play up a low stat.)</blockquote>

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