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There remain a couple of places where I would have a difference of opinion re: ability modifiers.
Dwarves. -2 Charisma. Gruff is relative, much like the elves unnatural beauty. (Thanks for dropping that from v.2!) Given a dwarf's limited mobility, what about a -2 to Dexterity?
Gnomes. +2 Constitution? I think a +2 Intelligence seems more suiting a gnome.
Halfling. +2 Intelligence? It would seem that a +2 Charisma is better suited for those wily critters.
Orc. +2 Wisdom? Would +2 Constitution be more fitting these warrior beasts?
Orc. +2 Wisdom? Would +2 Constitution be more fitting these warrior beasts?
Not if what they are trying to do is one bonus to a martial stat and
one good bonus to a spell casting stat like I think they are.|
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I'm wondering about the +2 floating bonus for humans and half-elves.
1. "As smart as" effect
In 3.5, humans had no racial modifiers. Therefore, the smartest 1st level elven wizard was smarter (20 INT) than the smartest 1st level human wizard (18 INT).
In 3PF, that difference is gone. A human can be as strong as the strongest half-orcs, as wise as the wisest dwarf, etc.
Flavour-wise, I'm not sure it's a desirable change. Should the younger race be as good as an older one in pure spellcasting power?
2. What kind of variety?
I'm wondering about humans and half-elves that chose to put the +2 floating ability bonus on, for instance, CON. Are they hardier as individuals (option A) or do they come from an ethnic group known for its hardy men and women (option B)? In the first case, the CON bonus is not an actual racial bonus, but the expression of a race-wide genetic randomness. The issue is not only a conceptual one.
2.1 Floating ability bonus as a genetic variation (option A)
If this explanation is valid, humans and half-elves have a less consistent genetic make-up than other races.
Six members of a single human family of adventurers may in theory have each a +2 bonus to a different ability (Mum the cleric will have + 2 WIS, Dad the Wizard will have +2 INT, Son the Ranger +2 DEX, etc.)
In the same dwarven family each member will have +2 Constitution, +2 Wisdom and –2 Charisma.
Currently, I'm not sure if I am comfortable with this situation. A +2 bonus is a significant difference and harder to explain if the bonus applies to different abilities in a group of blood relatives or isolated communities.
Now, I think a better way to reflect the inherent variety in humans and half-elves would be to replace the +2 bonus to a single ability into three +1 modifiers to three different abilities. The effects of the bonus are more diffuse, but are easier to explain by the humans' wanderlust (or promiscuity) leading to a more varied level of genetic differences. It also cancels the "as smart as" effect under point 1 above.
2.2 Floating ability bonus as an ethnic/subracial trait variation (option B)
If we define the human/half-elven variety as something that works on an ethnic level, the rules for the ability bonus should be inspired by the requirements from the Regional feats (See Forgotten Realms). If your character comes from the region known for its isolated and hardy inhabitants, he or she should get +2 to CON or +2 to STR. It's implemented in Privateer Press's Iron Kingdoms. Humans belong to various ethnicities and get various ethnicity-based ability modifiers (and various other perks and tricks). In this case, the ability modifiers are actual racial modifiers, as all Caspians get +2 CHA.
I think however that implementing ethnicities for human and half-elves in PF should be dealt with a setting-specific book, not in the core rules.
Until then, I suggest a +1/+1/+1 scheme for humans and half-elves, that can be left to the discretion of the player or tailored by the player and the DM to match the ethnic make-up of the campaign setting.
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From:
http://www.seankreynolds.com/rpgfiles/opinions/PH_opinions_races.html
Note that all racial ability modifiers are even numbers. This is because the changes in the ability score table occur every 2 numbers. If you create a race that has a combination of ability score modifiers that are odd (such as +1 Strength, -1 Dexterity), it means that a player that chooses to make a character of that race can assign an odd ability score to Strength and Dexterity, which means the Strength bonus makes a difference and the Dexterity penalty doesn’t. In effect, that race has a +2 Strength modifier and a +0 Dex modifier. While the game was in development, the designers called this "create a bonus, hide a penalty."
If you want a race to have a +2/+0 combination, create it that way. Giving odd modifiers only allows a player to "legally" cheat. In the D&D game, all PC races (and all creatures) must have even ability score modifiers.
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From:
http://www.seankreynolds.com/rpgfiles/opinions/PH_opinions_races.html
I may not see the issue there. I'm not suggesting a racial penalty to any ability score, so the +1/+1/+1 system doesn't hide any penalties.
Many items and effects give +1 bonuses to ability scores, which is cool for characters who have an odd score, but has less impact for characters with an even ability scores.
The ability boost at level 4 is also a +1 bonus. I don't think anyone is suggesting that it be changed to a +2.
Bear in mind that the rule suggestion is designed to counter the "as smart as" effect described above. If flavour-wise, the effect is not an issue, i.e. we're fine with the smartest human being as smart as the smartest elf, as strong as the strongest half-orc, etc. and we're fine with human blood relatives having a genetic makeup which is much more random than other humanoid races, we should definitely keep the +2 floating racial bonus for humans.
Also, I respectfully disagree with Sean's analysis. Let's take a race with a +2 to CON and -1 to DEX. All individuals will be affected by the penalty, but to variable degrees.
At character creation, the player rolls a 13 and assigns it to DEX. The effective score is 12, which doesn't change the +1 ability modifier. However, feats which have a minimal DEX requirement (usually 13) are not available to that character. The ability boost at level 4 will not benefit them directly. Ability drain or loss will have more severe consequences and so on.
Of course, if at character creation, the player rolls a 12 and assigns it to DEX, the overall consequences are more significant.
This means however that a -1 racial penalty is never completely hidden and that there will still be direct consequences if the -1 penalty is assigned to an odd ability score.