Community

vaerdhdragonkin wrote:

I greatly appreciate the few replies to my post. It heartens me to know that there are still players interested in assuming racial roles as a challenge, or because they find them interesting.

You're very welcome.

I have some Saga Edition PbP games going on, in fact, where I am playing a Kushiban and a Bothan, respectively (you can see the games in my sig, and look up the races on Wookiepedia). Fun times.

And yes, I made a character with a race that gets -4 Str and +4 Dex... and pumped my stats into Str. :P

As for my thing for lizardfolk, well... Let's see.
1. They have awesome faces. I mean, come on. You see a person walking down a street with teeth like those, and just try and tell me it doesn't fill you with awe.
2. Their scales. They can come in all sorts of patterns, and so they're always very interesting to look at. Imagine a neat-freak lizardman who kept his scales polished at all times...
3. Tails. It's just fun to imagine all the things that can be done with those things (and the pain they cause when trying to sit in chairs!).
4. They're not mammals. Sorry, guys! No boobs for you! :P
5. They're generally not seen as 'accepted' by most (if not all) humanoid races. One of these guys walking into town almost always causes a commotion. Fun times...

xmen510 wrote:

About Eric Anondsons' post:

That would be interesting. You could get bonuses based on race and even class (depending on the direction you want to go with it). Then just make the checks vs. dc with said bonuses for stat checks without the stats themselves. No worrying about 18 = +4 + 4th and 8th level bonus of 1 each now equal 20 which equals ?. It would just be +2 race +3 class (if in) +1 level = +6. Very simple and streamlined. I like it.:D

Well, the benefit of existing 3d6 ability scores is that statistically it creates a bell curve distribution weighted toward average abilities. Just using stat bonuses would practically force the use of point-buy for character generation. I'm not saying they wouldn't take that approach -- perhaps they'd consider that a fairer means of creating characters -- but it does have ramifications.

vaerdhdragonkin wrote:

You know, I have to ask . . . aside from mechanical advantages (racial bonuses & abilities), why is everyone clamoring for non-humanoid/monstrous races to be core? Or are we hearing primarily from the powergaming/munchkin community in this regard?

Yes. How dare a player choose something for abilities. In my games I actually had someone who wanted... get this... wanted to play a fighter! The audacity. Warrior for him (that was my high powered game, 15 point buy campaign, otherwise he would be stuck in commoner, of course). Just like this other player who wanted to be a rogue... why couldn't she be happy with her expert.

... and don't get me started about the 'swordsage'.

Eric Anondson wrote:

What are the odds that with the streamlining of play that 4e will ditch ability scores altogether in favor of only using bonuses and penalties?  Frankly, I think ability scores are a scared cow that are due for sacrifice in the name of streamlining.

In 3e/3.5, races get a +2 to the Str or Con score, which then needs to be translated into a +1 bonus. Ditch the whole translation layer for 4e.

We'd have something like a dwarf that gives a +1 to Con and –1 to Cha. The hypothetical statblock for a character would look like:

[INDENT]Str +2
Dex +1
Con +3
Int +1
Wis –1
Cha –2[/INDENT]

Now, while I agree that this idea may streamline certain aspects of the game, it would, as has been noted, have some substantial consequences on the game. Admittedly, we know next to nothing about how exactly they are revamping the mechanics of the game, so many of these may be moot points, but in the meantime...
Example A: Poisons. By switching to a simple bonus system, it would lead to an environment where poisons would either have a TREMENDOUS effect (1d4 con damage... *bleep* *bleep* you rolled a 4?!? I'm at 2 hp from 40 and i haven't even taken any damage yet! Wait, and I have to make ANOTHER save in a minute? Welp, I'm hosed.) or would have to use a non-scaling system, making some poisons arbitrarily devastating (simple poisons simply do 1 stat damage, followed by 1 a minute later... but then have little room to scale up with, as 4 stat damage followed by 4 stat damage to any character is crippling, especially when you only have 5-10 points, from average to exceptional, to lose).

Example B: Carrying capacity. Now, admittedly this is something I fully expect they either streamlined or made an optional rule. It was frankly one of the only things MORE complicated than grappling to keep keep track of, and easily one of the least important things to an enjoyable game session. However, switching over to a pure bonus system would certainly leave less room to scale with, and it would also lose some of the RP flavor that the half points could add in. What is the difference between a 14, a 15 and a 16 strength? Well, a man with a 15 strength may not be enough stronger than the man with the 14 strength to make a difference when he is swinging a sword, but you could certainly see a difference when you were looking at the two side by side, and if you put all three in a row you could see that the man with the 15 strength, while he may not be as strong as the man with the 16, one could certainly tell he was closer to that level of physical development than the man with the 14.

Now, as for the discussion on the potential of having a MM version of monsters and a player version. First of all, if you look at the origins of this current racial paradigm, it has been quoted as being a derivative of both the racial substitution/feats system introduced in the various supplements for 3.5, and of the racial levels concept. Well, if you look at the racial levels variants, all they did was break down the racial abilities into a scale that could be taken as player levels as an alternative to a normal class level.

In this new system, this seems to be incorporated in the basic game system. This would seem to led itself towards a more modular approach to the game in general. Now, given that the indications are that entries will be shorter rather than longer, I would propose that we may see something along the lines of monster stat blocks which look something like a condensed racial level chart, allowing dms to scale monsters up or down to allow for more or less advanced monsters (aww, its a baby beholder... IPE, it still has eye rays), most likely with a racial favored class built in. This would also allow DM's to strip the base class out of the monster block and replace it with another, resulting in a subspecies with a totally different feel (a rust monster with a rogue base instead of fighter to go along with its monster abilities? Can you say sneak attack rusting grasp?). Simply pair this stat block with a representative monster already stated out and ready to run and you have a quick, efficient monster block with an absurd amount of customization possible for the DM.