Halflings?

[Mengu]

If Halflings were any better, they would be the no brainer race for Rogues, and we don't want that. As it stands, they make excellent Strikers. Being small and not being able to wield a large weapon means very little for a Striker, since the benefits reaped from being able to use dexterity (or charisma in the case of the warlock) for attack and damage rolls more than compansates for the diminutive advantage gained from a large weapon. Without sneak attack, the Halfling Rogue with a dagger from KotSF does only .5 less average damage than the Dwarf Fighter with a two handed Maul. The Halfling also hits much more accurately.

If you want to play a Defender, you will see the halfling does a great job of surviving in that position, between Second Chance, 2 Halfling racial feats, and their bonus against fear.

So they don't make the best Leaders or Controllers at the moment, until we see a Bard or a Sorcerer. Every other race except human, has one or two roles they excel at, and one or two they are not well suited for. I don't see anything wrong with the Halfling.

 

[Alkiera]

Multiplied how many times for those higher level powers? It's far more than 1 point of damage but more importantly it's on every hit. It'll add up.

I suspect Halflings will be poor as Fighters, Rangers and (maybe) Warlords. They may limit your options with regard to Paladins and Clerics but can likely be one "path" of the class fine. They'll make fair wizards. They will be excellent Rogues and Warlocks.

If the class relies heavily on [W]'s in their power descriptions you're going to have a problem. You simply won't stack up against a bigger race.

The thing is, the damage difference only counts for character concepts involving 2h weapons. A sword/shield fighter or paladin will not be affected much at all. Rangers almost certainly not, with the possible exception of longbow archery-focused ones. Most other classes use 1h weapons, or don't use melee weapons at all. And frankly, I find the image of a halfling with a flamberge absolutely hilarious.

Really, this is 4E's way of having the PCs play archetypical class/race combinations. In 2nd AD&D, there were limited allowed class/race combinations. In 3.x, they ditched that in favor of 'favored classes'. In 4E, you'll be more likely to choose a race/class combination that synergize well, like the dwarf axe-fighter, the eladrin wizard, the elven ranger, and the halfling rogue. The fluff they have written has many of the members of those races choosing those classes, because the races have natural synergies that result in dwarven wizards(for example) not being very common.

There is nothing preventing you from playing a halfing fighter with a 2-handed weapon... except that it's not as optimal as playing the same concept as a different race. It's the same thing that discourages dwarven wizards, and half-orc clerics.

I don't see how a halfling rogue's damage is going to be any less than a human rogue; both will have high Dex, both will be using light blades which are one-handed anyway. Heck, in 4E halflings seem to use the same weapons as everyone else, rather than cutting the damage die down one step like they did in 3.x. That's a pretty big bonus right there.

 

[Nail]

Tangent: The Race chapter of the PH 4e is good...but I wish it was easier to directly compare the races. Currently you have to flip lots of pages. Anyone up for making a table with all races represented?

 

[ki11erDM]

I have no issue in the world with Halflings being good rogues. Or being bad at other roles. 0. None. I am just saying that they are the only race that gets a significant penalty for being a given race with absolutely no corresponding benefit.

 

[Spatula]

If any race in 4e sucks, it's the half-elf. It's certainly not the halfling, who makes an amazing rogue, or a merely incredible warlock or ranger. It looks like being small wouldn't matter for a halfling TWF ranger, who (it looks like) can dual-wield scimitars with no penalty.

Their defensive bonuses have also been discussed as potentially making halflings into remarkably good defenders (fighter, paladin).

So I have to reject the premise that halflings somehow suck.

 

[Spatula]

I have no issue in the world with Halflings being good rogues. Or being bad at other roles. 0. None. I am just saying that they are the only race that gets a significant penalty for being a given race with absolutely no corresponding benefit.

So I'm just hallucinating all those halfling racial benefits, then? They're just size Small and no other features?

 

[ki11erDM]

Anyone up for making a table with all races represented?

Working on it right now.

 

[Spatula]

Tangent: The Race chapter of the PH 4e is good...but I wish it was easier to directly compare the races. Currently you have to flip lots of pages. Anyone up for making a table with all races represented?

I wrote up summaries for myself when I got the books, so here you go:

RACES

Dragonborn
Abilities: +2 str, +2 cha
Size: medium
Speed: 6
Vision: normal
Skills: +2 history, +2 intimidate
Racials: fury (+1 attacks when bloodied), heritage (+Con mod to healing surge value), dragon breath (encounter power)

Dwarf
Abilities: +2 con, +2 wis
Size: medium
Speed: 5
Vision: low-light
Skills: +2 dungeoneering, +2 endurance
Racials: +5 saves vs poison, 2nd wind as minor action, throwing hammer & warhammer proficiency, speed not reduced by armor or load, -1 move effects

Eladrin
Abilities: +2 dex, +2 int
Size: medium
Speed: 6
Vision: low-light
Skills: +2 arcana, +2 history
Racials: +1 trained skill, longsword proficiency, +1 will def, +5 saves vs charm, fey, trance, fey step (encounter power)

Elf
Abilities: +2 dex, +2 wis
Size: medium
Speed: 7
Vision: low-light
Skills: +2 nature, +2 perception
Racials: longbow & shortbow proficiency, fey, group awareness (aura), wild step (can shift thru difficult terrain), elven accuracy (encounter power)

Half-elf
Abilities: +2 con, +2 cha
Size: medium
Speed: 6
Vision: low-light
Skills: +2 diplomacy, +2 insight
Racials: dilettante (at-will as encounter power), human & elf, group diplomacy (aura)

Halfling
Abilities: +2 dex, +2 cha
Size: small
Speed: 6
Vision: normal
Skills: +2 acrobatics, +2 thievery
Racials: +5 saves vs fear, +2 AC vs OA, second chance (encounter power)

Human
Abilities: +2 any one
Size: medium
Speed: 6
Vision: normal
Racials: +1 trained skill, +1 feat, +1 all defenses, +1 at-will

Tiefling
Abilities: +2 int, +2 cha
Size: medium
Speed: 6
Vision: low-light
Skills: +2 bluff, +2 stealth
Racials: +1 attacks vs bloodied foes, fire resist 5+½ level, infernal wrath (encounter power)

 

[ki11erDM]

There you go.

 

[ki11erDM]

So I'm just hallucinating all those halfling racial benefits, then? They're just size Small and no other features?

I just want you to show me were any other race has a penalty applied to it that is not directly countered by another ability. As I say earlier the only other race with any negative at all is the dwarf and they have a specific benefited that off sets it.

Some of the other races don’t look that great, like I see halfelf mentioned over and over. And you can debate the usefulness of getting access to another classes abilities (I think it is a good ability) but it is not a penalty. I just don’t see how if you compare a halfling line by line to the other races (except maybe the halfelf) that you can say they don’t come out on the raw end. Unless you really think second chance is just that much better than healing yourself as a minor action or 25’ teleport. And if you do, your wrong. Not that I am saying it sucks… it is just not any better than those abilities.