Mordokai
2010-03-27, 07:07 AM
Any comments on the new WR article in Dragon 385?
For me, it cements half elves as one of the most awesome races out there. Sure, they don't have quite the versatility humans have or quite the elven grace, but they have a little bit of both and they manage to combine it in the best way possible. The fluff of the article is enjoyable, tho perhaps a little bit on the goody good side again. While this doesn't bother me personally since I like to play good characters, the way the article makes it look, you'd think there are no evil half elven adventurers (or evil half elves at all) out there.
As far as the power options go... I like some of the new feats. Defending Dabbler is an awesome feat and in concordance with Pyschic Lock and multiple targets powers with Psychic descriptor (Winged Horde comes to mind) enables you to effectively put a -4 penalty to attack rolls of multiple targets. In fact, most of the new racial feats look really neat and powerful, with perhaps the sole exception of Group Vigor. I mean really, one hit point? Perhaps I'm reading something wrong, but why would anybody take it? Sure, in the course of thirty levels I imagine this feat will cover for quite some milage, but not everbody plays for that long. So I can't shake the feeling I'm missing something here. Would somebody care to explain it to me?
And then we get to the racial paragon path. Oh god, I love this one! Dabbler Action gives you a free use of your Dilettante aquired power when you spend an action point. If you made it at-will through the Versatile Master (which you really should), this is a great benefit. Well-Rounded gives you training in any two skills and Broad Dilettante gives you another at-will power from class other than yours. That means that a half elf can have four at-will powers at level 16. I'm loving it!
Powers... level 11 and 12 aren't anything great, but nice. Sure, Practiced Dilettante gives you extra damage to your Dilettante aquired power, which I guess is good if you're striker and nearly useless if you're controller or leader. Situational at best, but that's my complaint with much of 4E. Still, damage boost is never really a bad thing, but far from winning button. Not too shabby, for encounter power. Skill Dabbler gives you training in skill in which you're not trained, once per day, for an encounter. Again, situational, but I bet it will save somebody from a tight spot. And it fits well with a fluff presented.
Then we get to Infinite Reflections. This is where the fun stars. It's basically a stance that allows you to use an at-will power from any of your allies in ten squares, once per day. You use your own statistics, granted, but that's not really a big problem. I'm loving this stance for the possibilites it opens to you and would take Polymath for this stance alone, if nothing else.
All in all, I can say that this article really hit the sweet spot. It opens a great deal of possibilities for half elves and it now it really enables them to shine. Too bad they still have a reputation of being poster childs, back from 3.5. But now they need no longer stand in shadow of humans and elves and I'm liking that a whole lot.
For me, it cements half elves as one of the most awesome races out there. Sure, they don't have quite the versatility humans have or quite the elven grace, but they have a little bit of both and they manage to combine it in the best way possible. The fluff of the article is enjoyable, tho perhaps a little bit on the goody good side again. While this doesn't bother me personally since I like to play good characters, the way the article makes it look, you'd think there are no evil half elven adventurers (or evil half elves at all) out there.
As far as the power options go... I like some of the new feats. Defending Dabbler is an awesome feat and in concordance with Pyschic Lock and multiple targets powers with Psychic descriptor (Winged Horde comes to mind) enables you to effectively put a -4 penalty to attack rolls of multiple targets. In fact, most of the new racial feats look really neat and powerful, with perhaps the sole exception of Group Vigor. I mean really, one hit point? Perhaps I'm reading something wrong, but why would anybody take it? Sure, in the course of thirty levels I imagine this feat will cover for quite some milage, but not everbody plays for that long. So I can't shake the feeling I'm missing something here. Would somebody care to explain it to me?
And then we get to the racial paragon path. Oh god, I love this one! Dabbler Action gives you a free use of your Dilettante aquired power when you spend an action point. If you made it at-will through the Versatile Master (which you really should), this is a great benefit. Well-Rounded gives you training in any two skills and Broad Dilettante gives you another at-will power from class other than yours. That means that a half elf can have four at-will powers at level 16. I'm loving it!
Powers... level 11 and 12 aren't anything great, but nice. Sure, Practiced Dilettante gives you extra damage to your Dilettante aquired power, which I guess is good if you're striker and nearly useless if you're controller or leader. Situational at best, but that's my complaint with much of 4E. Still, damage boost is never really a bad thing, but far from winning button. Not too shabby, for encounter power. Skill Dabbler gives you training in skill in which you're not trained, once per day, for an encounter. Again, situational, but I bet it will save somebody from a tight spot. And it fits well with a fluff presented.
Then we get to Infinite Reflections. This is where the fun stars. It's basically a stance that allows you to use an at-will power from any of your allies in ten squares, once per day. You use your own statistics, granted, but that's not really a big problem. I'm loving this stance for the possibilites it opens to you and would take Polymath for this stance alone, if nothing else.
All in all, I can say that this article really hit the sweet spot. It opens a great deal of possibilities for half elves and it now it really enables them to shine. Too bad they still have a reputation of being poster childs, back from 3.5. But now they need no longer stand in shadow of humans and elves and I'm liking that a whole lot.