You're right! The smaller hit die would make it a trade off. I forgot that bit.They paid for it with a d6 HD, smaller than the fighter and dwarf d8 and on par with the cleric.
I don't think this will ever return nor should it. A major complaint I have and see repeated with 5e is character homogeneity. Making races as classes basically takes one of the few ways you have of customizing a character and removing it entirely by folding it into the primary character choice, which is your class. I'd rather see more choices within a race that are iconic to that race, ideally beyond just character creation as well. We already have that with some of the racial feats but they compete for the extremely valuable feat/ASI slots, I'd rather have them be their own thing you can pick from at certain points in your career.Race as class.
monks give great mobility and versatility and Legolas has both.So after a few years of trying (and burning out on) pbp, in early 2021 finally got to play 5e "for real" as a player (not as a DM) and I decided that I wanted to start with something very iconic, almost cliche. The party didn't have a scout, and I told myself "I'm going to make my PC legolas!"
So of course I'm going to make him a ranger right? But then I thought about it... and I went with a Kensei Monk. A lot of monk powers can be very easily be be reskinned as "elf powers". I will leave the details to imagine for the reader, but once you've done that, you'll see that it really, really "fits"
monks give great mobility and versatility and Legolas has both.
this goes back to my theory that every pop culture character turned into a D&D concept could be run at least 2 most 3-5 different builds.
Where I would use race as class is on playable monsters. You could design a Beholder PC race as class, for example, and balance it to be playable alongside PCs of equal level.Makes more sense for monsters that are only "one thing".
Is this for theorycrafting or practical use? Because if it is for the latter, then at least don't worry too much about filling 20 levels.In another thread or 50,000,000 threads we have been talking about older styles of gaming in 5e and the idea of bringing them in. Now I (and a few others) spend a lot of time focused on 4e, and I personally push some (select some) from 2e... but basic had an idea I think could be fleshed out (and believe it or not my least fav edition) 3e even worked on it a bit.
Race as class.
SO I am sure someone here is better equipped to discuses what the elf class and dwarf class were in basic, but in 3.5 we had a type of prestige class that was a paragon of elfeness... is that a work?
as the title says though, I want to address if it is possible in 5e to have a class 'elf' for this I pulled this from the interwebs (reddit)
So my first thought was to make an eldritch knight or a bladesinger... then I thought why be basic just cause I am making a basic class...
so this is not play tested, this is not something I would plan on letting into my next campaign... but as a conversation starter and proof of concept:
Race | Classes | Houserule |
---|---|---|
Dragonborn | Fighter/Sorcerer (Dragon) Gestalt | Get Extra Attack at Fight3/Sorc2 |
Dwarf (Hill) | Fighter | Add Wis mod to crossbow and thrown axes and hammer attacks |
Dwarf (Mountain) | Fighter | d12 HD, Only has axes, hammers and crossbows as weapon proficiency |
Elf (High) | Fighter/Wizard Gesalt | Get Extra Attack at Fight3/Wiz2 |
Elf (Wood) | Fighter/Cleric (Nature) Gesalt | Get Extra Attack at Fight3/Cler2 |
Gnome (Forest) | Fighter/Wizard Gesalt | Fighter levels count to spell slots. Can only learn Illusion spells |
Gnome (Rock) | Fighter/Artificer Gesalt | 2 bonus cantrips |
Halfling (Lightfoot) | Rogue | Add Cha mod to sneak attacks |
Halfling (Stout) | Fighter/Rogue Gesalt | Get Extra Attack at Fight3/Rog2, can sneak attack with longswwords and battleaxes |
Half Orc | Fighter/Barbarian Gesalt | Get Extra Attack at Fight3/Barb2 |
Tielfling | Rogue/Warlock Gesalt | d10 HD for both classes |
I like it
Race Classes Houserule Dragonborn Fighter/Sorcerer (Dragon) Gestalt Get Extra Attack at Fight3/Sorc2 Dwarf (Hill) Fighter Add Wis mod to crossbow and thrown axes and hammer attacks Dwarf (Mountain) Fighter d12 HD, Only has axes, hammers and crossbows as weapon proficiency Elf (High) Fighter/Wizard Gesalt Get Extra Attack at Fight3/Wiz2 Elf (Wood) Fighter/Cleric (Nature) Gesalt Get Extra Attack at Fight3/Cler2 Gnome (Forest) Fighter/Wizard Gesalt Fighter levels count to spell slots. Can only learn Illusion spells Gnome (Rock) Fighter/Artificer Gesalt 2 bonus cantrips Halfling (Lightfoot) Rogue Add Cha mod to sneak attacks Halfling (Stout) Fighter/Rogue Gesalt Get Extra Attack at Fight3/Rog2, can sneak attack with longswwords and battleaxes Half Orc Fighter/Barbarian Gesalt Get Extra Attack at Fight3/Barb2 Tielfling Rogue/Warlock Gesalt d10 HD for both classes
Made a quick chart if I were to do it.
Race as class doesn't assume every member of a race is the same. It assumes ever adventurer of a race comes from specific backgrounds and are the same.Race as class implies that every member of that race is that class. That means every elf is exactly the same. Their are no clerics, warlocks, sorcerers, barbarians, etc. That's just really boring.
And are you going to do the same things for every other race? So then why bother wit a system that has both race and class? I guess if you wanted a really predefined system with very few character build options.
Not for me.