Half races in DnD one is handled difrently, their not really a specified race anymore, as you choose you parent races, and you take one of them that give you the technical bonuses, so if you has a Elf and human parent, you either choose human racials, or elven racials bonuses... then you can have any cosmetical features from the two races... this makes half races much more simpler and also feels more unique, you can be a gnome / orc, just pick the one race that gives you bonus, and cosmetics can be from either of the two races...
You forgot to mention that several sub-races were outright deleted by this proposal, with no recourse left as alternative.
I cannot, for example, play a Strongheart Halfling - doesn't exist in the new proposal at all - I either play a 'halfling' stat block, which is a lightfoot in terms of their racial abilities, and give up the poison resilience and other strongheart features... or I am forced to write dwaven lineage into my character (stronghearts and stout variants often had that old wives' tale attached but it was always rumour and folk tale, not factual) and be a straight up mechanical dwarf in its entirety, missing out on all other halfling features. There is no in between, in the new proposal, and no 'blending' of lineage at all; mixed lineages have actually just ceased to exist entirely, and they've just told you to cosmetically skin your character how you like - which was always an option between you and your DM anyway. This is, in fact, the opposite of "more unique".
The way pathfinder games handle it works much better for making actual mixed lineage characters - in that racial features have a weight, or a value, and there are some simple rules for picking and choosing between the various elements of a couple of different core lineages to determine exactly what blend your particular character is.
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Out of curiosity, those in favour of the floating ability allocation, could you answer me a question or two?
I'd like to play a harengon ranger, but I'd like to play one that runs against type for their species... I've often heard folks telling me that I can play to or against type if I want, and just use the original attribute point placements... so.. where should I put my harengon's +2 and +1, to represent the norms of their species which they develop themselves against and in spite of?
Or, seeking to play my Owlin as an entirely to-type representation of the most common of their people, pulled out of that life and into adventure... where should I put their +2 and +1 one, if I wish to play them to type and show them to be the most normative example of their species. My Thir-kreen explorer? My Fairy musician? How shall I allocate them, if I'm playing to their species norms?
