PHB2 Roundtable: Races and Other Topics

As with yesterday, I’ve (virtually) assembled a roundtable of bloggers who have delved into the Player’s Handbook 2 (released today). This time, we’ve taken a look at the Races of the PHB2 (like we did with the PHB), along with two of the other topics therein. Joining me today I have:

• ChattyDM
• Graham of Critical Ankle Bites
• Jonathan of Core Mechanic
• Dante and Stupid Ranger of StupidRanger

DEVA

Dave: 4e’s version of the Aasimar, these guys were hanging with the gods and decided to bind themselves to the mortal world to face the constant cycle of reincarnation. They do a heck of a lot more for me as a concept than Aasimar ever did, and have a pretty interesting background that gives DMs and Players tons to play with.

SR: I’m not sure yet what I think about these guys. There’s something unsettling about a purple-skinned, statuesque, immortal-spirited mortals. At the same time, everyone needs someone grounded and introspective to keep some balance in the party. I love their “Memory of a Thousand Lifetimes” ability to add 1d6 to an unsatisfactory roll.

Dante: I suppose there’s a place for haughty, refined characters that lived previously in near-immortality but I usually have a hard time finding a place for this type of character in my campaigns. The flavor text and the abilities that their backgrounds provide are neat, though.

ChattyDM: This race screams “mysterious backstory” to me. Playing one can open up a lot of possibilities later in a campaign, especially in tiers where the Astral Sea becomes the stage for further adventures. You know the type of encounter where a Devil Prince sees the Deva PC and says “You!” and the PC answers “Oh yeah, I get that a lot these days, and you are?”

Jonathan: The premise is nice, but outside a Planescape game – these races would be relegated to NPCs. I mean, who wants to be walking around all the time with an angel? Not me.

Graham: I love the flavor, and we needed another good mental race. Seems almost too powerful, with their resistances, but they are two of the least common energy types, so that tempers it. Far better than the unaltered Aasimar could have been, especially flavor-wise. Really just makes me wish they did something like this for Tieflings, too.

Dave:  ChattyDM:   Graham:  Jon:  Dante:  SR: 

Verdict: 

GNOME

SR: Returned from their exile to the Monster Manual, the gnomes are back! They’re stealthy, silent, witty, resourceful and excited to get out into the great wide world. They are everything we loved and remembered, and I’m very happy to see them back.

Dante: I’ve never really played Gnomes, but I liked some of the extra color they added to the backgrounds of the Gnome this time around. Their Fade Away ability is pretty neat, and very confusing when presented as an NPC (there was a bad Gnome that showed up in Keep on the Shadowfell that had this ability). I know it is a petty thing, but the artwork that accompanies the race description this time around seriously freaks me out, like I’m going to wake up and have Gnomes gnawing off my legs.

Dave: Was never particularly a fan of them before except as comic relief. They had to get back into the game, but I’m still not all that impressed with their treatment. Actually, the Manual of the Planes has much more interesting background on them than the PHB2.

Graham: I enjoy playing Gnomes, and these are far better than the MM version. The mechanics recapture some of the lost 3e Gnome flavor, so that makes me happy. Unfortunately, this writeup seems to take away some of the cool “feywild trickster” flavor that the MM cultivated. I can’t decide if that’s good or not. Even still, it’s a great race.

Jonathan: Glad to seem them back in the mix, although I preferred the tinkerer style Gnomes to those of the fey Gnomes. I suppose this is really a leprechauns vs. Santa Elves kinda thing. Either way, they can be easily adapted to whatever the players want to make them and considering they were a staple of D&D for more than 20 years, it is a good thing they are back.

ChattyDM: I have little interest in the race from a DM perspective. However, they do flesh out the fey PC classes to provide an adequate counter-weight to the cold Eladrin and the Wild Elf. The Gnome finally gets a flavour slot that is something other than “Like a Dwarf, only with a sense of humor.” Its also a refreshing change from the Tinker Gnomes of Dragonlance. From a mechanic perspective, I wasn’t too thrilled about his features: I usually dislike invisibility in games because I always forget that the PC is invisible until the player reminds me.

Dave:  ChattyDM:   Graham:  Jon:  Dante:  SR: 

Verdict: 

GOLIATH

Jonathan: What, Half-Orcs not big enough for you? This race feels like the half-ogre race from previous editions – so it was a welcome addition. I can just imagine Goliaths in a classic tavern brawl; it just screams awesome. Personally, I’m looking forward to playing this race myself.

SR: They’re not hill giants, but they do kinda resemble hills. They have the lovely nomadic flavor that screams to be paired with Barbarian. But other than that, I’m not just a huge fan.

Graham: Goliaths were a great race in Races of Stone. They were the only way to be huge and tough without taking a level adjustment. But… well, all of that is gone now. They’re still big and tough, but no more so than other races. The mechanics seem to actually be weaker than any other race. The flavor has always been kinda… meh. And where’s my “Hurl Ally” feat?? If it wasn’t for the paragon path letting you get back some of the “I’m bigger than you” feeling, this would be a miss.

Dante: I love this race. Their competitiveness, their extra daring, and their physical proficiency makes them an exciting and natural choice for fightery classes. I do wish they would’ve broken down and just called Stoneskin what it is instead of “Stone’s Endurance” though. Distancing yourself from details like that just doesn’t make sense and erodes the proper “D&D feeling” that many people complain is lacking from this edition.

Dave: They’re big stone guys who are strong and tough. Not as fun as some of the classic D&D monsters, and far more bland than the Warforged who have got your strong and tough covered.

Dave:  ChattyDM:   Graham:  Jon:  Dante:  SR: 

Verdict: 

HALF-ORC

SR: Another Barbarian-type class, but this one a little more orc-y. It’s nice to see them back, merely for the sake of having the old crew back together. For being a Half-Orc, the class is pretty well done, though, with bonuses to strength and dexterity, and temporary hit points when first bloodied in and encounter. If I had to pick between the two, I’d take the Half-Orc over the Goliath.

Dave: The “multiple choice” background is a great way to go. I’m still a bit confused why they get Dex as a bonus stat though. I blame the Goliaths.

Dante: Like Dave, I’m confused why these guys get a Dex bonus, but aside from that I like this class. Their Furious Assault is kick-ass and their racial temporary hit points are cool too. The flavor they’ve wrapped around this class feels very authentic compared to the half-orc from previous editions.

Jonathan: Dex bonus? Oh, the 4E orcs are quick and agile; so this is in line with new orcs I suppose. Their racial abilities also are designed to stack with those of the Barbarian class features. I suppose I like them well enough, but considering it seems like they were designed to fit a particular class, I’m a bit underwhelmed.

Graham: I… I was very pleasantly surprised here. I never play Half-Orcs, but this makes me want to! While Str/Dex isn’t what I expected for Half-Orcs, it works incredibly well. The race is pretty much the embodiment of the Brutal Scoundrel Rogue, after all. And while Orcs are the quintessential Barbarian, it always seemed to me that Half-Orcs would be a bit more regimented. The stats lend themselves perfectly to Fighter, Ranger, and Rogue.

ChattyDM: I’m going to go old school here and bemoan that WotC didn’t have the guts to say that Half-Orc could be sired by a Human/Orc coupling. You can read the careful political correctness in the race’s fluff and it kinda grates on my nerve. From a mechanics perspective, the race does deliver and it brings back one missing race into the game. A perfect Barbarian and always nice to have a PC that can show some lower jaw fangs when he’s smiling.

Dave: I thought it was pretty clear that particular background was one of the possibilities, and that if you ever said that to a Half-Orc, he might smack you around.

Dave:  ChattyDM:   Graham:  Jon:  Dante:  SR: 

Verdict: 

SHIFTER

ChattyDM: This felt like it was tacked on at the last minute. You get the werewolf (for lycanthrope fans) and the cat-girl for… those into that kind of specialty gaming. I’d have preferred the rat or the bear as a second choice. Still, if expanded, I could definitively base a mini-campaign around a party of shifters who are forced to deal with a lycanthrope situation created by their common full-blood ancestors. Heck, I’d base a TV show on this and target it to the Twilight fans.

Jonathan: Furries? You’ve got to be kidding, right?

Graham: Exact same as the MM, plus a bonus language. But they’re a popular race, so they did deserve a full writeup. They didn’t do up 15 different types of Shifter, as some wanted, but the new racial feats make that pretty much unnecessary, and enable you to easily make new feats for the Shifter types not included.

SR: Different, but neat. Either wolf- or tiger-like in appearance, they have a difficult time fitting into conventional societies, which is a great opportunity to develop a backstory. I think this could be a very entertaining race to play.

Dante: Having never played Eberron, I thought this race was an interesting direction to go in. I enjoy the two different styles of shifters, however their abilities just felt a little anemic compared to some of the other races.

Dave: So Dante says he never played Eberron… how about the rest of you? Is your ambivalence a result of perhaps the assumption that the audience is familiar with them already?

Graham: Nah, I love Eberron, and the Shifters. My fiancee is playing a Shifter right now. I’m just disappointed that they didn’t take the opportunity to do anything beyond the MM for me. My MEH was more of “would this sell me on the book in any way?”, and with nothing new, no, it wouldn’t. All of the other races bring something new to the table. I would give a HIT to the racial feats alongside it, though.

ChattyDM: No, I was being PC and thinking what Jonathan said out loud. I’m not a fan of anthropomorphic animals but I understand the need for the genre. Maybe there’s just enough established D&D mythos behind shifters for me to enjoy them. I stayed at the level of Were-Wolf and Wolf-weres. Gimme a few more years.

Dave:  ChattyDM:   Graham:  Jon:  Dante:  SR: 

Verdict: 

BACKGROUND RULES

Graham: I’ve seen and tried these sorts of rules in the past. In my experience, they tend only to be used by skill-fiend min-maxers (aka: me). Back with the 3e Forgotten Realms book, I would pour over the regional feats just for that one extra bonus perfect for my character, and then ensure my character was from there. High-RP players don’t need them, min-maxers (including myself) don’t deserve them. And casual players who could go either way don’t really need the mechanical bonuses.

Jonathan: I really enjoyed reading through this section of the PHB2 as it seems like the designers are seeking to extend a hand to those players who prefer more roleplaying than roll playing. It is a welcome piece of fluff in a game that is often criticized for being overly combat focused.

Dave: It’s pseudo-power creep in giving extra free bonuses. I also don’t think it’s likely to convert anyone to thinking that 4e has a rich background system, and won’t help people who can’t think of background on their own either.

SR: I’m of two minds. I think the background scenarios provide a great opportunity for those who are looking for a little more information to help create a backstory, but for those who really get into developing their backstories, there’s not much here. I think the optional bonuses to skill checks is a little much, but they require DM approval, so it’s not just a free-for-all. I think they are most useful for the new races to which we’ve had little exposure; the backgrounds give you a little better feel for their personality and who they might be.

Dante: My players have asked for stuff like this in one form or another for a very long time, especially when their background intertwines with a setting in our campaign. Formalizing the rules are OK with me, but I certainly see the possibility for min/maxers and some power creep happening. I don’t really have a strong opinion on this one until I see it in action, though.

ChattyDM: As anything related to backstories and roleplaying, it’s useful for those who seek it and complete page waste for those who don’t. The bonuses are very conservative and are at the level of those I would give to a party of players if the campaign’s theme asked for it.

Dave:  ChattyDM:   Graham:  Jon:  Dante:  SR: 

Verdict: 

FEATS

ChattyDM: As usual, having been fed 10 years of power-creep in the 3.x books, reading the 4e feats feels like having to eat at an all you can eat boiled vegetable buffet. Still there’s quite a few here that will answer the needs of PHB classes running out of cool feat choices at around level 5 or so. I really like melee training. However, as a reader of mine recently informed me, the 2 expertise feat, being untyped attack bonuses kinda feel like a rules errata to bring back attack bonuses in line with monster defenses.

Dante: There’s a lot of great stuff in here, I like how they’ve adopted the paradigm of a feat providing increasing benefit as a character goes up in level. The feats that allow taking the best of two rolls for a certain check are excellent, Weapon Expertise is a lot less annoying now, too.

Graham: There’s some awesome shit in here. Mostly class and racial feats, but very cool stuff. The Expertise feats are… concerning? But altogether, it’s very, very good.

SR: Pretty basic showing of feats; most are related to either the new races or new classes. Not too much spectacular here, but a good utilitarian batch of feats to help characters on their way.

Dave:  ChattyDM:   Graham:  Jon:  Dante:  SR: 

Verdict: 

That’s it! Hope our discussions were useful. Thanks again to ChattyDM, Graham, Jonathan, Dante and Stupid Ranger for weighing in.