D&D 5E What To Do With Racial ASIs?

What would you like to see done with racial trait ASIs?

  • Leave them alone! It makes the races more distinctive.

    Votes: 81 47.4%
  • Make them floating +2 and +1 where you want them.

    Votes: 33 19.3%
  • Move them to class and/or background instead.

    Votes: 45 26.3%
  • Just get rid of them and boost point buy and the standard array.

    Votes: 17 9.9%
  • Remove them and forget them, they just aren't needed.

    Votes: 10 5.8%
  • Got another idea? Share it!

    Votes: 18 10.5%
  • Ok, I said leave them alone, darn it! (second vote)

    Votes: 41 24.0%
  • No, make them floating (second vote).

    Votes: 9 5.3%
  • Come on, just move them the class and/or backgrounds (second vote).

    Votes: 15 8.8%
  • Aw, just bump stuff so we don't need them (second vote).

    Votes: 4 2.3%
  • Or, just remove them and don't worry about it (second vote).

    Votes: 8 4.7%
  • But I said I have another idea to share! (second vote).

    Votes: 4 2.3%


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I would change to something like this:
Race: choose +1 to one of three racial stats (eg Dwarves get +1 to Str, Con or Wis). Humans and half elves get to put their +1 wherever they want.
Class: choose +1 to one of three class stats (eg Wizards get +1 to Dex, Int or Wis)
Feat: everyone gets a feat at 1st level. The variant human gets a few extra racial abilities now that everyone gets a feat. Maybe something like a tool proficiency and advantage on a d20 roll once per long rest.
 


I would change to something like this:
Race: choose +1 to one of three racial stats (eg Dwarves get +1 to Str, Con or Wis). Humans and half elves get to put their +1 wherever they want.
Class: choose +1 to one of three class stats (eg Wizards get +1 to Dex, Int or Wis)
Feat: everyone gets a feat at 1st level. The variant human gets a few extra racial abilities now that everyone gets a feat. Maybe something like a tool proficiency and advantage on a d20 roll once per long rest.
Systems such as this have been proposed before, even adding a third +1 option to background. This you would still get 3 +1 ASIs, but they would have to be in different things.

We give humans Incredible Determination (which is just proficiency in a save) at level 1. It represents the idea that humans, despite being frail compared to some races, shorter lived, or whatever, general find a way to push on. It would be basically a "half-feat" for them if you adopted it.
 

I do wonder...if wotc should do there own survey on races before making changes...I cant be the only one shocked that more then half of us dont want it changed
Don't be surprised when this changes, as it likely will. I've done a fair number of polls on EnWorld and the early leader rarely lasts.

(Now, due to the nature of the poll, it might outlast the individual variant options, but not the collective idea of "do something else".)
 

Personally, I'd love to try point buy sometime, but my players are so invested in rolling for stats that I have to go along.
 

Don't be surprised when this changes, as it likely will. I've done a fair number of polls on EnWorld and the early leader rarely lasts.

(Now, due to the nature of the poll, it might outlast the individual variant options, but not the collective idea of "do something else".)

I’d say having a large plurality is more important in any event.
 

For myself, that would just be too many bonuses. I am already tired that people feel a +2 is needed to feel competitive at all. I know I am in a minority on that, but that's just how I feel about that issue.

As an additional point, something that may make this a closer fit for you is that it also does not have a +2 ASI. It does have +1/+1/+1 at the equivilent of 8th, 14th, and 20th level - but it doesn't have the regular and rapid increase of specific ability scores. That extra +1 to your third choice is not nearly that powerful, and you get them much less often. Though full disclosure, it's not an either/or for feats so those are granted at those 3 levels. (Well, 13th Age is a 10 level system, so at those equivalent levels translated to a 20th level system like 5e.)
 


Personally, I'd love to try point buy sometime, but my players are so invested in rolling for stats that I have to go along.
We almost always do point-buy. But we do it more so you won't get someone who rolls lucky and dominates a lot in the early game.

We learned that in our main game. Some of those PCs were rolled. One guy rolled the following scores:

STR 19 (17+2)
DEX 16
CON 18 (17+1)
INT 14
WIS 14
CHA 13

He made a half-orc rogue and quickly multiclassed into fighter. He bumped DEX to 18 at level 4, and hasn't used an ASI for stats since. Meanwhile, the rest of us have been doing both feats and ASIs to catch up. I just got two feats (Rogue 10 and Character Level 16, our MC system), and put a ASI +2 in INT and an ASI +2 in WIS to bump them both as a cleric and wizard to 18s.

We've tried other rolling systems, but ultimately point-buy works best for us. If you want some level of randomness in it, do a base number of points plus a die roll, something like 2d6 + 20. The average will be 27, min 22, and max 32. Just a thought if you want a combination of both.
 

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