D&D 4E 4E Races, Post-Essentials: Flexibility, You Say?

[FireLance]

Does this mean that in a campaign I can choose to play the (mechanically superior) PH1 Human as an (easier to play) Essentials Fighter? Or does this mean that the PH1 humans are now extinct and replaced by the Essentials humans? If both are allowed in a campaign are they distinguished in some manner?

I believe the Essentials human is a PH1 human that has the option of swapping out the PH1 human's third at-will attack for an encounter power that grants you a retroactive bonus to a missed attack roll or failed saving throw. So if you don't take that option, you are Essentially still a PH1 human.

Can I only use PHB Feats w/ PHB classes & Races, and essentials classes & races are separate? For instance, can I take "Dwarven Weapon Training" with an Essentials dwarf w/ a STR bonus?

I doubt that there will be rules that prevent an Essentials dwarf from taking Dwarven Weapon Training. More likely, Dwarven Weapon Training will be updated if it is likely to cause balance problems, e.g. to proficiency with all axes and hammers, and a +1/+2/+3 feat bonus to damage rolls with axes and hammers.

 

[Obryn]

I don't see how DWP is a problem anymore.

The moment there were melee weapon classes which used Constitution and Wisdom as their attack stats, DWP should have become an issue. It's no more an issue now than it has been.

-O

 

[ourchair]

Interesting. I guess I'm totally opposite from you; I want there to be very little difference between the races at level 1, but I want strong racial feat support so each race grows differently. I'm all about complexity evolving over character life; its good for new players, and its good for experienced players.

Right now, there is *very* little difference between the races in 4E. Heck, some racial packages are as bad as a crappy paragon class' features. Most racial ability packages break down into 1 heroic-tier quality feat, 1 paragon-tier quality feat, and 1 epic-tier quality feat. Giving players an option to choose a 3rd initial stat bump isn't going to make a dent on that.

So what's the harm in doing it? Isn't it a little silly that Eladrin, a fey race, aren't optimized to become fey pact warlocks? Or that Dwarves aren't optimized to be warlords? Humans are a bit overpowered right now anyway, most players only need to keep a single attack stat high so the second +2 isn't terribly needed.

I think WotC should make racial feats be on par with class feats. Generic feats should be something you fall back on after you've plumbed both the class & race list. And feats that require both a particular class and race should be the most powerful of all. Unfortunately right now racial feats are pretty much bottom-of-the-barrel with only a few exceptions. Stuff like Dwarven Weapon Proficiency, and the Gith blademaster feat should be models for all other racial feats. (weapon finesse...yawn...weapon focus...yawn...weapon proficiency...yawn...paragon defenses...yawn...)

Strong racial feat support is the only way 4E races will ever truly "feel" different imo. A halfling (whatever) should intrinsically "feel" different from a human (whatever). But the way things are right now, they're just small humans....irregardless of whether or not this "third stat" thing happens.

I actually agree ENTIRELY with this.

I don't want the floating attribute bonus, I want feat support. If WotC really wants to make races more versatile they should try to give some kind of class/power source bump to all the races with an appropriate feat. You only really need a 16 in a key stat to be good at anything -- no matter what the pro min maxers tell you -- so to me the stat bonus is a poor man's cover up for a lack of comprehensive race to class support.

 

[Istar]

Give us the Half Dragonborn.

The Kobold.

A sneaky version of the Dragonborn.

 

[dimonic]

+2 Con for Tiefling

+2 Con has nothing to do with the flavour of the Tiefling race. And seeing as the Warpriest uses Wisdom as it's primary ability, the Warlock in Essentials is very likely going the route of Charisma only. And for reasons I stated before, Tieflings always had a thing for being Rogues, which is why Dex suits them a lot better than Con ever did, which is only ever justified for a mechanical reason that never had anything to do with their flavour as a race.

What about "Only the good die young"?

For me a con boost for Tiefling totally fits. Infernal rude health? Devilish disdain for disease and infirmities of the flesh? They all fit to a tee.