HUMANS: THE HUMAN RACE

Most roleplaying games, of necessity, are human centric. That is, humans tend to be the center of the game, and most things in the game are patterned after real human cultures in the real world. Even non-human races and cultures are likely so patterned. We can scarcely avoid this.

Yet many fun to play non-human or demi-human races have advantages humans do not have. This is a game balance problem unless these demi-human races also have at least a few serious disadvantages. In truth, it's a game design nightmare to make the system both balanced and reasonable without adding one artificial constraint upon another or giving humans dubious advantages that make little sense and are inconsistent with other rules. I feel 3e has done just that. So I wish to propose a better solution.

Humans must have some advantages most other races do not. But it need not be huge or earth shattering, or seem artificial, or require special sub rules that apply only to humans but not to other races. So what are they?

First, there is the matter of simple INTELLIGENCE. One may argue that Modern Man eventually beat out the Neanderthal Man for the simple reason that Modern Man may have had a slight edge in intelligence, or new way of thinking about their world or their culture. This didn't mean Modern Man instantly dominated Neanderthal Man, nor did it mean each individual Modern man was superior to each individual Neanderthal man. Indeed, they shared the world for thousands of years. So too will D&D Man share the world with D&D demi-humans in our fantasy games, perhaps for thousands of years to come.

Since the game itself defines INTELLIGENCE as the ability to learn, remember, and figure things out or reason, tossing in other factors that affect these issues without affecting the basic INT score makes little sense, particularly if one is allowed to roleplay their PCs learning, remembering, and figuring things out without penalty during play. If you wish a race to learn faster or slower, adjust their INT ability score. If you wish a race to have higher or lower INT, give it to them. It is that simple. So I do give it to them.

All Humans get +2 INT as a racial adjustment for their starting statistics (18 Max). The normal rules for acquiring new skill points each level will be used. Humans no longer get a bonus +1 skill point/level. They no longer need a special, artificial rule to boost them up since their edge in INT will do it and the regular rules for bonuses due to INT will handle the problem of their own accord. Also, the advantages humans get here for INT based skills and spell casting is part of the overall advantage humans have over demi-humans (and about the most we can do to replace the advantage they used to have due to level limits on demi-humans). This all works out fairly well, as game balance is concerned.

It may seem subtle, but it makes a huge difference to roleplayers that their demi-humans are no longer required to be slow to master specialized skills and unvaried in their talents, no matter how high their INT score, and human characters are no longer required to be quick to master specialized skills and varied in their talents, no matter how low their INT score. 3e's justifications for WHY humans got various bonuses did suggest this, but it doesn't have the consistency for which many roleplayers were looking. Now you just play your character's INT and don't have to worry about other artificial constraints due to race, on learning or not learning, imposed by silly and artificial rules.

The other advantage humans have is their willingness to accept a diversity in climate. Most demi-humans have very definite preferences for where they live, such as forest, mountains, deserts, the underdark, sea coasts, rivers or lakes, tropical areas, arctic conditions, etc. Most demi-human races will live in only one such area, never any other. Individual demi-humans may come and go, but as a race, they tend toward very limited regions. A few demi-human races may live in several areas. But only one race, Humans, makes their home in any of these places, and this provides them with a unique cultural advantage.

Humans span the entire globe, will go anywhere, will do anything, and must, therefore, interact with nearly anyone and might learn almost anything. Yet, despite this, these widely spread human communities freely stay in contact and trade with one another, sharing many skills that first developed out of necessity for a particular climate, but later found applications elsewhere as these innovations propagated from human culture to human culture via their trade routes. This is a huge cultural advantage.

However, even though this is a characteristic of human cultures, it is not racial. This is a cultural oddity. And still other factors come into play. The human life span is comparatively short, so they are exposed to many things while younger and when their learning curve is high. They may learn many things while young, and since they are human, other humans make these things freely available to them.

Conversely, a demi-human growing up in a human culture may or may not get these things. If they are short-lived, like humans, they will get some due to quicker learning as 'young adults.' But they will not get all if they grow up in a human culture since their access is limited by feelings of racism and distrust. And if they are long-lived, most of this time is spent in a child-like state (not one of impending adulthood where the desire to learn quickly and join the ranks of the adult world are high). And the racist feelings still limit their access, though not completely.

HUMANS: THE HUMAN RACE

Humans come in a variety of skin colors, eye colors, hair colors (whatever you can find on earth, for example, is fine, and the DM may allow even more choices, but ask first).

They stand from 4.5 to 7 feet tall, but typically range from 5 to 6.5 feet and generally weigh 125 to 250 pounds, the men a bit taller and heavier than woman, on average. They reach majority in a short 15 years and typically live between 60 and 80 years, but sometimes they may reach as much as 110 or more.

HUMAN RACIAL TRAITS
(Add these if your PC's race is HUMAN)

+2 INT (18 MAX)
Medium Size
Base Speed 30 feet.

HUMAN CULTURAL TRAITS
(Add these if your PC grew up in a HUMAN culture)

One extra feat at 1st level (no matter what race your PC may be, unless told otherwise).

+1 skill point at 1st level (this is NOT multiplied by 4) if you are a short-lived race. i.e. centaur, half-elf, half-orc, halflings, human, lizardman, lupinoid, or tabbikin.

+3 skill points at 1st level (these are NOT multiplied by 4) if you have full access to the human culture, as ONLY humans do.

+1 skill point at 1st level (this is NOT multiplied by 4) if you only have partial access due to racism, as demi-humans often do. Ask your DM. He may give this to half-folk, or not, he may give it to other demi-humans, or not. If he doesn't, assume much racism was directed at your PC while growing up.

Languages: In addition to knowing Common, they might also learn: ANY language other than Class related languages, secret languages, or ones the DM just says aren't available in certain areas.

Favored Class: None. However, DMs may award PCs +500 XP to any class if they allow these PCs to have 'family connections' to an adventurer of that same class who takes a special interest in the PC's education. For example, if Tomelok grew up with his uncle, the wizard, he may have +500 XP to wizard IF he takes wizard as his first class. Or if his mother was a cleric, he may take +500 XP IF he takes cleric as his first class, etc. Even if Tomelok had multiple relatives with multiple classes from which to choose, he never gains this bonus for more than one class.

NOTE: Realistically, however, this bonus is not likely to be given and your PC is not likely to have such a relative. So to help prevent abuse, it will be assumed you should roll 1d10, and if it comes up 10, the DM will award +500 XP for your first class. The DM must witness this roll, or it doesn't count and you will have to roll again. If you roll 1 to 9, no bonus is awarded. Furthermore, if your PC is a demi-human, the odds of having 'family connections' in an alien human culture are very remote. So you roll 1d100 (or d% I guess they say now). If you roll 100 (00), then you may be awarded +500 XP. 1 to 99, tough luck.

NOTE: This does not mean if you roll badly you cannot have family members, even close members, as adventurers. They might still be adventurers if this is important to your PC's back-story. Maybe even one of your parents, for example, might have been an adventurer, but they did not take a great enough interest in your PC's education at the appropriate time. They may have been dead, absent, or too busy with other matters, or your PC did not wish to follow in their footsteps since your character's aptitude lay in another direction than their relative's class. For example, your PC's mage father wouldn't help them become a better cleric. Thus, they do not get the +500 XP bonus more often than not. Though your PC's father may have been a wizard, he never taught you since he was always too busy working on some project, adventuring, or the like, or perhaps you studied to be a ranger instead, or some class other than wizard.

FINAL NOTES

These rules on human race and culture grant humans a special place in the game while allowing us to freely mix and match other demi-humans into this culture without fear they get nothing but the best of both worlds and end up as a game balance problem. The -2 penalty to CHA, limited access due to racists feelings (and thus fewer starting skill points), and the differences in the learning curve of preadolescent children are taken into account, making it virtually impossible for certain race/cultural combination to be overly powerful, yet while preserving their possibility as an interesting avenue for roleplaying a more unique character.