It's a pity.
"Not optimal" does not mean "unbalanced". And it certainly does not mean "not viable for anything".
I play as main an elf as Strength/Int based Necro/Hydro/Poly/Warfare with one-handed weapon and shield. Because I like the elf. Although he is far from "optimal". The bonus in Finesse is a bit a waste, and I need two additional attribute points in Wits to get him on the initiative level of my humans. This is about 4 levels behind in other attributes where my humans can give points in.The racial is of no great use because with the hit to Constitution I blow my shield away.
So what? It is not a game breaker and you can choose another race if you like to min/max. You say you don't like to min/max, but calling slight differences "unbalanced" because they are "not optimal" smells a lot like min/maxing.
Except the elf has the flesh eater trait....so elves are actually the most optimal thing for anything.
And the problem with the arguments here is that while non-optimal =/= unbalanced because optimal must take into acct the question "optimal for what?"
Humans are unbalanced in the essence that at least with the other classes you're getting a race that can do a specific role or build pretty well. You can put them in a party or solo them.
A human though? The only actual role that a human can do exceptionally well is a leader that wants to use high wits to buff the party and allies and maybe play support/rogue.
Soloing? Well the special is now useless.
Someone who doesn't need to go first to make the build work (warrior, mage, ect...)? Well if you don't plan to pump wits thats wasted points better spend elswhere. High wits or no wits. You can't just go for middle ground.
These don't inherently make them something to avoid permanently....but. Just as,say, the lizard feels shafted into the Mage role cause he needs the fire tree and stuff to actually make his ability useful? The Human can only play a party leader role well.
It's a problem with the races in general. A racial trait should feel useful for all builds and while some might work better with others than some we shouldn't feel gimped or like theirs wasted potential.
Humans, in particular, highlight this since it's such a heavy handed way of telling the player to use a party and focus on using them.
