D&D 5E Race/Class combinations that were cool but you avoided due to mechanics?

[Marandahir]

In 4e I played a Warforged Star Pact Warlock who had been partially built out of a meteor! Back then, Warlocks could use CON to cast their spells and it worked perfectly. He was crazy and heard things in his head...

See, that was a cool think about 4e classes that I feel was lost in 5e, with the sole exceptions being the Fighter and Ranger. Your key ability score wasn't locked to a single option.

I think a lot of people would have been less upset about Aberrant Mind/Psionic Soul Sorcerer being "the Psion" if Sorcerers could cast with Int instead of Cha, for example.

In 4e, the Warlock could be Con/Int, Cha/Int, or a Cha/Con dual caster, depending on your choice of powers…

But that leads to a lot of challenges in creating spells for each type of Warlock. In 5e terms, I'd just let them choose their casting ability score. But Con isn't a casting score anymore because a Con-Caster (or Con-attacker, like the 4e Battlemind i.e. Psychic Warrior was) is just too bulky a concept in 5e. Con is the one score in 5e that everyone wants as their 2nd or 3rd highest ability score.

 

[Iry]

I avoid playing Elven Rangers because of the mechanics of cliché. I especially can't have panthers, or two scimitars.

This is only a half joke. I really avoid these things, even though I would like to play one some day.

 

[Benjamin Olson]

The major instance for me would be "non-human with any character concept that requires a starting feat".

 

[Undrave]

Great. Now I need to order this mini if nothing else, just for the badger.
View attachment 125171

Sorry!

 

[Undrave]

See, that was a cool think about 4e classes that I feel was lost in 5e, with the sole exceptions being the Fighter and Ranger. Your key ability score wasn't locked to a single option.

I think a lot of people would have been less upset about Aberrant Mind/Psionic Soul Sorcerer being "the Psion" if Sorcerers could cast with Int instead of Cha, for example.

In 4e, the Warlock could be Con/Int, Cha/Int, or a Cha/Con dual caster, depending on your choice of powers…

But that leads to a lot of challenges in creating spells for each type of Warlock. In 5e terms, I'd just let them choose their casting ability score. But Con isn't a casting score anymore because a Con-Caster (or Con-attacker, like the 4e Battlemind i.e. Psychic Warrior was) is just too bulky a concept in 5e. Con is the one score in 5e that everyone wants as their 2nd or 3rd highest ability score.

Yeah they dropped that part pretty fast. Even the Cleric lost its STR/CHA powers moving forward... 4e mostly kept the secondary attribute more modular (like the Warlord being STR/INT, STR/CHA, STR/INT/CHA and even STR/WIS depending on presence, or the Wizard going INT/DEX, INT/CON or INT/CHA depending on what they wanted to specialize in) and I miss that. Even the Barbarian would go STR/WIS or STR/DEX if they wanted.

I feel like the Sorcerer would have made a lot of sense as a CON caster since they're using their innate magic. It's something that could strain their body to overuse and all that. It would make Sorlock and Sorcadin less synergetic, but open up a ton of Sorcerer Gish options.

But I can also see Concentration being harder to break for that kind of caster and that being considered an issue.

It would certainly have made them stand out more.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Actually I would like to play a gnome bard... And I am more annoyed by not being able to put my great int to great use instead of having no int bonus for my gnome.

 

[Sir Brennen]

I made a tiefling ranger for an upcoming campaign, in part because I found an awesome picture for him online. But man, it was a struggle to reconcile his attribute bonus. The Charisma and Int increases are both a complete waste for a Ranger.

I'm not even trying to "play against type". I just want a character to be as good a beginning ranger as any human or elf.

I really don't get the idea that we'll "lose something" if we can play any race/class combo we like, and have them being on equal footing mechanically.

 

[Guest 6801328]

Tiefling Shadow Monk. (“BAMF!”)

Finally played one when Tiefling variants came out.

 

[Ancalagon]

I have a Pathfinder (1e) character, Malbung, that is a Magus and an elf. I'm... not a big fan of PF (thankfully both the Zeitgeist campaign and the GM are excellent).

There is no Magus class in 5e, but I tried to convert him anyway as a multiclass college of sword bard/hexblade. It worked pretty well but... at an elf it was tough. As the character stated as an elf in pf but was half elf, half eladrin in is background, I changed him to half-elf and it works much better.

I'll probably never get to play that character in 5e... :/

 

[Haldrik]

Another side thought based on the changes in TCoA and the decoupling of several racial features from races. Has anyone thought of a cool concept of a PC they wanted, but when creating the character, saw that the mechanics of how racial features didn't really support it well from a mechanical standpoint? I'm not just talking about optimization, but in general. With bounded accuracy, every modifier counts, so have you ever been swayed to avoid a particular concept that you would do if features were decoupled?

High Elf Bard

I am looking forward to Tashas. I will finally have official Charisma-Intelligence elves.

I miss the 4e Cha-Int eladrin elves.

My "Sun Elves" will "tend toward" +2 Charisma and +2 Intelligence. Officially!



In 4e, I played an Eladrin Storm Sorcerer. Originally, the 4e Storm Sorcerer favored Cha-Dex, so I planned to make a Drow Storm Sorcerer. When the D&D group asked me, Why a Drow?, I explained. So the other members of the group convinced both me and the DM, for me to play an Eladrin that switched the abilities to Cha-Dex. (Normally, the 4e Eladrin was Int-Cha or else Int-Dex.) It turned out to be one of my favorite characters. I built it into a very powerful "kiter", that consistently avoided getting hit by various means. The rest of the group loved the character, because I would help focus fire on their deadliest hostiles. The DM was never sure if I was just good at opting for this style, or if there was something "broken" in allowing an Eladrin to have both Cha and Dex at the same time. Official rules are important to both me and this DM. Even so, I am glad I experimented, at least this time for this character. Heh, it is the first time ever I actually wanted an Elf with Dex, and it was because of a class that favored Dex.



Anyway, I am excited about Tashas!