20 levels of Race?

[Dungeonosophy]

Wouldn't D&D Next be an opportunity to make all sapient Monsters into 20-level PCs races? And with full Hybridization rules?

So that I could play a 20th-level:

Elf 3/Sphinx 5/Hill Giant 2/Dryad 3 Fighter 2/Wizard 2/Rogue3

 

[Kynn]

Wouldn't D&D Next be an opportunity to make all sapient Monsters into 20-level PCs races? And with full Hybridization rules?

So that I could play a 20th-level:

Elf 3/Sphinx 5/Hill Giant 2/Dryad 3 Fighter 2/Wizard 2/Rogue3

God, I hope not.

 

[Sunseeker]

Considering that most racial classes are essentially refluffed base classes, I'd rather not. I'd rather we just have some Themes or Backgrounds that allow us to color our class with racial flavor. I'd rather not see whole cloned classes that replace the words "fighter" or "wizard" with "dwarf" or "elf".

 

[variant]

If classes had talent trees instead of set powers, it would be easy to just have a dwarf talent tree that any dwarf could take talents from.

I certainly hope 5e has some race exclusive themes and backgrounds.

 

[TarionzCousin]

The question is, what is a 20th level human?

Chuck Norris.

 

[malcolm_n]

We do something similar with racial multiclassing in our games. To give an example, Beswick is a dwarf, but he has elven lineage somewhere in his history. So, he takes the Racial Heritage feat and selects elf, which lets him sleep for 4 hours a day and still be fully rested. It also makes him able to take feats specific to elves.

For 4th ed, he can also take the racial legacy feat and interchange his minor action second wind for the elf's racial ability to reroll a missed attack. In the paragon tier, he can take an elf paragon path/prestige class that makes him more elf-like than others (with better tracking and animal handling, better accuracy on most attacks instead of just once in a while, etc). By Epic, he can tree-walk, have an animal companion despite his class, and is completely immune to sleep with a bonus to save vs. charm.

The point I'm trying to make is, it's actually really easy to make pieces here and there that cater to any race, but a full 20 levels may be more work than would seem entirely necessary for most races.

 

[hemera]

I liked the racial paragons that Unearthed Arcana had in 3e. Just a 3 level thing that exemplified the traits of your race. I can wrap my mind around that a little easier than 20 levels of gnome. Fear David the super gnome!

I think Arcana Evolved did a similar thing? But my memory is a little fuzzy. Monte's book was quite good as I remember.

 

[Sunseeker]

I liked the racial paragons that Unearthed Arcana had in 3e. Just a 3 level thing that exemplified the traits of your race. I can wrap my mind around that a little easier than 20 levels of gnome. Fear David the super gnome!

I think Arcana Evolved did a similar thing? But my memory is a little fuzzy. Monte's book was quite good as I remember.

That is one thing I liked about 3.5 multiclassing over 4e, the ability to take multiple small pretiege classes. But yeah, about 3 full levels is really the most I think any race should take up in terms of class design space. 20 levels of dwarf is just what...20 levels of fighter with a hammer and rock theme?

 

[Gryph]

Yeah, I can't wait to play my level 20 stereotype.

 

[FireLance]

Yeah, I can't wait to play my level 20 stereotype.

Q: When is an archetype a stereotype?
A: No idea. I'm still trying to figure out the difference between rebels and freedom fighters.