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critfumbles
2016-03-05, 08:28 PM
Project: Fixing the Player's Handbook
For Lack of a Better Name

Better designers than I (Kirthfinder, Grod_the_Giant's Giants and Graveyards, Vadskye's Rise RPG and Complete Spell Reformation, and the D20 Rebirth project immediately come to mind) have improved on this game. This doesn't mean I agree with all their changes, and I want to create a set of rules that I can use for all of my future games.

And to mark my place in this sea of D&D 3.5e homebrew content. On peut toujours rêver.

Goal: To create core rules for a game based on the D&D 3.5e Player's Handbook that offers a balanced co-operative (where all players contribute) and humane (simplicity, ease of play, "this does what you think it does") experience for my players. The core rules should be compatible so that I (and others) can adapt existing content without undue difficulty.

I believe in mechanics, but I also believe in simplicity. A well-designed game should have mechanics that helps a player achieve what they want to do, and through that contribute to the party. Depth of play should come not come from forced complexity that bog down play or character creation, but from the challenges that the GM provides. The game should facilitate that by giving more interesting decisions to the player, not just more.

I believe that D&D is a heroic fantasy game, but my gaming experience is tempered by groups that didn't kill deities or destroy worlds. Though I believe the scope of the game should increase as players level, I don't want the game to facilitate spectacle creep, where 20th-level characters are gods unto themselves.

I have to put modularity on the backburner if I want to create cohesive core rules within a reasonable time. Once I am done, I will revisit ways to introduce optional content that appeals to different players.

Method: This project is in the earliest stages of development. Looking at the D&D 3.5e Player's Handbook in isolation, I will attempt to fix as much as I can, as fast as I can, as briefly as I can. I want to finish a complete changelist within a month, so I can put everything in a pdf or site format for better access. I hope that you can give me feedback so that I can avoid Ivory Tower Game Design. If you have specific concerns or ideas, that would be great too.

Changelist: Instead of reserving posts, I'll add links to my posts with important content here.

critfumbles
2016-03-05, 10:17 PM
Here are my tentative ideas towards rewriting the Player's Handbook races.

You gain bonus hit points at 1st level depending on your race, in addition to hp from your HD at 1st level. You're still a 1 HD character. Tentatively, I would encourage people to roll or take average for their HD (a 10 Con elven wizard would begin with 6 hp, a dwarven fighter with 15). Monsters don't get this bonus.
"Racial skills" give you a +2 bonus to 2 skills, and make them class skills. They replace the various skill bonus racial traits, and are pretty much equivalent to those shoddy feats from the Player's Handbook.
Rerolls are powerful but not used much in the Player's Handbook, and they offer a bonus that scales with a character's bonuses. Each race is balanced at around one reroll ability.
I'm toying with the idea of darkvision granting low-light vision beyond its range.
You do not gain bonus languages for having a high Intelligence. "Look at this list of random languages I picked up!" is an issue, one I hopefully can solve when I address the Linguistics skill.
References
Races: Standing Apart from the Crowd (eftexar), Giants and Graveyards (Grod_the_Giant), D20 Rebirth (Fax Celestis), Cities of Gold (ddude987)

Humans
Medium humanoid (human)
+2 to any one ability score.
Bonus Hit Points at 1st Level: 8.
Speed: 30 ft.
Racial Skills: Any two skills of your choice.
Bonus Feat: 1 extra feat at 1st level of your choice.
Favored Class: Any.
Automatic Languages: Common, one other of your choice.
Dwarves
Medium humanoid (dwarf)
+2 Con, –2 Cha.
Bonus Hit Points at 1st Level: 10.
Speed: 20 ft. This is not affected by wearing medium or heavy armor.
Racial Skills: Appraise, Craft (any one).
Darkvision 60 ft.
Dwarven Resilience (Ex): A dwarf rolls twice on Fortitude saving throws against poison and takes the better result. While on firm ground, the dwarf also rolls twice on opposed checks to attempt and resist bull rush, overrun, and trip attacks and takes the better result.
Favored Class: Fighter.
Automatic Languages: Common, Dwarven.
Elves
Medium humanoid (elf)
+2 Dex, –2 Con.
Bonus Hit Points at 1st Level: 4.
Speed: 30 ft.
Racial Skills: Listen, Spot.
Low-light vision.
Elven Magic (Sp): An elf rolls twice on caster level checks to overcome spell resistance and takes the better result. The elf also chooses one 1st-level sorcerer/wizard spell. She can cast it once per day as a spell-like ability (DC Int-based).
Elven Alertness (Ex): An elf doesn't sleep. She instead trances, during which she is prone and flat-footed but not helpless, can make Listen and Spot checks at a –5 penalty, and lasts for 4 hours instead of 8. Elves are also immune to sleep effects.
Favored Class: Wizard.
Automatic Languages: Common, Elven.
Gnomes
Small humanoid (gnome) (+1 size AC, +1 size attack, +4 size Hide, penalties carrying capacity, other effects)
+2 Con, –2 Str.
Bonus Hit Points at 1st Level: 6.
Speed: 20 ft.
Racial Skills: Craft (any one), Listen.
Low-light vision.
Gnome Magic (Sp): A gnome can speak with animals at will. Add +1 to the DC of saving throws against their illusion spells. Gnomes roll twice on saving throws against illusion effects and take the better result.
Favored Class: Bard.
Automatic Languages: Common, Gnome.
Half-Elves
Medium humanoid (elf or human) (See below)
Bonus Hit Points at 1st Level: 6.
Speed: 30 ft.
Racial Skills: Listen, any one skill of your choice.
Low-Light Vision.
Half-Elf Diplomacy (Ex): Half-elves roll Diplomacy and Gather Information checks twice, and take the better result.
Mixed Blood (Ex): When determining race-based effects (i.e. a +1 human-bane arrow), a half-elf can choose to be treated as either human or elf, whichever is more beneficial.
Favored Class: Any.
Automatic Languages: Common, Elven.
Half-Orcs
Medium humanoid (human or orc) (See below)
+2 Str; –2 Int or –2 Cha.
Bonus Hit Points at 1st Level: 10.
Speed: 30 ft.
Racial Skills: Intimidate, any one skill of your choice.
Darkvision 60 ft.
Half-Orc "Diplomacy" (Ex): (For lack of a better name.) Half-orcs roll Intimidate checks twice, and take the better result.
Mixed Blood (Ex): When determining race-based effects (i.e. a +1 human-bane arrow), a half-orc can choose to be treated as either human or orc, whichever is more beneficial.
Favored Class: Barbarian.
Automatic Languages: Common, Orc.
Halflings
Small humanoid (halfling) (+1 size AC, +1 size attack, +4 size Hide, penalties carrying capacity, other effects)
+2 Con, –2 Cha.
Bonus Hit Points at 1st Level: 6.
Speed: 20 ft.
Racial Skills: Climb, Jump, Listen, Move Silently.
Halfling Bravery (Ex): A halfling rolls twice on saving throws against fear effects and takes the better result.
Halfling Luck (Ex): +1 luck bonus on all saving throws.
Favored Class: Rogue.
Automatic Languages: Common, Halfling.

tsj
2016-03-06, 03:12 AM
I like it. .

A few suggestions :

Spot and listen should be based on CON since it makes most sense
that spot and listen gets worse as you age and your physical attributes such as str, dex and con decreases

The number of knowledge skills you may have should be determined by your wisdom modifier since

Wisdom is how knowledgeable you are and
Intelligence is your ability to use your knowledge

Add an optional Stat called Appearance since this is NOT the same as Charisma (you can be ugly and charismatic or beautiful and have no charisma)

Another optional Stat to consider is luck as defined by the fighting fantasy d20 adventure modules

Each time you wish to use your luck you deduct one from your luck... then
You may add your luck modifier to any roll.. a dm can also demand you to test your luck if a situation demands it

your regain 1 luck point when you rest and may be awarded luck points by the dm... but never above your initial luck score

A third optional Stat to consider is sanity as defined by the d20 call of cthulu and dnd 3.5 books

Intimidate can be based on either STR or CHA (ie. A half orc uses str to intimidate others)

critfumbles
2016-03-06, 05:08 PM
Spot and listen should be based on CON since it makes most sense
that spot and listen gets worse as you age and your physical attributes such as str, dex and con decreases
I don't believe that Spot and Listen (skills that you use to test your perception of the world) fit under Constitution. True, ailments brought about by old age can affect them negatively, but I think I will not touch the aging penalties to maintain the fantastical nature of the game. Most players won't want to play bedridden, arthritic octogenarian characters with cataracts, so I think I can deal with such outliers when I get there.


The number of knowledge skills you may have should be determined by your wisdom modifier since

Wisdom is how knowledgeable you are and
Intelligence is your ability to use your knowledge
I'm toying with the idea of removing Intelligence entirely from skill ranks. Skill Focus (or some of those sub-par +2/+2 skill feats) might see more play if they straight up gave you more class skills + free ranks in them equal to 3+HD. Here's a preliminary idea:

Barbarian: 4.
Bard: 8.
Cleric: 4.
Druid: 4.
Fighter: 6.
Monk: 6.
Paladin: 4.
Ranger: 8.
Rogue: 12.
Sorcerer: 4.
Wizard: 4.


Add an optional Stat called Appearance since this is NOT the same as Charisma (you can be ugly and charismatic or beautiful and have no charisma)

Another optional Stat to consider is luck as defined by the fighting fantasy d20 adventure modules

Each time you wish to use your luck you deduct one from your luck... then
You may add your luck modifier to any roll.. a dm can also demand you to test your luck if a situation demands it

your regain 1 luck point when you rest and may be awarded luck points by the dm... but never above your initial luck score

A third optional Stat to consider is sanity as defined by the d20 call of cthulu and dnd 3.5 books
Adding additional stats is beyond the scope of what I am trying to fix. I want to work with what I have, not add more complexity.


Intimidate can be based on either STR or CHA (ie. A half orc uses str to intimidate others)
Giving half-orcs this could off-set the whole +2 Str/-2 Cha thing, and would be an interesting mechanic other characters would need to spend character options on. I believe I will implement this for half-orcs.

sajro
2016-03-06, 05:43 PM
For the skillpoint selection i believe you should either increase the amount of skillpoints given to the non caster classes or reduce the skillpoints casters have. Casters already have way too many options available to them, giving noncasters more skillpoints give them atleast a bit larger array of options.

Personally I believe that all marital classes should have atleast 6
Then casters could have 4.

tsj
2016-03-07, 03:05 AM
My reason to suggest making spot and listen con based is that when your PC grows old in the game,
wisdom increases, intelligence increases, charismas increases while
constitution, dexterityand strength decreases

this means that an old man will have significantly better eyesight and better hearing than when he was a young lad,
that does not make any sense.

I suggest as an alternative that when old age modifications set in, then spot and listen will get penalities
based on the lowest physical stat, this will in from my view, worst case at least make sure that eyes and ears do not get better as you age and in best case (if the charecter had some dump physical stats), make sure that listen and spot gets a little worse with age ?

critfumbles
2016-03-09, 01:20 AM
For the skillpoint selection i believe you should either increase the amount of skillpoints given to the non caster classes or reduce the skillpoints casters have. Casters already have way too many options available to them, giving noncasters more skillpoints give them atleast a bit larger array of options.

Personally I believe that all marital classes should have atleast 6
Then casters could have 4.
There's a couple factors to consider here.

First, we need to preserve the rogue's edge in having the most skill points. Second, wizards (because of their high Intelligence) will generally have 5+ skill ranks per level, even with a base of 2+Int modifier.

This means that a buff to casters' skill ranks would have to be focused on non-Int-based casters. I think the following mock-up might be better:

Rogue: 12
Bard: 8
Barbarian, fighter, paladin, ranger: 6
Sorcerer, cleric, druid: 4
Wizard: 2


My reason to suggest making spot and listen con based is that when your PC grows old in the game,
wisdom increases, intelligence increases, charismas increases while
constitution, dexterityand strength decreases

this means that an old man will have significantly better eyesight and better hearing than when he was a young lad,
that does not make any sense.

I suggest as an alternative that when old age modifications set in, then spot and listen will get penalities
based on the lowest physical stat, this will in from my view, worst case at least make sure that eyes and ears do not get better as you age and in best case (if the charecter had some dump physical stats), make sure that listen and spot gets a little worse with age ?
I'm not convinced that I should be tackling this problem first. A lot of the organized play I participated in (Living Greyhawk, Pathfinder Society) waive the aging penalties entirely; at the same time, the tables I play with generally don't play old characters. Though this may be my own personal experience.

The fact remains that old age brings about a number of penalties that can't be expressed in a roleplaying game without taking away from its sense of fantasy, of being something you can't be in reality. What I think might fit best is not a ham-fisted ability score shift, but (1) simplifying age categories to be young (under minimum), adult (minimum-middle age), old (old), too old to adventure (venerable-dead); then, (2) old characters gain a mandatory, more severe drawback in exchange for a bonus feat at 1st level (to represent your breadth of experience).

For example, Gertrude the old human librarian finally mastered her first arcane spells at the right young age of 65. Having spent lonely decades immersed in books, her senses aren't what they used to be (drawback: -4 Listen, -4 Search, -4 Spot), but her understanding of the principles of spellcasting is much more thorough than the young whippersnappers around her (Magical Aptitude as a bonus feat, in addition to Scribe Scroll and her human bonus feat).


The Revised Paladin

The more I think about it, the hazier high level play becomes in terms of balance. I will try to focus on making the first 10 levels of each Player's Handbook class more playable, since those are the most character-defining, and the range allows me to work on prestige classes, unlike with E6 or E8.

The goals of this fix are: (1) make playing a paladin more enjoyable (fix awkward or annoying class features), (2) have paladins fit a definite niche, being a divine/clerical-specialized martial class, on the same progression as the ranger or the monk.

Alignment: Lawful good.

Hit Die: d8.

Class Skills
The paladin’s class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Handle Animal (Cha), Heal (Wis), Knowledge (nobility and royalty) (Int), Knowledge (religion) (Int), Profession (Wis), Ride (Dex), Sense Motive (Wis), Spot (Wis), and Spellcraft (Int).

Skill Ranks at Each Level: 6 + Int modifier.



Level
Base Attack Bonus
Fort Save
Ref Save
Will Save
Special
0th
1st
2nd


1st
+1
+2
+0
+2
Smite 1/encounter
2
--
--


2nd
+2
+3
+0
+3
Divine grace, lay on hands
3
--
--


3rd
+3
+3
+1
+3
Determination
4
--
--


4th
+4
+4
+1
+4
Turn undead
4
1
--


5th
+5
+4
+1
+4
Celestial companion, smite 2/encounter
4
1
--


6th
+6/+1
+5
+2
+5
Improved lay on hands
4
1
--


7th
+7/+2
+5
+2
+5
--
4
2
--


8th
+8/+3
+6
+2
+6
--
4
2
1


9th
+9/+4
+6
+3
+6
Marked for justice
4
2
1


10th
+10/+5
+7
+3
+7
Smite evil 3/encounter
4
3
1



Class Features
The following are class features of the paladin.

Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Paladins are proficient with all simple and martial weapons, with all types of armor (heavy, medium, and light), and with shields (except tower shields).

Smite Evil (Su): Once per encounter, a paladin can channel her deity's wrath through one normal melee attack. She adds her Charisma bonus (if any) to her attack roll and deals additional damage equal to her class level. A paladin's smite counts as good-aligned and magical for the purpose of bypassing the damage reduction of evil creatures or striking incorporeal creatures. (This effect overrides and suppresses any other alignment the weapon might have.)

If the paladin misses, her use of smite is not expended. A paladin can smite one additional time per encounter at 5th level and every five levels thereafter (to a maximum of three times per encounter at 10th level), as indicated on Table: Paladin.

Spells: A paladin can cast divine spells drawn from the paladin spell list (see Spoiler below). A paladin can prepare a number of spells of each spell level by getting 8 hours of sleep and praying for 1 hour. She can cast any spell she has prepared by expending a spell slot of the appropriate level. A paladin's caster level is equal her class level.

Like other spellcasters, a paladin can cast only a certain number of spells of each spell level per day. Her base daily spell allotment is given on Table: The Paladin. In addition, she receives bonus spells per day if she has a high Charisma score.

To prepare or cast a spell, a paladin must have a Charisma score equal to at least 10 + the spell level. The Difficulty Class for a saving throw against a paladin’s spell is


10 + 1/2 the paladin's class level + her Charisma modifier



Level
0th
1st
2nd


1st
3
--
--


2nd
3
--
--


3rd
4
--
--


4th
4
2
--


5th
5
2
--


6th
5
3
--


7th
6
3
--


8th
6
4
2


9th
6
4
2


10th
6
5
3



Divine Grace (Su): At 2nd level, a paladin adds her Charisma bonus (if any) to all saving throws.

Lay on Hands (Su): Beginning at 2nd level, a paladin can heal herself and her allies with a touch. As a standard action (or a swift action if she targets herself), a paladin can touch a living creature and heal it for a number of Hit Dice equal to her class level. Alternatively, a paladin can make a melee touch attack against an undead without provoking an attack of opportunity. On a hit, she can spend one use of her lay on hands ability to deal the same amount in damage instead.

A paladin can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + her Charisma modifier (minimum 1).

Determination (Su): At 3rd level, a paladin becomes immune to all diseases and fear effects.

When a paladin uses her lay on hands or turn undead ability, all her allies within 30 feet gain a +4 morale bonus on saving throws against disease and fear for 1 round.

Turn Undead (Su): Beginning at 4th level, a paladin can spend one use of lay on hands ability to turn undead as a cleric of equal level.

Celestial Companion: Upon reaching 5th level, a paladin gains the service of an unusually intelligent, strong, and loyal companion to serve her in her crusade against evil. She gains an animal companion as a druid of equal level. Her companion gains the celestial template.

Improved Lay on Hands (Su): At 6th level, a paladin can invoke miracles of faith. As a standard action, paladin can spend two uses of her lay on hands ability to instead grant the benefits of delay poison, remove paralysis, or lesser restoration on a willing touched creature. Her caster level for this effect is equal to her paladin level. She can ignore any material component or xp cost of the spell.

At 9th level, she can use this ability to grant the benefits of remove blindness/deafness, remove curse, remove disease, or neutralize poison.

Marked for Justice (Su): At 9th level, when a paladin smites a creature, the paladin and all her allies within 30 feet add half her Charisma bonus (if any) to their attack rolls and deal additional damage equal to half her paladin level against the target for 1 round.

Spell List
2nd: cure moderate wounds, dispel magic, restoration, protection from energy, searing light, divine power (3rd-4th level spells)
1st: bless weapon, bull's strength, cure light wounds, divine favor, eagle's splendor, lesser restoration, resist energy, protection from chaos/evil, shield other, zone of truth (1st-2nd level spells)
0th: cure minor wounds, detect evil, detect magic, detect poison, detect undead, purify food and drink, light, mending, guidance, stabilize, read magic, virtue

Zireael
2016-03-09, 09:51 AM
I really love the way you're thinking.

I solved the low hp at 1st level by blanket-adding 10 to all characters, but your racial hp solution has more flavor.

Using rerolls is a GREAT idea, they are massively underused in d20.

Speaking of skill points, did you keep the x4 points at 1st level rule? I am strongly leaning towards scrapping it in my own OGL project, as it leads to taking one level of rogue for TONS of skill points, and then whatever you really wanted to level. Also, background skills is a nice variant.

Composer99
2016-03-09, 01:49 PM
Are you keeping the favoured class mechanic from the Player's Handbook, going with the Pathfinder mechanic, or opting for some alternate mechanic?

Djinn_in_Tonic
2016-03-10, 11:12 AM
As someone who has done a TON of partial-to-full core system mechanics rewrites for 3.5, I'd suggest being a little more conservative with your racial bonus hit points, especially for a game focusing on the first 10 levels.

You have a variance of 4-10, which means that, in early gameplay, Elven Fighters are a VERY bad idea. I tried similar numbers for myself, and found that it heavily discouraged players from starting as the races with weaker hit points.

My solution was to compress the values into a 5-7 range: traditionally frail races got 5 hit points, average races got 6, and hearty races got 7. It was enough to put some variance in place and shore up early hit points, but wasn't high enough that players were picking races just for their survival capabilities in levels 1-3.

----------------------

I'm also a little concerned that you're shoehorning races with your design. Elves gain very little benefit from Elven Magic if they're not spellcasters, for example. Gnomes lose a very valuable boost if they're not illusionists.

On the flip side, some races just win hugely -- Half-Elves benefit enormously as their power is VERY strong in about 80% of situations (as Diplomacy is just one of the universally useful skills). Halflings and Dwarves, meanwhile, only get their re-roll in extremely specialized situations. That's a little worrying.

----------------------

Finally, if you're going to be utilizing re-rolls (and I'm all for that), I'd put them more places. Maybe don't make Smite retain the use if it misses -- just let a Smite attempt roll twice, and use the higher number. Advantage was one of the best things 5e added, and if you're going to use it in your race design I'd make that more common across the board.

----------------------

Definitely going to be following this though. I think it has potential, and it runs close enough to a few of my own variations that I'm interested to see how it develops.

critfumbles
2016-03-11, 06:11 PM
I'm not satisfied with my race redesign, so I'll try again.

My goals are to create races that have distinct mechanics from one another, and are balanced so that playing one race-class combination doesn't blow others out of the water. At the same time, my personal preference would be to enshrine the most archetypal race-class combinations in the rules. If players can see why a lot of half-orcs become barbarians because the mechanics back up the lore, I can deliver a more consistent world when the players encounter other half-orc barbarians -- or add wonder when they meet a half-orc that breaks the norm. ("Have you ever seen a krogan scientist?")

At this point I also realize that any serious attempt needs playtesting, and I need at least 2 sets of feedback: that another GM and his/her players can pick up and run a short adventure with preconstructed PCs to make sure the system doesn't fall apart somewhere terrible; then, that a group of players can create their own characters with these rules without the system falling apart.

That being said, I know my POV isn't universal, so back from the top:

Bonus Hit points by Race:
How about the following adjustments:



Human
Dwarf
Elf
Half-Elf
Half-Orc
Halfling
Gnome


4
6
3
4
5
4
4


The variance between 3 and 6 is less severe than that between 4 and 10. (Thank you, Djinn.) I'm worried that it might not do as much to vary race as previously, but when coupled with 'maximum hp at 1st level' for the first class, the total number evens out.

Dwarves
Dwarves are choked by too many miscellaneous, situational racial traits that back up a stereotype, rather than an interesting gamut of options. Three things I want to focus on: dwarves are stocky and have great balance on their feet, dwarves are accustomed to living in the dark and underground, and dwarves are hardy and resistant to poison.

+2 Constitution, -2 Charisma Underlines the hardiness of dwarves. Bonus to almost a universal secondary ability, a penalty for bards, sorcerers, and paladins (to a lesser degree, turn undead, wild empathy, and Cha-based skills). Opens up the idea of dwarven alternate class features that allow them to avoid a penalty to their primary ability.

Small: +1 size bonus to AC, +1 size bonus on attack rolls, +4 size bonus to Hide checks

Speed: 20 ft., but dwarves are never slowed by encumbrance from armor or a medium or heavy load. With powerful build, I think 'small without penalty' counts as 1 unique benefit.

Darkvision 60 ft. I would argue that low-light vision and darkvision shouldn't be considered 'benefits' in the traditional sense for PCs. If only some PCs have it, the party is going to be using light spells or some other character option to compensate; even if everyone has it, many monsters already have it too.

Dwarven Resilience (Ex): Dwarves have advantage on saving throws against poison. While on firm ground, dwarves also have advantage on opposed checks to attempt and resist bull rush, overrun, and trip attacks.

This equates to the following:
A +5 bonus on sv vs. poison
A +5 bonus against bull rush, overrun, and trip attacks; and
A +5 bonus to make bull rush, overrun, and trip attacks.
I hope that the other advantage-granting mechanics in my races are about as useful as this, and I will fix accordingly.

Powerful Build (Ex): Dwarves are treated as one size category larger if doing so is advantageous to him. A dwarf can use armor and weapons designed for a creature one size larger without penalty. However, his space and reach remain those of a creature of his actual size. This benefit stacks with other effects that change the dwarf's size.

This generally translates to size modifiers on opposed checks and size-based effects (like improved grab or a tornado) and carrying capacity.

Automatic Languages: Common, Dwarven.

It's crunch time for my university, so I can't work on the other races right now. I also have not forgotten about your posts. (Stream of consciousness: Until I put in more thought and research into their issues, favored class and skill points/level will remain the same. I will return to address these issues once I know more about them; I keep thinking about advantage, and I'm not sure if I want to adopt it wholesale, since a +5 bonus makes a big difference; I had hoped to include a tidbit in elven magic and gnome magic that would appeal to characters outside their niche (i.e. monk with mage armor, all gnomes having advantage against aboleths, phantasmal killers, and color sprays), might not have been enough; I need to nerf half-elves. And thank you to everyone for your thoughts into the matter.)