Best Class Combo For Each Race [Archive] - Wizards Community

Best Class Combo For Each Race [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
opensent
11-02-06, 05:19 AM Sometimes you feel like playing a rogue. Sometimes you feel like playing a dwarf. Most builds seem to focus on character class first, with race secondary to that consideration.

From a character optimization point of view, this makes sense. But if a player wants to pick a race first, how can he or she know what classes or combination of classes are the best choices for that race?

What do you think are optimized class choices for each of the various races?

For Humans? Almost anything.

For Dwarves? Almost nothing.

What's in between? When someone says "I want to play a kick ***** half-orc," what would you tell them?
LogicNinja
11-02-06, 05:29 AM Are you kidding me? Dwarves make great just about anything. CON is always useful, they get a crapload of useful abilities... dwarven wizards are good, dwarven fighters are good, dwarven rogues are even good.

For half-orcs... uh, barbarian, or other such bruiser.
opensent
11-02-06, 05:32 AM Are you kidding me? Dwarves make great just about anything. CON is always useful, they get a crapload of useful abilities... dwarven wizards are good, dwarven fighters are good, dwarven rogues are even good.

For half-orcs... uh, barbarian, or other such bruiser.

Yeah, I was just kidding about the dwarves. They are my favorite race. I like them as rogues (aka, dwarven sapper) and fighters. You just don't seem them in the build posts for some reason.
LogicNinja
11-02-06, 05:40 AM They're short, fat, an hairy. No wonder. :P
X-Codes
11-02-06, 05:58 AM Yeah, I was just kidding about the dwarves. They are my favorite race. I like them as rogues (aka, dwarven sapper) and fighters. You just don't seem them in the build posts for some reason.
If being human counted as a flaw, you'd almost certainly see more dwarves.

For Half-Orcs, theres really only 3 things they should ever be: Barbarians, Clerics, and Monks.

For the Barbarian: Barbarian 2/Half-Orc Paragon 3/Menacing Brute 5/Full BAB 10

For the Cleric, lots of possibilities: RSoP, Heartwarder, and Windwalker are all things you can build around. The other more generic stuff (Divine Disciple, Contemplative, Church Inquisitor, etc) all can apply as well.

For the Monk: Just beat **** up.

They also make decent enough Swordsages and Crusaders in ToB, and I suppose the Strength bonus does offset the Int penalty for Warblades, but then you're basically a Human without the bonus feat...

As for the rest of the races...

Elf- Good enough gish race. Can enter PrC's requiring proficiencies with all martial weapons with a level of Warblade or Swordsage instead of Fighter or whatever else was normally used. Really, that just means Eldrich Knight nowandays (Spellsword doesn't stand a chance against Abjurant Champion).
Gnome- Killer Gnome, Melee Killer Gnome, or Druid (Gnomes actually make many of the best druids 1-20).
Half-Elf- Anything requiring elven blood that goes into melee if you aren't willing to take the elven hit to Con. Everything else is better done with another race (except the Diplomonster, but that build was overkill in the first place).
Halfling- Swordsage recently became a *very* good option for them if they want to do lots of damage. Otherwise, any build that deals damage regardless of size (Warlocks, Sneak Attackers, etc.).
LogicNinja
11-02-06, 06:02 AM For gnomes, I like going into Blade Bravo and taking all the anti-bigger-people feats, then getting a way to shrink yourself and winding up with huge AC bonuses and devastating attacks against even medium-sized creatures.
cog_and_taz
11-02-06, 07:40 AM X-codes, the Full BAB class should prolly be FB (if everyone allows) or regular old barbarian levels.
Prominence
11-02-06, 07:48 AM There's people who have not read Half-Orc Druid substition levels?

Really, except for wizard/sorcerer anything can be good at anything. The only problem with wizard is lack of hp and reliance on int/cha making half-orc and non-substition (normal) elves kind of messy.

I guess Warforged Druid sucks, too.
Daemoniss
11-02-06, 08:48 AM I guess Warforged Druid sucks, too.

No no, they are great! Of course -2 wis and cha is heavy, but they retain most of they abilities while wildshaped... things like composed plating... +2 armor to ca that can be improved! :D

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
opensent 11-02-06, 05:19 AM	Sometimes you feel like playing a rogue. Sometimes you feel like playing a dwarf. Most builds seem to focus on character class first, with race secondary to that consideration. From a character optimization point of view, this makes sense. But if a player wants to pick a race first, how can he or she know what classes or combination of classes are the best choices for that race? What do you think are optimized class choices for each of the various races? For Humans? Almost anything. For Dwarves? Almost nothing. What's in between? When someone says "I want to play a kick ***** half-orc," what would you tell them?
LogicNinja 11-02-06, 05:29 AM	Are you kidding me? Dwarves make great just about anything. CON is always useful, they get a crapload of useful abilities... dwarven wizards are good, dwarven fighters are good, dwarven rogues are even good. For half-orcs... uh, barbarian, or other such bruiser.
opensent 11-02-06, 05:32 AM	Are you kidding me? Dwarves make great just about anything. CON is always useful, they get a crapload of useful abilities... dwarven wizards are good, dwarven fighters are good, dwarven rogues are even good. For half-orcs... uh, barbarian, or other such bruiser. Yeah, I was just kidding about the dwarves. They are my favorite race. I like them as rogues (aka, dwarven sapper) and fighters. You just don't seem them in the build posts for some reason.
LogicNinja 11-02-06, 05:40 AM	They're short, fat, an hairy. No wonder. :P
X-Codes 11-02-06, 05:58 AM	Yeah, I was just kidding about the dwarves. They are my favorite race. I like them as rogues (aka, dwarven sapper) and fighters. You just don't seem them in the build posts for some reason. If being human counted as a flaw, you'd almost certainly see more dwarves. For Half-Orcs, theres really only 3 things they should ever be: Barbarians, Clerics, and Monks. For the Barbarian: Barbarian 2/Half-Orc Paragon 3/Menacing Brute 5/Full BAB 10 For the Cleric, lots of possibilities: RSoP, Heartwarder, and Windwalker are all things you can build around. The other more generic stuff (Divine Disciple, Contemplative, Church Inquisitor, etc) all can apply as well. For the Monk: Just beat **** up. They also make decent enough Swordsages and Crusaders in ToB, and I suppose the Strength bonus does offset the Int penalty for Warblades, but then you're basically a Human without the bonus feat... As for the rest of the races... Elf- Good enough gish race. Can enter PrC's requiring proficiencies with all martial weapons with a level of Warblade or Swordsage instead of Fighter or whatever else was normally used. Really, that just means Eldrich Knight nowandays (Spellsword doesn't stand a chance against Abjurant Champion). Gnome- Killer Gnome, Melee Killer Gnome, or Druid (Gnomes actually make many of the best druids 1-20). Half-Elf- Anything requiring elven blood that goes into melee if you aren't willing to take the elven hit to Con. Everything else is better done with another race (except the Diplomonster, but that build was overkill in the first place). Halfling- Swordsage recently became a very good option for them if they want to do lots of damage. Otherwise, any build that deals damage regardless of size (Warlocks, Sneak Attackers, etc.).
LogicNinja 11-02-06, 06:02 AM	For gnomes, I like going into Blade Bravo and taking all the anti-bigger-people feats, then getting a way to shrink yourself and winding up with huge AC bonuses and devastating attacks against even medium-sized creatures.
cog_and_taz 11-02-06, 07:40 AM	X-codes, the Full BAB class should prolly be FB (if everyone allows) or regular old barbarian levels.
Prominence 11-02-06, 07:48 AM	There's people who have not read Half-Orc Druid substition levels? Really, except for wizard/sorcerer anything can be good at anything. The only problem with wizard is lack of hp and reliance on int/cha making half-orc and non-substition (normal) elves kind of messy. I guess Warforged Druid sucks, too.
Daemoniss 11-02-06, 08:48 AM	I guess Warforged Druid sucks, too. No no, they are great! Of course -2 wis and cha is heavy, but they retain most of they abilities while wildshaped... things like composed plating... +2 armor to ca that can be improved! :D