Racial Intelligence bonuses.

[bloodshed343]

How fair is it to allow a unilateral wisdom/intelligence bonus exchange rate considering there are very few racial intelligence bonuses?

[Seekergeek]

I've taken to simply allowing a floating +2/+1 racial bonus in my games and haven't encountered too much of a problem. What you're suggesting is far less radical. I'd go for it. Rule of fun, and all that.

[Khrysaes]

I've taken to simply allowing a floating +2/+1 racial bonus in my games and haven't encountered too much of a problem. What you're suggesting is far less radical. I'd go for it. Rule of fun, and all that.

Would this be instead of the inherit racial stat increases? I am also assuming this doesn't apply to human, v human, or half elf?

[Honest Tiefling]

One thing I was playing around with was making races select 2 of 3 ability scores, and decide one to get a +2 and the other +1, kinda like what 4e ended up doing. For instance, let's take the Dragonborn. I think many will agree that Constitution, Strength, and Charisma are good choices for the race thematically. So anyone making a dragon born can have +2 to any one of those abilities, and +1 to another, so you could have +2 Charisma/+1 Constitution, +2 Strength/+1 Constitution, or +2 Strength/+1 Charisma, and plenty of other combinations.

I don't think it makes the individuals of that race more powerful, but it does make sorcerers, fighters, and bards more optimized. Sorcerers and fighters at least, are pretty damn iconic for the race from their introduction in 4e, so I don't think encouraging people to play that race/class combo is a bad thing. Limiting it to three gives the race some identity and is typically easy to remember.

Making the ability scores more flexible will only make the tiefling and the yuan-ti more powerful, since they might have been balanced on the idea that no one class can make use of INT/CHA to a high degree. I would seriously consider NOT allowing the Yuan-ti if you do this unless you have a good idea of balance and your group is on the same page and willing to cooperate should it get OP.

I am going to admit to a slight chance of a bias towards tieflings, but I think making their ability score increases more beneficial isn't going to break them. With that race and given the variety of fiends, I think opening up the subraces makes more sense for traditional tieflings because a Balor, a Erinyes, and a Glabrezu just aren't going to produce the same thing. If you are going with a single origin, well, the standard is fine.

[Seekergeek]

Would this be instead of the inherit racial stat increases? I am also assuming this doesn't apply to human, v human, or half elf?

Correct on all counts. It started because the group wanted to have a racial synergy and I figured it would allow them to feel more comfortable with their perspective class options. From there we never really looked back. Humans of both types and half elves have been left out of the equation and some of the Volo races haven't been played but I don't see us going back.

[Khrysaes]

Correct on all counts. It started because the group wanted to have a racial synergy and I figured it would allow them to feel more comfortable with their perspective class options. From there we never really looked back. Humans of both types and half elves have been left out of the equation and some of the Volo races haven't been played but I don't see us going back.

I could see some problems with the Yuanti Pureblood. Darkvision & Magic resistance on every class with ability bonuses will be pretty powerful. The others I forsee being fine, but I am curious how you would handle the Kobold and Orc Negatives.

Lizardfolk with the stat selection may be more powerful for certain builds.

[Seekergeek]

I could see some problems with the Yuanti Pureblood. Darkvision & Magic resistance on every class with ability bonuses will be pretty powerful. The others I forsee being fine, but I am curious how you would handle the Kobold and Orc Negatives.

Lizardfolk with the stat selection may be more powerful for certain builds.

Oh there are certainly blatant abuses out there but what seems to work for my table is not a universal endorsement. We're all in our 30s (and for the most part have been playing together since we were 14 or so), interested in the team, and unless it stomps on someone else's fun we have never been really too worried about power creep. Also, in my experience, if everyone has the same option, it's hard for them to justify getting upset when someone else uses that option more optimally.