The subject of a variant human came up and we discussed that this is a regular human with different rules. One of these raised a question:
The standard human does not get any racial abilities like elves, dwarves or other races. Oh wait, that species now. Anyway...
Instead of racial abilities, the standard human starts out with this at first level:
Ability Score Increase
Your ability scores each increase by 1.
That is six points, twice as many as other races. Supposed to indicate that humans are adaptable, I think. However, in some earlier versions, humans also got a feat at first level... This is where the "variant human" rules come in:
If your campaign uses the optional feat rules from the Player’s Handbook, your Dungeon Master might allow these variant traits, all of which replace the human’s Ability Score Increase trait.
Ability Score Increase
Two different ability scores of your choice increase by 1.
Skills
You gain proficiency in one skill of your choice.
Feat
You gain one feat of your choice.
This is where the question came in:
"variant traits, all of which replace the human’s Ability Score Increase trait." Does this also apply to subsequent ability score improvements? In other words, when you reach 4th level, would you again get a feat, a skill proficiency and two ability points?
My impression is that is way too powerful, and the intent was only to replace the first level ability score increase, not the increases for leveling up. But I can see rules lawyers arguing with the DM for every increase...
The subject of a variant human came up and we discussed that this is a regular human with different rules. One of these raised a question:
The standard human does not get any racial abilities like elves, dwarves or other races. Oh wait, that species now. Anyway...
Instead of racial abilities, the standard human starts out with this at first level:
Ability Score Increase
Your ability scores each increase by 1.
That is six points, twice as many as other races. Supposed to indicate that humans are adaptable, I think. However, in some earlier versions, humans also got a feat at first level... This is where the "variant human" rules come in:
If your campaign uses the optional feat rules from the Player’s Handbook, your Dungeon Master might allow these variant traits, all of which replace the human’s Ability Score Increase trait.
Ability Score Increase
Two different ability scores of your choice increase by 1.
Skills
You gain proficiency in one skill of your choice.
Feat
You gain one feat of your choice.
This is where the question came in:
"variant traits, all of which replace the human’s Ability Score Increase trait." Does this also apply to subsequent ability score improvements? In other words, when you reach 4th level, would you again get a feat, a skill proficiency and two ability points?
My impression is that is way too powerful, and the intent was only to replace the first level ability score increase, not the increases for leveling up. But I can see rules lawyers arguing with the DM for every increase...
Chip
Your class’s Ability Score Increase feature is not “the human’s Ability Score Increase trait.”