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The way things are now, "easy" races are penalized with slower leveling. IMO this at best doesn't work well, and at worst penalizes the player by making the game slower and less interesting.
I think a better way to handle the issue of easy races is to separate stat bonuses and maximum stat caps. Mortal characters would have relatively high maximum stats. Immortal characters, or ones starting with "superhuman" capabilities, would have lower max stat, even though they got starting bonuses to those stats. Maximize and non-maximize modes would be done away with.
So for example...
Humans get zilcho stat boosts or other perks. But their maximum is something like 18/180 for each stat (not counting class modifiers), instead of the current 18/100.
Elves and Half-elves have roughly the same stat caps as humans.
Dunadan get the usual great stats at the beginning of the game. But they cannot easily grow beyond the fates they were born to, and make themselves true experts at their callings. Dunadan's internal stats are thus capped at around 18/60.
High-elves, the mighty immortals of legend, are puppets of Fate. They cannot become anything more than their fate demands; their stats are capped at 18/30 or thereabouts.
Orcs and Kobolds have shoddy mental stats to start with, but underneath their brute nature lies a mad, fiendish intelligence waiting to be awoken. STR, DEX, and CON caps are be lower than for humans, maybe 18/120; but INT and WIS are allowed to reach the absolute maximum of 18/220. I'm going for a "mad sorceror" vibe here - a level 40+ Orc Mage should be truly fearsome, assuming you can get one that far.
Half-trolls do not have their goblin cousins' untapped intellect; they're just fairly dumb. Their mental stats are capped at 18/60. But their STR and CON can reach 18/220, making them better warriors than any other race.
What do you guys think of this? Too hackish or kludgy, or is it viable?
(And yes, it does grossly violate Tolkien canon. That's one of the reasons I came up with it.
)
I think a better way to handle the issue of easy races is to separate stat bonuses and maximum stat caps. Mortal characters would have relatively high maximum stats. Immortal characters, or ones starting with "superhuman" capabilities, would have lower max stat, even though they got starting bonuses to those stats. Maximize and non-maximize modes would be done away with.
So for example...
Humans get zilcho stat boosts or other perks. But their maximum is something like 18/180 for each stat (not counting class modifiers), instead of the current 18/100.
Elves and Half-elves have roughly the same stat caps as humans.
Dunadan get the usual great stats at the beginning of the game. But they cannot easily grow beyond the fates they were born to, and make themselves true experts at their callings. Dunadan's internal stats are thus capped at around 18/60.
High-elves, the mighty immortals of legend, are puppets of Fate. They cannot become anything more than their fate demands; their stats are capped at 18/30 or thereabouts.
Orcs and Kobolds have shoddy mental stats to start with, but underneath their brute nature lies a mad, fiendish intelligence waiting to be awoken. STR, DEX, and CON caps are be lower than for humans, maybe 18/120; but INT and WIS are allowed to reach the absolute maximum of 18/220. I'm going for a "mad sorceror" vibe here - a level 40+ Orc Mage should be truly fearsome, assuming you can get one that far.
Half-trolls do not have their goblin cousins' untapped intellect; they're just fairly dumb. Their mental stats are capped at 18/60. But their STR and CON can reach 18/220, making them better warriors than any other race.
What do you guys think of this? Too hackish or kludgy, or is it viable?
(And yes, it does grossly violate Tolkien canon. That's one of the reasons I came up with it.
)
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