Humans and Removing Level Limits

So, I’m not a terribly big fan of level limits. I think the usual arguments for them… that otherwise demihumans would dominate, and that they provide balance… are specious, at best. So, like a lot of people involved in 2e, I get rid of them.

But that raises the question of “Why humans”? The dubious benefit of can advance to any level gone, humans have nothing. So, I prefer to give them something. My choices are

+1 to Charisma
+1 to all saving throws
+1 WP and +1 NWP, without class restrictions.

Charisma is harder to powergame, and fits with humans being able to make large and diverse societies in the ways others cannot; not pairing it with a penalty is an added bonus.

+1 to all saving throws makes humans a little more resilient, in the same way dwarves and halflings resist magic and poison, humans are a little bit more resilient than one might expect.

+1 WP and NWP. These are analogous to elven and halfling combat bonuses, or special skills like stealth. Humans approach things differently, and have some unexpected skills, but don’t necessarily have the SAME unexpected skills.

It gives humans a mechanical reason to be played, when the mechanical “advantage” of “can be any level” is removed.

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3e did something very similar when they granted humans a racial bonus feat and bonus skill points… analogous to your bonus WP and NWP.

Yep. Part of where I got it from. I have a long rant about AD&D’s class limitations, and have started to rant about how RM did stuff better.

In our campaign we’ve given humans a free +1 modifier since it seems hard to power game anyway (or maybe I’ve gotten lazy as a DM with players who aren’t as interested in min-maxing) - sure they could throw it into STR or DEX or INT but we’re already in a 4d6 discard the lowest world so scores are reasonably inflated - less valuable than in a 3d6 world. I like the CHR idea though - with more mercenary players I might push them to CHR or WIS only. I think 2e gives away NWPs like candy (esp for high INT characters), so that feels undervalued. You could also just play with the inherent species-ism in the setting - there are definitely places in the Tablelands where it’s advantageous to be human.