Halflings?

[Irda Ranger]

- No OAs for teleporting.
- Difficult terrain? what's that?
- DC to jump across a 25-ft. gap: 50 (25 with a running start).
- Move actions required to climb a 25-ft. wall: 2
- Big trap trigger in the middle of the room? Hop right past it!

- Bars of any sort
- Door with keyhole / peephole

 

[Saeviomagy]

1. Half-elves are only any good if you pick a killer at-will power to be your racial power, one that really suits your build.

That doesn't seem like much of a down side - after all, most of the stat bonuses are only really any good if you pick powers, skills and classes that they're useful for. The halfling's ability to reroll an attack is only going to be any good if the attack was worthwhile etc.

I think that if you're going to say "which of these races is the best from the point of a powergamer", competency in powergaming has to be assumed.

Personally I'm not seeing a race that I'm not interested in playing. I think I'll be starting off with a half-elf paladin.

 

[GSB68]

I'm just going to squish your precious halfing at the first opportunity during our game on the June 14 anyway; have a second character available (This was an intentional flame of a real life friend don't yell at me for it)

 

[MindWanderer]

I think it's all about the combinations--versatility for power. Old-school concept. Consider:

Paragon multiclassing has a high cost: you lose out on paragon features, it takes 4 feats to get in, and the powers you get have a low level cap. But in exchange, instead of getting the 3 fixed powers for 1 PP, you get any of the powers you want from the multiclass, up to the level cap. Lower power, but a ton of options.

Same for the half-elf. One at-will power as an encounter power is liable to be your weakest ability. But you have, at present, 28 options to choose from, many of which (like Eyebite, Tide of Iron, Nimble Strike, or Commander's Strike) are situationally extremely useful.

The tiefling... it really sucks if you're not using a Cha build, because I see Infernal Wrath as being the race's big selling point. A tiefling wizard or tactical warlord blows. But a tiefling paladin, trickster rogue, warlock, cleric, or inspiring warlord can be pretty good, IMO. I'm really looking forward to dishing out a major smackdown with a tiefling paladin.

 

[theNater]

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.

These things are effects of being small. I don't have the books, so I have to ask: are they the only effects of being small?

In third edition, small characters got bonuses to attack, AC, and the hide skill. Did any of those bonuses make it into fourth edition? Does being small allow you to aquire cover more easily? Is it common to find windows, tunnels, or caves that only small characters can fit through?

I'm not yet convinced that being small is the flat disadvantage you suggest it is.

 

[muffin_of_chaos]

Poor tieflings.

In the last 4E game I ran, a halfling took a hit that would have killed her had she been any other races, and made the hit miss. She then turned the fight around through her not-death.
OP? You decide.

 

[meribast]

halflings make decent warlocks

I played a halfling warlock (star pact) using the rules from dragon 366 in an rpga game and I did quite well. when i hit, was doing good damage, always moved at least 3 for the shadow walk unless I was moving through someone's threat range to get a flanking prime shot; dm couldn't hit me but once for 7 which I didnt bother to force a reroll because I was saving for a crit or other high damage roll.

did as well as dragonborn fighter and much better than drow cleric at dealing damage, never required healing like the rogue who was dealing good damage but kept on having to run away to 2nd wind or be healed - shadow walk and nimble reaction kept my ac @20

people discount a halfling until they meet an optimized one and then they're toast before they know it!

 

[Ginnel]

Halflings are shorter and lighter, this is an advantage in the vast majority of situations especially when it doesn't have a bearing on jumping, climbing, move speeds, grapples, tripping or damage with one handed weapons.

And the vast majority of poor old dragonborns can't even ride horses because they're so bulky and dense

 

[Starfox]

A friend of mine proposed replacing halflings with ducks. Change nothing mechanics-wise or even in the fluff, just replace the entire race with donaldesque ducks.

 

[Cobblestone]

A friend of mine proposed replacing halflings with ducks. Change nothing mechanics-wise or even in the fluff, just replace the entire race with donaldesque ducks.

Worked for RuneQuest.

C-Stone