i have a lot of thoughts and opinions × disclaimer: i wholeheartedly believe that optimization is not the end-all-be-all of the game. i recognize that there are so many more layers of complexity to dnd than just optimization. i just happen to blog about optimization because i like the crunchy game mechanics and numbers stuff :)
By now, Wizards has teased pretty much released in full the new variant rules for racial ability score increases (ASIs) presented in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. And it’s... pretty great, honestly. It’s good. It feels well-thought-out and balanced. It addresses the issues that a lot of people have with the notion of racial ability score increases and racial features like tool proficiencies and weapon/armor training, which is a really good thing.
The capacity to play races that you actually want to play and know that you're not missing out on getting bonuses to the ability scores that are actually useful to your character build opens up so many options for character optimization. It also means that races that have tricky ASIs but interesting potential (dragonborn, kalashtar, and gith come to mind) will now have an opportunity to shine.
But unfortunately, it also brings to the forefront a fundamental problem with race design: in terms of ability score increases, some races are just straight up better than others.
The half-elf and the mountain dwarf have long reigned among optimizers because, in a game where +2/+1 ASIs are standard, the half-elf and the mountain dwarf get +2/+1/+1 and +2/+2 respectively. They’re just stronger. Before these new rules, the limited utility of each race’s ability score increases balanced this somewhat. Half-elves generally ruled all Charisma-based builds (which, given that four of the eight half- and full-caster classes in 5e are Charisma casters, is a whole lot of builds), and mountain dwarves are hard to beat when it comes to races for clerics and druids (and monks, debatably, though the lack of a Dexterity increase is so hard on a monk build that +2 Dexterity races with either a Constitution or a Wisdom increase are arguably at least as good). But with the ability to apply ASIs flexibly, half-elves and mountain dwarves are now, suddenly, the best for every class when it comes to ability scores.
This is a huge deal. Sure, non-ability-score racial features can be excellent for specific character builds: gnome cunning is superb, for instance, and the chance to take a feat at level 1 is compelling enough that the variant human will always be competitive.
As a sidebar on gnome cunning: now that ASIs can be swapped around, I’m hoping to see some gnome barbarians. The flavor is incredible and gnome cunning can be so good for shutting down the nasty status effects that barbarians tend to struggle against.
But even with the pull of certain excellent racial features, the issue of ability scores is significant: why would you want +2/+1 when you could have +2/+1/+1 or +2/+2?
This is not an argument against the rules in Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. This is an argument that there’s a core problem with the way that races were designed in D&D 5e. Why are two races just straight up better in that one aspect than all the others? Why, when 12 out of 14 non-human races/subraces in the PHB, get a +2/+1 increase, do the other two get more than that?
Sure, perhaps it’s arguable that the mountain dwarf and half-elf’s other racial traits (well, really, lack thereof) balance their ASIs out. After all, the mountain dwarf gets a whole lot less in that department than does the duergar, for instance. But you know who also doesn’t get a lot in comparison to the duergar? The hill dwarf. Yeah, the hill dwarf who also doesn't get +2/+2 ASIs. Is one more hit point each level really good enough that it justifies the lack of A Whole +1 To One Whole Ability Score? Do racial traits really, really balance out these differences in ASI power?
Because they are significant power differences. If you’re using point-buy to build your character, the half-elf can get you a +3 modifier in three separate stats (to be fair, the triton can do that too, but without the benefit of a +2 to one ability score, and a +2 to a score you really need is generally better than a +1 to a couple scores you don’t really need that much, which is why the default human’s +1 to every stat is not better than the triton’s +1/+1/+1). And the mountain dwarf can get you a score of 17 in two stats at 1st level, which is good but isn’t a super big deal until you hit 4th level and all the sudden you're the only person in your party with a +4 mod in two stats.
If there were more of an effort in the expansion books (Volo’s, MToF, Eberron, GGR, SCAG) to introduce races that also had ASIs beyond the +2/+1 standard, it would make sense. It would be a normal variation within a system of normal variations. But they don’t. There are a couple races in the expansions that have ASIs other than the +2/+1 standard (orcs, kobolds, tritons), but they’re worse than the standard (okay, the triton’s +1/+1/+1 is arguably not too bad. It’s solid enough for really multi-ability-dependent builds, and pretty balanced overall). The point stands: they're not better. So instead, we get I-didn’t-count-how-many-but-it’s-a-whole-lot races/subraces with +2/+1 ASIs, and we get two that are better, two that are worse, and one that is... okay?
That’s a problem. Either, from the very beginning, there should have been more variance beyond the +2/+1 standard, or there should never have been variance beyond that. You have to either go all out with making some races have straight-up better or worse ability score increases than others, or you shouldn’t do it at all. Because now the balance of the mountain dwarf and half-elf’s ability score increases being build-situational is no longer there.
This is, of course, a problem much bigger than what Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything can, should, or will tackle on its own. This is kind of fundamental. But at least for now, there’s a really, really simple way for DMs to address this when it comes to the flexible ability score variant rules.
Yeah, that’s it, really. Everyone gets a +2/+1 with flexible ability score variants.
