Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Please consider removing racial Ability Score Increases!

@mrfuji3 @neprostoman
You're both making valid points of course, but I feel like I didn't properly convey my meaning. I understand that elves getting a +2 to Dexterity is supposed to represent their grace and nimbleness. My problem is that I have no concept of how much of a difference a +2 is supposed to be. Is it a mild difference in innate talent, like between an average and above average acrobat, or are we talking cats and elephants? The ability score itself is fuzzy to me, therefore the bonus is too and thus it becomes meaningless. When I look at a half-orc getting a +2 to Strength, I understand it means half-orcs are typically muscular and strong, but I see zero reason why an equally muscular elf couldn't exist and I see even less reason to punish a player who wants to play such an elf. I'd never do that as a DM and I'd prefer not to play with a DM who would. I can still see some amount of flavour in it, but in my view it's absolutely not worth the baggage that comes with it.

I must also repeat my other point - when we ignore the narrative elements of racial bonuses, what remains is a bad mechanic for a tactical crpg.

I consider this statement to be in very bad faith out of nowhere and I don't think I deserve that from you. It's not my wish to "destroy" racial bonuses because they've been around a long time, but because I genuinely think they suck for reasons I've explained. If anything my goal is to challenge the notion that racial bonuses are even a good way to convey the unique traits of a race - a notion I believe is so prevalent because we've had no alternatives in DnD for ages - when other approaches exist in contemporary game systems. And more importantly I did offer alternatives specifically for BG3, namely: keep your racial bonuses but let me start with a 17 wherever I want.