My fear is that the new races description allows for a 'power creep'. I let my players create their characters using a 75 point buy, where you get 1 point of ability score for every point spent, with the new ability modifiers I get a 77 point party.
Voila! a new thread as I had a very similar question; is it the intention to up the power level? Even at standard pts buy with 73 pts the racial bonus would add an across the board (all races) +2?
My STAP players are waiting...
I'm thinking if you are doing point buys in the 70's then the last thing you'd worry about is a +2 bonus here and there; you've already waved bye-bye to any idea that your PCs are not going to have some pretty darn good stats overall, anyway, so I don't see that the racial bosnus matters.
I assume that you don't use the point buy method as described in the core rules (all stats start at 8, you pay to increase beyond that, and high ability scores cost more per point than lower ones). Because those are usually between 25 and 32 points (There are also lower values, and I heard of people using higher ones as well, up to 40).
I guess your point buy is like this:
A 10 costs 10 points, a 15 15 and so on.
Whatever it is, I don't see that much of a problem with it. It makes races more versatile. And those 2 points won't break the game I'd say. Especially since everyone gets them.
I assume that you don't use the point buy method as described in the core rules (all stats start at 8, you pay to increase beyond that, and high ability scores cost more per point than lower ones). Because those are usually between 25 and 32 points (There are also lower values, and I heard of people using higher ones as well, up to 40).
I guess your point buy is like this:
A 10 costs 10 points, a 15 15 and so on.Whatever it is, I don't see that much of a problem with it. It makes races more versatile. And those 2 points won't break the game I'd say. Especially since everyone gets them.
You assume right, a 10 costs 10 etc. The elite array, the virtual baseline for the game amounts to 73 points. It all depends if every monster gets an increase this way. If for example goblins are left out they become even less of a threat then they are now. And this impacts backward compatibility.
I had given them the 28 pt standard pt buy. I like that you have to take a flaw if you want a high ability score, and while I don't think it'll break the game either way, I was just trolling for thoughts on the matter. (does that seem too harsh? I haven't DMed since 1st ed, but I'm giving it a go with the alpha release using the Savage Tide AP so I don't want to have to change every monster significantly. btw my Runelords DM gave us 25 pt standard buy!)