Racial Balancing

[JVisgaitis]

I've been playtesting this race for awhile and while I haven't seen any balance issues, I don't profess to be a math wizard like a lot of the people that inhabit this forum. These are the two racial abilities the other being a daily.

Toughened Skin: You gain a +1 bonus to armor class. This bonus increases to +2 at 11th level and +3 at 21st level.

No Fear: You can reroll a failed saving throw vs. fear effects.

Just curious what people think of this. Thanks.

 

[Storminator]

I've been playtesting this race for awhile and while I haven't seen any balance issues, I don't profess to be a math wizard like a lot of the people that inhabit this forum. These are the two racial abilities the other being a daily.

Toughened Skin: You gain a +1 bonus to armor class. This bonus increases to +2 at 11th level and +2 at 21st level.

No Fear: You can reroll a failed saving throw vs. fear effects.

Just curious what people think of this. Thanks.

I think that boost to AC at 21st level is pretty weak.

PS

 

[Garthanos]

I think that boost to AC at 21st level is pretty weak.

PS

right kind of looks like a typo was it supposed to be +3 (like hide armor)?... but in general staying subtle in ac boosts isnt a bad idea because presumedly this combines with other sources of ac.

 

[JVisgaitis]

I think that boost to AC at 21st level is pretty weak.

My bad. Fixed.

 

[Garthanos]

Depending on what all its combined with it could be Fearless : immune to fear wouldn't be too powerful. This is a world of heros after all. I think giving it to pc's is in keeping with 4e.

I gave a bonus on fear saves as a part of the nightmares racial feature ( for shifters and similar monsterous pc's).

I guess that is my main feed back what is the context?

 

[Psikus]

One comment unrelated to balance: your idea is a bit different from the racial bonuses in the PHB, in that you focus in passive bonuses rather than race powers. Having some racial encounter power helps a lot, in my opinion, to distinguish one race from the other. I'd argue that it's also more fun than just having higher numbers in your character sheet.

That said, a +1 bonus to AC is quite good, and doesn't lose its value as you level, so I'd remove the increased bonuses at paragon and epic (which, frankly, would be too good).

May I suggest a different approach? Rather than giving a flat defense bonus, that Tough Skin could provide the equivalent of a Hide Armor:

"You can treat any light armor you wear as if it had an Armor Bonus of +3 instead of its normal value. Increase this bonus to +4 at 11th level, and +5 at 21th level. Enhancenment bonuses apply normaly".

In addition to this change, you could add the following encounter power:

"Racial shield
Encounter
Immediate interrupt - Personal
Trigger: An enemy hits you
Effect: You gain resist 5 to all damage until your next turn
Increase the resistance to 10 at 11th level and 15 at 21th level"