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Races in 4th edition D&D
So, I've decided to do this in parts. Easier on me that way, and then there's not so much of the thing where I start thinking this is too long, and utter crap.
Anyways, races in 4th Edition - a review-ish type thing.
In the basic Player's Guide (sitting next to yours truly), there are eight races. They are Dragonborn, Dwarf, Eladrin, Elf, Half-elf, Halfling, Human, and Tiefling.
With the exception of Dragonborn, Eladrin and Tiefling, these are all basic races from previous versions of D&D, but there are some changes to all of them to shove them into the new system.
First, and foremost that you may have noticed about the races mentioned are the ones that are conspicuous by their absence. Gnomes and Half-Orcs. They are supposed to be included in a later book, which really doesn't make sense. Primarily, it doesn't make sense because those two races have been "basic book" races since 1st edition, and secondarily, it makes even less sense when you consider the amount of space in the PG which is devoted to races.
You see, each race gets two pages. One page is largely a picture and mechanics of what a character of that race gets, and the rest of that page and the next is explanations, role-playing hints, possible names, etc. So the eight races that are in this book take up a whopping 16 pages of the book. Including gnomes and half-orcs would not have thrown the page-count of the book off horribly large amounts. Hell, there's stuff in the PG that should rightly be in the DMG, but hey, I don't make those decisions.
In the mechanics block for each race, it details their racial traits. It starts with average height and weight, and then lists the "fun" stuff. Each race (except humans) gets +2 to two specific stats, and there are no racial penalties. The block also lists their size, speed (in squares, not feet) and vision type. (Side note, of these races, there is only normal vision and low-light vision. There is a feel throughout the book of simplifying a lot of the mechanics even as they add mechanics. Go fig.)
It also lists what languages they start with. All races speak Common plus one other language. For some reasons, the other language is predetermined; some races can pick any language that is available at character creation. (And yes, there are ways to learn more languages, and there are languages that aren't available at character creation.) After languages come skill bonuses. All races (except humans) get +2 to two skills.
After that is the list of special abilities or modifiers that each race gets. Some races get powers useable once per encounter, other races get bonuses to types of defenses or modifiers to certain activities. And there are a couple racial abilities that don't directly affect the character, but instead affect the rest of the party. (More on that later.)
Anyway, a quick breakdown of the races. (And I'm not going into a lot of detail except for the new races, and I'm going to mention new mechanics and such as I think it's warranted. If you don't like it, do your own damn review.)
Dragonbown are dragon-like humanoids. They do have scales, they don't have tails. They can breathe fire. Or ice, or lightning, or acid. Nope, you can't switch it around, unfortunately. At character creation, you pick one of the available damage types, and that's your breath weapon. You can use it once per encounter, and it affects a decent sized area (a 3x3 square, unless you take a specific feat which gives you the option of making it a 5x5 square). It doesn't do a lot of damage (1d6 + Con Mod at 1st level), but it's a nice little extra to put the hurt on a horde of crunchies. Dragonborn are the basic book replacement for Half-orcs. They are big, they are strong, and they are actually charismatic.
Dwarves in 4th edition are a pretty straight-forward port over from 3rd edition. Bonuses to Constitution and Wisdom, they move slightly slower then every other race (but don't slow down any further due to armor or encumbrance), and they can't get pushed around against their will as easily. Female dwarves do not have beards.
Eladrin. More elf then elf. Yay. Just what the game needed. (Can you figure out what my least favorite race in the game is?) Okay, take the old 2nd edition version of High Elves, and that's pretty much what the Eladrin are. They're the wise, knowing elfies, who are all proficient with longswords, trance instead of sleep, and oh yeah, they can teleport once per encounter. I'm really not sure why they're in the game, other then someone at WotC having really happy thoughts about adding even more elves to the game.
Elves - slightly closer to wild elves, but without all that body paint and "How, me am Native American Elf. Ugh." feel to them. They are the woodsy elfies and all know how to use shortbows and longbows, and can make everyone around them notice things easier. (+1 to Perception to all allies within 5 squares... yes, being around an Elf reminds you how grubby and clumsy you are, so you look everywhere but at the elf.) They also get an ability (once per encounter) that lets them reroll an attack roll, but they have to use the second result, even if it's worse. One big thing to note is that elves are faster then every other race. Most races have a speed of 6 squares (5 for dwarves), but elves can move 7 squares, and they don't take penalties for moving through difficult terrain. Folks, elves are going to be the pains in the asses who always get away.
Half-Elves are pretty much the same as they've always been. They get a neat bonus of being able to choose "at-will" power from a class other then their own to use as an "once per encounter" power, so you're going to see things like Half-elf fighters throwing Magic Missle around, and shit like that. Like elves, they grant a bonus to allies within 5 squares, but it's to Diplomacy. I can't figure this one. I mean, what are they saying here. "Oh, you have a Half-elf with you. How cosmopolitan!"
Halfing - Not a lot of changes here on the face of things, and then I notice that they get a +5 bonus to saving throws versus fear. Okay, they're kender-halflings. Joy. They're also the only small race in the book, although that doesn't make them slower. They're just as fast as most of the other races (speed of 6 squares). This is actually a nice improvement from 3rd/3.5 where small races got the shaft on movement. They also have a once-per-encounter power of making an enemy reroll a hit (but you have to take the second roll). I see this being used to neutralize those nasty critical hits.
Humans.... okay, you know where I said above "except humans" for everything? Here's where you find out why. Humans don't get +2 to two specific stats. They get one +2 to any stat they want. They don't get any skill bonuses. They don't have any special "once per encounter" powers. What they do get is an extra feat at 1st level, a bonus at-will power from their class (which can be pretty damned useful), a bonus skill (which is more useful then it sounds), and a +1 to Reflex, Will, and Fortitude defenses.
Tiefling. Okay, most D&Ders know what Tieflings are. They are humans with a infernal heritage. They get fire resistance, can more easily hit opponents who are already weakened, and are the biggest proof of the MMO-ization of 4th edition. THEY LOOK LIKE DRAENEI/EREDAR. I'm not kidding. Even though I quit World of Warcraft last year, I swear, I had a Draenei character who looked pretty damn close to one of the ones in the picture. Honestly, this is the other race that shouldn't have made the cut to be in the main book.
Look, overall, WotC did a decent job on the race mechanics. By removing the racial penalties, you've got more freedom to choose your race without having to worry about dropping a stat by two points because all elves are wussies (or whatever). Where I feel they failed is the races that made the cut to be in this book. No argument, certain races were always going to be included. It really wouldn't be D&D without humans, elves, and dwarves. Half-elves, not a big surprise there. (Although why there are no half-elf/half-dwarves is a bit odd. But I digress.) Dragonborn are actually an interesting addition (although I suspect they will not be in the RPGA Forgotten Realms game), but Eladrin and Tiefling.... are not.
Those two races are where WotC dropped the ball. Especially with the Eladrin, as I can see uses for Tieflings. But the addition of yet another festering elf race in the game, to the exclusion of what should be in there.... Look, I know a lot of people don't play gnomes or half-orcs. They're probably the two most under-represented races in most 3rd ed. games. But it would not have killed WotC to add them into this book.
Anyway, that's the review. I'll probably do Roles/Classes for the next one.
Anyways, races in 4th Edition - a review-ish type thing.
In the basic Player's Guide (sitting next to yours truly), there are eight races. They are Dragonborn, Dwarf, Eladrin, Elf, Half-elf, Halfling, Human, and Tiefling.
With the exception of Dragonborn, Eladrin and Tiefling, these are all basic races from previous versions of D&D, but there are some changes to all of them to shove them into the new system.
First, and foremost that you may have noticed about the races mentioned are the ones that are conspicuous by their absence. Gnomes and Half-Orcs. They are supposed to be included in a later book, which really doesn't make sense. Primarily, it doesn't make sense because those two races have been "basic book" races since 1st edition, and secondarily, it makes even less sense when you consider the amount of space in the PG which is devoted to races.
You see, each race gets two pages. One page is largely a picture and mechanics of what a character of that race gets, and the rest of that page and the next is explanations, role-playing hints, possible names, etc. So the eight races that are in this book take up a whopping 16 pages of the book. Including gnomes and half-orcs would not have thrown the page-count of the book off horribly large amounts. Hell, there's stuff in the PG that should rightly be in the DMG, but hey, I don't make those decisions.
In the mechanics block for each race, it details their racial traits. It starts with average height and weight, and then lists the "fun" stuff. Each race (except humans) gets +2 to two specific stats, and there are no racial penalties. The block also lists their size, speed (in squares, not feet) and vision type. (Side note, of these races, there is only normal vision and low-light vision. There is a feel throughout the book of simplifying a lot of the mechanics even as they add mechanics. Go fig.)
It also lists what languages they start with. All races speak Common plus one other language. For some reasons, the other language is predetermined; some races can pick any language that is available at character creation. (And yes, there are ways to learn more languages, and there are languages that aren't available at character creation.) After languages come skill bonuses. All races (except humans) get +2 to two skills.
After that is the list of special abilities or modifiers that each race gets. Some races get powers useable once per encounter, other races get bonuses to types of defenses or modifiers to certain activities. And there are a couple racial abilities that don't directly affect the character, but instead affect the rest of the party. (More on that later.)
Anyway, a quick breakdown of the races. (And I'm not going into a lot of detail except for the new races, and I'm going to mention new mechanics and such as I think it's warranted. If you don't like it, do your own damn review.)
Dragonbown are dragon-like humanoids. They do have scales, they don't have tails. They can breathe fire. Or ice, or lightning, or acid. Nope, you can't switch it around, unfortunately. At character creation, you pick one of the available damage types, and that's your breath weapon. You can use it once per encounter, and it affects a decent sized area (a 3x3 square, unless you take a specific feat which gives you the option of making it a 5x5 square). It doesn't do a lot of damage (1d6 + Con Mod at 1st level), but it's a nice little extra to put the hurt on a horde of crunchies. Dragonborn are the basic book replacement for Half-orcs. They are big, they are strong, and they are actually charismatic.
Dwarves in 4th edition are a pretty straight-forward port over from 3rd edition. Bonuses to Constitution and Wisdom, they move slightly slower then every other race (but don't slow down any further due to armor or encumbrance), and they can't get pushed around against their will as easily. Female dwarves do not have beards.
Eladrin. More elf then elf. Yay. Just what the game needed. (Can you figure out what my least favorite race in the game is?) Okay, take the old 2nd edition version of High Elves, and that's pretty much what the Eladrin are. They're the wise, knowing elfies, who are all proficient with longswords, trance instead of sleep, and oh yeah, they can teleport once per encounter. I'm really not sure why they're in the game, other then someone at WotC having really happy thoughts about adding even more elves to the game.
Elves - slightly closer to wild elves, but without all that body paint and "How, me am Native American Elf. Ugh." feel to them. They are the woodsy elfies and all know how to use shortbows and longbows, and can make everyone around them notice things easier. (+1 to Perception to all allies within 5 squares... yes, being around an Elf reminds you how grubby and clumsy you are, so you look everywhere but at the elf.) They also get an ability (once per encounter) that lets them reroll an attack roll, but they have to use the second result, even if it's worse. One big thing to note is that elves are faster then every other race. Most races have a speed of 6 squares (5 for dwarves), but elves can move 7 squares, and they don't take penalties for moving through difficult terrain. Folks, elves are going to be the pains in the asses who always get away.
Half-Elves are pretty much the same as they've always been. They get a neat bonus of being able to choose "at-will" power from a class other then their own to use as an "once per encounter" power, so you're going to see things like Half-elf fighters throwing Magic Missle around, and shit like that. Like elves, they grant a bonus to allies within 5 squares, but it's to Diplomacy. I can't figure this one. I mean, what are they saying here. "Oh, you have a Half-elf with you. How cosmopolitan!"
Halfing - Not a lot of changes here on the face of things, and then I notice that they get a +5 bonus to saving throws versus fear. Okay, they're kender-halflings. Joy. They're also the only small race in the book, although that doesn't make them slower. They're just as fast as most of the other races (speed of 6 squares). This is actually a nice improvement from 3rd/3.5 where small races got the shaft on movement. They also have a once-per-encounter power of making an enemy reroll a hit (but you have to take the second roll). I see this being used to neutralize those nasty critical hits.
Humans.... okay, you know where I said above "except humans" for everything? Here's where you find out why. Humans don't get +2 to two specific stats. They get one +2 to any stat they want. They don't get any skill bonuses. They don't have any special "once per encounter" powers. What they do get is an extra feat at 1st level, a bonus at-will power from their class (which can be pretty damned useful), a bonus skill (which is more useful then it sounds), and a +1 to Reflex, Will, and Fortitude defenses.
Tiefling. Okay, most D&Ders know what Tieflings are. They are humans with a infernal heritage. They get fire resistance, can more easily hit opponents who are already weakened, and are the biggest proof of the MMO-ization of 4th edition. THEY LOOK LIKE DRAENEI/EREDAR. I'm not kidding. Even though I quit World of Warcraft last year, I swear, I had a Draenei character who looked pretty damn close to one of the ones in the picture. Honestly, this is the other race that shouldn't have made the cut to be in the main book.
Look, overall, WotC did a decent job on the race mechanics. By removing the racial penalties, you've got more freedom to choose your race without having to worry about dropping a stat by two points because all elves are wussies (or whatever). Where I feel they failed is the races that made the cut to be in this book. No argument, certain races were always going to be included. It really wouldn't be D&D without humans, elves, and dwarves. Half-elves, not a big surprise there. (Although why there are no half-elf/half-dwarves is a bit odd. But I digress.) Dragonborn are actually an interesting addition (although I suspect they will not be in the RPGA Forgotten Realms game), but Eladrin and Tiefling.... are not.
Those two races are where WotC dropped the ball. Especially with the Eladrin, as I can see uses for Tieflings. But the addition of yet another festering elf race in the game, to the exclusion of what should be in there.... Look, I know a lot of people don't play gnomes or half-orcs. They're probably the two most under-represented races in most 3rd ed. games. But it would not have killed WotC to add them into this book.
Anyway, that's the review. I'll probably do Roles/Classes for the next one.
Just wait...
I repeat.
The DMG has no actual magic item descriptions in it.
Oh, and don't get me started on the Monster Manual. Or the NEW "simplified" alignment system.
Re: Just wait...
I really haven't gone over the DMG a lot yet, but right now it looks like WotC has done the "amazing". They've made the DMG unnecessary.