Holiday Present - The Elf PHB entry

[Clavis]

All this time in this neighborhood must be giving you an ulcer then. How fun!

Not at all. I grew up in an Irish American household where dinner conversation sometimes resulted in tables thrown across the room.

I sometimes miss a good fight when I don't have one!

 

[BadMojo]

You mention this roughly 4 times each time a thread is posted on the forum, regardless of its topic. I'd say you got started quite a while ago.

I don't think he likes it. At all. No sir, not one bit. That's the impression I get.

 

[Emirikol]

Elves look more like this I guess...

jh
http://www.unmoderated-forum.com/

 

[sidonunspa]

I haven't even gotten started. I've just put on some old Rollins-era Black Flag, and now I'm really getting my hate on!

For instance, I didn't mention how much I HATE Tieflings as a core race. Or how much I HATE removing Gnomes from the PHB. Or how much I HATE the idea of a Golden Wyvern Adept. Screw it, I think I HATE just about everything that I've read about 4th edition, including the idea that a 4th Edition was needed at all.

That felt good.

LOL never had a power-gaming super stat monkey in your home game did you? Using just the cleric class and player’s hand book my home game GM would shake her head in disbelief.
And I won’t even get started on what happened when she let everyone in the campaign start using any WoTC book (because she said that 3rd party books where broken)
Needless to say she had to include “PCDs” in her home game (Peter Control Devices) because thanks to magic item creation, the right PHB spells, and some out of the box thinking…. I would crack almost any combat she presented us with.

I cannot tell you how many times I sat in on a table and saw how the players were not working together. the cleric would never have GMW or MV prepped for the fighter, hell you have any idea how many players overlook spells like Hero’s Feast? The characters would not use “one mech” strategy, and the rouges would always forget to flank... so on.

Sit in on a RPGA high level table once or twice… the brokenness of 3e becomes clearly apparent. I have seen characters running around with +48 strength, using force cage as a spell like ability, and even turning the entire table into some crazy strike team (wand of invisibility, stone of silence, fly).. and lets not even start with the super undead turning clerics that can dust almost any undead they face.

A lot of GMs who love 3e never had to deal with a “power gamer”, but for those of us who have, 4e is a nice addition, and we hope, will fix a lot of issues 3e has.

 

[Clavis]

You mention this roughly 4 times each time a thread is posted on the forum, regardless of its topic. I'd say you got started quite a while ago.

Is it only 4 times?
I'm getting soft in my old age!

 

[sidonunspa]

How about option 3: Culture as a defined option.

The simplest method, of course, would be to just give everyone a cultural feat. Most elves take proficiency with bows as their cultural feat.

The more interesting idea, though, is to make culture a choice just like race and class. So define three or four cultures for every race, but don't restrict cultures to the race... For example, a dwarf raised by humans could select a human culture.

Get out of my head!!

I have been working on something along these lines for about three weeks now.. what I have been trying to work out is culture > race > background > profession/class each step gives you X, Y, Z. Its in a very rough outline form until I see 4e.

Also playing around with a simple skill-based magic system, but that’s neither here nor there.

 

[Wulfram]

I'm guessing most people just put the bonuses provided by the familiar on their character sheet and then stuffed their familiar in their character's backpack or whatever to ensure that the familiar was always nearby.

With another party member, though, it's not quite so easy. I don't think the party elf would take to kindly to being shoved into a backpack so his aura bonus is always nearby and therefore in effect.

Perhaps not party members, but Elves are pretty skinny, and with their dex bonus, probably pretty flexible, so you could hire a small elf as a henchman and stick him in the backpack.

That raises another thing that makes me dislike this ability - you don't have to be very perceptive at all to give this bonus. He might be a level 15 ranger, reknowned as scout and tracker, while you're a level one cleric who has become the butt of jokes for his tendency to accidentally walk into trees - but he's a human, and you're an elf, so he gets a bonus.

 

[Xethreau]

I like that elves get two stat bonuses and a power to start out with. That will make all races, including stronger ones, easier to stat out.

 

[TwinBahamut]

I like that elves get two stat bonuses and a power to start out with. That will make all races, including stronger ones, easier to stat out.

It really does. I have been working on rules for a fairly difficult to implement race for a while now. 3E convinced me it was impossible, but all the previews for 4E is making it look rather easy. Once balancing is achieved via the natural method of opportunity cost, rather some vague concept of a zero-sum, more options become available, especially when the base starting point is high and you can improve the power of the race with racial feats.

The big question I still have is whether racial feats take up normal feat slots, or characters have levels where they get a feat slot which can only be filled with a racial feat. I doubt it is the latter, but I think it would be interesting.

 

[Sir Brennen]

I like that elves get two stat bonuses and a power to start out with. That will make all races, including stronger ones, easier to stat out.

If you read the Elf Fluff article, it almost sounds like Drow might only have a Dex bonus, especially compared to the trait descriptions of the other two races. My guess is this leaves room for more "classic" drow abilities at first level (though not all - it sounds like the more powerful ones will be reserved for feats.)