Thinking about racial save bonuses

[Plane Sailing]

I'm thinking about racial save bonuses (dwarves +5 vs poison, halflings +5 vs fear, eladrin +2(?) vs charm) and I'm wondering whether it is worth making them (or some of them) bonuses to defence instead?

I'm particularly thinking of the halfling +5 save bonus vs fear. The problem is, it seems that the vast majority of fear attacks don't allows saves, they just impose conditions.

So I'm thinking about allowing halflings +5 on their defence against things with the Fear keyword. I might do the same with Eladrin and their defence against the Charm keyword.

Dwarves poison resistance - I don't think I'll do anything about that, since poison saves will be coming up all the time in a whole range of guises, and they don't need any extra benefit along those lines.

Any thoughts?

 

[Khaalis]

In the Minotaur thread we discussed a feat along this line, giving a +1 to Defense against a specific Keyword (fear in this case). +5 IMHO is way too much for a Defense bonus, even if it is a specific keyword. I wouldn't personally go higher than a +2. Remember that attack rolls don't scale easily so a +5 to a defense is a HUGE bonus. Other than that I don't see too much issue with the idea itself, just the numbers.

 

[Plane Sailing]

The problem that I see is that the halflings 'fearless' bonus hardly ever comes into play - and something needs to be done about that. Without their save affecting defence, they are no harder to actually effect with fear things than anyone else... they just shake it off more quickly.

Cheers

 

[Khaalis]

I would leave the racial trait as it is, allowing them to shrug off Fear keyword effects easier than others. I would then add a racial feat.

HALFLING RESOLVE -- [Halfling]
Prerequisites: Wis 13, Halfling (Heroic)
Benefit: You gain a +2 racial bonus to all defenses against powers with the Fear keyword.

However, neither the base racial trait or the feat do anything to protect the halfling form Fear Auras (e.g. Pit Fiend).

 

[Stalker0]

The idea I had was to take away the +5 to saves and instead grant them one immediate save.

Example:

Dwarven Resilence: When first exposed to a poison effect that allows a save, you get one immediate saving throw.

This is a slight bump to those racial abilities, but it allows a dwarf the chance to completely shrug off poison. This is also easier on bookkeeping, their no numbers to add to your saves, you just quickly roll a save, and then your done, no extra numbers to change.

 

[keterys]

And the halfling could have a dwarven stability styled resistance to fear... move 1 less to fear, immediate save against any fear effect (immobilize, daze, whatever)

 

[eloquentaction]

Dwarven Fortitude Dwarven Class Feature
That's a poison?!? HA! My Uncle Stemmy knew how to make a poison! This is nothing!
At-Will * Racial
Immediate Reaction Personal
Trigger: Something poisons you or inflicts poison damage.
Effect: You gain resistance 5 to the poison effect and may make an immediate save at +2 against any ongoing poison damage. Further, if you fail this save, all other saves against this poison are at +2.

Halflings' Resolve Halfling Racial Feature
Fear? I laugh in the face of fear! HAHAHAHAHA
At-Will * Racial
Immediate Reaction Personal
Trigger: You are hit with a power causing Fear
Effect: You gain an immediate save against Fear at +2. Any movement effects caused by this fear (move, push, pull, shift, etc) may be reduced by up to 2. If you failed the initial save, all further saves against this Fear are at +2 as well.

Dragonborns' Resiliency Dragonborn Racial Feature
You forget. That element is part of me.
At-Will * Racial
Immediate Reaction Personal
Trigger: A power hits you with a keyword the same as your breath weapon
Effect: If the triggering effect is the same as your selected breath weapon type (ex; fire) you gain an immediate resistance 5 to the attack and reduce any ongoing damage of that type by 2. Further, you gain a +2 save when checking to throw off the effects of the ongoing damage.


And so on and so forth.


Good ideas, guys. I might use some of these in my campaign.


-- Hirahito