Races: Biological Triats and Cultural Traits

[Xeviat]

Long ago, specifically when the DMG proposed the "half-human" half-elf (a half-elf who grew up amongst elves), I got the idea to split up racial abilities between Biological Abilities (called Racial Traits from now on) and Cultural Abilities (called Cultural Traits from now on). The idea stemmed from the desire to create more variety between player characters, and to inject a little more realism into the game.

One advantage this set up is giving my games is that I can use it to create ethnicities and differences between separate cultures of the same race. I'll be focusing primarily upon my setting for this thread, but I hope it will be useful to everyone (truthfully, I'm posting this because I am beginning work on creating the different cultures for my world, not just the primary ones, so I'm looking for help there).

The core of the system works like this: A player chooses their character race, then their character's home culture. Their race represents the race of their parents, their biological race, while their culture represents the people they grew up amongst. This way, a human raised by dwarves will be different from a human raised by humans. One thing I desire for the system, though, is to give players a small incentive to play a character whose race and culture match (such as the equipment incentives FR gives a player who chooses a race and a class which matches their home region, but I'd prefer something that lasted beyond first level). As of right now, I'm unsure what this bonus should be, or if it should be; it will exist for only three reasons: one, to maintain status quo, two, because growing up amongst your own culture should be slightly easier, and three, to reduce potential min/maxing opportunities.

To start off, I've separated the standard races into their Race and Culture abilities:

[spoiler=HUMANS]
Race
â,¬Â¢ Medium: As Medium creatures, humans have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
â,¬Â¢ Human base land speed is 30 feet.
â,¬Â¢ 1 extra feat at 1st level.
â,¬Â¢ 4 extra skill points at 1st level and 1 extra skill point at each additional level.
Culture
â,¬Â¢ Automatic Language: Common. Bonus Languages: Any (other than secret languages, such as Druidic). See the Speak Language skill.
â,¬Â¢ Favored Class: Any. When determining whether a multiclass human takes an experience point penalty, his or her highest-level class does not count.[/spoiler]

[spoiler=DWARVES]
Race
â,¬Â¢ +2 Constitution, â,¬'2 Charisma.
â,¬Â¢ Medium: As Medium creatures, dwarves have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
â,¬Â¢ Dwarf base land speed is 20 feet. However, dwarves can move at this speed even when wearing medium or heavy armor or when carrying a medium or heavy load (unlike other creatures, whose speed is reduced in such situations).
â,¬Â¢ Darkvision: Dwarves can see in the dark up to 60 feet. Darkvision is black and white only, but it is otherwise like normal sight, and dwarves can function just fine with no light at all.
â,¬Â¢ Stonecunning: This ability grants a dwarf a +2 racial bonus on Search checks to notice unusual stonework, such as sliding walls, stonework traps, new construction (even when built to match the old), unsafe stone surfaces, shaky stone ceilings, and the like. Something that isnâ,¬,,¢t stone but that is disguised as stone also counts as unusual stonework. A dwarf who merely comes within 10 feet of unusual stonework can make a Search check as if he were actively searching, and a dwarf can use the Search skill to find stonework traps as a rogue can. A dwarf can also intuit depth, sensing his approximate depth underground as naturally as a human can sense which way is up.
â,¬Â¢ Stability: A dwarf gains a +4 bonus on ability checks made to resist being bull rushed or tripped when standing on the ground (but not when climbing, flying, riding, or otherwise not standing firmly on the ground).
â,¬Â¢ +2 racial bonus on saving throws against poison.
â,¬Â¢ +2 racial bonus on saving throws against spells and spell-like effects.
Culture
â,¬Â¢ Weapon Familiarity: Dwarves may treat dwarven waraxes and dwarven urgroshes as martial weapons, rather than exotic weapons.
â,¬Â¢ +1 racial bonus on attack rolls against orcs and goblinoids.
â,¬Â¢ +4 dodge bonus to Armor Class against monsters of the giant type. Any time a creature loses its Dexterity bonus (if any) to Armor Class, such as when itâ,¬,,¢s caught flat-footed, it loses its dodge bonus, too.
â,¬Â¢ +2 racial bonus on Appraise checks that are related to stone or metal items.
â,¬Â¢ +2 racial bonus on Craft checks that are related to stone or metal.
â,¬Â¢ Automatic Languages: Common and Dwarven. Bonus Languages: Giant, Gnome, Goblin, Orc, Terran, and Undercommon.
â,¬Â¢ Favored Class: Fighter. A multiclass dwarf â,¬,,¢s fighter class does not count when determining whether he takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing[/spoiler]

[spoiler=ELVES]
Race
â,¬Â¢ +2 Dexterity, â,¬'2 Constitution.
â,¬Â¢ Medium: As Medium creatures, elves have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
â,¬Â¢ Elf base land speed is 30 feet.
â,¬Â¢ Immunity to magic sleep effects, and a +2 racial saving throw bonus against enchantment spells or effects.
â,¬Â¢ Low-Light Vision: An elf can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. She retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
â,¬Â¢ +2 racial bonus on Listen, Search, and Spot checks. An elf who merely passes within 5 feet of a secret or concealed door is entitled to a Search check to notice it as if she were actively looking for it.
Culture
â,¬Â¢ Weapon Proficiency: Elves receive the Martial Weapon Proficiency feats for the longsword, rapier, longbow (including composite longbow), and shortbow (including composite shortbow) as bonus feats.
â,¬Â¢ Automatic Languages: Common and Elven. Bonus Languages: Draconic, Gnoll, Gnome, Goblin, Orc, and Sylvan.
â,¬Â¢ Favored Class: Wizard. A multiclass elf â,¬,,¢s wizard class does not count when determining whether she takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing.[/spoiler]

[spoiler=GNOMES]
Race
â,¬Â¢ +2 Constitution, â,¬'2 Strength.
â,¬Â¢ Small: As a Small creature, a gnome gains a +1 size bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Hide checks, but he uses smaller weapons than humans use, and his lifting and carrying limits are three-quarters of those of a Medium character.
â,¬Â¢ Gnome base land speed is 20 feet.
â,¬Â¢ Low-Light Vision: A gnome can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. He retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
â,¬Â¢ +2 racial bonus on saving throws against illusions.
â,¬Â¢ Add +1 to the Difficulty Class for all saving throws against illusion spells cast by gnomes. This adjustment stacks with those from similar effects.
â,¬Â¢ +2 racial bonus on Listen checks.
â,¬Â¢ Spell-Like Abilities: 1/dayâ,¬'speak with animals (burrowing mammal only, duration 1 minute). A gnome with a Charisma score of at least 10 also has the following spell-like abilities: 1/dayâ,¬'dancing lights, ghost sound, prestidigitation. Caster level 1st; save DC 10 + gnomeâ,¬,,¢s Cha modifier + spell level.
Culture
â,¬Â¢ Weapon Familiarity: Gnomes may treat gnome hooked hammers as martial weapons rather than exotic weapons.
â,¬Â¢ +1 racial bonus on attack rolls against kobolds and goblinoids.
â,¬Â¢ +4 dodge bonus to Armor Class against monsters of the giant type. Any time a creature loses its Dexterity bonus (if any) to Armor Class, such as when itâ,¬,,¢s caught flat-footed, it loses its dodge bonus, too.
â,¬Â¢ +2 racial bonus on Craft (alchemy) checks.
â,¬Â¢ Automatic Languages: Common and Gnome. Bonus Languages: Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Giant, Goblin, and Orc. In addition, a gnome can speak with a burrowing mammal (a badger, fox, rabbit, or the like, see below). This ability is innate to gnomes. See the speak with animals spell description.
â,¬Â¢ Favored Class: Bard. A multiclass gnomeâ,¬,,¢s bard class does not count when determining whether he takes an experience point penalty.[/spoiler]

[spoiler=HALF-ELVES]
Race
â,¬Â¢ Medium: As Medium creatures, half-elves have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
â,¬Â¢ Half-elf base land speed is 30 feet.
â,¬Â¢ Immunity to sleep spells and similar magical effects, and a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against enchantment spells or effects.
â,¬Â¢ Low-Light Vision: A half-elf can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. She retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
â,¬Â¢ +1 racial bonus on Listen, Search, and Spot checks.
â,¬Â¢ Elven Blood: For all effects related to race, a half-elf is considered an elf.
Culture
â,¬Â¢ +2 racial bonus on Diplomacy and Gather Information checks.
â,¬Â¢ Automatic Languages: Common and Elven. Bonus Languages: Any (other than secret languages, such as Druidic).
â,¬Â¢ Favored Class: Any. When determining whether a multiclass half-elf takes an experience point penalty, her highest-level class does not count.[/spoiler]

[spoiler=HALF-ORCS]
Race
â,¬Â¢ +2 Strength, â,¬'2 Intelligence, â,¬'2 Charisma.
A half-orcâ,¬,,¢s starting Intelligence score is always at least 3. If this adjustment would lower the characterâ,¬,,¢s score to 1 or 2, his score is nevertheless 3.
â,¬Â¢ Medium: As Medium creatures, half-orcs have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
â,¬Â¢ Half-orc base land speed is 30 feet.
â,¬Â¢ Darkvision: Half-orcs (and orcs) can see in the dark up to 60 feet. Darkvision is black and white only, but it is otherwise like normal sight, and half-orcs can function just fine with no light at all.
â,¬Â¢ Orc Blood: For all effects related to race, a half-orc is considered an orc.
Culture
â,¬Â¢ Automatic Languages: Common and Orc. Bonus Languages: Draconic, Giant, Gnoll, Goblin, and Abyssal.
â,¬Â¢ Favored Class: Barbarian. A multiclass half-orcâ,¬,,¢s barbarian class does not count when determining whether he takes an experience point penalty.[/spoiler]

[spoiler=HALFLINGS]
Race
â,¬Â¢ +2 Dexterity, â,¬'2 Strength.
â,¬Â¢ Small: As a Small creature, a halfling gains a +1 size bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Hide checks, but she uses smaller weapons than humans use, and her lifting and carrying limits are three-quarters of those of a Medium character.
â,¬Â¢ Halfling base land speed is 20 feet.
â,¬Â¢ +2 racial bonus on Climb, Jump, and Move Silently checks.
â,¬Â¢ +1 racial bonus on all saving throws.
â,¬Â¢ +2 morale bonus on saving throws against fear: This bonus stacks with the halflingâ,¬,,¢s +1 bonus on saving throws in general.
â,¬Â¢ +2 racial bonus on Listen checks.
Culture
â,¬Â¢ +1 racial bonus on attack rolls with thrown weapons and slings.
â,¬Â¢ Automatic Languages: Common and Halfling. Bonus Languages: Dwarven, Elven, Gnome, Goblin, and Orc.
â,¬Â¢ Favored Class: Rogue. A multiclass halflingâ,¬,,¢s rogue class does not count when determining whether she takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing.[/spoiler]

Once separated in such a fashion, one can begin to see the magnitude of racial imbalance. When all is said and done, the Dwarf has a great deal more power than any of the other races, and worse still their previous disadvantage (speed) was all but negated in the 3.5 revision.

My second post will seek to balance things.

[Wensleydale]

*nods*

I agree with this - I've been thinking about making the races of Kahtar have a specific set of racial traits for all of them and then being able to add culture traits onto the rest of them.

[Raelifin]

I've been toying with this idea for a while too. The two biggest problems I can find are that

1) This gives two unique things tho balance. Races are hard enough when you just need to make their totals balance, but two different totals? >_>

2) Characteristics such as language and favored class end up conflicting. I noticed that you listed elven wizardry as cultural, how does this work if elves are born with magic? My best guess is that you'd need to have instances where a race/culture combo could have two favored classes or none at all.

3) Though the system is "realistic," having players adopted right and left is not. Minmaxers will have one more thing to abuse and the number of mix 'n matches will go up. The fix you presented is good but in general I think it's up to the DM and players.

4) You'll need more cultural traits just the number of races, greatly increasing workload. For example, what if someone is feral? What if someone grew up as an alley rat in a mixed culture? I guess the solution here is to just do it. Still sucks though.

[snakefing]

Regarding the issues of balance and minimaxing:

To some extent this depends on the nature of the campaign world. For example, in the locales of Axa, cultures are pretty much always made up of a single race. So, you wouldn't be able to pick the race of dwarf and the culture of Hellenic Kingdoms. There's only a limited amount of mix and match, and where there is, it would be a choice of a couple possible cultures that are designed to match your race.

Also, when I'm running a campaign, I tend to pick a region and stay within it. I highly encourage players to choose a culture that is plausible and consistent with the campaign setting. This makes it harder for players to get any kind of advantage that other players don't also have.

Of course, not all settings and campaigns play that way. If you are trying to give players lots of choices, then it will be very hard to balance all the possible combinations against each other. In that case, you'd kind of expect players to consistently pick the most advantageous combinations. That doesn't mean there can't be NPC's that have less than optimal choices. It does mean that you won't get the full amount of possible diversity in player characters.

[Xeviat]

In order to balance things, it would be best to attempt to quantify things within a point system. This is where your input could be handy.

I will start my analysis with the base value of 2 points equals 1 feat (and thus a "negative feat" equals -2 points). There will be situations where I justify my reasoning, and everyone is more than welcome to give me their input.

I will go race by race, totalling their points, and giving my reasoning for the points I assigned to each ability.

[spoiler=HUMANS]
+0 â,¬Â¢ Medium: As Medium creatures, humans have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
This is a baseline ability, no bonuses and no penalties. I won't state it as such later.
+0 â,¬Â¢ Human base land speed is 30 feet.
Again, baseline. No future discussion of speed 30 feet.
+2 â,¬Â¢ 1 extra feat at 1st level.
As one feat, this is worth 2 points. An arguement could be made that this is, in fact, worth more points, potentially 3 or even 4, because you are able to select the ability. For now, I'm sticking with the 2 ruling, but I could change it based on others input.
+2 â,¬Â¢ 4 extra skill points at 1st level and 1 extra skill point at each additional level.
I believe that a +1 ability score boost is worth a feat, and thus increasing an ability score modifier in a limited fashion is also a feat; Improved Toughness is a good example. Again, this could use some discussion.
+0 â,¬Â¢ Automatic Language: Common. Bonus Languages: Any (other than secret languages, such as Druidic). See the Speak Language skill.
Other races know two languages, but Humans can learn any with their bonus; I think these cancel each other out.
+2 â,¬Â¢ Favored Class: Any. When determining whether a multiclass human takes an experience point penalty, his or her highest-level class does not count.
I feel I'm being generous with my ruling on this ability's value, but avoiding a -20% XP penalty is pretty good when it comes up. This is supposed to be a benefit, so I priced it as one.
Total: 6 points.[/spoiler]

[spoiler=DWARVES]
+0 â,¬Â¢ +2 Constitution, â,¬'2 Charisma.
Since I stated that +1 to a score is a feat, +2 to a score is 4 points; but the negatives cancel each other out.
+0 â,¬Â¢ Medium: As Medium creatures, dwarves have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
-1 â,¬Â¢ Dwarf base land speed is 20 feet. However, dwarves can move at this speed even when wearing medium or heavy armor or when carrying a medium or heavy load (unlike other creatures, whose speed is reduced in such situations).
A 20 ft. speed is priced at -2 points, but the ability to move full speed in medium or heavy armor, or with a medium or heavy load is a benefit. Because a Dwarf's speed is reduced for many characters (since not all characters have medium and heavy armor proficiency), I'm only pricing it as half a penalty.
+2 â,¬Â¢ Darkvision: Dwarves can see in the dark up to 60 feet. Darkvision is black and white only, but it is otherwise like normal sight, and dwarves can function just fine with no light at all.
This was tough, but since Darkvision is generally granted by a 2nd level spell, I felt it was worth a whole feat.
+1 â,¬Â¢ Stonecunning: This ability grants a dwarf a +2 racial bonus on Search checks to notice unusual stonework, such as sliding walls, stonework traps, new construction (even when built to match the old), unsafe stone surfaces, shaky stone ceilings, and the like. Something that isnâ,¬,,¢t stone but that is disguised as stone also counts as unusual stonework. A dwarf who merely comes within 10 feet of unusual stonework can make a Search check as if he were actively searching, and a dwarf can use the Search skill to find stonework traps as a rogue can. A dwarf can also intuit depth, sensing his approximate depth underground as naturally as a human can sense which way is up.
This was a tough decision as well. A +2 bonus to a skill is hardly worth a feat, especially when it is very situational. The ability to make automatic Search checks is nice, and so is intuit depth, but since these are all so situational, I didn't feel they should be worth a whole feat together.
+2 â,¬Â¢ Weapon Familiarity: Dwarves may treat dwarven waraxes and dwarven urgroshes as martial weapons, rather than exotic weapons.
This is obviously Exotic Weapon proficiency. It does grant two proficiencies, but it can only be accessed by the martial classes. I'm on the fence between 1 point or 2 points, but I'm going with 2 for now.
+2 â,¬Â¢ Stability: A dwarf gains a +4 bonus on ability checks made to resist being bull rushed or tripped when standing on the ground (but not when climbing, flying, riding, or otherwise not standing firmly on the ground).
A feat generally grants a +4 offensive bonus to a specific maneuver, and another small bonus. This ability grants a +4 defensive bonus to two maneuvers, with a small limitation. I'm unsure if this is worth a whole feat, but I'm going with 2 points for now.
+1 â,¬Â¢ +2 racial bonus on saving throws against poison.
This is half a feat; a +2 bonus to Fort saves is a whole feat, and this is only part of Fort saves.
+2 â,¬Â¢ +2 racial bonus on saving throws against spells and spell-like effects.
This +2 bonus applies to many effects, but there are enough that it doesn't apply to for it to not be worth two feats.
+1 â,¬Â¢ +1 racial bonus on attack rolls against orcs and goblinoids.
This is a situational weapon focus, so it isn't worth a whole feat.
+2 â,¬Â¢ +4 dodge bonus to Armor Class against monsters of the giant type. Any time a creature loses its Dexterity bonus (if any) to Armor Class, such as when itâ,¬,,¢s caught flat-footed, it loses its dodge bonus, too.
A situational +4 bonus is generally worth a feat.
+1 â,¬Â¢ +2 racial bonus on Appraise and Craft checks that are related to stone or metal items.
Like a +2/+2 skill feat, this applies to two skills, but the limitation reduces it's effectiveness to half a feat.
+0 â,¬Â¢ Automatic Languages: Common and Dwarven. Bonus Languages: Giant, Gnome, Goblin, Orc, Terran, and Undercommon.
Again, the extra language is nice, supposedly worth a skill point, but the limited nature of the bonus language list counters this minute bonus.
+0 â,¬Â¢ Favored Class: Fighter. A multiclass dwarf â,¬,,¢s fighter class does not count when determining whether he takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing
Having a favored class is baseline; this won't be mentioned further.
Total: 13 points. Since I gave 2 points to two abilities I was unsure whether to give 1 or 2 points to, I could go as low as 11 points, which is still high. [/spoiler]

[spoiler=ELVES]
+0 â,¬Â¢ +2 Dexterity, â,¬'2 Constitution.
+0 â,¬Â¢ Medium: As Medium creatures, elves have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
+0 â,¬Â¢ Elf base land speed is 30 feet.
+2 â,¬Â¢ Immunity to magic sleep effects, and a +2 racial saving throw bonus against enchantment spells or effects.
A situational +2 ability is half a feat, but the immunity to one affect would be worth a whole feat if it were a more prominent ability, so a single feat for both abilities seems fine.
+1 â,¬Â¢ Low-Light Vision: An elf can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. She retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
Darkvision is granted with a 2nd level spell, but low-light vision is granted by a 1st (elfsight, a psionic power; which actually grants more than just low-light vision), so the designers obviously think it is less potent.
+2 â,¬Â¢ Weapon Proficiency: Elves receive the Martial Weapon Proficiency feats for the longsword, rapier, longbow (including composite longbow), and shortbow (including composite shortbow) as bonus feats.
This is clearly a martial weapon proficiency, but it isn't exactly worth four feats like it would initially appear.
+3â,¬Â¢ +2 racial bonus on Listen, Search, and Spot checks. An elf who merely passes within 5 feet of a secret or concealed door is entitled to a Search check to notice it as if she were actively looking for it.
This is the Alertness feat, and a fragmented skill focus with a little bonus. So it's a feat and a half.
+0 â,¬Â¢ Automatic Languages: Common and Elven. Bonus Languages: Draconic, Gnoll, Gnome, Goblin, Orc, and Sylvan.
+0 â,¬Â¢ Favored Class: Wizard. A multiclass elf â,¬,,¢s wizard class does not count when determining whether she takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing.
Total: 8 points[/spoiler]

[spoiler=GNOMES]
+0 â,¬Â¢ +2 Constitution, â,¬'2 Strength.
+2 â,¬Â¢ Small: As a Small creature, a gnome gains a +1 size bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Hide checks, but he uses smaller weapons than humans use, and his lifting and carrying limits are three-quarters of those of a Medium character.
This is complicated. The +1 size bonus to AC is a feat, so 2 points, the +1 size bonus to attack rolls is a feat, so 2 points, and the +4 bonus to Hide checks is a feat, so another two points. Having to use smaller weapons is equivalent to a negative feat (compare simple weapon damage to martial weapon damage, or martial to exotic), and the reduced carrying capacity is possibly half a negative feat or a full negative feat (it is partially countered by the fact that their equipment weighs less, but certain things such as gold weigh the same, so it is a penalty; on a side note, do wondrous items weigh less when they change size for wearers?). All this together equates to 3 feats and 2 negative feats, so 2 points.
-2 â,¬Â¢ Gnome base land speed is 20 feet.
A speed reduction is a penalty. This counters the size bonus.
+1 â,¬Â¢ Low-Light Vision: A gnome can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. He retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
+2 â,¬Â¢ Weapon Familiarity: Gnomes may treat gnome hooked hammers as martial weapons rather than exotic weapons.
Again, a tough decision. This only applies to the martial classes, and unlike dwarves, gnomes do not have a martial class as their favored class. While I don't think this ability sees much use, it is an exotic weapon proficiency feat. Such situational abilities such as this, ones that only members of certain classes get any real advantage with, need to be addressed with the rebalances. As a side note, the bard should probably be able to benefit from this, since they learn a few martial weapons, and even one exotic.
+1 â,¬Â¢ +2 racial bonus on saving throws against illusions.
This was difficult. Largely this is a +2 bonus to some Will saves (though two illusions also have fort saves), thus it is half the benefit of Iron Will. Since +2 to all spells and spell-like abilities was considered a feat earlier, this cannot be a whole feat.
+2 â,¬Â¢ Add +1 to the Difficulty Class for all saving throws against illusion spells cast by gnomes. This adjustment stacks with those from similar effects.
This is definitely Skill Focus (Illusion). Again, it is only applicable to few classes, so it is something which should be looked at.
+1 â,¬Â¢ +1 racial bonus on attack rolls against kobolds and goblinoids.
+2 â,¬Â¢ +4 dodge bonus to Armor Class against monsters of the giant type. Any time a creature loses its Dexterity bonus (if any) to Armor Class, such as when itâ,¬,,¢s caught flat-footed, it loses its dodge bonus, too.
+1 â,¬Â¢ +2 racial bonus on Listen checks.
Half a skill focus.
+1 â,¬Â¢ +2 racial bonus on Craft (alchemy) checks.
Half a skill focus, again
+0 â,¬Â¢ Automatic Languages: Common and Gnome. Bonus Languages: Draconic, Dwarven, Elven, Giant, Goblin, and Orc.
+2 â,¬Â¢ Spell-Like Abilities: 1/dayâ,¬'speak with animals (burrowing mammal only, duration 1 minute). A gnome with a Charisma score of at least 10 also has the following spell-like abilities: 1/dayâ,¬'dancing lights, ghost sound, prestidigitation. Caster level 1st; save DC 10 + gnomeâ,¬,,¢s Cha modifier + spell level.
Recent feats from Complete Arcane allow non-casters to learn some cantrips, granting 3 cantrips each once per day. Speak with animals is a higher level spell, but this is limited; even still, I think it's addition is negligible.
+0 â,¬Â¢ Favored Class: Bard. A multiclass gnomeâ,¬,,¢s bard class does not count when determining whether he takes an experience point penalty.
Total: 12 points. This is a point of contention, since so many of the gnomes abilities are very class-specific. [/spoiler]

[spoiler=HALF-ELVES]
+0 â,¬Â¢ Medium: As Medium creatures, half-elves have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
+0 â,¬Â¢ Half-elf base land speed is 30 feet.
+2 â,¬Â¢ Immunity to sleep spells and similar magical effects, and a +2 racial bonus on saving throws against enchantment spells or effects.
+1 â,¬Â¢ Low-Light Vision: A half-elf can see twice as far as a human in starlight, moonlight, torchlight, and similar conditions of poor illumination. She retains the ability to distinguish color and detail under these conditions.
+1 â,¬Â¢ +1 racial bonus on Listen, Search, and Spot checks.
This is half the bonus of Alertness, with a little bone thrown in. I don't think that bone elevates this to a full feat, though one could make the argument: Skill focus is currently +3, another feat is +2/+2, so +1/+1/+1 could be argued as a feat. I wouldn't side with that argument, so I say half a feat.
+2 â,¬Â¢ +2 racial bonus on Diplomacy and Gather Information checks.
This is like Alertness again.
+1 â,¬Â¢ Elven Blood: For all effects related to race, a half-elf is considered an elf.
This one is very difficult; it allows the half-elf to access elf specific PrCs and elf-specific magic items, but it also makes the half-elf vulnerable to a ranger's favored enemy and slaying arrows. It seems to have been intended as a small bonus, so that's what I say it is.
+1 â,¬Â¢ Automatic Languages: Common and Elven. Bonus Languages: Any (other than secret languages, such as Druidic).
Again, difficulties. They can learn any language like a human, a small bonus, and they get an additional language known. I'll say this is half a feat.
+2 â,¬Â¢ Favored Class: Any. When determining whether a multiclass half-elf takes an experience point penalty, her highest-level class does not count.
Total: 10 points (WOW ... I didn't think I'd end up saying that.) [/spoiler]

[spoiler=HALF-ORCS]
-4 â,¬Â¢ +2 Strength, â,¬'2 Intelligence, â,¬'2 Charisma.
I don't care what you say, +2 strength is not worth a penalty to Int and Cha. A strength boosting magic item costs the same as an Int or a Cha boosting item. End of story.
+0 â,¬Â¢ Medium: As Medium creatures, half-orcs have no special bonuses or penalties due to their size.
+0 â,¬Â¢ Half-orc base land speed is 30 feet.
+2 â,¬Â¢ Darkvision: Half-orcs (and orcs) can see in the dark up to 60 feet. Darkvision is black and white only, but it is otherwise like normal sight, and half-orcs can function just fine with no light at all.
+1 â,¬Â¢ Orc Blood: For all effects related to race, a half-orc is considered an orc.
+0 â,¬Â¢ Automatic Languages: Common and Orc. Bonus Languages: Draconic, Giant, Gnoll, Goblin, and Abyssal.
+0 â,¬Â¢ Favored Class: Barbarian. A multiclass half-orcâ,¬,,¢s barbarian class does not count when determining whether he takes an experience point penalty.
Total: -1 points. (Yup, I said less than zero.)[/spoiler]

[spoiler=HALFLINGS]
+0 â,¬Â¢ +2 Dexterity, â,¬'2 Strength.
+2 â,¬Â¢ Small: As a Small creature, a halfling gains a +1 size bonus to Armor Class, a +1 size bonus on attack rolls, and a +4 size bonus on Hide checks, but she uses smaller weapons than humans use, and her lifting and carrying limits are three-quarters of those of a Medium character.
-2 â,¬Â¢ Halfling base land speed is 20 feet.
+4 â,¬Â¢ +2 racial bonus on Climb, Jump, Listen, and Move Silently checks.
+2 â,¬Â¢ +1 racial bonus on all saving throws.
This is a lower bonus than the Dwarf bonus, but it applies to everything.
+1 â,¬Â¢ +2 morale bonus on saving throws against fear: This bonus stacks with the halflingâ,¬,,¢s +1 bonus on saving throws in general.
Again, a +4 bonus vs. one type of a type of save would be a feat, so this is half a feat.
+2 â,¬Â¢ +1 racial bonus on attack rolls with thrown weapons and slings.
Equal to weapon focus, though arguably better than the vs. specific race ones.
+0 â,¬Â¢ Automatic Languages: Common and Halfling. Bonus Languages: Dwarven, Elven, Gnome, Goblin, and Orc.
+0 â,¬Â¢ Favored Class: Rogue. A multiclass halflingâ,¬,,¢s rogue class does not count when determining whether she takes an experience point penalty for multiclassing.
Total: 9 points[/spoiler]

So, I'd like to discuss these break downs before I go further with rebalancing, and then separating abilities. But, there is one thing I noticed that many of the races share, and thus should be maintained:

*Ability score modifiers, size, and speed are required for all races.
*Situational Save Bonus: Dwarves have +2 saves vs. poison, Elves have +2 saves vs. enchantment, Gnomes have +2 saves vs. illusion, Halflings have +2 saves vs. Fear; this sort of bonus easily serves as something we could give to half-orcs to fix them.
*Vision: Many of the races have an alternate vision mode, or a vision enhancer.
*Weapon Proficiency: Most races have Weapon Familiarity, a racial weapon proficiency, or some other sort of weapon related bonus (halflings have +1 to attack with thrown weapons and slings).
*Skill Bonuses: Most races have close to a +6 bonus in various skills, or even a skill related special ability (Dwarves and Elves have their situational Search bonus, for instance).
*Languages and a favored class (even if it's any).
*Some other Special Bonus: Most races have another little bonus, such as halfling's bonus to all saves, or dwarves and gnomes piles of bonuses to everything.

So, what do you think about my breakdown of current racial balance? Did I under or overprice anything?

[Túrin]

The analysis of the abilities is excellent. I could find only one thing that seems mistaken: the halfling's +1 racial bonus on attack rolls with thrown weapons and slings is counted as half a weapon focus, while it seems to be identical to weapon focus.

Now, THE major problem of this analysis is (and this is not pointed AGAINST you, because I believe you noticed it yourself) that it doesn't go into the point of whether an ability is actually used. The dwarf, gnome and half-elf might end up with high scores, but only some classes benefit from their racial bonuses, and there is not a single dwarf, gnome or half-elf build that uses ALL of these races' abilities to their full extent. On the other hand, the human (and to a lesser degree, the half-orc) has abilities that are very generally useful. I mean, getting to choose a feat and skills of your choice is obviously more useful than getting a predetermined feat and skills (or is at worst equivalent, if the best choice of feat and skills you can make happens to be the choice the race has).

Looking at this in another way, we could state: "if we price the racial abilities according to their value expressed in points (where 2 points = 1 feat), balance will generally be achieved when races with specific abilities have higher point values than races with general abilities."

Was I going to make a point? I can't seem to think of one, so I'll just leave you with this analysis for now.

Túrin

[snakefing]

Along the lines of Turin's comment, it usually isn't true that benefits and penalties cancel each other out. A dwarf has +2 Con, -2 Cha. So people playing dwarfish characters usually choose classes and abilities that make the most out of the Con bonus and minimize the impact of the Cha penalty. No one is likely to choose to play a dwarfish sorcerer.

This tendency is enhances if you give characters the opportunity to choose from a wide variety of races. They'll often choose a character type, then choose a race whose racial profile fits the desired character best. If you have a campaign where everyone has to play a dwarfish character, you could end up with a sorcerer. Not likely, but you could. If everyone gets to choose their race, the guy who wants to play a sorcerer will never choose dwarf. Not ever.

For this reason, I think that racial benefits and penalties should be minimal. And penalties should be valued at about half the value of the identical benefit.

Cultural benefits can be a little more interesting. I'd also look at some alternative concepts. For example, make it so certain skills are always considered class skills, or give a choice of one out a list of possible benefits, or perhaps a couple bonus ranks in a certain skill (allowing to violate the usual limitation of max rank?).

[Túrin]

Very good points, snakefing.

[Xeviat]

Turin and Snake, thanks for the input. Snake is right; the negatives should probably be priced slightly less than the positives in certain situations (which is why I promote dwarves being +2 Con, -2 Dex, so it's +physical/-physical).

Turin, as for Dwarves, a dwarf fighter will use every single dwarven bonus except for their search and appraise bonus. A gnome bard will use every single bard bonus, as long as they take a suportive combat position (as I think all adventurerer, rogue/bard, classes should). Half-Elves ... well they're weird. But the point is that, for favored classes to work well, the race should really favor their favored class (to encourage a disproportionate number of them).

You're right about the halfling thing; that wasn't half a focus, it was a full focus. I'll change that right away.

The issue of bonuses being too situational is not lost on me. Weapon Familiarity for the Dwarf and Gnome aren't worth anything to most of the classes, while the elves Weapon Proficiencies are worthless to all of the warrior classes. The Halfling, though, offers a better alternative: a bonus when using familiar weapons, which benefits all classes. So, I propose changing the Dwarf, Elf, and Gnome weapon familiarity abilities to the following: Automatic proficiency with a number of martial weapons, and if proficiency is granted by a class feature, gain a +1 to hit bonus with those weapons and related other weapons (such as racial exotics). This would encourage their use, and help all classes to an extent.