Table of ability scores for each PHB race, MM race, and class

Halivar · May 30, 2008

Where did this info come from? If it's from the Buy.com accidental pre-release, I'd like to see the tables. If it's from the leaked PDF's, then I'd rather not.

Asmor · May 30, 2008

Halivar said:
Where did this info come from? If it's from the Buy.com accidental pre-release, I'd like to see the tables. If it's from the leaked PDF's, then I'd rather not.

If you can't tell the difference, why should I?

silentounce · May 30, 2008

Halivar said:
Where did this info come from? If it's from the Buy.com accidental pre-release, I'd like to see the tables. If it's from the leaked PDF's, then I'd rather not.

It's not from any tables. It's from flavor text within each class build description. The descriptions state which attributes are primary, secondary, etc. See my earlier post in this thread for that info. And as far as which race gets which ability bonuses, well, I didn't research that part. So, I'm guessing you believe the leaked pdfs contain false info?

EDIT: Ok, I see what you meant now. You didn't want to see the tables that were created here if they came from the pdfs. Got it.

rhm001 said:
I must admit that I'm a little disturbed by this analysis, specifically the fact that dragonborn are above average for every class except wizard. They get a racial encounter power that lets them make an area attack, the one ability wizards are best at. I know there's been uproar in the past, and I'll be glad to wait to see them in play, but I'm worried that I, too, will be forced to welcome our dargonborn overlords...

The reason for this is the +2 Str since strength is important to so many classes. Check out the other races that get Strength bonuses, bugbears for example. The dragonborn's other bonus being cha doesn't hurt anything considering that most classes that don't need strength at all get some benefit from charisma. But, you are right, as far as abilities go, dragonborn appear to be the best option for half of PHB class builds.

randolph · Jun 1, 2008

4E Class/Race Optimization Matrix (Excel spreadsheet)

This first release only evaluates the PHB races, I'm working on the MM races.

The fields you can affect are:
* The "weight" fields for each aspect of the class, use integers for best results.
* The "racial ability weight" fields to give more importance to specific abilities in the evaluation.

Each class already has sample values entered for a hypothetical character; change these to fit your character concept and/or belief regarding the relative importance of that attribute to fulfilling the class role.

I've included a screenshot/tutorial on using the spreadsheet.

Enjoy!

Edit: Updated to include the MM races, moved it to its own thread.

Mr. Teapot · Jun 3, 2008

rhm001 said:
I must admit that I'm a little disturbed by this analysis, specifically the fact that dragonborn are above average for every class except wizard. They get a racial encounter power that lets them make an area attack, the one ability wizards are best at. I know there's been uproar in the past, and I'll be glad to wait to see them in play, but I'm worried that I, too, will be forced to welcome our dargonborn overlords...

The dragonborn may be good choices for a lot of classes, but that doesn't mean that they are more powerful than any other race. It means they have breadth of choice. You could conceivably build a dragoborn effective in any given class (except maybe wizard), though they'll likely be matched or outclassed by another race. Kind of like 3rd ed humans. (Except thatdragonborn seem like the go to guys for paladins, warlords and maybe clerics).

Mr. Teapot · Jun 3, 2008

Anyone notice any unexpectedly good race/class combos? Like, when a race is really good at a given class, though no flavor text or previous rules made that combination work. Dwarves made really horrible warlocks and sorcerors in 3rd ed, but now Warlocks rely on Con, so dwarves might make actually good ones (I'll have to play around once I get my copy of the books to know for sure).

I really like playing slightly offbeat character concepts, and to do so and have it mechanically rewarded would just please me greatly.

So I ask you: What race/class combos are unexpectedly good?

My thoughts from a brief skim:

Dragoborn: Warlock
Dwarf: Warlock
1/2ling: Warlord, Fighter, Paladin
Tiefling: Cleric

Bubgear Wizard
Doppelganger: Warlord, Warlock, Paladin
Drow: Paladin,
Gnome Warlord, Paladin
Goblin Wizard, paladin
Hobgoblin Warlock
Kobold Fighter,
Minotaur Warlock
Orc Warlock
Longtooh Shifter Paladin
Razorclaw Shifter Wizard
Warforged Warlock, Rogue

(This could be taken to a separate thread, if people want.)