What other new racial traits could there be for humans?
And what are we thinking the new racial ability mods could be? I've already heard that Elves might become +2 Dex +2(Wis/Str). I think an obvious choice would be giving Gnomes an option to have +2 Dex in there somewhere to enhance their natural affinity for stealth.
What are the speculations on the rest (including Elves and Gnomes as I could be mistaken)? Maybe some different weapon proficiencies depending on race? Certain power modifications depending on class choice?
Thanks ^^
Am I the only one who thinks it would be rad if the new racial traits in the upcoming "Essential series" for Humans would be +1 to any 2 ability scores of your choosing?
What other new racial traits could there be for humans?
And what are we thinking the new racial ability mods could be? I've already heard that Elves might become +2 Dex +2(Wis/Str). I think an obvious choice would be giving Gnomes an option to have +2 Dex in there somewhere to enhance their natural affinity for stealth.
What are the speculations on the rest (including Elves and Gnomes as I could be mistaken)? Maybe some different weapon proficiencies depending on race? Certain power modifications depending on class choice?
Thanks ^^
As far as I know, all of the speculation about changes to the racial traits of the races released prior to the PHB 3 has been player driven. I haven't seen anything from WotC to suggest that the speculation has any basis in fact.
If they update the racial traits to go in line with the PHB 3 and Dark Sun races (and that is a big IF), then it seems likely that Humans will be the race that remains the same because they get to pick their stat bump from any of the six (in addition to the extra At Will and extra Feat).
As far as I know, all of the speculation about changes to the racial traits of the races released prior to the PHB 3 has been player driven. I haven't seen anything from WotC to suggest that the speculation has any basis in fact.
Well there have been feats for various races released that have used current racial stats plus a random third stat that has been pretty much unexplained. An example of this is the Half-Elf Adept Dilettante feat from Dragon 385 which uses Cha, Con, and Wis for its effect. The author has stated that his draft did not have Wis in it, so WotC intentionally added it for some reason.
Well there have been feats for various races released that have used current racial stats plus a random third stat that has been pretty much unexplained. An example of this is the Half-Elf Adept Dilettante feat from Dragon 385 which uses Cha, Con, and Wis for its effect. The author has stated that his draft did not have Wis in it, so WotC intentionally added it for some reason.
Might be a bit of fan-service to bring back the much-beloved Half-Elf Avenger :P.
Odd ability score bonuses have traditionally been a bad idea, and I have yet to hear an argument convincing me that this has changed.
Why are (optional) odd ability bonuses bad? I really don't get it.
Might be a bit of fan-service to bring back the much-beloved Half-Elf Avenger :P.
Nah. Eladrin avengers are the fanservicey ones. Oh, wait... was that not the kind of fanservice you meant?
;)Seriously, though, it could just be that Wisdom is the primary stat for so many classes. Con/Wis/Cha covers either the primary or secondary stat for almost every class/build in the game, making the feat useful to pretty much any half-elf who wants it. Limiting it to Con/Cha only would have made it useless to a lot of classes (rangers, most fighters, monks, seekers, most wizards, avengers, some rogues...)
Why are (optional) odd ability bonuses bad? I really don't get it.
Because of the way ability modifiers derive from ability scores. A +1 increase in an ability score either has the same effect as no increase (because it doesn't increase the derived modifier) or it has the same effect as a +2 increase (because it bumps the derived modifier up by +1).
It's actually not quite that bad, since an odd ability score increase means your level-up ability score bumps have their effect on your ability modifiers four levels earlier. But it's a non-trivial problem to assess just how much benefit a +1 bonus has relative to a +2 bonus. It's not a simple matter of it being half as good.
Why are (optional) odd ability bonuses bad? I really don't get it.
Because of the way ability modifiers derive from ability scores. A +1 increase in an ability score either has the same effect as no increase (because it doesn't increase the derived modifier) or it has the same effect as a +2 increase (because it bumps the derived modifier up by +1).
It's actually not quite that bad, since an odd ability score increase means your level-up ability score bumps have their effect on your ability modifiers four levels earlier. But it's a non-trivial problem to assess just how much benefit a +1 bonus has relative to a +2 bonus. It's not a simple matter of it being half as good.
Nearly all feats have an odd prereqisit score. 13 for most multiclass, 15 for lot's of strong paragon feats, 21 for mastery feats, there's even a few 17's. Also with the ability to raise 2 scores, and the +1 to all at paragon/epic, odd ability scores aren't really bad. Their not great, but odd ability scores arn't bad.
But, +2 to your highest score beats out +1 to 2 point buy wise (unless your aiming for 17/17).
Nearly all feats have an odd prereqisit score.
Are you serious? The vast majority of feats have no ability score prerequisite at all.
I think he means that what feats that do have prerequisites are odd numbers
That's what I thought too, AH_Stormbringer.
Having an odd ability score isn't that bad anyway. Sure, you don't get a +x bonus until you reach an even ability score, but that will come as soon as you get a +1 to all anyway.