Word of Mearls: Official Player races will not get Oversized Weapons. Forked Thread

[eamon]

I'm indifferent. It's good new that brutal and oversized won't mix, but it's bad news that you might get players asking "can I play race X using stats from source Y?"

Having short MM summaries and extended PC writeups is fine since you don't lose anything by going to the PC version. Having two different writeups is annoying.

Finally, the problem with oversized weapons lies firmly with brutal, and not so much with the weapons themselves. So... it's good they fixed it, but this isn't a pretty solution. It pretty much means it'll never be possible to play a giant, even though that might sometimes be amusing.

 

[keterys]

Finally, the problem with oversized weapons lies firmly with brutal, and not so much with the weapons themselves.

They were a problem before brutal came out. Brutal just highlights the problem further.

2d8 just isn't a good 'W' value, no matter how you shake it.

 

[Larrin]

One thing struck me today as i was crusing the D&D boards.

I'm glad oversized is removed from the PC realm because it means that every example of "damage builds" won't be a Minotaur/bugbear with a brutal weapon.

Someone asks a damage question and invariably some one chimes in with "Well a minotaur with an executioners axe...."

So basically, you get a bunch of people using a back of the MM race for 90% of calculations regarding how to make a damaging character. This alone should be a clue that oversized somehow tips the scales a little more than just the "it boils down to +1 damage for most weapons". You never hear about dragonborn or dwarven fighters anymore!

In the end, oversized is an oversized ability, and it just gets everywhere when its allowed. The PHB races should be the stars of the show, dangit! Monster races should be playable, fun and mostly only appealing for those that want to play one in the first place. When they start hogging up the spotlight pretty consistently due to ONE 'little' ability, that ability needs to go!

Okay, rant over....i'm done....

 

[Cadfan]

Larrin is absolutely right. If nothing else, the sudden surge of interest in bugbear and minotaur pcs should be a clue.

 

[DracoSuave]

It seems almost trivial to fix this problem in retrospect. Just giving a +1 to weapon damage is pretty much mechanically equivalent to advancing the die type, but doesn't break the system when you start throwing in rules that interact with die type and number. Why, then, was it designed to be problematic when used by PCs?

This mechanic has always existed. It's called +2 Strength.

 

[Runestar]

The PHB races should be the stars of the show, dangit!

I can't be the only one who grew sick of core races 2+ years ago and has played nothing but exotic LA races/monster PCs (savage species style) almost exclusively ever since...

 

[Doctor Proctor]

I do have one question though....

The new Eternal Defender epic destiny from the Martial Power book is supposed to grant the ability to use oversized weapons. So how would that stack with a brutal weapon? Say, the Craghammer or Executioner's Axe?

Additionally, I think it's probably in part because of the Eternal Defender epic destiny that this had to die...otherwise people would want to try stacking them, and that would get crazy really fast.

 

[Runestar]

At any rate, I doubt multiple abilities to use oversized weapons would stack anyways. It would be like 3e monkey grip meets powerful build, the latter simply supersedes the former.

 

[Cam Banks]

One of my players is playtesting a new 4e race that I'd originally given Oversized to. We've replaced that with a new racial feature that gives him +1 to damage with versatile weapons, which he likes very much.

Cheers,
Cam

 

[Stalker0]

Let me just say. Minataur's get +2 strength and +2 con, and the most important part....+2 to perception checks!!

I think they are just fine powerwise as a race.