Still not seeing what the draw is for the half-Elf - the human gets the same bonus to any stat.
The Half-Orc beng one of the better options for Monk IS a bit weird, especially considering their chaotic tendencies.
We started playtesting with our group last night and I thought that I would post a few of the observations that our group had regarding the races.
- Loved the idea that you get +1 hp for every level in a favoured class. Dwarven fighter especially liked it.
- Felt that if there was a +1hp reward for being in a favoured class, that it should be more restricted. Having a choice of two classes seemed too much. We felt that we should stick to the original favoured classes.
If a human can pick any favored class, why should all other races be limited to one choice?
- The extra +2 went over very well in general!
- Biggest kudos went to the Half-elf changes. Having a choice of +2 to ANY stat caused a little of drool. There was never a real reason to play one unless you were in so love with the idea of elvish/human offspring that you were willing to give up on some bonuses.
- In our campaigns, nearly ALL of our characters have been human. We all felt that the extra feat was well worth it. We felt that the extra +2 to ANY attribute was too much, and put the humans right back up there in the most popular race to play. If you are looking for balance, our suggestion is to scrap that bonus. It is too much - especially now that you get the extra HP for every level of whatever you are since you get to choose the favoured class.
Interesting. My impression has been that you can make out better by picking a non-human race whose bonuses happen to be in stats your class needs and whose penalties are in a stat you don't care about.
- Half Orc monks are horribly good. The extra +2 to wisdom seems...out of character to us....but we weren't sure where else to put it. Maybe another physical attribute? CON???
Yep, it looks like non-humans are the way to go for any multi-stat dependent concept, especially in the new point buy system. Half-orcs have just the right combination of bonuses to help out the monk (which needs all the help it can get).
As for transferring the bonus to another physical attribute, it looks like the design intent was to give each race one physical stat bonus and one mental stat bonus. Besides, one big complaint about 3.x was the half-orcs who were only good as barbarians. Going back to that probably isn't a good idea, especially since the only racial feature added to the half orc outside the stat bonuses was the chance to get yourself killed fighting on for another round after getting to <= 0 hp.