Excerpt: Racial Benefits

[cferejohn]

I would seriously doubt this is a comprehensive list of Racial feats. Just a smattering of a few to cover the races and style of feats

In fact given that the list is alphabetical and ends at 'L' it's pretty certain that this is roughly half the list...

 

[Fallen Seraph]

In fact given that the list is alphabetical and ends at 'L' it's pretty certain that this is roughly half the list...

Of which this is only the Heroic Racial Feats. We already know there are Paragon Racial Feats, and probably will be Epic as well if it stays the same.

 

[HeinorNY]

I could quite clearly see a Halfling running amok amongst a group of Large monsters.

Samwise Gamgee against the cave troll in the moria battle!

 

[Falling Icicle]

Trebling your per-encounter, minor-action breath weapon's area of effect is a little bonus? +2 to hit and damage with weapons you're going to be using all the time? Sure, +1 AC/Reflex against Large opponents isn't as simple, but it's about another 5% mitigation against all AC and Reflex-aimed attacks, and a mitigation that can be expected to retain its value through the life of the PC, since defenses scale upward. Most of the bonii listed on the feats are not conditionally applied- they generally apply in all situations in which an action is relevant. That's the opposite of Dodge.

It was the author of the article that described them as "small situational benefits."

 

[Spatula]

Dragonborn are the new 2e elves, it seems.

Some of those are amazingly powerful (the breath weapon one in particular). Some are pure crap. How is a +1 AC vs large creatures not a fiddly easy-to-forget bonus like the 3e Dodge feat? And how does that compare against adding 16 squares to a minor-action AE power?

 

[ShockMeSane]

Dragonborn are the new 2e elves, it seems.

Some of those are amazingly powerful (the breath weapon one in particular). Some are pure crap. How is a +1 AC vs large creatures not a fiddly easy-to-forget bonus like the 3e Dodge feat? And how does that compare against adding 16 squares to a minor-action AE power?

Well, the Dwarf ability obviously gets better as you level. The higher level you get, the greater the % of large+ size creatures. Seeing that AC is supposed to actually scale at the high levels appropriately now, I don't think a flat out 5% damage mitigation against half the stuff you fight is bad. The reason Dodge was so terrible was because you had to designate the target of it, and because AC scaled pointlessly in 3.x unless you made very specific builds for it.

That said, yes, Dragonborn are seeming really powerful at low levels. Daily/Actionpoint/Encounter/Breathweapon all in one round is crankypants Mcgee. I have a feeling for the breath weapon to stay viable later on it will require further investment of feats, and if you spend a feat to increase its damage at Paragon and Epic, and one at Heroic to increase its radius... well, that's 3 feats you didn't spend increasing your attack/damage bonus, crit range, multi-classing, whatever.

Of course, until those rules are in our hot little hands it's hard to say. But I mean, I can forsee plenty of situations where a 5% chance to dodge is going to save a TPK, just as I can see a bigger breath attack once per encounter doing so. Also, we know there are racial feats at paragon at the very least, and probably epic, so it's important to consider if a certain feat is in a line or not. I mean, 1 feat for 5% chance to dodge a large+ creature isnt going to save you too often, but if there is a paragon and epic version, a 15% chance is much more noticeable and could easily be worth 3 feats.

 

[fuindordm]

Yeah, the dwarven dodge seems pretty lame.

For one thing, it looks like it's a lot harder in 4e to push your AC close to your opponent's attack bonus. At least in the level 1 demos, not even the minions had much trouble hitting the dwarf. Dropping your hit rate from 35% to 30% (for example) is a lot less interesting than dropping it from 10% to 5%.

For another thing, there's something odd about a dwarf getting a defense bonus against a giant's Fireball spell.

I'm astonished that they consider +2 damage with a weapon category suitable for a first-level feat (but I understand given the new HP scale), but hesitated to give a +2 to AC.

I would have written it "+2 to AC and reflex against melee attacks from opponents in a larger size category."

 

[FadedC]

Yeah, the dwarven dodge seems pretty lame.

For one thing, it looks like it's a lot harder in 4e to push your AC close to your opponent's attack bonus. At least in the level 1 demos, not even the minions had much trouble hitting the dwarf. Dropping your hit rate from 35% to 30% (for example) is a lot less interesting than dropping it from 10% to 5%.

For another thing, there's something odd about a dwarf getting a defense bonus against a giant's Fireball spell.

I'm astonished that they consider +2 damage with a weapon category suitable for a first-level feat (but I understand given the new HP scale), but hesitated to give a +2 to AC.

I would have written it "+2 to AC and reflex against melee attacks from opponents in a larger size category."

+2 AC would be MUCH stronger then +2 damage....especially with more standardized armor classes. Going from 35% to be hit to 25% to be hit would be a huge reduction and much stronger then doing slightly more damage. Bonuses to armor class scale with your level. Bonuses to damage don't.

 

[Mighty Veil]

Personally, I like Monte Cook's "Race Levels" better,

Really? Race levels I felt were one of the worst 3.x/D20 rules made. How does an elf specialize in being an elf? You just are.

 

[med stud]

This looks nice. I like humanity's niche in this, resiliant and dogheaded compared to the other races. Especially Action surge, that one might be very good.