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Message: <blockquote data-quote="RangerWickett" data-source="post: 6172899" data-attributes="member: 63">Copypasta from WotC's site, for those who aren't link-inclined: Quote of DaleMcCoySo I'm playing a gnome wizard in D&D Next Encounters. Excuse me, mage, not wizard. Last night I asked if I can perform my duties with a turtle on my head. I argued that among gnomes it showed a position of importance for one to wear a turtle on his head. I merely meant it as a joke but I find I am actually thinking about it. I mean as racial equipment goes, its not hard to make and it doesn't have to offer any kind of armor bonus, but it would offer some other kind of in game bonus. I imagine it would be something like a +2 bonus to all Charisma checks when talking to other gnomes. The equipment list in the playtest is rather short, which is both good and bad. Its good because it keeps its overall importance down and its keeps their relative functions distinct. I mean if yo have 30 items to choose from, it is easy for each to have their own distinct roles in the game. If you have 300 items, there is going to be considerable overlap and then it comes down to who much of a bonus you want to buy and the overall importance of items goes up.The down side to a short equipment list is a lack of choice which leads to a lack of imagination. I mean how distinct are your last ten characters going to be if they all used a "sword." If one used a rapier, another used a bastard sword, another a long sword, another a great sword. In 3.5/Pathfinder each of these had different strengths and weaknesses and emphasize different styles of play. The long sword was the most common sword in the game because it was a good basic weapon. The bastard sword did more damage but required a feat to use it one handed. Few people used it for that reason. But I imagine that those that did use it remember that character well. They dealt out more damage than their long sword counterparts at the cost of a feat. So a fighter with feats to spare would find something like that useful. A great sword delivered even more damage but at the cost of a shield. This would work well for someone that cared more about offense than defense. Meanwhile the rapier dealt the lowest amount of damage, but had a higher crit range and worked with the Weapon Finesse feat. So you could make a fast-footed character and if you took the Improved Critical feat with it, you were threatening a critical attack once every four hits. That is pretty darn powerful. And none of that would be serious choices if they were all lumped together into "sword."But some equipment should also be racially appropriate. Like the turtle hat. If a gnome puts a turtle on his head, he has a +2 bonus to all Charisma checks involving other gnomes. However, if a creature other than a gnome wears it, the creature receives a -2 penalty to all Charisma checks for all checks involving gnomes since they see you as attempting to poorly immitate a gnome. Things like this should be in the equipment list (ok, not in the core rulebook, but somewhere). It encourages role playing while making very little actual difference to the overall game. Its just there for fun.And that is what I hope we have more of in the new version of Dungeons and Dragons, stuff that is there with no other purpose than just for fun.</blockquote>

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