Rebalancing the Metatypes, making Orks and Trolls playable Options

[Kagetenshi]

So the utter uselessness of Orks has bothered me for a long time, as has the fact that Trolls are only useful in the very narrow role of "melee monster" (even if they are devastating in that role). Well, ok, I also did once see a Troll Adept with Missile Mastery that was pretty scary.

Also, the fact that Elves simply cost too much unless you play their strengths to the hilt—speedsam or ultraconjurer or uberFace or more likely some combination of the above. And the fact that humans are vastly overpowered in a long campaign due to the double-growth of Karma Pool.

Anyway, I've mused on these issues for a long time, and have come up with the following proposals which I'd like feedback on.

All: everyone gains karma pool at the same rate (whichever rate that is).

Human: every time they gain a karma pool point, they gain an additional point of regular karma that doesn't count towards total karma (for purposes of earning more KP). Alternately, an extra point of karma pool at chargen (though that seems to diminish too quickly)

Elf: gain thermographic vision in addition to current low-light. A small utility perk that doesn't overpower the preexisting roles, but gives everyone else a little more bang for their Elf buck.

Dwarf: as-is. Maybe gain automatic nickname "Stumpy".

Troll: use vehicle recoil rules (half recoil). Maybe still kick down to -1 Int instead of -2.

Ork: no INT penalty, maybe +3 STR instead of +2 (though that starts to horn in on Troll territory, but then due to the low value of STR giving them another +1 isn't out of the question).

Thoughts?

~J