Okay, so why am I saying all this? Because I'm still interested in tackling this request, but it needs to be done in a realistic way. Starting next week, I will be creating a "PC of the Week". Each week I will roll up a random race and class and create both a male and female character for that combo. While I plan to keep the selection process random, I'd also like to skew the results towards combinations that are going to be more common/popular/useful. (How many of you are actually planning to play a Gnome Barbarian?) For each race, I will first focus on three to five "ideal" classes, then turn my attention to less optimal combos.
I've gone through the D&D 4th Edition PHBs and created a table based on the recommended classes for each race. Have I overlooked any popular or useful combos? Are there any core or major races/classes from previous D&D editions or Pathfinder not currently on my radar? Comment below or email me at iheartprintandplay@gmail.com.
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| Click table to view possible combinations in full |
Current list of races and their optimal classes
- Changeling - Bard, Rogue, Sorcerer, Warlock
- Deva - Avenger, Cleric, Invoker, Wizard
- Dragonborn - Fighter, Paladin, Warlord
- Drow - Ranger, Rogue, Warlock
- Dwarf - Cleric, Fighter, Paladin
- Eldarin - Rogue, Warlord, Wizard
- Elf - Cleric, Ranger, Rogue
- Genasi - Ranger, Swordmage, Warlord
- Githzerai - Avenger, Monk, Ranger, Seeker
- Gnome - Bard, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard
- Goliath - Barbarian, Fighter, Warden
- Half-Elf - Paladin, Warlock, Warlord
- Half-Orc - Barbarian, Fighter, Ranger, Rogue
- Halfling - Ranger, Rogue, Warlock
- Human - Any
- Kalashtar - Bard, Cleric, Paladin, Warlock
- Minotaur - Barbarian, Fighter, Warden
- Shardmind - Invoker, Psion, Wizard
- Shifter - Druid, Fighter, Ranger, Warden
- Tiefling - Rogue, Warlock, Warlord
- Wilden - Battlemind, Druid, Invoker, Shaman
- Warforged - Barbarian, Fighter, Paladin, Warden
Current list of classes
- Ardent
- Artificer
- Avenger
- Barbarian
- Bard
- Battlemind
- Cleric
- Druid
- Fighter
- Invoker
- Monk
- Paladin
- Psion
- Ranger
- Rogue
- Runepriest
- Seeker
- Shaman
- Sorcerer
- Swordmage
- Warden
- Warlock
- Warlord
- Wizard
Impressive setup, I like this!
ReplyDeleteTo keep this project interesting for you as an artist, I definitely think you should throw in some truly random/uncommon combos into your schedule. (Many of them have the potential to be fascinating!) That being said, as an end user who especially likes to use your pieces when introducing new players to the game, I would prefer to eventually see as many of the PHB1 combos as possible.
It's also exciting that you plan to represent both genders on these...that extra effort will make a big impact on new players being able to identify with their characters!
Thanks, Chris! Good to hear from you. =) I appreciate your thoughts. I've gotten some additional feedback as well that I should focus on some of the more common races so you definitely aren't alone in that thought. I think, at least for a little while, I'm going to target PHB1 and PHB2 races (with the possible inclusion of Minotaurs and Warforged).
DeleteHey, I am extremely excited about this :) this seems rather awesome. Although, as a 3.5 player, I would very biasedly suggest focusing on the clasess that are shared between 4e and 3.5 core :D in any case, I as a player can take your human sorcerer and play him like human warlock if I ever feel the need to, but a kalashtar warmind or something might be very specialised.
ReplyDeleteGreat work as usuall, really, I appreciate it!
Sounds great. I like your list of optimal.
ReplyDeleteWhat if you started with characters that are available with PHB1 first? The core character/race types?
Incredibly exciting stuff! This will be great for my campaign since characters changing is a common occurrence. Are you still going to create monsters? Not to try and ask too much of you or anything, since one a week will clearly be more work than you've done before.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad to hear from so many of you that this will be useful. Early on with this project, I do think I'll trend more towards races from PHB1 & 2 and then still limit what classes are made based on those races' top choices for classes.
ReplyDelete@Nick - I am still going to create monsters. In fact, I've got many plans to release new monsters in the coming months, but at this particular point in time most of my commissions lately have been for personalized adventuring parties.
One of the main problems with your chart is that as of Dragon 397 (March 2011), every race other than human gets a +2 to one ability score, then a +2 to a CHOICE OF two ability scores. You can see the full chart here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.wizards.com/dnd/files/397_Racial_Ability_Bonuses.pdf (page 2).
Interesting, that's actually pretty cool. I was not aware of that, although that's mostly because I don't keep up the content coming out of Dragon. Well, then my chart may be a little out of date, but I'll be using it as a general guideline as I try to highlight more common race/class pairings up front with less common pairings coming later on down the line.
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