The Most Under-Powered Race?

[BASHMAN]

So what is the most under powered race in your opinion?

My vote is the halfling. There is ZERO upside to being a small character in 4e. A halfling has a major disadvantage in any weapons based classes except rogue; essentially a -2 damage per die penalty difference between d8 and d12. This is done in a game that defies physics and changes canon for 'game balance' but for some reason must punish small characters for 'realism'.

 

[WOLead]

If it wasn't for Versatile Master, I would say Half-elf and still say it for games where it is disallowed/house-ruled out. If it wasn't for that Paragon Tier feat, they are roughly weakened Humans really.

Otherwise Changling for sheer lack of feat support, and the need of Charisma and Bluff to make good use of its Racial abilities.

 

[Larrin]

Halflings have plenty of power in their rightful place. There are alot of classes where weapon size doesn't matter, and in those classes, 2nd chance, bonus to AC vs OA's, good stat boosts, perfectly powered race.

Tieflings made me sad when i played them. Hellish rebuke left me meh, and i never got hit by fire. They have a lot of powerful feats, but that seems like overcompensation for an underpowered race.

 

[Dice4Hire]

I think halflingsare a well-done race, but as usual, should not be whacking people with weapons. Blasting them with magic works perfectly well, and they make very nice storm or wild sorcorers.

Tieflings, on the other hand, seem pretty weak to me. They have a fine set of ability +2s, decent skills and such, but do not seem to fit any class to a T, unless it is warlock, which is a problem atic class also.

There are a few otehr races that do nto seem to have a strong niche, but tieflings are the one to me that do not fit anywhere jsut right.

Which is a shame as they appear to have been designed as one of the top 4 races, in the initial fluff.

 

[koesherbacon]

Dude, I'll give you that being small really has huge disadvantages in 4th Edition, but in my opinion the Halflings' racial power, "Second Chance", is the best in the game. Combine that with the cleric class and "Blessing of Avandra" and you've got an amazing combination.

Enemy critically hits me, I say "Second chance," the enemy misses and one of my allies gets to spend a healing surge? That's pretty darn powerful!

I'm not sure who I would vote for least powerful, though

 

[BASHMAN]

Halflings have plenty of power in their rightful place. There are alot of classes where weapon size doesn't matter.

But if I want to be a halfling ranger, fighter, paladin, or any other class that isn't a 1. Caster or 2. Rogue, the character will suck. 2nd chance and the other abilities are great- but small size weapons make warrior types a non-option. At a con, other players got MAD at me for showing up with a halfling ranger, because I did d8 instead of d12 damage that any medium sized creature could do with a greatbow.

 

[Dice4Hire]

But if I want to be a halfling ranger, fighter, paladin, or any other class that isn't a 1. Caster or 2. Rogue, the character will suck. 2nd chance and the other abilities are great- but small size weapons make warrior types a non-option. At a con, other players got MAD at me for showing up with a halfling ranger, because I did d8 instead of d12 damage that any medium sized creature could do with a greatbow.

Rolling d8s instead of d12s is not suck. At least not in my games.

If it is in your groups, then I feel sorry for you.

 

[koesherbacon]

Rolling d8s instead of d12s is not suck. At least not in my games.

If it is in your groups, then I feel sorry for you.

Ditto. These games are s'posted to be fun, not chores to make the best character possible. Sometimes it's more fun to be less than optimized

 

[Turtlejay]

Tiefling. With their bonus to int and the racial fire feat, they were great. Now, with strictly better options for wizards and warlocks, I don't think they stand out as the front runner for any class. Plus their horns are huge compared to earlier tieflings, leading to hat issues.

Jay

 

[Thanee]

Dragonborn. They are ugly.

Bye
Thanee