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Message: <blockquote data-quote="RSIxidor" data-source="post: 7930035" data-attributes="member: 6695558">I've actually always kind of disliked the concept of "race" in RPGs (or species for that matter).To me, it seems like your cultural background should matter as much as your biological background.Dwarves and Elves often have a racial weapon training as a core part of their race. In 5E, elves at least have this only in some of the subraces (which in some ways represent culture but also represent biology). Dwarves (probably) aren't born wielding hammers and axes, they learned this as part of the training. Alternative racial traits in PF1 and ancestry feats in PF2 help a bit with allowing for a sort of molding of the culture your dwarf or elf comes from, but it's still ultimately tied to biology.I think we should divorce the biological and the cultural aspects of our character's backgrounds. It makes sense that all or most elves only need to trance for rest and aren't as affected by certain kinds of magic, but it doesn't make sense that most of them know how to use a sword. It makes sense that all or most dwarves have hearty stomachs that protect them from poison, but dwarves from different parts of the world might train more steadily in different types of weapons.Humans who grew up alongside dwarves likely learned something about the weapons they wield or how they craft. Humans are actually where I have the biggest issue with biological versus cultural background. It's one of the reasons I like AIME as well. Humans are often presented as a tool for optimization, a swift army knife of options. The "versatile" choice. But I feel like that often ignores the cultural background of humans. I'd rather have options that imply story rather than a buffet of feats or similar.If there's already D&D-like RPGs out there where you can pick your biological and culture aspects of your "race' separately, I'd like to hear about those. It likely means having a strong and interesting setting tied into these options, which I also enjoy seeing.I realize the above isn't really the point of this thread, but I will say I prefer to have a decent number of options compared to only a few. It can get out of hand, sure, but I think variety makes for more interesting characters for the story.</blockquote>

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