Attribute bonuses?

[jacar]

Should PCs get attribute bonuses for being non-human races? There is a strong argument against it based on my experience with AD&D 1st edition where folks simply chose Non-Human races exclusively over humans. I regularly took humans just to be different but, frankly, it really was not worth it. Now the non-human races did not have level restrictions or class restrictions when we played (contrary to the rules) which is not a bad thing. This move just made the NPR much more attractive.

Now there is a strong argument for NPR penalties of attributes based on other abilities they get. Hobbits, might get -1 strength due to their small size and relatively sedentary life style for instance. That would nicely balance there ability to hide in natural surroundings and throw missile accurately.

I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on this.

John

[tombowings]

Usually I don't worry about, if we're playing with non-human races at all.

The two problems I see with bonuses and penalties to ability scores is 1) it encourages plays to min/max and 2) what you do with abilities above and beyond 18.

1) If a player rolled 12, 15, 7, 11, 12, and 8 (arranged in order, of course), he is encouraged to play a race that gives him a boost to a ability of the scores that are to giving some sort of increased benefit. In the case above, the play is likely to play a races that increases his strength from 12 to 13 (gaining a +5% earned experience if a fighting-man) or a races that will increase his dexterity from 12 to 13 (giving him a +1 to hit with missiles).

In my game, I'd rather just have players choosing whichever race they think would be the most fun to play rather than which one gives them the greatest benefits based on their rolled ability scores.

2) This one's self explanatory, but takes up some additional prep time for you, as the referee, before play can begin (although the answer could be as simple as "nothing").

If I wanted demi-humans to have high(er) scores in certain abilities, I would have attribute requirement that would need to be met in order to qualify for that race. 11+ STR and 13+ Con for dwarves, for example.