Reality check: +dex and +str

[hymer]

Greetings playgrounders! May I have your good opinions on something?
I'm puttering about with some homebrew racials, and one thing that occurred to me is that giving a race +2 str and +2 dex is not nearly as powerful as the numbers alone would suggest. +2 to one or the other and +1 con would probably be more useful. Am I right in that, do you think? Or can you come up with some build that would love to get +2 to both str and dex?
Your thoughts and comments are most welcome!

[PhoenixPhyre]

Greetings playgrounders! May I have your good opinions on something?
I'm puttering about with some homebrew racials, and one thing that occurred to me is that giving a race +2 str and +2 dex is not nearly as powerful as the numbers alone would suggest. +2 to one or the other and +1 con would probably be more useful. Am I right in that, do you think? Or can you come up with some build that would love to get +2 to both str and dex?
Your thoughts and comments are most welcome!

Unarmored Barbarian. Gives better AC than +2 STR/+1 CON, helps with saves/evasion, initiative, stealth.

[Spore]

Or can you come up with some build that would love to get +2 to both str and dex?

Grapple Rogue. Switch Hitter Ranger (twohander and longbow). Basically any heavy armored archer. Any character that likes to climb, swim and balance around (monks, thieves, rangers again). Any lightly armored str melee (Non-Hexblade Bladelocks, barbarians, heck, even fighters).

And any player that realizes that dexterity and strength are somewhat connected (can't draw a sword quickly if you cannot even hold its weight, can't hide hanging from the ceiling without good upper body strength, cannot balance narrow surfaces without good muscles).

There is a reason why acrobats are strong. (https://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2015/05/03/05/28194D2100000578-3062214-Toby_39_was_a_tour_guide_leader_and_a_sports_acrob at-a-2_1430626636372.jpg)

[OldTrees1]

Thinking about Point Buy with the cap of 15:
A +2 Racial bonus to a stat is worth 2pts (8->10), 3pts (12->14), or more than 4pts (14->16 or 15->17) call it 5-6?
A +1 Racial bonus to a stat is worth 1pt (9->10), 2pts (13->14), or more than 2pts (15->16) call it 3?

So a +2 ??? /+1 Con is likely to be worth more than 6 pts (call it 7-9 pts) in the case of 16-17 ??? & 14-16 Con.
A +2 Str / +2 Dex is also worth more than 6 pts (call it 7-8 pts) in the most polarized (10 & 16-17) case.
The +2 Str / +2 Dex case improves to more than 7pts (call it 8-9 pts) if we find a reason for a 14 in the second stat (see other posts for examples).

So I would consider +2 Str / +2 Dex as an option to consider vs +2 ??? / +1 Con even if one of those would just end up as a 10 or 12 for better saves/checks. It would likely come down to the racial benefits. This is not really that much of a surprise when you compare a free 8->10 vs a free 13->14 if you would have bought both anyways.

[Foxhound438]

I'd agree that it's less good than a mountain dwarf for example, but it does have benefits. Particularly if your DM allows you to use an oversized longbow (from an NPC in Dragon Heist)

[hymer]

Thanks for the answers everyone! I can see this will require some more thought... :smallsmile:

[N810]

Might be ok if you also give them a negative trait as well,
like sunlight sensitivity or something like that. :smallamused:

[Man_Over_Game]

If it's that much of a concern, it could be +2 to Strength OR Dexterity.

Even with all of the mentioned examples, there's not much I'd be worried about. The primary concerns for balance is with combat, and other than something odd, like a Heavy Armor Master using Finesse weapons, or a Barbarian/Monk STR puncher, there's not much I'd really see being a big deal.

For the most part, it makes bad builds better, and it improves skills that might not have seen much use (like Athletics on a Rogue).