Half-Elves: Underpowered

[Shin Okada]

Nah.

Halflings are superior Rogues for a particular style: super stealth and ranged close support. The Dex and size net +5 to Hide, +2 for ranged weapons, and +2 for AC.

The Achilles heel for this race is speed certainly, but that can be compensated for if he does not stray far from the party until he can acquire an item for Flying.

As I said already, that stealth bonuses do not mean much because a halfling rogue must bring a light source when scouting in dark dungeon, dark array, dark forest, or in any terrain at night. What kind of reckon is it?

Also, ranged close support from a halfling rogue is not that much useful as the damage output is much lower. Remember he cannot flank opponent with a ranged weapon and thus can rarely get sneak attack bonuses on ranged attacks.

Of course, the lack of vision and speed could be compensated by magic items. But so as the most weakness of the other races. That does not excuse the utter uselessness of the race in low-to med level as a rogue. And at higher level, rogues of other races can have other kind of boosts with that money and item slot.

(And note, now most of the movement related items and spells are nerfed down and/or became expensive) .

 

[Sithobi1]

Quite simple-take a level of warlock, with the invocation see the unseen. A side effect of this is that you can sneak attack with the blast, only needing a ranged touch attack!

 

[Shin Okada]

Quite simple-take a level of warlock, with the invocation see the unseen. A side effect of this is that you can sneak attack with the blast, only needing a ranged touch attack!

Not a bad combo. But that halfling is still slow (bad as a scout) and has smaller number of skill points (ouch). Also he is a level behind to get certain numbers of sneak attack bonus dices. This combination may makes a capable halfling rogue. But does not make a halfling rogue better than rogues of other races.

Eldritch blast + sneak attack seems flashy. But in practice you will not have that many chance to sneak attack an opponent with ranged attacks. You must be within 30 ft. from the target. And the target must be losing dexterity to AC.

 

[Rystil Arden]

Well what if your goal is to be the best single-classed warlock you can be? In that case halflings are the best, by far. And the "only 20-foot movement" argument doesn't really cut it here. I don't care if I lose a bit of speed if I get: +2 to my Eldritch Blast attack roll, +2 to my AC and +1 to all saves (among other things) at no appreciable loss (strength is negligible for warlocks). And besides, the halfling warlock quickly gains a Fly speed, which allows greater manoeuvrability, despite the speed.

 

[Shin Okada]

Well what if your goal is to be the best single-classed warlock you can be?

Could be the best build for a halfling.

Still, I say human is better for a pure warlock. Halfling's stealth and athletic related abilities are not so useful for that build. So Human's +1 feat and +1 skill per level is more attractive. In every warlock related threads, people are talking that Warlock needs a lot of feats to be really effective.

Yes, halflings will get +2 bonus for ranged touch attacks in total. But IMHO that will not compensate the fact that human warlock can have Point Blank shot + Precise Shot at the first level when a halfling can't. Having precise shot is like having +4 bonus.

For defense, while +2 AC is good, small size means he is like having -4 penalty to resist most of the special attacks. Grappling is a good (and well-used) tactics against a warlock, isn't it?

 

[Rystil Arden]

Precise Shot only matters if the warlock is shooting into melee. Besides, for a feat-based build, choosing level 1 to make a comparison between humans and other races is somewhat of a skewed argument because levels 1 and 2 are the only levels where the human has twice as many feats as everybody else. At level 6, for instance, the halfling and the human both have plenty of feats to do what they wish, and since they are flying, not many things are actually going to be grappling them. A lot of warlocks I've seen eventually buy the feat Weapon Focus (ranged spell). Once the human has bought this feat, he might as well have been a halfling, since the halfling gets a +2 to the attack at a loss of one feat, and the human just spent his feat to get a +1 to attack.

 

[Shin Okada]

Ok, +2 attack bonus vs +1 feat could possibly be a good trade. Though I doubt if taking weapon focus is really a way to go for a warlock.

But regarding flying warlock, Fell Flight invocation let you fly at your land speed. That means, halfling Warlock is still slower than human/elf/half-elf warlocks when flying.

And I am not also sure if it is safe to say that flying creatures are often free from special melee attacks. In many modules, I see creatures tend to have enough reach to grab something on the ceiling.

By the way, we still have only one very narrow built which seems to favore halfling. A single classed, 6+ warlock who took See the Unseen and Fell Flight. That seems bad. Isn't it?

 

[Rystil Arden]

Well let's put it this way: I agree that sometimes you will still get hit with special melee attacks. But you are probably going to be hit by things that involve Armour Class more often (indeed, even a grapple requires a touch attack to initiate first), so the +2 to AC makes up for the fact that you take a penalty if they ever decide to use those techniques (your mileage may vary; if your DM throws monsters against you that 100% of the time scan the party for halflings and drop everything [including their weapons] to grapple the halfling, then playing a halfling is not a good idea). Yes, the halfling flies slower than a human warlock, but it doesn't usually matter as much because he is flying. That still keeps away a good percentage of enemies at level 6. And don't forget the halfling +1 to all saves, either.

 

[Shin Okada]

I often play sold adventures. And there are so many creatures with improved grab. So I (or my friend DMs) are not intentionally throwing grappling creatures. They are just in everywhere. Of course, melee combatants are attacked more frequently. But I am afraid of that warlocks will likely to be attacked more often comparing to other arcane casters. Warlocks need clear LOS to shoot eldritch blast without giving cover to the opponents.

And Warlock is not even in core rule. One specific build of a class in supplemental book does not justify that the race is balanced enough. In overall, Halfling is still a weakest race amongst all the core races.

 

[Seeten]

For those who claim Low Light vision is better than a feat: I say maybe in your campaign. It has never so much as been mentioned in ours. Of course, I have darkvision and got it easily, as a human wizard, and have it permanently for free, so I guess I'm a big cheater(Human nec/pale master) since I got my free feats and my darkvision too, but I guess for people desperate for a dim light vision, not smart enough to get it as a class ability, or as a permanent spell, or from an item, they can have their low light vision and their +2 diplomacy.

I'll take the extra feat, good for any feat I choose, for any class I like, including cleric, or druid, and extra skill points, good for any skill I want, and you can have those "huge wizard benefits" of low light vision.