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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Chaosmancer" data-source="post: 8047280" data-attributes="member: 6801228">This quote from you, about two pages back, seems to disagree with that assertion:-----Well, since 0% of all lore is being changed, don't worry. Because again, these are rules for PCs. The NPCs can do whatever it is they normally do. I don't bother statting out the village of elves. So, whether they have a 12, 14, 16, or 18 Dex never comes up. It literally doesn't matter. To repeat, no lore is being tossed out with this change. All this change does is make PCs more unique, and they were already unique.10 Skills (actually 8)! Most of which I don't care about for my Barbarian. Who cares if I'm good at sleight of Hand or Medicine? I'm a barbarian, I don't want those skills anyways. And the AC is the same, Elf gets 2+2=4, Dwarf gets 3+1=4But, you are missing the point, yet again. What I give up for being better at non-barbarian things, is being worse at being a barbarian. That is the whole picture. I'm +5% Not Barbarian and -5% Barbarian. So, now I have to weigh, is being a barbarian what I really want? Because if I want that, I should take things that increase barbarian, and if I don't want that... is there another class like Druid or Ranger, that could give the same nature vibe and be better with Elf?Wood Elf Ranger is a classic ranger, ideal match up, I just have to not play the barbarian and instead play into the trope.And this is the problem.No lore is being changed. Character creation is not a pillar of the game. But, since you refuse to acknowledge that and insist that everything must stay the same, where can we go? I guess we keep the game the same so that some players can have their "status quo"I'm going to put forth a novel idea. I don't care about being surprised 5 years down the line. I would like to see more diverse races now. I don't care that in 5 or 7 years that I might be bored of seeing Orc Wizards. Right now I'm bored of seeing Gnome wizards. And honestly, you are putting so much stock in "surprise". Do you ask your players not to play human fighters, because there is no surprise there anymore? Just, yawn human fighter, same old same old? I certainly don't. I also don't approach each character as though their race/class tells me everything about them. People can surprise you with the details of their character, or they can play the same thing in and out. But that is a player personality aspect, the rules don't force them to do this. Here, just as an example. I'm going to make four different characters. Wood Elf RangerTielfing BardGnome WizardDragonborn Paladin (Oath of Vengeance) Their backstory? "I am an angry loner, out for revenge against the demon that killed my parents." I made four mechanically different characters, with the exact same personality and backstory. If I had played three of these, and then made the fourth, you wouldn't be surprised. I'm not shocking you, I'm literally playing the exact same backstory every time. But, if I did something likeDwarven Bard -> Free loving Dwarf out to find a lost poetic Epic in an ancient Dwarven RuinDwarven Fighter -> A timid warrior, whose first battle saw them face down a shadow dragon, he is the only survivor, and fled in shame for his cowardice in the battleDwarven Wizard -> Grandson of a great wizard, heir to a clan of wizards, with a proud and exacting tradition stretching back aeons. He is out to retrieve an artifact for the clanDwarven Warlock -> After falling down a mine shaft, you found the Book of Iron. But, your patron promises you wealth and power beyond your wildest dreams if you can locate the Books of Bone and Stone.I've played the same race! And... each one is a different personality and backstory, a lot playing into Dwarven tropes and exploring ideas and facets of dwarven culture... And fi none of them "surprised" you, who cares. I think they sound like fun.They might not, but I would. I know my sheet, I know that I chose to be less effective in my role.I'm not sure what the heck you are talking about here. Legitimately. If I say "The orc stands before dressed in robes and holding a staff-" The players immediately identify it as a spellcaster. 100% The only way to surprise them at that point would be to make the orc a monk, or a weird cleric/paladin. Because robes+staff = spellcasterIt doesn't matter if it is an orc, a troglodyte, an elf or a sentient tree, those clues tell my players they are dealing with a spellcaster. And as for the enemy... why shouldn't they assume that Dwarves can be wizards? Nothing prevents it. Especially for NPCs where their stats don't matter, dwarves should have a wizard tradition, unless they are content being cut off from one of the most powerful forces in the multi-verse. And, considering Eldritch Knights are a type of fighter, and clerics wear armor then even seeing an armored warrior casting magic shouldn't surprise anyone. Finally, if this is really important to you... keep it! Let the hobgoblin forces be bamboozled by a dwarven wizard. They are falling for stereotypes, happens to people all the time. "What do you mean you were bit by a shark, you were in a river." "Yeah, river sharks are a thing!" But this is such a minor concern that I don't even understand why it would bother you.+2 strength isn't what makes a Half-Orc interesting to play. So, you can still try and convince players to play something else, to go and explore a variety of cultures and options. In fact, the removal of Racial ASI's makes it even easier to explore some of this. How do dwarves approach Bardic music or Wizardly arts? How does the worship of a Gnome Cleric differ from a humans? What kind of challenges might a Goliath Ranger encounter in the tops of the world?</blockquote>

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