Human or demihuman stats and vision

[Whit]

I see a lack of demihuman all for the human varient feat. But let’s look at how it works
Demihuman 1. Basic stats 15,14,13,12,10,8.
+2/+1. 17,15,13,12,10,8
At lvl 4. Either +2 stats or feat. So 18,16,13,12,10,8. No feat Or feat With 17.15,13,12,10,8
Human 15,14,13,12,10,8 plus feat GWM,sharpshooter, alertness , weapon mastery, resilience which would give +1 stat
At lvl 4. +2 stat or another feat. I would think stat. So now 17,14,13,12,10,8 or if the feat was resilient 17, 15,13,12,10,8.

At lvl 4 the Demi human with a feat has +1 to his stats in a secondary stat over the human
So 17&15 over 17&14. But does that change bonus. No. 14/15 both give +2. So at lvl 4 they are equal in stat bonus and feat.

Now the next time lvl 8 they both get stat or feat we see a change

If they both have feats it’s a wash. If they go stats it changes.
The demihuman gets 18&16 and the human gets 18&15 Demihuman gets +4&+3 human gets +4/+2. Or puts the secondary to a third stat making a +1 to a +2.

So levels 1-3 the human varient might seem better since his feat can be HUGE. At that lvl GWM sharpshooter for example.
But at lvl 4 -7 tgey equal out.
At lvl 8. The Demi human now extends a little with better stats getting that 18/16 over the human 18/15 secondary or 18/14 third stat.

Now let’s also take a look at other things.
The Demi human mostly gets dark vision which is huge. And few other stuff depending on species. Sleep charm resistance or poison resistance or a luck type. But most important is darkvision.

And here is why. Most human varient are fir GWM sharpshooter or shield bearer? (Some exceptions)
All are 2 handed options which means no light source luke a torchbor lantern. Now a cleric who gets light can cast it once on a person if he has it. Could be a demihuman who doesn’t need it.

So what will that human archer, fighter with two handed sword or sword &shield do.

The DMs forget and players more likely forget that darkness in a cave, underground, dark castle where Darkvision creatures lurk don’t need light as much.

Fighting in darkness is blindness. Disadvantage to hit and advantage to hit against the player.

[ad_hoc]

Now let’s also take a look at other things.
The Demi human mostly gets dark vision which is huge. And few other stuff depending on species. Sleep charm resistance or poison resistance or a luck type. But most important is darkvision.

And here is why. Most human varient are fir GWM sharpshooter or shield bearer? (Some exceptions)
All are 2 handed options which means no light source luke a torchbor lantern. Now a cleric who gets light can cast it once on a person if he has it. Could be a demihuman who doesn’t need it.

So what will that human archer, fighter with two handed sword or sword &shield do.

The DMs forget and players more likely forget that darkness in a cave, underground, dark castle where Darkvision creatures lurk don’t need light as much.

Fighting in darkness is blindness. Disadvantage to hit and advantage to hit against the player.

If the party is in darkness then they're not going to survive after the 4th combat that day where they were surprised.

If they aren't in darkness then it doesn't matter.

Darkvision isn't useless, but it's not that important either.

[Lunali]

Creatures with darkvision that are capable of using fire or magic will typically light their homes area to make it easier for them to see, though they may not care about raising the light level above dim like a human would.

Raiders and outdoor patrols will likely rely on their darkvision instead as remaining unseen benefits them more than the relatively short range improvement in vision that a torch would provide.

For player characters, darkvision is important to any group that wants to use stealth to a significant degree and virtually useless to those that don't.

[Whit]

So for adventure league players who want to optimize a character. You can go human varient lvl 1-4 and then switch to demihuman before the cut off at lvl 5

[Whit]

I’m off on human stat so actually human is better with at lvl 8 a 20 primary and 14 secondary. Compared to demihuman 18 primary and 16 secondary

[Derpaligtr]

If the party is in darkness then they're not going to survive after the 4th combat that day where they were surprised.

If they aren't in darkness then it doesn't matter.

Darkvision isn't useless, but it's not that important either.

People always forget that perception checks have disadvantage in dim light. Darkvision helps, but doesn't fix everything.

[Theodoxus]

Eh, stats aren't that big a deal. The difference between a 16 and an 18 for offense is pretty low. Both melee and magic attacks in tier 1 either hit or miss, with a 5% margin being negligible thanks to the boon from proficiency bonus. If you're burning a feat for GWM or SS (for the damage boost, not for the other bennies) you'll obviously feel a bigger hit on a lower stat.

For defense, it's a bit more of an issue, since defenses generally don't increase with PB, so there's not a buffer like in offense. But defensive stats generally are secondary to offensive (outside of Dex based martial types).

[Derpaligtr]

Eh, stats aren't that big a deal. The difference between a 16 and an 18 for offense is pretty low. Both melee and magic attacks in tier 1 either hit or miss, with a 5% margin being negligible thanks to the boon from proficiency bonus. If you're burning a feat for GWM or SS (for the damage boost, not for the other bennies) you'll obviously feel a bigger hit on a lower stat.

For defense, it's a bit more of an issue, since defenses generally don't increase with PB, so there's not a buffer like in offense. But defensive stats generally are secondary to offensive (outside of Dex based martial types).

Every time I see someone say this about ability scores, I continue to wonder why we even have them.

Ability scores tell us that someone is strong/wise/charismatic, but proficiency to shows us that they are.

[ad_hoc]

People always forget that perception checks have disadvantage in dim light. Darkvision helps, but doesn't fix everything.

I think people also overlook that surprise is per character.

So even if there is a PC with a 15 passive perception and with disadvantage that is now 10 (enough to notice standard sneaking monsters) only that PC will not be surprised. Everyone else with 4-9 PP will still be surprised.