Best of the Best - Tactical Warlord.

[boolean]

Genasi are not iconic to 4e, dammit! They're Forgotten Realms! The Warforged is Eberron!

Funny that no-one has complained about the shifters being on this poll.

 

[Chimerasame]

Genasi are not iconic to 4e, dammit! They're Forgotten Realms!

Aren't they Planescape? FR just borrowed them and didn't give them back.

And now a lot of Planescape things are just getting wrapped into the core setting.

FRPG essentially is core; at least, the races and classes. References to Genasi and Swordmages appear in core -- not FR-specfic -- splatbooks. Arcane Power, say.

 

[Kzach]

WotC seems to disagree; they seem to treat races and classes from *setting* Player's Guides as first-class citizens going forward. So there are Drow, Changeling, Genasi, Kalashtar, and Warforged racial feats in Divine Power. There are options for Swordmages in Arcane Power, and both Drow and Genasi-specific feats. There are Drow and Genasi-specific feats in Martial Power.

That's a good point.

I hate you.

 

[Tony Vargas]

If you didn't buy the FR source material, then the few FR references in PH2 or whatever aren't going to let you use an FR race - though I'm sure WotC hopes you'll run right out and buy said material, and that's why they wasted a few column-inches on those feats/powres/PP/whatever that are worthless to anyone who hasn't yet plunked down thier cash for a setting they have no intention of using.

 

[Chimerasame]

If you didn't buy the FR source material, then the few FR references in PH2 or whatever aren't going to let you use an FR race -

Eh, my friend has FRPG; between that and compendium I have no problem playing "FR" races. I think of FRPG as a somewhat-overpriced "PHB 1.5". It's annoying that they chose to arrange races that way, but there's no reason Genasi and whatnot can't be used in non-FR campaigns. The DM can say no, but then, the DM can say no to any race.

Arguably, Genasi and Drow have been around longer--and are more 'iconic D&D'--than, say, Dragonborn. Genasi are about tied with Tieflings.

 

[Tony Vargas]

Drow, certainly. Though they're iconic monsters. Gensai? Not so much. Dragonborn, of course, were put in the PH, so, not iconic or oldschool, but undeniably core - and pretty well-supported.

 

[Kzach]

Arguably, Genasi and Drow have been around longer--and are more 'iconic D&D'--than, say, Dragonborn. Genasi are about tied with Tieflings.

Honestly, after reading through this and the other threads, I'm glad I didn't include the genasi as I never would've learnt about all the other cool options. Stat bonuses aren't as big a deal as people make them out to be. I think in 4e that racial feats and paragon paths are far more influential on the overall character's effectiveness and power.

And in that, I feel the eladrin far outshines the genasi. I would've hated to have seen the genasi win just because of a couple of appropriate stat bonuses.

Anyway, for now it's PHB 1 & 2. Maybe when PHB 3 comes out someone else can do a more comprehensive set of polls. Really, for now it's just fun and a reason to talk about cool races and classes and combinations. It's not to be taken seriously.

 

[Chimerasame]

Yeah, i mean, I'm not criticizing your choice of what to put in the polls, per se. Genasi are good Taclords, but they're certainly not the only option. A lot of people favor Earth ones. (Personally I like the idea of a water Genasi warlord, former ship's captain, perhaps..)

I was an old Planescape fan, though, so I guess what I personally reacted to was the notion that they're an FR thing. Planescape more or less invented Genasi, as well as Tieflings--correct me if I'm wrong. I didn't have all the 2e FR material, but the bits I did see, I didn't see Genasi anywhere in it.

Most DMs I've talked to and all campaigns I've played in in 4e after the release of FRPG allow the race, so I suppose I've gotten used to thinking of it as core.

Swordmages, too. You did include the setting-specific classes in your polls...

 

[Thanee]

Funny that no-one has complained about the shifters being on this poll.

That is probably because they are in the player's handbook.

Bye
Thanee

 

[DracoSuave]

I was an old Planescape fan, though, so I guess what I personally reacted to was the notion that they're an FR thing. Planescape more or less invented Genasi, as well as Tieflings--correct me if I'm wrong.

This is correct. As is player-character Githzerai. And Deva (as aasimar.) Pretty much every Forgotten Realms 'planetouched' race from 3e was originally in Planescape.

Of course, Warforged are canonical in the base -and- Forgotten realms world as well now. In fact, Warforged were one of the first races to get a proper write up, before Gnomes, Deva, etc. Contrast the information in the Monster Manual about them as ancient machines with Eberron's 'They just came out last decade or so'.