4th Edition Class/Race Optimization
- Thread starter randolph
- Start date
plutocracy
Explorer
Drakhar said:
You can completely ditch either CHA or STR if you want, its much better to have one maxed than pretty good in both. So +2 in each is pretty good for versatility in picking Powers, but expensive and less potent. After that, its just WIS and CON. But yeah, that Dragon Heritage trait sure is nice to...
Olgar Shiverstone
Legend
Reinforces that half-elves got the shaft, again.
Why the heck do you give the half elf dilettante ability a value of "0" for everyone but fighter and rogue?!? (And no, "Because it suxxorz!!11!" is NOT an acceptable answer. 
)
Like the human's extra feat, there are suboptimal ways to use it, but there are also nearly always ways to get a respectable benefit from it. If you want to make the argument that it's not as good for specific classes, like wizard, fine, but for the most part, you can find powers using primary or secondary scores that will effectively match your class's encounter powers in usefulness, at least through heroic levels, and likely thereafter.
Take a Warlord; from what I've seen so far, my favorite pick-up would be the Priest's Shield. Why? It's a Strength based attack that grants a defensive bonus; it's a good candidate to replace Guarding Attack, even for an "inspiring" Warlord. "Nuh-uh," some may say, "It only does half the damage! It's half as good, like the half-elf!" They would be wrong. Look at them again. While Priest's Shield only does half the damage, it grants you (at least) twice the defense; Guarding Strike helps another character, against the target of the attack; Priest's Shield helps another character AND you against ALL attacks. Good for a Warlord who wants to stay up front to keep moving the defenders and strikers around/granting extra attacks. Even if you're playing the (likely rarer) "tactical" half-elf warlord, as long as you have a 12 or more in Cha, (and you're a half elf, so why wouldn't you?) it will still give you twice the defensive benefit you would get from Guarding Strike, and still against all attacks. That's one example; there are other good choices for nearly any character.
)Like the human's extra feat, there are suboptimal ways to use it, but there are also nearly always ways to get a respectable benefit from it. If you want to make the argument that it's not as good for specific classes, like wizard, fine, but for the most part, you can find powers using primary or secondary scores that will effectively match your class's encounter powers in usefulness, at least through heroic levels, and likely thereafter.
Take a Warlord; from what I've seen so far, my favorite pick-up would be the Priest's Shield. Why? It's a Strength based attack that grants a defensive bonus; it's a good candidate to replace Guarding Attack, even for an "inspiring" Warlord. "Nuh-uh," some may say, "It only does half the damage! It's half as good, like the half-elf!" They would be wrong. Look at them again. While Priest's Shield only does half the damage, it grants you (at least) twice the defense; Guarding Strike helps another character, against the target of the attack; Priest's Shield helps another character AND you against ALL attacks. Good for a Warlord who wants to stay up front to keep moving the defenders and strikers around/granting extra attacks. Even if you're playing the (likely rarer) "tactical" half-elf warlord, as long as you have a 12 or more in Cha, (and you're a half elf, so why wouldn't you?) it will still give you twice the defensive benefit you would get from Guarding Strike, and still against all attacks. That's one example; there are other good choices for nearly any character.
Amadeus Windfall
First Post
Since there isn't a way to make that sort of cleric, we can't tell what races would be good at it.
Moon-Lancer
First Post
do you mean thematically or mechanically? as of right now they don't really do the whole raise evil hoards thing.
I think the best race would be human though, unless a undead player race shows up.
I think the best race would be human though, unless a undead player race shows up.
humans and stat buy
It seems to me that the humans, while flexible, kind of get screwed with the point buy system. They are a minimum of 2 points less (9%) than the other races and could be as much as 7 point behind (31%) though with some builds that I've been playing with typically 4 points behind (18%). I don't see that their other abilities really make up for that. Am I missing something?
I'm considering giving them an additional +2 in the stat that is associated with the stat they choose (thus if they choose Str they would also get +2 Con and visa versa, Int and Dex are linked, as are Wis and Cha). Is that going to make humans too good?
It seems to me that the humans, while flexible, kind of get screwed with the point buy system. They are a minimum of 2 points less (9%) than the other races and could be as much as 7 point behind (31%) though with some builds that I've been playing with typically 4 points behind (18%). I don't see that their other abilities really make up for that. Am I missing something?
I'm considering giving them an additional +2 in the stat that is associated with the stat they choose (thus if they choose Str they would also get +2 Con and visa versa, Int and Dex are linked, as are Wis and Cha). Is that going to make humans too good?
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