WotC_Miko said:
You know what I really like? Coming to these boards and finding a request for a game mechanic...that we've already addressed.
Fantastic! I've been hoping for a retraining mechanic in the rules after since PHB2. It's great for when you've played the character for a while, and decide to change direction midstream. God knows I'd be pretty miffed if I were building up towards becoming a Cavalier, and get all the appropriate Feats, only for the campaign to start revolving around heavy dungeon delving and the Underdark. It's nice to be able to rework a character to fit changing circumstances. Or when a new supplement comes out, and it's a perfect fit for your character concept. It's nice to be able to retrain to take it and any other appropriate Feats you may need as prerequisites.
I also like the potential that this has for NPC's. Take Elminster, for instance. He's a 3rd-level Cleric, 2nd-level Rogue, 1st-level Fighter, and 29th-level Wizard. It's been a while since I've read The Making of a Mage, but one could simply say that he started off as a 1st-level Fighter. Then when he hit 2nd level he retrained into a Level 2 Rogue. Then when he hit 3rd level he retrained into a Level 3 Cleric. And when he hit 4th-level he retrained into a Level 4 Wizard, and levelled up as a Wizard from there. So in 4E he could be just a Level 29 Wizard, period.
Same for Drizzt. He's, what, a Level 10 Fighter, Level 1 Barbarian, and Level 6 Ranger? Instead of making him a 17th-level character, make him an 11th-level character. With retraining he could've converted six of his Fighter levels into Ranger levels, making hiim a Level 4 Fighter, Level 1 Barbarian, and Level 6 Ranger.
Of course, retraining won't make sense for all NPC's, as some of them still use abilities from their old classes, but it'd be nice if the future writeups for NPC's took into account the possibility that some of them may have retrained, rather then multiclassed.
