D&D 5E What To Do With Racial ASIs?

[doctorbadwolf]

Voted other, and floating.

My preference the more I think of it is to either simply add a class attribute bonus with a choice of a couple stats relevant to the class, so no combo is better by virtue of the race bonus, or to make every class capable of supporting any primary attribute.

I’ll change my vote later.

 

[jmartkdr2]

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.

Honestly, I would rather see racial modifiers adjust the caps. Something like 18 for humans across the board, but that dwarf can have a CON 20 and the elf a DEX 20. Their maximum abilities are simply beyond what humans can do. Now, to me, that makes them "alien" in a way so they aren't just humans in make-up, etc. We've been doing this for a while and I like it. We added a feat, Raising the Bar which allows you to increase the max for one ability score from 18 to 20, so a human could be a strong as a dragonborn (for example), both with STR 20, but the human has to invest in it.

It could probably be reworked to be more popular, but as I said I like it and think it has merit. I'm tired of seeing 18's at level 1 (which is why I stopped rolling for scores, too.) because that little edge makes the PCs too good for me. shrug

I think this depends on what you're trying to do - moving the caps would make the sort f player who worries about whether they have a race with 'the right bonus' worry even more, because now playing a human has a feat tax for being any race. Even vhumans would be considered crap.

If the goal is to make people feel like they don't need to be an elf to be a archer, you're doing the opposite of that.

The kind of player who wouldn't react to the caps moving is probably the kind of player who would start with a 14 in their main stat anyway if they liked the character art they found or had a cool backstory written.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Also, can we get some poll choices that aren't so freaking NARROW? It's a failing of the "we only give out small, positive modifiers" that means that 5e can't model races like a tiny pixie. By only looking at the limited range 5e can do, we're shutting ourselves away from many fantastical tropes.

Sure it can. I’ve been tinkering with pixie, quickling, and sprite, stats (subraces of fairy), and no one that has helped me test them has had any issue with none of them having any statistical penalty.

 

[jeffh]

Just voted after reading the OP but not the rest of the thread. I see the first "leave them alone" option has an absolute majority in a poll where you're allowed to vote twice. That's pretty telling. I'd call this a solution in search of a problem except that no "solution" was actually offered, at least not in the OP.

 

[R_J_K75]

Total point buy across the board, get rid of racial features and class features, (classes for that matter) and let a player start with a set number of points and really build the character they want. Similar to the old 2E Skills and Powers book. I suppose the PHB should suggest a general archetype for each race.

 

[DND_Reborn]

The kind of player who wouldn't react to the caps moving is probably the kind of player who would start with a 14 in their main stat anyway if they liked the character art they found or had a cool backstory written.

That would be me. LOL

 

[DND_Reborn]

no "solution" was actually offered

No, I am not offering a "solution" as you know. My goal was to try to get a view of where peoples' heads are at on all this.

 

[GreenTengu]

Just get rid of ability scores all together. There is often only the loosest and shakiest of reasons of why they affect anything they affect across the character sheet in the first place and despite being treated with equal weight in character creation, a character most certainly does not get the same benefit from investing in each.

1st and 2nd edition saw people tanking their mental stats for physical ones unless they were a spellcaster, 3/3.5 was the age of characters with no Charisma and only average Constitution, 4E had class basically dictate your main two ability scores unless you were intending to render yourself utterly inept, 5E is the age of everyone having super high Dexterity and no Intelligence.

The ability scores were arbitrary from the beginning and while people have tried to create some sort of connection with them in order to justify them-- there really isn't. They just aren't the best array for describing a character and certainly not the best array by which to balance a character for the game. It would be far easier to create a much more balanced game by doing away with them entirely. Most everything one does with them can be assessed by a skill or by creating a skill that does that thing.

Once ability scores are eliminated, you don't need to worry about ability score improvements either. Which, in 5E, means you'll see way more people taking feats which are fundamentally more interesting anyway.

 

[Mercurius]

Just get rid of ability scores all together.

I don't think this will happen, at least not any time soon, but it reminds me of an RPG design I dabbled with 20ish years ago, where I had "Aptitudes" instead of Ability scores. Aptitudes were natural talents in various domains of activity: combat, magic, divine, nature, athletics, etc.

 

[FrogReaver]

I don't think this will happen, at least not any time soon, but it reminds me of an RPG design I dabbled with 20ish years ago, where I had "Aptitudes" instead of Ability scores. Aptitudes were natural talents in various domains of activity: combat, magic, divine, nature, athletics, etc.

My idea is to divorce combat mechanics from out of combat mechanics. That does tend to lead to dissaccioted mechanics though.