D&D 5E Wow! No more subraces. The Players Handbook races reformat to the new race format going forward.

[Bolares]

For minmaxers it won't be fun.
For everyone else, playing the not optimal character will be fun too, sometimes especially because he is not optimized.

That's really generalizing. I had a player that wanted to make an air genasi storm sorcerer. For min maxing that's a really bad combo, even without ASIs. He is fine playing that character, even if any other subclass would be better for a sorcerer, but being at 15 max charisma was a real feel bad for him. It would make him not want to play the character he wanted to play.

 

[Bolares]

There is more nuance in playstyles than minmaxers vs everyone else....

 

[jayoungr]

I would say their particular connection to certain gods matters and their shared history (nearly not totally universal with its cultural implications).

Surely that is dependent on setting?

 

[Mort]

That's really generalizing. I had a player that wanted to make an air genasi storm sorcerer. For min maxing that's a really bad combo, even without ASIs. He is fine playing that character, even if any other subclass would be better for a sorcerer, but being at 15 max charisma was a real feel bad for him. It would make him not want to play the character he wanted to play.

One thing I find sad is the mentality/belief that anything less than 16 in a "primary" stat is bad/wrong/terrible (It might not be universal but it's pretty pervasive). What's worse is that (the few times) I'm playing vs. DMing, I find myself gravitating toward that belief.

 

[Mind of tempest]

One thing I find sad is the mentality/belief that anything less than 16 in a "primary" stat is bad/wrong/terrible (It might not be universal but it's pretty pervasive). What's worse is that (the few times) I'm playing vs. DMing, I find myself gravitating toward that belief.

that is a math problem of the game if a plus one was sufficient for the entire game math then a 16 would not be needed.

 

[Warpiglet-7]

One thing I find sad is the mentality/belief that anything less than 16 in a "primary" stat is bad/wrong/terrible (It might not be universal but it's pretty pervasive). What's worse is that (the few times) I'm playing vs. DMing, I find myself gravitating toward that belief.

It’s not. And I don’t feel compelled to go above 16.

but this is one reason why ability scores and race were decoupled.

 

[Chaosmancer]

Except that biology is what makes races unique. By making ability scores selectable you remove nearly all uniqueness from races.

Even if we accept your thesis, how would a +2 con and a +1 Int make the Plasmoid more interesting than it's bizarre biology already makes it? Biology =/= ASIs

 

[FitzTheRuke]

When it was first suggested, I felt that removing ASIs from races would make them less diverse, but seeing them presented this way... I really like it. I can always make my Giff have a bump in strength and constitution if I want to play up that big ol' hippo, or I can put it in intelligence and wisdom for my wizened old (but still tough!) wise-guy hippo.

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

When it was first suggested, I felt that removing ASIs from races would make them less diverse, but seeing them presented this way... I really like it. I can always make my Giff have a bump in strength and constitution if I want to play up that big ol' hippo, or I can put it in intelligence and wisdom for my wizened old (but still tough!) wise-guy hippo.

Or Dexterity and Wisdom if you want to be a sniper/gunslinger Giff!

 

[FitzTheRuke]

Or Dexterity and Wisdom if you want to be a sniper/gunslinger Giff!

Oooh. Shoulda said that. Dex/Wis for my wizened ol' sniper hippo!