Updated Races in 2020 Errata - How to handle?
 

The 2020 Errata has updated things like the Kobold and Orc in Volos to remove their negative stat modifiers. And in the case of the Orc, to replace its “Menacing” Trait with a new one called “Primal Intuition.” I’m probably just going to remove the negative stat bonuses, and let people use adjustments if they want to go back down to how it was before.

I ’m working through the errata changes as a warm-up to get back into editing full-steam. I’m hoping to have Theros done and out soon, and am hoping to get caught up on some of the backlog until Tasha’s comes out next month. I don’t even want to think about how we’ll handle the new variant rules on racial stat bonuses, but that’s a topic for another day.

My question is how the community would want this to be handled. I think the old version of the Orc should still be available, in case players don’t want to update their own Orc PC. Should we just make it a different race and call the old one “Orc (Pre-Errata)”? Or should we update the Orc with an option or adjustment to switch back to the old trait?

I’m inclined to do the latter, but I want to hear your opinions either way.

I got in and played around, and realized there's really not much to it. I was thinking that Menacing had more to it, but it's just proficiency in Intimidation, which is an option under the new "Primal Intuition" anyway. So they're not even losing any functionality in Menacing being gone.

I did build a simple checkbox that would add back in the -2 INT, reduce the skill choices from 2 to 1 and limit the choice to just Intimidation. But now that I realize you're not getting anything back by checking that box, it just seems unnecessary.

So unless anyone feels strongly, I'm going to just change it all to the new thing and leave it be. Players with existing orcs who update to the next release will only have to select their two new proficiencies, including Intimidation if they want it back, and then enjoy a higher INT mod.

I am just as lost on this choice. However since the changes are easy to adjust with adjustments, just going with the errata seems like the best choice. I wonder if the changes should be added as "Errata Adjustments"? This way all races/classes that get errata can just pick up an adjustment to preset the character. Maybe that is too much work at this point, but a path I would like to see.

It's honestly thinking it's too much work. All of the errata changes to player races are improvements, meaning they're not losing anything. When I made this post originally, I though the Orc was losing something (Menacing) and gaining something else (Primal Intuition). But it turns out that Menacing is just proficiency in Intimidation, while Primal Intuition is proficiency in two skills from a list, which include Intimidation anyway. Everything else, like the Kobold, Goliath, and Triton, are all either gaining something outright like Cold Resistance or losing a negative stat modifier like the Kobold.

So there's really no reason for someone to go back unless they want to nerf their newly-more powerful character. And if they want to do that, they can use adjustments or just ignore the new feature. And with plenty of other things to work on, it's not worth any effort to build adjustments that do that for them.

You must be talking about the DMG stat mods. The races in the books did not have negative stat mods. That was just DMG mods for building custom monsters. Those were not errata fixes. Those mods are used on the templates in the back of the monster manual too.

The Orc and Kobold in Volo's Guide to Monsters both included negative stat modifiers. They've errata'd out those negative modifiers this year. The DMG stuff you're talking about does exist, but is a separate thing.

I must have a newer copy of Volo's then because I don't see negative mods in it at all.

RavenX on page 119 in Volo, under Kobold, in mine shows that they have a -2 penalty to their Strength, not sure how new yours is... which since has been Errata'd

I'd change the base races to account for the errata. Normally that's what LWD would do if something was updated in pathfinder.