Basic Fantasy RPG Forums

I take your point. I wasn't really suggesting we should all try to play exactly like Gygax did. I was just pointing out that there's another way of looking at this - and that is, some characters are actually supposed to be weaker than others, like they are in actual fantasy novels.

(Having said that, I don't see why it should always be the humans who are weaker.)

Is the difference very noticeable in play so far? You've had one or two sessions now right? Potential statistical differences might not be that noticeable at the table. Maybe the players haven't said anything because so far, the advantages of the non-humans haven't had much impact over the general craziness of the d20.

As you already are playing is it late to modify the races and take thing from them, either mechanically or from a roleplaying perspective, so, lets try give the humans some extra goodies outside an XP bonus:

If you think that the Saving Throws bonuses are two much give the humans some bonus points to distribute on their ST to reflect that each human has more varying strengths and weaknesses that the other races.

Depending on the Ability Scores generation method that you used you could give humans a little boost, either a fixed bonus or free points.

Backgrounds and skills: Make every character (even the demi-humans) to choose a background that defines what they have learn previous to their adventuring career.

-Each BG has a value, if you roll the same or better on a d20 + modifiers it is used successfully.
--Dwarves: 13. Dwarves are proud hardworwers and spend a good time of their youth learning their family/clan trade, which means they are limited on their BG options.
--Elves: 15 or 17/17. Elves are more free-spirited meaning that they don't spend to much time learning any trade, this makes them have one or two BG.
--Halflings: 15/17. These little fellows always have 2 BG: Their first one represents what they do on their community and the second one what they do on their spare time.
--Humans: Variable. Humans are fast learners with a high curiosity and adaptability, they have 5 points to buy BG, the BG value is based on the amount of points used:
--- 1pt: 15
--- 2pts: 13
--- 3pts: 11

-Reactions: Shift any reaction down based on how the npc likes the pc's race: Humans have two scores: Use -0 if you want them to be likable to every race or the -1 if they seem OK to elves and dwarves.