Zinovia
Explorer
The ultimate fighter: Dwarves
I really like the idea of granting a choice between two stats for their second bonus to the pre-PH3 races. My concern is that the obvious choice of Str for dwarves really does make them too good as fighters. They'd have Con and Str, and Dwarven weapon training, and Second Wind as a minor action. Strength really seems to fit them better than Int (which the OP suggested as a different possibility). So should dwarves just be the ultimate fighters, or should I let there be another Con/Int race, or even go Con/Dex (which goes along with craftsmen and dwarven rogues)? I'm not sure how much of a balance problem allowing strength as an option would be.
I really do like the idea of making the other races fit the PH3 model, because it encourages some flexibility in which race you play for any given class, while still preserving the racial flavor. I don't like free-form bonuses because they reduce the uniqueness of each race a bit too much. My goal is to avoid the "all con invokers are dwarves, all int invokers are devas, all con warlocks are tieflings, etc..." issue.
For humans what I do currently is to give them 2 to one stat, and 1 to a second. That makes up a bit for me stealing their specialness of a third At-Will power - I've granted that to everyone. Two at-wills feels very restrictive because it discourages people from taking anything that might be even somewhat situational over a power that's less interesting, but can be used easily under any circumstances. I thought that with their bonus to all defenses, giving humans +2 to two stats was a bit much, but adding 1 to a second stat was a decent compromise.
I really like the idea of granting a choice between two stats for their second bonus to the pre-PH3 races. My concern is that the obvious choice of Str for dwarves really does make them too good as fighters. They'd have Con and Str, and Dwarven weapon training, and Second Wind as a minor action. Strength really seems to fit them better than Int (which the OP suggested as a different possibility). So should dwarves just be the ultimate fighters, or should I let there be another Con/Int race, or even go Con/Dex (which goes along with craftsmen and dwarven rogues)? I'm not sure how much of a balance problem allowing strength as an option would be.
I really do like the idea of making the other races fit the PH3 model, because it encourages some flexibility in which race you play for any given class, while still preserving the racial flavor. I don't like free-form bonuses because they reduce the uniqueness of each race a bit too much. My goal is to avoid the "all con invokers are dwarves, all int invokers are devas, all con warlocks are tieflings, etc..." issue.
For humans what I do currently is to give them 2 to one stat, and 1 to a second. That makes up a bit for me stealing their specialness of a third At-Will power - I've granted that to everyone. Two at-wills feels very restrictive because it discourages people from taking anything that might be even somewhat situational over a power that's less interesting, but can be used easily under any circumstances. I thought that with their bonus to all defenses, giving humans +2 to two stats was a bit much, but adding 1 to a second stat was a decent compromise.
