The Essentials Human (wild mass guessing)

[The Little Raven]

Isn't there a sidebar or something explaining that their bonus at-wills loses the "augmentable" keyword and cannot be augmented? Or if not a sidebar, and explanation in the psionic at-will rules? Couldn't you have a similar notice for the essentials knight and similiar builds ("if you have a race feature that gives you a bonus at-will attack power of 1st level, you can use it to take a stance instead")?

Under the Augmentable keyword in the back, it says that it loses the augmentable keyword when it is given by a racial trait.

 

[Jools]

But not interchangeable as it currently stands.

The stances are 'Utility' powers, which the human feature does not permit, as it only allows Level 1 At-Will Attack Powers.

So the PHB human does not work with the essentials fighter, and nor does 'Just take a PHB at-will' really work given the essentials fighter doesn't have access to that. That meaning, the Essentials fighter has to be self-contained, otherwise the Essentials line does not work. The Essentials human must be different in some way to accomodate the lack of level 1 attack at-will powers.

Its very easy to just put a little note in the knight build instructing you to take an extra stance instead of an at will.

 

[mkill]

Just because the knight build of the fighter class doesn't use at-will powers doesn't mean that a human who is a fighter (no matter the build) can't choose an at-will power as the rules say he can. After all, it says to pick an at-will from your class not your build.

It wouldn't be very newbie-friendly. If someone buys the Essentials book and makes a human fighter, and then the book tells him to pick another at-will attack power from his class and there aren't any in the book, what is he supposed to do?

Well, if there are 3-4 at-will stances and the human picks 3 of those instead that would solve the issue, of course.

That leaves the half-elf. But maybe there simply isn't anything for him to pick from some subclasses.

 

[Aegeri]

Maybe the slayer has at-will attacks and not stances?

 

[Argyle King]

I hadn't considered this... hmm


a half-elf taking an essentials class is another thing to consider

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

I hadn't considered this... hmm


a half-elf taking an essentials class is another thing to consider

That wouldn't be so difficult - Half-Elves just get an at-will attack power from another class. It doesn't matter if their class or build choice doesn't offer this, other classes do.

I think Humans will probably get the choice to place two +2 bonuses, assuming that all Essential races will get one stat bonus fixed and a choice for their second +2.

 

[mkill]

Maybe the slayer has at-will attacks and not stances?

Possible, yes. But it wouldn't make much sense from a game design standpoint. Slayer and Knight should be the offensive twohanded and defensive shield build of the same class, but have otherwise consistent rules. Remember that first and foremost, you want the book to be easy to grok for newbies.

In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if the only difference between Knight and Slayer are their unique class features, and they share all stances.

 

[Argyle King]

That wouldn't be so difficult - Half-Elves just get an at-will attack power from another class. It doesn't matter if their class or build choice doesn't offer this, other classes do.

I think Humans will probably get the choice to place two +2 bonuses, assuming that all Essential races will get one stat bonus fixed and a choice for their second +2.

True, but it is interesting to consider whether or not a half-elf of a non-essentials class could choose something from Essentials via dilettante.

Could a half-elf fighter choose one of the new stances which he could use once per encounter (possibly eventually at will with the right feats)?

edit: No since you have to choose something from a class different than your own, so the way I phrased the question was wrong. Could a half-elf barbarian choose one of the Essential fighter stances?

 

[mkill]

No since you have to choose something from a class different than your own, so the way I phrased the question was wrong. Could a half-elf barbarian choose one of the Essential fighter stances?

Current wording asks for a first-level at-will attack power. The stances are not attack powers, so they can't be chosen.

This may or may not change with the Essentials.

 

[DracoSuave]

That wouldn't be so difficult - Half-Elves just get an at-will attack power from another class. It doesn't matter if their class or build choice doesn't offer this, other classes do.

In a package that has level 1 at-will attack powers for exactly one class...

...so really it would be 'Take a level 1 wizard attack power. Unless you're a wizard... in which case... you're SOL.'

While, yes, the half-elf works when you consider the entire product line, as it stands it, like the phb human, does not actually work within Essentials taken alone... and therefore changes would have to be made.

I think Humans will probably get the choice to place two +2 bonuses, assuming that all Essential races will get one stat bonus fixed and a choice for their second +2.

Maybe?

The idea is the choice, which humans already got, but other races now get. I don't necessarily see humans getting two just because other races get 'choice'. Humans are still ahead in that regard, and two points on a secondary stat is not as important as some make it out to be.