Humans, the potatoes of the races

[Irish Musician]

Humans are used quite a bit, but generally are just have an extra skill and an extra feat to accompany them. Honestly, compared to some of the other races they tend to get left behind in terms of race upgrades as the race goes along. They aren't magical, they aren't "special" in terms of other races and their abilities. They are pretty average and pretty much stay that was all their lives. Even if they get strong or nimble or charismatic or intelligent.....they are still only humans. They are to the races of D&D, as potatoes are to cooking. You can use them so many different ways, but it is hard to elevate them.

However, they do something really well. They learn and experience the world like no other race. They soak up information like a sponge and can greatly commit themselves to learns new skills and tasks, and learning new skills and tasks.

Having said that, here's a new variation I came up with to deal with the Humans as a race. Let me know what you think and any criticisms are much appreciated and I don't make much Homebrew.

I'd also like to give a shout out to Relkin for the inspiration for the Human rewrite, and Arenabait for this Homebrewed feat that was supplied to me in working out this Human Homebrew.

Human

Ability Score Increase: Two different ability scores of your choice increase by 1

Age. Humans reach adulthood in their late teens and live less than a century.

Alignment. Humans tend toward no particular alignment. The best and the worst are found among them.

Size. Humans vary widely in height and build, from barely 5 feet to well over 6 feet tall. Regardless of your position in that range, your size is Medium.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and one extra language of your choice. Humans typically learn the languages of other peoples they deal with, including obscure dialects. They are fond of sprinkling their speech with words borrowed from other tongues: Orc curses, Elvish musical expressions, Dwarvish military phrases, and so on.

Variety in All Things: Your knowledge and skills are wide, gain one skill and one feat of your choice.

Jack of all Trades: When you reach 3rd level, you gain specialization in the skill you picked when you created your character, as well as one other class skill of your choice in which you are trained. Your proficiency bonus is doubled for expertise in these skills.

Race of Ambition: When you reach 5th level, you have experienced the world, and have learned much from it. You can either gain expertise in two more skills of your choice that you do not yet have expertise and in which you are trained, or you may gain another feat.


Expertise
When you gain this feat, choose one skill that you are proficient in. You gain the following benefits:
-The ability score that your chosen skill is based off of is increased by one.
-Your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make with your chosen skill.

[Lalliman]

I must be missing something. Variant Human is considered one of the best races in core. From what I've seen, it's always the public's first or second pick for any class in terms of power. And you just made it twice as powerful.

Are you playing with some house rule that removes all the good feats or splits them into multiples? Because if not, I really don't understand why you think humans need buffing.

[Irish Musician]

I must be missing something. Variant Human is considered one of the best races in core. From what I've seen, it's always the public's first or second pick for any class in terms of power. And you just made it twice as powerful.

Are you playing with some house rule that removes all the good feats or splits them into multiples? Because if not, I really don't understand why you think humans need buffing.

Huh, I've always seen at as pretty underpowered and not all that mechanically stimulating. I mean, any race can pick up a feat through their class. Doesn't seem all that special to me. I'm just trying to make humans more interesting, I guess. As of now, they're kind of boring. At least to me and people I've played with in the past.

[JBPuffin]

Huh, I've always seen at as pretty underpowered and not all that mechanically stimulating. I mean, any race can pick up a feat through their class. Doesn't seem all that special to me. I'm just trying to make humans more interesting, I guess. As of now, they're kind of boring. At least to me and people I've played with in the past.

Vhumes are so good because they allow you to have one trick (Crossbow Expert, Polearm Mastery, Great Weapon Master, Sharpshooter, etc) at 1st level, whereas most races get it at 4th level. Normal humans are picked less often, but with an all-odd array, the +1s across the board can do wonders for your character. They're bland, sure, but that doesn't make them weak - far from it, actually.

If you want to make a human that isn't just a bonus skill and feat and a couple of +1s, I think you need to make them a race-subrace (in this case, something closer to culture than ethnicity) setup, although since you're dealing with humanity, any division will stir up some controversy or another.

[Irish Musician]

If you want to make a human that isn't just a bonus skill and feat and a couple of +1s, I think you need to make them a race-subrace (in this case, something closer to culture than ethnicity) setup, although since you're dealing with humanity, any division will stir up some controversy or another.

Thats actually a really good idea. Instead of races, it could be regions. Kind of like caster druids: coast, plains, forest, urban, desert, mountains, etc. That way it doesn't step on any toes culturally or ethnicity-wise. Keeps it in the fantasy realm.

Thank you for that idea!