so basically what you are saying is, in the situation of dnd, there is no real reason races couldn't have similar stats, since its fantasy, a game, and represents a reality we are unfamiliar with. Chimpanzees for example are 1.35 times stronger than humans on average. average height 3 ft 3.
so really it just comes down to either liking to have race controlling stats or not, and logic/realism really having nothing to do with it.
Which is fair as an opinion, but its not the only way to do things.
My reason is: a world with different races (species) that have similar stats is boring. It's more interesting to have races with vastly different characteristics than it is to have races that are essentially slightly-different humans. Which, sure, is my personal opinion.
I'm certainly not saying "realism has nothing to do with it." Fantasy or "it being a game" doesn't mean you can or should just throw out all logic; you need a baseline of logic/realism to make the fantastic actually stand out. Unless there is something else hidden at play, a race that is characterized by their strength & muscles (Orcs) should be stronger. A race that is shorter and doesn't visibly have more muscles than humans (halfling, gnomes) should be weaker. Dwarves, with their squatter and thicker bodies, should be hardier. Etc.
Originally Posted by professoryins
the new system in my opinion is superior because
1)its a more flexible creation system in a game. 2)it allows your table/players to either follow the norms or not, as they wish and can conform to either preference. GM could easily tie certain backgrounds to certain races. 3)its likely more balanced
1.) It is more flexible, but at the cost of races being less distinct. 2.) The DM could always allow different ASIs, but now there is no default racial type to play against. This puts more work on the DM to create and explain their world (the DM already has to do way too much work in 5e) and makes players less certain of what [race X] will be like in any game world when creating characters. 3.) Sure, probably true.
Edit: For the record, I don't want ASIs to be entirely racial. I'd favor a system where you got +1 or +2 ASIs from your race, +1 or +2 ASIs from your background, and maybe +1 ASI from your class. Nature and Nurture please.
Edit 2: Currently, point buy/rolling for stats gives ~75 points of ability scores, which is entirely player determined and meant to reflect nurture and your character's deviation from the norm. If all bonus ASIs are for (player-made, per One D&D RAW) backgrounds=nurture, then this is essentially just giving players 3 more free-floating ability score points. At this point, why not just increase the points given with Point Buy and/or use something like 5d6 drop lowest 2 for rolling?
