What happened to "Race Matters"?

[Lizard]

One of the things I was looking forward to in 4e, based on the preview books, was that race would be a major factor through your character's life, that a 20th level dwarf fighter would be substantially different from a 20th level human fighter. Unless I'm missing something, this seems to have been dropped from 4e -- there's a small number of racial feats, which you are quite free not to take, and the initial racial abilities provide, as usual, dwindling benefits as level increases.

Was there ever an official statement/discussion as to why this idea got tossed aside like yesterday's newspaper? (For you kids, a 'newspaper' is kind of like a print out of an often updated website. Once it's not current, it's useless, so it's thrown away. Hope this helps.)

 

[James McMurray]

They originally planned on making races similar to classes, where you got more abilities as you gained levels. The complexity and balance was too hard, so they dropped it back to racial feats. But if the Warforged is a precursor, we can expect to see racial paragon paths (and maybe epic destines) at some point.

IIRC I read this in a post or interview by Mike Mearls, but I couldnn't point you to it.

 

[Jack99]

Balance and Deadline killed it and tossed it's stuff in a back alley.

 

[Tale]

I can't wait for Tiefling and Kobold Racial Paragons. Well, maybe the Kobold Paragon can wait.

 

[Lizard]

Interesting.

It would be pretty easy, I think, to just toss in At-Will/Encounter/Daily powers for various classes with "You must be an Elf" as a prerequisite, just as some have "You must be using a dagger" or "You must be Fey pact" or whatever. Or even give some powers a "kicker" if you're of the right race.

For example, Deft Strike:If you are Eladrin, you may move 3 squares instead of 2 1/encounter.

Stuff like that. The key would be to 'power up' everyone equally, or find some counterbalancing thing -- for example, a feat which 'unlocks' the racial benefits of powers but offers no utility on its own, perhaps 1 per tier.

 

[Tale]

Interesting.

It would be pretty easy, I think, to just toss in At-Will/Encounter/Daily powers for various classes with "You must be an Elf" as a prerequisite, just as some have "You must be using a dagger" or "You must be Fey pact" or whatever. Or even give some powers a "kicker" if you're of the right race.

For example, Deft Strike:If you are Eladrin, you may move 3 squares instead of 2 1/encounter.

Stuff like that. The key would be to 'power up' everyone equally, or find some counterbalancing thing -- for example, a feat which 'unlocks' the racial benefits of powers but offers no utility on its own, perhaps 1 per tier.

They already have the framework to base such a thing on in place. Some already get bonuses based on what build path you are taking.

 

[Donatello]

But if the Warforged is a precursor, we can expect to see racial paragon paths (and maybe epic destines) at some point.

I would be willing to bet we see a few in the upcoming Forgotten Realms Guide. Racial identity was always a big part of the FRCS, so I wouldn't be surprised to see some racial paragon paths.

 

[Mengu]

After reading this thread, I thought to myself, "so it's all about balance and future products, nothing else matters." Now I can't get Metallica out of my head.

 

[James McMurray]

After reading this thread, I thought to myself, "so it's all about balance and future products, nothing else matters." Now I can't get Metallica out of my head.

IMO this is a good thing. It's much easier to introduce house rules that break a working game than it is to fix a broken one. I'm not sure why you'd want to, but it's not too difficult if you do.

 

[Tiberius]

Now I can't get Metallica out of my head.

There are worse things to have running through your head. Could be howler monkey vocalizations.