The Most Under-Powered Race?

[UngeheuerLich]

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'.

d8 instead of d10 and d10 instead of d12 if you look at comparable weapons.

even a ranger halfling can be no damage dice behind (scimitar dance ftw)
edit: on 1[w] powers the difference etween d8 and d12 is neglectable, when the static bonus is 10 or more...

 

[Jhaelen]

My vote is for the bullywug.

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.

Yet another argument for not playing at Cons!
Halflings are great! The halfling racial abilities synergize well with ranger, fighter, or paladin abilities.

 

[AllisterH]

No race is underpowered since there is ALWAYS a class which at least they are decent at if not great at thanks to their stat breakdown (The bullywug has the perfect stats for the assassin class) . Thus, I tend to look at the feat support and the racial ability.

There are 3 types of races.

1. The PHB races - These races gets tons of feat support in the "X Power books and in the playr guides". Of these, definitely the Half-orc ranks high for me in terms of "lacking the cool". Compare Furious Assault to any other racial power of the various PHB races and it is nowhere near as interesting and it doesn't scale at all.

2. The DRAGON races & the Campaign Player Guide races- Basically, these races have gotten at least some feat support via DRAGON articles or in the player guides themselves - Weakest one I find is the Minotaur as goring charge means that any non-melee class, minotaurs are pretty useless and frankly, the gnoll version I think is better.

3. The Monster Manual & Manual of the Planes races - These player races only have a writeup and no feat support. Definitely the bullywug is aiming for the weakest position since the Rancid Air power really isn't going to come up in most encounters.

 

[Herschel]

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.

Wow....just, wow.

a: If you're worried about what an ignorant munchkin said at a con, perchance your perspective is also a bit off. D8 vs. D12 isn't that big of a difference considering all the awesome a halfling ranger can bring to the table outside of weapon dice. And they can bring a lot.

b: Expecting a halfling to play like a goliath is also a very weird way of looking at things. Halfling fighters can be mighty sticky little buggers, they just aren't traditional tanks. Racial ability + Dex boost can keep your AC high without heavy armor penalties to checks/speed. Weapon Expertise is your needed ally in this case, sure, but it gives you the option of playing a solid character.

 

[keterys]

Halflings are great. I actually DMed an all halfling campaign - paladin, rogue, swordmage/warlock, bard/sorcerer. They _loved_ their characters.

Razorclaw Shifters, though, are pretty awful.

 

[Ryujin]

I, for one, wouldn't hesitate to play a Halfling Ranger or Assassin. In fact my first thought when making up a test Assassin was a happy little halfling by day, cold hearted sneaky killer by night.

 

[lukelightning]

Razorclaw Shifters, though, are pretty awful.

Yeah. Basically they are weaklings that almost become elves when they are bloodied.

And when compared to longtooth shifters, there is no contest.

 

[Joshua Randall]

I really want to play as a kenku, but the lack of feat support makes me sad. Someone write a kenku article for Dragon!

As far as weakest races, local anecdotal evidence suggests the tiefling. Literally only one person out of 30 players, each with multiple characters, is playing a tiefling. So probably 1 out of 90 PCs. That suggests (but doesn't necessarily mean) that locally, people think tieflings are underpowered.

Or it could mean that locally, people just don't like tieflings for non-"power" reasons.

 

[lukelightning]

Dragonborn. They are ugly.

Bye
Thanee

Paraphrased from The Tick:

Dragonborn A: "You think we are ugly, but maybe from our point of view you are the ugly ones!"
Dragonborn B: "No, let's just face it, we are total uggoes."

 

[mneme]

My vote is the halfling. There is ZERO upside to being a small character in 4e.

There's one. Goblin Totem weapons are awesome. Seriously, though it's a bit of a gimp to play a halfling who uses a two-handed weapon (though only a bit, really), -most- classes that fit halfling racial stat boosts have non-two-handed options. Even if you ignore stats, more and more classes have non-TW options; barb and fighter, most recently. Re Tiefling: try bard. Tiefling bards are pretty awesome. The racial power's still kinda meh, though. I think all races have a place at this point; there's no one that screams to me "I could never build with that." (or play that). The hardest for me, personally, is human -- because as awesome as an extra class power, an extra feat, and +1 to a defense is, trading +2 to a stat (and usually, the accompanying offensive boost that gives) is hard.