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Separating Class and Race in Classic D&D

by Håvard

First, I want to say that I like racial classes. I think much of the criticism comes from people starting with other editions (or other types of games) and then struggling to wrap their heads around the different philosophy of early D&D. As I see it, the idea is that you don't need to define everything through the rules. If you want to make your elf a little different, you should handle that through roleplaying instead. If you get on board with this line of thinking, then that could actually encourage more roleplaying and new character types beyond what any edition forces you to choose between. However, since the question keeps coming up, it is also very easy to fix.

A couple of other ways to balance Classed Demihumans vs human options in Classic D&D that I have toyed with:

1) Demihumans who have selected a class will be assigned a second Prime Requisite Ability. For those who don't know how this works, characters who have a 13 or higher in their Prime Requisite get a +5% XP bonus while those who have 16 or higher get a 10% bonus. The Demihuman Classes described in the official rules have two prime requisite abilites and need to have both at 13 or higher to get the 5% bonus etc. In my proposed version Halflings who select the Fighter Class will need to meet the STR requirement of Fighters and also get a Dex requirement based on the Halfling Race. Halfling Thieves get the DEX requirement of the Thief, but will also get the STR requirement from their race. Halfling Clerics will get WIS and DEX etc.

Yes this is effectively an XP toll, but formulated a bit differently. Also, since per core BECMI there are no ability score modifiers, this encourages certain characters to get higher ability scores of certain categories while any character can still retain any class.

2) Increase HD type by one category for humans (and racial classed demihumans). So Human Fighters will now get d12 HP per level and Human Thieves and Magic Users will be using d6s. The downside of this is that it requires changing all of the classes, not just the demihumans with a class. Note also that I am sticking with the BECMI rules of HD type being based on class, with a minor variation described here.

Why is such a balancing mechanic (1 or 2 above) required? The idea is that the races will bring with them a set of advantages that needs to be balanced so that humans will be as viable an option as demihumans.

I will post my ideas for advantages for each race in my next post.

Players deciding to use the Dwarf, Halfling or Elf race classes in the standard rules can ignore all of the below. If option 2 in my post above is used to balance these races, players using the standard rules for demihumans gain the same benefits as humans. Option 1 is used, players using the standard demihuman classes will ignore the restrictions.

Dwarf

*= If General Skills are used, replace this ability with Engineering Skill

Elf

*=If General Skills are used and the DM permits it, this ability can be replaced with a Perception (WIS) skill reflecting an elf's heightened senses.

Halfling