Introducing Racial Variants (again?)

[ceiling90]

I liked the bloodline feats... well the Dhampyr one anyway. It gave the equivalency of a multiclass feat, some skills bonus, encounter powers, and open line to more power selection.

The other bloodline feats? Not so much. Especially the Shadar-kai ones.

I like these new racial variants, gives a meaning to being X Race, and theoretically for free. Gives some interesting design examples for other races.

 

[Mummolus]

I'm a big fan of Foulborn Heritage - it's very cool thematically and opens up a decent if not outstanding PP. That said, most of the other bloodline feats are pretty meh.

 

[Klaus]

I hate the post essentials direction so much. Why did we need more Dwarves and Elves again? Will this kind of support ever manage to find it's way to anything outside of the PHB 1 (ahahaha, yeah I thought not)? Sigh.

It's not "more dwarves and elves", it's giving variety to the same dwarves (and possibly elves).

As for level of support for non PH1 stuff, they did have a shroud assassin article last week.

 

[Incenjucar]

It's not "more dwarves and elves", it's giving variety to the same dwarves (and possibly elves).

A significant portion of the community likes novel ideas more than slightly altered ideas. That portion of the community tends to want to stay far away from the return of dozens of elf races. Many felt that reducing the elven races to a mere THREE sub-races was a victory for sanity. Any suggestion of moving away from that is going to be a cause of concern.

Moreover, elves and dwarves, like fighters and wizards have enough support now.

 

[Klaus]

A significant portion of the community likes novel ideas more than slightly altered ideas. That portion of the community tends to want to stay far away from the return of dozens of elf races. Many felt that reducing the elven races to a mere THREE sub-races was a victory for sanity. Any suggestion of moving away from that is going to be a cause of concern.

Moreover, elves and dwarves, like fighters and wizards have enough support now.

It's less about "subraces" and more about "cultural variation". Previous editions had the many subraces being very different from each other mechanically.

 

[DEFCON 1]

A significant portion of the community likes novel ideas more than slightly altered ideas.

Well, a significant portion of the community also crapped upon the shardmind and wilden too.

There's a reason why game design (like Hollywood) is all about remakes and new versions based upon existing properties... there's less risk and a better chance to be enjoyed by more people.

 

[frankthedm]

Many felt that reducing the elven races to a mere THREE sub-races was a victory for sanity. Any suggestion of moving away from that is going to be a cause of concern.

Moreover, elves and dwarves, like fighters and wizards have enough support now.

Well, unfortunately we probably won't get Human sub-races since wizards rightfully fears people will read too much into the perceived real word correlations of those human sub races. That leaves sub races of demi-humans as the only viable option since brand new races tend to be freakshows.

 

[Aegeri]

It's not "more dwarves and elves", it's giving variety to the same dwarves (and possibly elves).

So in other words, it is indeed "More dwarves and elves".

I am still firmly unimpressed, but Wizards are falling into a distinct trap in throwing all their support at certain things (Wizards, Dwarves/ELves, Heroic Tier) while simultaneously pretending everything else doesn't exist.

 

[WalterKovacs]

They already opened the door with Martial Power, when they started doing 'class variants' that let you swap class feature A for class feature B (which is only different from say, the build options presented in PHB1 by the fact that certain 'non-optional' class features were retroactively made into choices).

The Racial Variants are basically the same thing (and compare to stuff like the Drow/Genasi/Shifter characters with their built in chooseable racial features).

So, Dwarves can get the bonus vs. poisons, or trade it for a similar bonus against something else. They can get military hammers, or military axes, or light shields, etc ...

In terms of the character builder, it's a new drop down menu. If nothing else, it may help people remember racial features because they pick it from a short list instead of getting it automatically.

 

[Zaphling]

Well, unfortunately we probably won't get Human sub-races since wizards rightfully fears people will read too much into the perceived real word correlations of those human sub races. That leaves sub races of demi-humans as the only viable option since brand new races tend to be freakshows.

There are already human sub-races in the book since PHB1. Shifters, Shades, Vryloka, Tieflings, etc... you get the picture. They all are half-humans or have human origins.