So there will be 1 troll on this thread, I can already tell

[Kerranin]

yeah, all we have is a dragonborn fighter, an eladrin ranger and a tiefling wizard

biggest trouble right now is explaing the difference between eladrin and elves, the player still thinks they are the same and took a feat for an elf and an ability, when he had everything else of an Eladrin (face palm), not actually a big deal, just slowed it down a tad bit

but we are going to be expanding the group (from 3! woot!) to hopefully 7 (6 players and a DM), so there is atleast 1 person who wants to be a 'leader', hopefully, perhaps even 2, thatd be great, and 2 strikers could seem worthy of a DM's rethinking of an encounter, not sure if anyone is going to want to play a controler sadly, i mean the wizard is cool and all, and the warlock is....decent...but the legends of our world focuses more on sword less on 'lightening bolt' main characters *cough cough conan, arthur, cough*

Haven't seen this mentioned so: remember in 4e that when counting squares, diagonal is just one square.

You're right you need a leader, assuming only PHB classes that would be cleric or warlord. IMO battle-clerics(STR) don't work too well, ranged clerics(WIS) work much better.

With six players, I'd suggest a second defender but it's not essential, although I would suggest a minimum of two melee characters.

 

[CasvalRemDeikun]

Elf = Wood Elf
Eladrin = High Elf

PHB Warlocks have ... issues. And nothing wrong in 4e with an all martial party. A Warlord as your leader, and a Hunter Ranger (from Heroes of the Forgotten Kingdoms) as your controller. No spellcasters at all (or possibly a ritualist).

Not so much anymore, now I would say Elf=High Elf, Eladrin=Grey Elf.

 

[twilsemail]

Just to be contrary, I'm going to say that Elf = Wood Elf and Eladrin = Grey Elf.

 

[On Puget Sound]

eladrin = clean elf
elf = dirty elf

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

IMC elves and eladrins are the same race, and the difference is considered as significant as hair color. And no, PCs cannot tell the difference between them.

 

[Summer-Knight925]

Elf = Wood Elf
Eladrin = High Elf

QUOTE]


I meant for qualifying for feats

and in my setting thats how it works, granted the fey area they hail from is not so much a plane as it is an energy...but yeah, same concept (and instead of feystep its fadestep, because the fade is where arcane energy comes from...Dragon Age anyone?)

the racial split was more philisophical than physical, but at the same time the elves being more woodish makes sense, they fled the 'homeland' and lost their magic heritage stuffs, while the eladrin did not...but it works, so Im not complaining

but I have 5 players who are willing to play, Ive got classes and races down for all but 1

Dragonborn fighter
Eladrin Ranger
Halfling Rogue
Dragonborn Warlord
-------- Paladin

not sure what race the last one is gonna play, but he does want a paladin and Im starting to think the 6th player is going to be a wizard, which would make it an interesting party...but how would it handle in encounters? like strong/weak spots?

also, are there any like...minion control classes? like in 3.5 the summoner and the necromancer kinda did this, I player had brought that up but I have yet to find anything, even the summoner wizard doesnt really spam creatuers into the battle field...and class do this?

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

but I have 5 players who are willing to play, Ive got classes and races down for all but 1

Dragonborn fighter
Eladrin Ranger
Halfling Rogue
Dragonborn Warlord
-------- Paladin


not sure what race the last one is gonna play, but he does want a paladin and Im starting to think the 6th player is going to be a wizard, which would make it an interesting party...but how would it handle in encounters? like strong/weak spots?

Assuming your sixth PC will be a wizard, you have all the roles covered: two strikers, two defenders, one controller (the wizard) and one leader (the warlord). A party of six can't "even out" the roles: there's no weak spot per se, but your healing will be a little weak (only one leader, warlords excel at buffing but are weak at healing). I hope your wizard player chooses a control wizard, as otherwise you'll have little battlefield control.

also, are there any like...minion control classes? like in 3.5 the summoner and the necromancer kinda did this, I player had brought that up but I have yet to find anything, even the summoner wizard doesnt really spam creatuers into the battle field...and class do this?

There's some divine class that does so in the PH3 (and I think there's a similar arcane class in Arcane Power), but the PC would have to give up actions in order to have the "minions" make attacks for it. I haven't branched beyond the three PHs; in those books, "minion" summoning powers are generally quite weak and are more suited to advanced players.

In 4e, WotC is trying to control the economy of actions.

IME in 3.5, this was needed. I had a druid PC in a high-level campaign, and after a certain number of levels the summons can't be killed in only two or three rounds, so they really start to "stack up". (It was worse, since in 3.5 many of these monsters were things like bears that got three attacks plus grapple...)

There are some monsters that replicate this ability, if you wanted to steal one of those abilities for your own PCs. The gnoll chosen of Yeenoghu in the MM3 does little more than spam minions every round (and can use an encounter ability to summon 4 of them). And then it can teleport those minions, which have a slowing aura... ow.

For a necromancer PC, if you don't have Heroes of Shadow (I don't have this, so I have no idea what it gives out), you could consult the "companion" rules (found in DMG2 and probably other sources) and give said PC an undead companion. Note that this will reduce the party's XP gain, so the players might not buy into it.

 

[Summer-Knight925]

we found someone willing to play a wizard, and knowing him he'll want damage


but I still feel like the minion control got shafted, I had the same thing with a druid who (at one battle) had a few bears grapple the enemies and hold them down while other summons attacked, as well as the party...who healed up since we got ambushed, so I saved us more or less...woot!

and it seems like 4e took the power to create classes away from the DM, which sucks...a lot

 

[Dannager]

and it seems like 4e took the power to create classes away from the DM, which sucks...a lot

In what edition was the DM explicitly granted the "power" to create classes?

And if DMs don't have that power in 4e, how do you explain the custom classes various people have created over the past couple years?

 

[Kelvor Ravenstar]

4th edition hasn't really taken away the ability to make classes, its just made it a lot harder. Coming up with a minimum of 4 choices for powers at each level when you gain powers is creatively draining, and hard to accomplish very well (in my opinion at least).

That hasn't really stopped the community though. Check out the homebrew forums here and at the Wizards of the Coast boards, and you'll see plenty of people who tried it, you decide if you think they've succeeded.

However, the design philosophy of the new character subclasses from the Heroes of .. books has made it a bit easier to create new classes, if you know or can figure out the benchmarks for power balance that WotC designs towards.