What would the game look like if there were no negative racial modifiers? Dwarves wouldn't get a -2 charisma, elves wouldn't get a -2 con. Would it be good? bad? Would the world explode?
no, at least mine hasn't yet. been doing it for over a year now. I don't even have to adjust CR.
I'd see it as a good thing. Races would still be encouraged to the classes their stats and racial abilities incline them to, but if you wanted to go outside the box, you wouldn't be actively punished.
Do whatever you like. If you want strength 18 halflings, go for it. It's your game, and no one is going to confiscate your books for having badwrongfun.
It does make things odd sometimes.
"The 3 foot tall gnome? Yeah he is a strong as me."
From a mechanics PoV, if you look at the Advanced Race Guide, the difference between standard ability score modifiers and flexible ability score modifiers is 2 RP. At MOST it would push the core classes into the "Advanced Race Category," which is no worse then playing an Aasimar or Tiefling.
It does make things odd sometimes.
"The 3 foot tall gnome? Yeah he is a strong as me."
I would advise applying the small modifiers to small races (-2 Str, +2 Dex). This may require re-jiggering the small race's modifiers so they have two +2 stats and then the small size modifiers.
Just give humans an extra +2 they cannot spend on a stat they had already modified with a racial modifier and it should remain pretty balanced. Don't know about Orcs though.
It does make things odd sometimes.
"The 3 foot tall gnome? Yeah he is a strong as me."
The reduced-encumbrace-for-size rules would eliminate that issue.
The reduced-encumbrace-for-size rules would eliminate that issue.It does make things odd sometimes.
"The 3 foot tall gnome? Yeah he is a strong as me."
Aye, there are already rules in the game all about size. Not that everyone keeps track of them.
TBH I've already met tons of halflings stronger than the average man. 14 strength Halfling cavalier for instance, and back in 3.5 days one of my friends loved his Halfling barbarian dinosaur trainer(16 strength). My PFS wizard and witch both have 7 strength, so the average Halfling is stronger than them.
Just give humans an extra +2 they cannot spend on a stat they had already modified with a racial modifier and it should remain pretty balanced. Don't know about Orcs though.
Orc isn't a usual player race, so that shouldn't be a worry.
Just musing the ramifications of this and a few other creation houserules. Ideally I'd put it side by side with peoples chances to put their bonus and malus in whatever stat they wanted. If everyone had a +2 to all the stats they wanted and it was 20 or 25 point buy... I'd probably be overly generous, but most of the decisions I've seen out of the local players are min maxing and picking races based on the bonus and malus, so if I 'fix' that then maybe they'd go for a more roleplay based gig.
It means I don't need to make my rage prophet dwarves have a 12 Charisma maximum (when focused on melee/buff). I see very little issue with it.
Aye, that's the point! I want people to play what they want and races can restrict that idea.
Just musing the ramifications of this and a few other creation houserules. Ideally I'd put it side by side with peoples chances to put their bonus and malus in whatever stat they wanted. If everyone had a +2 to all the stats they wanted and it was 20 or 25 point buy... I'd probably be overly generous, but most of the decisions I've seen out of the local players are min maxing and picking races based on the bonus and malus, so if I 'fix' that then maybe they'd go for a more roleplay based gig.
Like Toaster, I've removed the negative modifier from ability scores for some time now. It's encouraged more diversity in my groups, which was my goal. With 8 players, I got pretty sick of seeing all human groups - not because it is what they wanted to play, but what they felt like they had to play to be competitive.
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It changes the dynamic of races. Right now races are good at two stats, bad at one, and neutral with three. Removing penalties effectively make them good with two and bad with four.
It doesn't change what classes synergies well with what races, as the bonuses do not change. But it does mean there are fewer classes the race is, well, not bad at. But since those classes might not make use of the bonuses it still feels non-optimal.
At best it makes MAD classes a little more manageable.
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Just as an aside - I'm completely unconvinced why Tieflings get a Charisma penalty (or any race for that matter). There are just as many reasons I'd give them a bonus - force of personality as opposed to being uncomfortable being what they are or treated poorly for that reason. I remove Charisma negatives sight unseen.
Not that they need to be replaced with bonuses. Some of the physical negs make more sense to me, but I'm all for removing them, or removing all negatives.
The carrying capacity makes it worse come to think of it.
"It hurts just as much to get hit by me as the gnome with my longsword."
"That doesn't make sense, he can't lift as much as you, and he has trouble wielding it."
Shrugs.