Quote Originally Posted by IfanYFfwl View Post
I would say that the alienness of those races is important, if difficult to convey. I would also say that level limits have nothing to do with that alienness.

But I've allowed myself to become sidetracked. Please let's stick to the mechanical effects of such changes.
Well, no. Let's not. Numbers are one thing but presentation, feel, and visceral impulse are important. People like us don't play D&D because it is the mechanically most optimal possible game system to generate the abstract functions we desire to wrap a story around. We play it because of it's emotional and intellectual value. Ignoring that emotional and intellectual value in favor of the numbers is quite literally missing the point of the question. If you ignore everything but the numbers, then you have no reason for a good half of the rules.

Level limits don't preserve that flavor directly. They are punishments for players who only want the numbers. The idea is that if you pick elf because they're better, then you've missed the point. But if elves mechanically suck, and you pick them anyway, you're likely interested in their elf-ness. It creates a selection bias. Or it's supposed to. I don't know that it works.