Race Revision Redux

Alright, folks. The results are in. While there was a surprisingly high number of people who thought non-human races were just fine as is (myself included), the general concensus seems to be that they still need a bit of a boost to make them a viable option to humans. Exactly how to do that is what I'd like to discuss here.

Before we start, I'd like to set the right expectations. First, we're not out to vastly improve non-human races; while there were a few people who thought they needed a big improvement, I still feel that incremental steps are better than broad strokes. Whatever we decide to change, it's going to be small. If that doesn't do the trick, we might have another round of improvements later. We want to make non-humans a viable alternative to humans to promote a good mix, not turn humans into the inferior choice.

Second, we're not out to redefine what it means to have a race. From the beginning, a character's race was always intended to be a flavorful choice, but it should always play a secondary role to that character's class choices. Just bear that in mind as you make new recommendations.

Last, we shouldn't eliminate the possibility of nerfing humans. Since the beginning, I've heard talk that humans are simply too good to pass up. Since the goal is to set humans and non-humans on an equal playing field, making humans a less attractive option is also a solution worth considering. I know this probably won't sit well with those currently playing a human PC. That being said, I trust you guys to shelf considerations about your own character in favor of greater game balance.

Here are some potential solutions that I've been considering:

1. Remove human affinities for trade skills. This feels about right and makes thematic sense. For example, it makes sense that dwarves make better blacksmiths than humans, or that elves make better woodworkers. Humans would still have affinities for all combat skills, all knowledge skills, and all classes, so they'd still be a good general choice, particularly for more casual players.
2. Increase non-human trade skill affinities to moderate. This is a different version of the previous solution. In this scenario, humans would retain weak affinities for all trade skills, but non-humans would have moderate affinities for the trade skills specific to their race. Same net effect, just a different way of doing it.
3. Allow non-human races to purchase more than one use of their racial actions. Under this solution, non-humans would be able to buy two or even three uses for each of their racial actions. An Empyrean, for example, would be able to buy Music of the Spheres a few times, rather than only once.
4. Allow non-humans to prepare racial actions as they would normal actions. For example, a 10th-level Empyrean might have three different racial actions and three that he or she could prepare at any one time. This would give non-humans a little more versatility, and allow them to double or triple up on their higher-level racial abilities.
5. Allow non-humans to get their racial actions for free. Simple and straightforward, although it has implications for how plot builds their monsters. I'm not a fan of it, since, in most other situations, you have to pay skill points to get extra actions.
6. Give all non-humans a scalable racial ability. Under this solution, all urdeks would have a Drain effect that scales with level, all dwarves would have a Guard effect, etc. I don't like this one because it violates the principle of class being more important than race, as well as the fact that it's difficult to price and program, but here it is for consideration nonetheless.

That's what we have so far. I'm interested in hearing what people think. As always, though, remember that this isn't a popularity contest. I'm asking for feedback on which solutions you think would work (or not) and why, not votes on which one you like best. If it were a poll, it'd be on the front of the site. Assuming we arrive at several equally-good solutions, it may be. ;)

Advise me.