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| [PTU] Races as Classes; Elves, dwarves, and orcs - mers and goblins still in the works | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Oct 29 2016, 04:06 PM (1,048 Views) | |
| Solaris | Oct 29 2016, 04:06 PM Post #1 |
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Pokémon Trainer
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Races are done as classes - including counting against the class limit, and being able to take multiple racial classes. There are no racial penalties, but the race class feature must be taken at 1st level. I’m not doing all of the fantasy races out there (lookin' at you, 3.5E), just the iconic ones. True to D&D, the human’s advantage is in multiclassing - they can take four classes, while the other races are stuck with just three classes and their race. A character can have a subrace, but it must be selected at 1st level. You can take multiple subraces (at least in theory), representing a hybrid of two subraces. Subraces don't count against the class limit, as they're part of the racial class. Right now the elves are the only ones I've done more or less completely. Dwarves and orcs are posted, but I haven't worked up their subraces yet (I'm still deciding on that). Merfolk and goblins (who have gnomes and halflings as subraces) are all in the works. My major concern is game balance - I'm not looking to make humans a deeply unattractive choice by comparison to the other races, although there is something to be said for a greater degree of variability that the human characters have. DWARVES Dwarves are gruff, stubborn folk with rugged constitutions and resistance to threats mystical and mundane. They stand about four feet tall, but are so stout that they weigh as much as a human does. Dwarven men grow splendid beards, while dwarven women are as bare-chinned as their human counterparts. Honorable and loyal, dwarves are expert craftsmen and doughty warriors. Spoiler: click to toggle ELVES Elves are fair folk with keen senses and mystical potency. They are somewhat shorter and slimmer than humans, with leaf-shaped pointed ears and a delicate, haunting beauty about them. Spoiler: click to toggle ELVEN SUBRACES Thanks in no small part to their mystical, fey nature, elves are a highly morphic race that have spawned a number of subraces adapted to a variety of locales. Spoiler: click to toggle ORCS Brutish and fierce, orcs are mighty warriors with burly muscles and a lust for battle. They have grey-green skin, tusks in the lower jaw that are larger on men than women, thick skin with coarse body hair, and lupine ears. Spoiler: click to toggle
Edited by Solaris, Nov 3 2016, 09:23 PM.
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| TenabreTrevellian | Oct 30 2016, 04:29 AM Post #2 |
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Pokémon Trainer
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Interesting concept, I do like the idea. Quick things; Elven Weapons Grace increases the Attack, but then Attack becomes redundant with the feature itself then substituting with Speed. Seems odd. Love the idea of Subraces and mixing them up, however I feel there needs to be more than just "You have the Pride ability." Like, as it was you could make that a feature that just covers all elves. You've got some interesting ideas with the Elves but when it comes to the Orcs and Dwarves it just seems to be stacking abilities. Typically, a class gives one or two abilities, and even then a feature lets you pick one or another. I think it's a cool idea, but needs more flavour than number stacking. Elven Magic could have been so much more than just a +1 on Attack Rolls. Edited by TenabreTrevellian, Oct 30 2016, 04:30 AM.
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| Onidrill | Oct 30 2016, 11:19 PM Post #3 |
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Pokémon Trainer
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This is a personal problem more than a crunch related one, but something that's always irked me about Pathfinder and D & D is how much more versatile humans are from other races. I get that that's kind of the point, but it feels a lot less attractive playing another race outside of the potential roleplay flavor they provide when humans get something as powerful as a secondary feat. This dials that up to 11. You're making every non human lose out on having another class in order to a be a better Not!Human. Effectively, you could play a dwarf who's profession is... being a dwarf, which is all well and good mechanically, but feels very weak in terms of flavor. |
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| KingFox623 | Oct 31 2016, 08:23 AM Post #4 |
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His Royal Foxness
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A class is really allowed only one stat tag and it generally keeps the same stat. You've got this a bit janky right now. It's nice though. As I look through these, I understand why you set it up as a Race = Class, because some of these have some real defensive buffs. I get what Onidrill is saying, though. |
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| KingFox623 | Oct 31 2016, 08:25 AM Post #5 |
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His Royal Foxness
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And the skills tend to follow along the same lines. I get what you're doing as it allows for someone to cherry pick what race qualities they grab, but if you're going to allow that, you shouldn't let them be Class Features and instead just have it as a [RACE] tag and only allow one [RACE] tag per character. |
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| Solaris | Nov 3 2016, 09:27 PM Post #6 |
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Pokémon Trainer
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Alrighty, I've done some revisions that address some of the concerns. I'm still thwacking on the orcs to make more ideas for useful features pop out of them, and I'm trying to get those guys workable before I turn my attentions to the merfolk and the smallfolk. |
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