Arkhandus
First Post
Halflings get a couple of dex-related skill bonuses along with their actual Dex bonus, so I don't see it as excessive. Cats really are quite good at balancing and padding about quietly.
I don't really see a need for a second +Cha race either, the Almaren fill that role well enough. Wizards of the Coast just doesn't like to give mental ability boosts to core races, but really, they're hardly any better for casters than a +Str or +Dex would be for warriors and rogues. Heck, for a typical rogue, +2 Dex will yield +1 Init, +1 AC, +1 Reflex, +1 on ranged attacks, and +1 on probably half a dozen or so skills.
For an Almaren, +2 Cha yields +1 on a couple of skills, and, if they take an appropriate class, it'll also yield +1 to spell save DCs, +1 1st-level spell per day maybe (if they max the score out), and that's it. If they become Clerics or Paladins then it would also give +1 on turning checks/damage (big whoop), and for a paladin it'd also grant +1 point of Lay On Hands healing per level and +1 point of attack bonus with Smite Evil. I'd hardly call that breaking the game. Nearly all of that is negligible and significantly less likely to be useful to most Almaren compared to the benefits of +2 Dex. +2 Int or +2 Wis would only be slightly better than +2 Cha, simply because Wis and Int each have one or two more minor benefits but fewer class-specific benefits. Wizards of the Coast just doesn't want to give the impression that one core race is inherantly better at using magic than the other core races, for whatever reason. Regardless of how negligible the actual spellcasting impact is (+1 to DCs; a feat worth of value at best, and that's considering that Spell Focus was nerfed).
I'd go the Str mod + Dex mod route for Swift Jump.
Anyway, the +2 Balance and +2 Move Silently would help balance the race out a bit, as it's kinda on the weak side without it. A human's bonus skill points would more than make up for the few skill bonuses, while a human's versatile bonus feat choice would more than make up for Low-Light Vision, while Swift Jump, Natural Grace, and Wandering Mind balance each other out at the very least. And a human still has multiclassing flexibility, and the general flexibility of his/her feat and skill benefits. +4 Dex at the expense of -2 Str and Con pretty well balances out; any class that could make good use of +4 Dex will be hurt by the Con penalty, and in most cases the Str penalty too (and those that don't use Str so much would be those who already have a d6 or d4 hit die, making -2 Con a more significant hit than for the warrior-types with big HP).
40 foot movement speed, in addition or instead, would be fine. Trust me, +10 feet of speed rarely means anything unless you play a very unusual sort of campaign. I've played and seen played plenty of monks and barbarians, and their extra speed is rarely of consequence; at best so far, my monk/barbarian Argus (well, ex-monk) can manage to keep up with most horses with his 50 foot speed (except for unencumbered/lightly-armored light horses), assuming the horses don't run (as they have the Run feat and Argus doesn't). Argus has gotten no other benefit from his speed, only that he can chase after a mounted enemy a short distance if that mounted enemy isn't running full-tilt (which requires a fairly clear and straight path anyway, only common in fields or non-busy roads). 40 feet of movement speed is just a minor boost to the character's combat maneuvering; i.e. PC moves 80 feet back with withdraw action, enemy with 30 foot speed can't attack him this turn unless mounted on something faster, and likely needs to run up to the PC instead (effectively, both waste their turn maneuvering away from the main fight).
I don't really see a need for a second +Cha race either, the Almaren fill that role well enough. Wizards of the Coast just doesn't like to give mental ability boosts to core races, but really, they're hardly any better for casters than a +Str or +Dex would be for warriors and rogues. Heck, for a typical rogue, +2 Dex will yield +1 Init, +1 AC, +1 Reflex, +1 on ranged attacks, and +1 on probably half a dozen or so skills.
For an Almaren, +2 Cha yields +1 on a couple of skills, and, if they take an appropriate class, it'll also yield +1 to spell save DCs, +1 1st-level spell per day maybe (if they max the score out), and that's it. If they become Clerics or Paladins then it would also give +1 on turning checks/damage (big whoop), and for a paladin it'd also grant +1 point of Lay On Hands healing per level and +1 point of attack bonus with Smite Evil. I'd hardly call that breaking the game. Nearly all of that is negligible and significantly less likely to be useful to most Almaren compared to the benefits of +2 Dex. +2 Int or +2 Wis would only be slightly better than +2 Cha, simply because Wis and Int each have one or two more minor benefits but fewer class-specific benefits. Wizards of the Coast just doesn't want to give the impression that one core race is inherantly better at using magic than the other core races, for whatever reason. Regardless of how negligible the actual spellcasting impact is (+1 to DCs; a feat worth of value at best, and that's considering that Spell Focus was nerfed).
I'd go the Str mod + Dex mod route for Swift Jump.
Anyway, the +2 Balance and +2 Move Silently would help balance the race out a bit, as it's kinda on the weak side without it. A human's bonus skill points would more than make up for the few skill bonuses, while a human's versatile bonus feat choice would more than make up for Low-Light Vision, while Swift Jump, Natural Grace, and Wandering Mind balance each other out at the very least. And a human still has multiclassing flexibility, and the general flexibility of his/her feat and skill benefits. +4 Dex at the expense of -2 Str and Con pretty well balances out; any class that could make good use of +4 Dex will be hurt by the Con penalty, and in most cases the Str penalty too (and those that don't use Str so much would be those who already have a d6 or d4 hit die, making -2 Con a more significant hit than for the warrior-types with big HP).
40 foot movement speed, in addition or instead, would be fine. Trust me, +10 feet of speed rarely means anything unless you play a very unusual sort of campaign. I've played and seen played plenty of monks and barbarians, and their extra speed is rarely of consequence; at best so far, my monk/barbarian Argus (well, ex-monk) can manage to keep up with most horses with his 50 foot speed (except for unencumbered/lightly-armored light horses), assuming the horses don't run (as they have the Run feat and Argus doesn't). Argus has gotten no other benefit from his speed, only that he can chase after a mounted enemy a short distance if that mounted enemy isn't running full-tilt (which requires a fairly clear and straight path anyway, only common in fields or non-busy roads). 40 feet of movement speed is just a minor boost to the character's combat maneuvering; i.e. PC moves 80 feet back with withdraw action, enemy with 30 foot speed can't attack him this turn unless mounted on something faster, and likely needs to run up to the PC instead (effectively, both waste their turn maneuvering away from the main fight).
