Halflings?

[ki11erDM]

So after looking over the books I only have one major issue so far: Halflings.

Why do Halflings suck so horribly?

They really look to be significantly less useful than any of the other races in this edition. They get ability bones to dex and chr and some skill bonuses to roguish skills, perfectly comparable to the other races. They get an ok feature that helps out with their AC against OAs and a racial encounter power that lets them force a monster to re-roll an attack when they hit the Halfling. These are also reasonably comparable to the other races abilities. Not significantly better and probably even less useful than say… teleport? Or a breath weapon?
What is truly horrible is halflings are the only race in the book that have a significant disadvantage. They are small. So they can’t use two handed weapons and can only use hand and a half weapons in two hands. And they get NO balancing feature for this. 0.

 

[Mort_Q]

It's not teleport, but movement and mobility seem far more important in 4e, and being able to avoid OAs is quite good.

The fact that they can do the same damage as a medium seems like a bonus, not a penalty, to me.

YMMV.

 

[Gort]

It's really too early for this discussion, but I'll have it anyway.

I'd argue that the halfling racial feats are WAY better than the human or tiefling ones. They might as well call them "negate a critical hit once per encounter".

Halflings are also perfect to fit into the rogue niche due to their high dex and charisma.

And finally, your "significant disadvantage" of not being able to use weapons two-handed really only comes down to a single point of damage.

To be honest, I think it's the poor tiefling that's rubbish this time around. But as I said at the start of this stream of consciousness, it's really too early to tell. Maybe once I've had a few games.

 

[ki11erDM]

Saying that you have to play a certain class to make a race usable is not a solution. I have played Halfling clerics, rogues, rangers and fighters in almost every addition… so I am use to them not being optimal, or even close to optimal. I am just not use to seeing all the other races reasonably balanced.
The ‘prevent a crit’ is a good thing, and I am not saying it isn’t, but it is in no way hugely better than the other races. For starters odds are you are not going to be crit’d in every battle but, using the tiefling as an example, in EVERY battle your opponent WILL be blooded and the odds are good someone on the battle field will hit you at least once.

I am really not happy about the penalty with no balancing factor for it. That is what I don’t like. Well know that I think about it the fact that the gnome has tremendously cool abilities and the Halflings don’t probably ticks me off more : )

 

[ki11erDM]

And I will note that dwarves also have a disadvantage. I am sure a movement of 5 is going to be sucky. But being compensated with the fact you are not encumbered by armor or treasure seems reasonable. Not to mention their racial ability is to heal themselves as a minor action…

*shrug* all in all I am loving the new addition, I just hoped that my favorite race would compensated for its obvious disadvantages.

 

[Voss]

I'll take 'reroll an enemy's hit' over 'teleport a distance smaller than you can walk' any day.

But really, I've seen complaints about just about every race at this point, so I'm reserving judgement. I remember the 3.0 monk fiasco all to well.

 

[DevoutlyApathetic]

And finally, your "significant disadvantage" of not being able to use weapons two-handed really only comes down to a single point of damage.

Multiplied how many times for those higher level powers? It's far more than 1 point of damage but more importantly it's on every hit. It'll add up.

I suspect Halflings will be poor as Fighters, Rangers and (maybe) Warlords. They may limit your options with regard to Paladins and Clerics but can likely be one "path" of the class fine. They'll make fair wizards. They will be excellent Rogues and Warlocks.

If the class relies heavily on [W]'s in their power descriptions you're going to have a problem. You simply won't stack up against a bigger race.

 

[ki11erDM]

I don’t see how anyone in their right mind can’t see how useful teleporting 25’ as a move action is… but if someone sees that as not useful they can give it to the Halfling… : )

But that is being discussed at great length in other threads.

 

[rhm001]

I'm pretty sure I've now seen threads and/or posts for every PHB race, complaining that racial powers are too weak, that all of the other races are better, etc. (OK, I'm actually not sure whether I've seen them for dragonborn, but people have other complaints...) Personally, I'm willing to try playing characters for a few sessions before I voice any concerns about balance.

 

[Duelpersonality]

Multiplied how many times for those higher level powers? It's far more than 1 point of damage but more importantly it's on every hit. It'll add up.

I suspect Halflings will be poor as Fighters, Rangers and (maybe) Warlords. They may limit your options with regard to Paladins and Clerics but can likely be one "path" of the class fine. They'll make fair wizards. They will be excellent Rogues and Warlocks.

If the class relies heavily on [W]'s in their power descriptions you're going to have a problem. You simply won't stack up against a bigger race.

I suspect you may be right, except for maybe rangers. Even though their damage does have all those [W]'s, rangers, rogues and to a lesser extent warlocks are all about thier special ability damage additions. I'd actually prefer a 2 weapon halfling ranger over a ranged one because of Lost in the Crowd. Stacking up a lot of AC for a melee striker is going to be pretty important, I think.