Races

I know that we were talking about toning down how much your racial selection affects the outcome of your character, however I do think that it should have some effect, otherwise what does racial selection really do, besides give you some essentially meaningless superficial choice.  A dwarf isn't the same as an elf, and I think that not just the roleplaying, but the mechanics should affect that to a certain degree.

However, I don't think that racial selection should be as big of a deal as other things, like for instance the character's upbringing and their class or profession selection.  So as I've mentioned before, I think the only thing that should really change is the +1, -1 to Attributes.

Anyway, here's some of the racial templates I've kind of come up with and considered to a certain degree:

Human - No bonus or negative
Dwarf
Elf
Orc
Gnome
Halfling

Going to break off here and have a minor note: I don't understand the separation between halflings and gnomes, it doesn't make sense to me.  They are essentially the same race.  Personally, I think the only reason they are differentiated is because of Tolkien, and if we want to break the Tolkien-esque tropes, we should discard halflings completely.  But that's just me.

I'll continue:

Construct
Half-Angel
Half-Demon
Half-Dragon
Half-Elf
Half-Giant
Changeling
Insectoid
Undead
Centaur
Minotaur
Homunculus
Merfolk
Lizardfolk