Give me choices!

[Tharen the Damned]

I see one played every Friday night; and yes, when he gets all buffed up he's completely dominant; the rest of us sometimes in a tough fight just try to hang on long enough for him to get going. Thing is, it takes him so long to buff up that unless we know there's a battle coming it's over before he's ready...

That, and when he's done a full-ride buff routine there's precious little left for healing.

The problem, though, is not the class-race combo; it's the buffs. Unbuffed, he fits in nicely.

Lanefan

Nope, the real problem is the player.
If he does his buffing routine even when ambushed that is IMHO bad roleplaying and bad use of the mechanics.
I mean, while the rest of the party fight for dear life, good ole' Dwarf is praying round after round to buff himself up?
"Ooops, there goes the rogue, anyway, only Divine Vestment and Bull's Strength and I am ready to go..."

Exactly the time it takes the Cleric to cast all his buff spells is the mayor drawback for him.
The Fighter is always ready to rock'n roll.

 

[Tharen the Damned]

Why does studying how to jump-kick somebody in the head really well teach you to speak Otyugh? It's a game, and they made up some stuff they thought sounded fun. Like Gary did. Embrace it or don't. It's the 70's all over again!

That Saturnalia, is Sig worthy!

 

[Klaus]

The problem is, dwarves are not just the Gimli archetype. They've also got the whole crafter thing woven in pretty tightly too. Their racial abilities with stone and metal in 3e directly tie into this. And the flavour for the race has always had the crafter of magical wonders thing tied in (despite the fact that they couldn't actually craft any magical wonders in earlier editions ).

Dwarves aren't just the grumpy stumpy. They are also the grumpy crafter as well.

The point is well made. The dwarven city, the elven enclave, these are both easily identifiable archetypes. The gnome city? What does a gnomish dwelling look like?

I know that dwarves are good with crafting stone and metal. So let gnomes be good with crafting magic. In D&D, the archetype of the dwarvish warrior is far more connected with dwarves than the archetype of the crafter of wonders.

As for the communities, I wouldn't object to a gnome city looking like the deep enclaves in Norse myth: they sparkle with jewels, gold, etc... until you notice that it's all an illusion.

 

[Simia Saturnalia]

That Saturnalia, is Sig worthy!

You're far too kind.

 

[Odhanan]

I rather think that instead of an "identity crisis" the reason why th gnome and half orc (again) got shucked out was to replace them with the "cooler" races of Dragonborn and Tiefling.

Absolutely. I bet that's actually what happens. "We have room for that many races. Let's include some COOL stuff people will actually wanna play!" ; "Yeah but that means we've got to get rid of some of 3E's races" ; "The Gnome. Nobody plays gnomes. Gnomes suck. Halflings are 4E's gnomes. Let's get rid of them" ; "Okay."

 

[PoeticJustice]

Never Mind

 

[MerricB]

So let gnomes be good with crafting magic

That is something elves do well. It's strong in Tolkien (who made all these magic rings, huh?) and also you have elves making the cloaks & boots of elvenkind...

###

Just in regard to the half-orc:

How many people choose the half-orc race because they want to role-play a half-orc, and how many choose it because they want the Strength bonus?

Cheers!

 

[Waylander the Slayer]

That is something elves do well. It's strong in Tolkien (who made all these magic rings, huh?) and also you have elves making the cloaks & boots of elvenkind...

###

Just in regard to the half-orc:

How many people choose the half-orc race because they want to role-play a half-orc, and how many choose it because they want the Strength bonus?

Cheers!

All the half-Orcs played that I know of were for role play reasons including half orc paladins and a half orc mage.

 

[WhatGravitas]

How many people choose the half-orc race because they want to role-play a half-orc, and how many choose it because they want the Strength bonus?

I've seen two RP half-orcs, no Str-bonus half-orcs. These strength guys figured out a dwarf would be better.

Cheers, LT.

 

[Skaven_13]

And I have no problem at all grasping the idea that a paladin hitting a person can heal someone else. I understand what the rule is doing. I just think it doesn't make much sense to me and is a kind of a disconnect with the way I view magic. I don't think from what I've read here that I am alone, so stop trying to argue that my feeling that this magic system does not feel right to me. It's an argument you can't win.

You are not alone. Most of us just argued on another thread.

I discussed the new healing smite with a few of people I game with, and they don't like it either. Not because they cannot grasp the idea that the paladin is asking for two things at once, but it doesn't mesh well thematically with what a smite is. Smite is an attack, and any secondary effects should contain a similar theme with the attack. Healing doesn't sit well in that theme.

Now, the last smite, where the paladin forces the enemy to concentrate on the paladin was a big hit, but doesn't make sense for it to be a smite at such a high level.