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PhoenixPhyre
2016-08-17, 09:39 AM
The hat of the human race is supposed to be its variability and adaptability. The PHB human is...lacking in this regard. Their only racial feature is that they get 6 +1 ability score increases, instead of 4 (+2/+2) or 3 (+2/+1). Of all the humans I've played with, I know of only one that is not a variant.

I understand why the variant human is not the featured option--feats are optional and without feats variant human isn't very good. That doesn't make regular humans any better.

For a world/campaign setting I'm building, I'm considering the following setup for humanity.

Human racial traits
Variant human does not exist. As the most diverse race, all humans start with a pool of 6 points that can be distributed in the following ways:

One point can raise an ability score by one point. No ability score can be raised more than twice at character creation and no more than two ability scores can be raised twice. Thus, +2, +2, +1, +1 is valid, but +3, +2, +1 is not valid nor is +2, +2, +2.
One point can be spent to gain proficiency in a skill.
Two points can be spent to gain expertise (apply double your proficiency) in a skill. No more than one skill can gain expertise this way.
Two points can be spent to select a feat. You gain all benefits of the feat as normal. No more than one feat can be selected this way.
Two points can be spent to select one of the racial features of another race from the following list (no more than one racial feature can be chosen):

Dwarven Resilience (advantage on poison saves, resistance to poison damage)
Dwarven Toughness (+1 HP/level)
Armor proficiency from any race
Weapon proficiency from any race
Darkvision
Fey Ancestry (Sleep spell immunity, advantage on saving throws vs charm effects)
Savage Attacks (Add an extra damage dice on crit)



Comments & Explanation
I wanted to make humans the least coherent and most flexible race. No two humans need to be alike. The costs were judged roughly by looking at what variant human gets in return for only having 2 +1 ability score bonuses.

I'd like some feedback from the collective wisdom of my fellow playgrounders: specifically,

Is this too complicated?
Are you more (or less!) likely to play a human with these changes?
Is it noticeably out of line with the power level of the other PHB races?
Are there other racial features that could be "stolen" without destroying balance?

Other comments/quibbles/feedback is appreciated.

Rerem115
2016-08-17, 01:43 PM
From a power standpoint, it's probably on par with or above nearly all the PHB races. It looks cool, and I'd definitely want to play it. The one thing that makes me a little leery about this though, is how customizable this is; it's a min-maxer's wet dream. Need a certain point spread other races don't have? We got it. Need a certain feat? We got it. Need a certain tool? We got it.

This is probably even stronger than vhuman, because you can get the primary reason to play a vhuman (the feat), on top of the incredibly strong +2 to any two stats, or +2 to your primary and +1 to both of your secondary stats.

TheTeaMustFlow
2016-08-17, 02:51 PM
Yeah, this is vastly superior to variant human, which is already one of the strongest choices. So unless you're planning to buff every race in your setting to a similar degree, turn it down a notch or two.

PhoenixPhyre
2016-08-17, 03:05 PM
Yeah, this is vastly superior to variant human, which is already one of the strongest choices. So unless you're planning to buff every race in your setting to a similar degree, turn it down a notch or two.

Thanks. What do you think about any of the following fixes:

Reducing the number of stat bonuses
Changing the stat bonus part to "No more than one stat can get +2" (down from 2 stats)
Increasing the cost of the alternate options
Requiring at most 4 stat bonus points spent


If the main source of the extra power is the stat bonuses, I'm leaning toward the last option which is more flexible than mountain dwarf but without most of the other features. Also probably increase the cost of a feat to 3 points (making feats impossible with getting +2 to two stats). I'd like to play a low-feat game, but humans should be the most prevalent race in the setting. That means I'd rather not just make variant human the baseline for humans.