Howdy, all. I'm working on the long-long-long-long-long overdue update for the Goblin Defense Fund, and the 4E fun I thought it might be helpful to present some interesting, fun, yet hopefully balanced racial feats for our favorite oppressed humanoids.
All of the ones below seem relatively balanced to me, for racial feats (which are supposed to be a bit better than the typical boring feat), but I'm not 100% sure -- I'm definitely open to criticism, this is just the first draft. The orc ones might be a tad overpowered, I'm not sure -- but if you compare the base orc with, say, the dragonborn (who get dragon breath and +1 to hit when bloodied), well, I think the orc needs a little help to keep up.
FYI my general feeling about heroic-tier feats is that the best ones seem to allow the character to do an extra 6-12 points of damage per encounter (e.g., +2 to damage with certain weapons, d6 to d8 on sneak-attack damage, etc.) For the damage-dealing feats, I tried to use that to gauge power level.
Finally, I'd like to find some way to rip off the halfling feats without copying them directly or saying "Goblins and Kobolds can use the damned things", but I'm not sure if that's possible. Any ideas?
Heroic Tier Feats
Fight the man
Prerequisite: Small size, non-halfling, non-gnome
Benefit: You gain a +2 damage bonus against medium-sized humanoids and fey.
Inner strength
Prerequisite: Orc, Str 15
Benefit: When making an at-will melee attack, you may spend a healing surge to gain a +3 bonus to attack and damage.
Just a goblin
Prerequisite: Goblin
Benefit: Once per encounter, before using Goblin Tactics, you may make a basic attack with a +2 bonus against the opponent who missed you.
Just a Kobold
Prerequisite: Kobold
Benefit: You gain a +1 bonus to opportunity attack rolls, and deal an additional d6 damage on a successful opportunity attack.
Just an orc
Prerequisite: Orc
Benefit: Once per encounter, you gain a +4 bonus to attack and damage against any single target. You may only use this power if bloodied.
Not done yet
Prerequisites: Goblin, Dex 15
Benefit: Instead of being limited to one immediate reaction or interrupt a round, each round you may make a number of immediate reactions and interrupts equal to your Dexterity bonus.
Orcish weapon training
Prerequisite: Orc
Benefit: You gain a +2 feat bonus to damage rolls with two-handed melee weapons.
Shifty Goodness
Prerequisite: Goblin or Kobold, Dex 13
Benefit: When shifting as part of a normal move or using a racial ability, you may treat difficult terrain as normal terrain.
the old switcheroo
Prerequisite: Goblin
Benefit: When shifting, the goblin can move into a space occupied by an ally. The ally shifts into the goblin’s previous space as a free action.
Fight the man
Prerequisite: Small size, non-halfling, non-gnome
Benefit: You gain a +2 damage bonus against medium-sized humanoids and fey.
Paragon Tier Feats
Just a really pissed off orc
Prerequisite: Orc, Str 19
Benefit: Once per encounter, you gain a +6 bonus to attack and damage against any single target. You may only use this power if bloodied.
One good turn deserves another
Prerequisite: Goblin
Benefit: Once per encounter, you may use the Sneak Attack ability as if you were a rogue. If you have already used Sneak Attack this round (e.g., because you are already a rogue), you must use this after a different successful attack.
Slippery Bastard
Prerequisite: Goblin or Kobold, Dex 17
Benefit: When shifting as part of a normal move or using a racial ability, you may shift one additional square.
Stand your ground
Prerequisite: Orc
Benefit: You gain a +1 bonus to attack rolls and damage rolls if you are attacking the same foe you attacked last round, have not moved since last round, and do not move this round.
Underfoot, sneaky humanoid style
Prerequisite: Goblin or Kobold
Benefit: When adjacent to an opponent three or more size categories larger than you, you gain partial cover against all opponents (including the really big one). [This cover acts as normal partial cover, i.e., you +2 to AC against all opponents, and may make Stealth checks to hide.]
All of the ones below seem relatively balanced to me, for racial feats (which are supposed to be a bit better than the typical boring feat), but I'm not 100% sure -- I'm definitely open to criticism, this is just the first draft. The orc ones might be a tad overpowered, I'm not sure -- but if you compare the base orc with, say, the dragonborn (who get dragon breath and +1 to hit when bloodied), well, I think the orc needs a little help to keep up.
FYI my general feeling about heroic-tier feats is that the best ones seem to allow the character to do an extra 6-12 points of damage per encounter (e.g., +2 to damage with certain weapons, d6 to d8 on sneak-attack damage, etc.) For the damage-dealing feats, I tried to use that to gauge power level.
Finally, I'd like to find some way to rip off the halfling feats without copying them directly or saying "Goblins and Kobolds can use the damned things", but I'm not sure if that's possible. Any ideas?
Heroic Tier Feats
Fight the man
Prerequisite: Small size, non-halfling, non-gnome
Benefit: You gain a +2 damage bonus against medium-sized humanoids and fey.
Inner strength
Prerequisite: Orc, Str 15
Benefit: When making an at-will melee attack, you may spend a healing surge to gain a +3 bonus to attack and damage.
Just a goblin
Prerequisite: Goblin
Benefit: Once per encounter, before using Goblin Tactics, you may make a basic attack with a +2 bonus against the opponent who missed you.
Just a Kobold
Prerequisite: Kobold
Benefit: You gain a +1 bonus to opportunity attack rolls, and deal an additional d6 damage on a successful opportunity attack.
Just an orc
Prerequisite: Orc
Benefit: Once per encounter, you gain a +4 bonus to attack and damage against any single target. You may only use this power if bloodied.
Not done yet
Prerequisites: Goblin, Dex 15
Benefit: Instead of being limited to one immediate reaction or interrupt a round, each round you may make a number of immediate reactions and interrupts equal to your Dexterity bonus.
Orcish weapon training
Prerequisite: Orc
Benefit: You gain a +2 feat bonus to damage rolls with two-handed melee weapons.
Shifty Goodness
Prerequisite: Goblin or Kobold, Dex 13
Benefit: When shifting as part of a normal move or using a racial ability, you may treat difficult terrain as normal terrain.
the old switcheroo
Prerequisite: Goblin
Benefit: When shifting, the goblin can move into a space occupied by an ally. The ally shifts into the goblin’s previous space as a free action.
Fight the man
Prerequisite: Small size, non-halfling, non-gnome
Benefit: You gain a +2 damage bonus against medium-sized humanoids and fey.
Paragon Tier Feats
Just a really pissed off orc
Prerequisite: Orc, Str 19
Benefit: Once per encounter, you gain a +6 bonus to attack and damage against any single target. You may only use this power if bloodied.
One good turn deserves another
Prerequisite: Goblin
Benefit: Once per encounter, you may use the Sneak Attack ability as if you were a rogue. If you have already used Sneak Attack this round (e.g., because you are already a rogue), you must use this after a different successful attack.
Slippery Bastard
Prerequisite: Goblin or Kobold, Dex 17
Benefit: When shifting as part of a normal move or using a racial ability, you may shift one additional square.
Stand your ground
Prerequisite: Orc
Benefit: You gain a +1 bonus to attack rolls and damage rolls if you are attacking the same foe you attacked last round, have not moved since last round, and do not move this round.
Underfoot, sneaky humanoid style
Prerequisite: Goblin or Kobold
Benefit: When adjacent to an opponent three or more size categories larger than you, you gain partial cover against all opponents (including the really big one). [This cover acts as normal partial cover, i.e., you +2 to AC against all opponents, and may make Stealth checks to hide.]
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