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<blockquote data-quote="Hussar" data-source="post: 8373421" data-attributes="member: 22779">This is actually a fairly easy question to answer.Base physical stuff like &quot;Dwarves can't use bows&quot; is boring.&nbsp; It's lazy world building really.&nbsp; It's really easy to do that sort of thing.&nbsp; Much more difficult to actually present real, challenging differences that actually make a difference in play.&nbsp; Dwarves are different because they live underground.&nbsp; Think of what that would actually do to an intelligent species.&nbsp; Social structures that would be highly hierarchical because the last thing you want when you live half a mile underground and a mistake can kill everyone is a free thinker.&nbsp; Language that would be very direct and blunt - because again, misunderstandings aren't just embarrassing, they are actually deadly.&nbsp; The notion of family and clan, which is already in D&amp;D dwarves being important.But, the key thing here is that we need to have actual mechanical weight to these elements.&nbsp; The player should be rewarded for trying to portray these things in the game with more than just a hearty pat on the head for &quot;good roleplaying&quot;.&nbsp; This is why so many of the suggestions are combat related.&nbsp; It's easy to have that cycle of reward in combat - you are good with axes, for example, so, you get a +1 with an axe for being a dwarf and that +1 applies to every attack you make.Thing is, those kinds of bonuses are the lowest hanging fruit.&nbsp; Does anyone really feel like Elf is being portrayed because that elf gets a +1 with longswords?&nbsp; Not really.&nbsp; It never gets mentioned during play typically.&nbsp; No one cares.&nbsp; So, we need to add a framework to the game where race actually matters.&nbsp; I'd suggest something in the Backgrounds which is tied to the race of your character that adds to the already existing backgrounds.&nbsp; So that Human Criminal gives you a somewhat different background than Dwarf Criminal or Halfling Criminal.&nbsp; ((I have no idea why Criminal background popped into my head, <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin&nbsp; &nbsp; :D"&nbsp; data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /> ))&nbsp; Tie that to the Inspiration rules and you've got a good system for making race actually matter in the game.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Hussar, post: 8373421, member: 22779"] This is actually a fairly easy question to answer. Base physical stuff like "Dwarves can't use bows" is boring. It's lazy world building really. It's really easy to do that sort of thing. Much more difficult to actually present real, challenging differences that actually make a difference in play. Dwarves are different because they live underground. Think of what that would actually do to an intelligent species. Social structures that would be highly hierarchical because the last thing you want when you live half a mile underground and a mistake can kill everyone is a free thinker. Language that would be very direct and blunt - because again, misunderstandings aren't just embarrassing, they are actually deadly. The notion of family and clan, which is already in D&D dwarves being important. But, the key thing here is that we need to have actual mechanical weight to these elements. The player should be rewarded for trying to portray these things in the game with more than just a hearty pat on the head for "good roleplaying". This is why so many of the suggestions are combat related. It's easy to have that cycle of reward in combat - you are good with axes, for example, so, you get a +1 with an axe for being a dwarf and that +1 applies to every attack you make. Thing is, those kinds of bonuses are the lowest hanging fruit. Does anyone really feel like Elf is being portrayed because that elf gets a +1 with longswords? Not really. It never gets mentioned during play typically. No one cares. So, we need to add a framework to the game where race actually matters. I'd suggest something in the Backgrounds which is tied to the race of your character that adds to the already existing backgrounds. So that Human Criminal gives you a somewhat different background than Dwarf Criminal or Halfling Criminal. ((I have no idea why Criminal background popped into my head, :D )) Tie that to the Inspiration rules and you've got a good system for making race actually matter in the game. [/QUOTE]

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