Not sure if this has been brought up before in this thread, but if so, I'm just chiming in there: To me, the feeling of 'racial identity' in the game is best served by way of NPC reactions and dialogue options (and even plot branches if I remember well). Much better at least than a mere fixed stat bonus could ever make me aware about what race my character has.
True, but if I played a drow, then "Other folk expect me to move with uncommon grace [+N DEX]" would definitely be part of it. Even if I personally had low DEX, it would matter that that expectation exists, and the racial ASI expresses it.
Not sure I can quite follow. Why would a stat bonus on your char sheet, especially when you have low total Dex, express the world's expectation of you having high Dex better and more meaningfully than any NPCs letting you know: "Aren't you elf types supposed to be particularly nimble and stuff? You can sneak in that camp and steal the McGuffin, I'm sure"?
That stat bonus expresses something about the world, not necessarily about my character. Exactly that is why the expectation exists and thus why that NPC can plausibly say such a thing.
I'm not saying it's super-important. But it does work that way.
