I like the sound of bonuses coming from background tags, but I'm not sure attributes would be the best way to approach that.
While it's not the most original way to solve the problem, Larian could consider taking the D&D 4E approach to racial balance by offering a choice between two attribute bonuses. IE, as a Dwarf, you can pick either a +2 bonus to CON, or a +2 bonus to STR. Maybe Elves have Finesse and Memory as their options. This way each race retains a bit of its specialization, but also gains a bit of flexibility as well.
I'm not much of a lore expert, but Lizards are known to have a "House of Law" and "House of War". To me that sounds like the perfect opportunity to give the player the option to specialize in either INT or STR, respectively. The House of War already establishes that the Lizards do have an entire House dedicated to soldiers, despite how the game mechanics makes warriors one of their least favored classes.
I'm aware that doesn't really fix the problem of making every class/build viable for every race, but I feel as though it is a step in the right direction that would not require an overhauling of existing systems.
