Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - General Some races are objectively better than others...

Thank you. I appreciate the information. I know I still have a lot of researching to do...lol

This exists in Eberron and it is as busted as I described. What would you propose for this unique racial feat that is unique, fits the race and is worth picking over other races while not being broken?

It doesn't have to be anything OP, just like how elves and other races can see in the dark or Tieflings has a resistance to fire. Humans can have some type of natural ability like a sixth sense, like in dialogue human can get the option of having better intuition.

Better intuition than Elves that live lifespans much longer or Aasimar that have a divine guide? Remember they do not exist in a vacuum, it has to make sense in context.

Remember I'm new to DnD and it's lore. In all honesty, I'm going by what I know of rpgs in general.

That's all fine and dandy I'm just trying to explain to you that this is not something that is easy to do without easily causing even more imbalance. DnD5e has been playtested for years by millions and no one has even come up with a satisfactory answer to this question.

Don't be influenced too much by these min/maxers talking about what is optimal. This is a D&D computer game. There's no pvp and there's no uber raid bosses that require 20 people with optimal builds. Trust me, you'll do just fine with a human character.

I really like the variant human, where you start with a bonus feat. There's also (in the add-on rulebook Xanathar's Guide) a specific feat which can only be taken by humans (and half-elves and half-orcs):


Prodigy

You have a knack for learning new things. You gain the following benefits:

You gain one skill proficiency of your choice, one tool proficiency of your choice, and fluency in one language of your choice.
Choose one skill in which you have proficiency. You gain expertise with that skill, which means your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make with it. The skill you choose must be one that isn’t already benefiting from a feature, such as Expertise, that doubles your proficiency bonus.

@Osprey39
This is exactly what I have been saying, humans don't need to be changed. Don't lump me in with the munckins mate.

Don't let it get to you. This is a already answered question. As we already know what is added to humans to make them balanced. It's called Variant human and they can choose one feat at character creation. It's in the tabletop version and no reason it shouldn't be here as well. Particularly with how necessary Darkvision is.

Couldn't disagree more; the +6 Ability score bonus non-variant humans get is unmatched by any other race. This can be particularly useful when building characters who want to put points into many different stats, e.g. paladins. Just because these classes don't exist in-game currently doesn't make humans weak. In fact, humans aren't a poor choice for some of the classes currently in-game either, such as a hunter-type ranger. A strongheart halfling is also an excellent choices for ranged classes that would be made beefier by the bonuses to AC, HP, and poison resistance (e.g. wizards and hunter-type rangers). They would also be among the top choices for lightly- and moderately-armored fronliners like monks and barbarians.

Thank you. I appreciate your response.

I didn't call anyone out by name my friend. No need to take offense.

I hated feeling railroaded into playing humans in the earlier BGs, due to dual classing. I certainly hope they don't' do the same in BG 3.

The options for creating humans in the D&D 5e rules are twofold:

Option 1: +1 o all ability scores; extra language.

Option 2: +1 to two different ability scores (of your choice); 1 Skill proficiency; 1 Feat.

Note that Feats in 5e are generally more potent than in 3e/3.5e because they tend to be less common and often include a single stat increase. I've listed a few examples below; there are not so many as were featured in earlier editions, but enough to be interesting no matter what playing or character style you adopt. Some would be harder to adapt to a CRPG than others, but I would be interested for Larian to implement Feats and the alternate human build.

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ALERT
Always on the lookout for danger, you gain the following benefits:
You gain a +5 bonus to initiative.
You can’t be surprised while you are conscious.
Other creatures don’t gain advantage on attack rolls against you as a result of being hidden from you.

ATHLETE
You have undergone extensive physical training to gain the following benefits:
Increase your Strength or Dexterity score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
When you are prone, standing up uses only 5 feet of your movement.
Climbing doesn’t halve your speed.
You can make a running long jump or a running high jump after moving only 5 feet on foot, rather than 10 feet.

MAGIC INITIATE
Choose a class: bard, cleric, druid, sorcerer, warlock, or wizard. You learn two cantrips of your choice from that class’s spell list.
In addition, choose one 1st-level spell from that same list. You learn that spell and can cast it at its lowest level. Once you cast it, you must finish a long rest before you can cast it again.
Your spellcasting ability for these spells depends on the class you chose: Charisma for bard, sorcerer, or warlock; Wisdom for cleric or druid: or Intelligence for wizard.

RESILIENT
Choose one ability score. You gain the following benefits:
Increase the chosen ability score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
You gain proficiency in saving throws using the chosen ability.

TOUGH
Your hit point maximum increases by an amount equal to twice your level when you gain this feat. Whenever you gain a level thereafter, your hit point maximum increases by an additional 2 hit points.

From what I understand there is no difference between dual- and multiclassing in 5e, and it doesn't seem to be restricted to race or class combination.

Multiclassing works pretty much the same as dual-classing did in BG2 in the sense that you need to meet a main stat requirement, in this case a min ability score of 13, but the system is way more flexible. Multiclassing in 5e is described as (paraphrasing): On every level up you choose which class you will gain a level in. The combined level of all you classes defines your current character level. So it's pretty much a very flexible dual-class, where you pick how and when you want to gain levels in your repecttive classes. In BG2 you would level up, as a multiclasses, simultaneously but slower and, as a dual class, you were forced to choose when to dual and then gimp yourself for a long time before you regained the level in your new class.

We have the opportunity to play around with multiple classes at once in the EA version, as the game lets you choose to gain basic understanding of an off-class as an option every 4th level. I have no idea if this is Larians interpretation of multiclassing or if this as entirely different option covered by some other part of the rulebook.

If anything needs to be corrected, or can be expanded, feel free to do so if you're more experienced or knowledgeable.

Yes, the terms 'multi-' and 'dual-' classing are somewhat irrelevant in 5e (and ever since 3e). You choose a class that you qualify for at each level, there is no statistic limitation but you need to meet any other requirements such as alignment. If you really want to play a Fighter-Wizard with 8 INT and 8 STR then you can. (EDIT: Turns out I am wrong here. You need a minimum 13 in the appropriate stats to qualify for a class, and 13 in both qualifying stats to multiclass. That's what comes of house-ruling too long).

You take all the 1st-level powers listed for the new class (not necessarily the same as a starting character of that class). Your character level then become the sum of all levels you have taken (so a 2nd level cleric/ 4th level fighter would have a character level of 6), but your class level is how ever many levels you have taken in the class in question (this determines such things as a wizard's spells). Some powers, such as Proficiency bonus, work off of the character level, and some off of the class level.

This method gives you a wider skill and power base, but you need to be wary of class restrictions such as wearing armour when casting wizard spells; something to consider before moving from an armoured class to to an arcane magic one.

Thank you so much for your examples. I appreciate the help.

Generally it makes sense, as they are fantasy races with objective innate differences between them. It's not necessarily a bad thing, and could lead to interesting roleplaying choices. A great example from the game itself is the ogre with the intelligence circlet

We must be playing different games! How are Humans and Halflings terrible? The latter have the Lucky trait which is the best racial trait in all of DnD-dom. Humans are as they should be: Flexible and pretty good at everything. Variant humans not only break with the philosophy about human being the all-rounders, they are also blatantly OVERPOWERED and pretty much becomes the best at everything (at least in the early levels).