Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Race/Class Synergy in 4e: PHB2 Classes

In my revised Race/Class Synergy in 4e post I said I would post similar analysis when I got the Player's Handbook 2. I got it, so here it is. Note that I still haven't found the time to answer the critical question of just how much the secondary ability boost is worth compared to the primary ability boost for the PHB1 classes, much less the PHB2. So for this post I'll still be using the definitions put forth by Matthew at Incredible Vehicle:

What I call a top tier combination is where a race’s bonus attributes map directly to a class’ primary and secondary. ... A second tier combo is one where a race has one attribute that maps to a primary or secondary. ... When a race has no attributes, or only a tertiary attribute, it’s third tier.

I'm going to look first at the synergies between the PHB1 races and the PHB2 classes, just because I find the classes in the book more compelling than the races. I'll be using the suggested primary and secondary abilities for the builds in the book. I'll work up a similar table for the PHB2 races and all the classes next week. Again, I'll color every top tier match green and bottom tier red, leaving second tier white. I'm again leaving out the human column because it's boring.



DragonbornDwarfEladrinElfHalf-ElfHalflingTiefling


Str, ChaCon, WisDex, IntDex, WisCon, ChaDex, ChaInt, Cha
AvengerWis, Int0111001

Wis, Dex0112010
BarbarianStr, Con1100100

Str,Cha2000111
BardCha,Int1010112

Cha, Con1100211
DruidWis, Con
0201100

Wis, Dex
0112010
InvokerWis, Int
0111001

Wis, Con
0201100
ShamanWis, Con0201100

Wis, Int0111001
SorcererCha, Dex
1011121

Cha, Str
2000111
WardenStr, Con
1100100

Str, Wis
1101000

Synergy "score"101571211
89

PHB1 "score"131010127
1010

Total "score"2325172418
1819

Wow, the dwarves get some love in the PHB2 classes. They go from zero top tier classes to tied for three with dragonborn and elves. I must admit, though, I find the actual choices kind of strange: invoker, shaman, and druid? For dwarves? Really? At least it's the blasty druid build and not the beasty one or dwarven mines might be suddenly overrun with guys turning into boars and bears...

The half-elves get their first top tier class in the valorous bard. Eladrin get the shaft with no top tier choices and fewer second tier choices than anyone else. The halflings pick up a second top tier choice with the wild magic sorcerer. I feel a 4e remake of my 3e halfling wizard/elemental savant Madgog Flameslinger coming on...

5 comments:

coolcyclone2000 said...

Awwww... tieflings got no love this time?

benpop said...

Shouldn't Tieflings get a green 2 for the Cha/Int Bard given their racial bonuses?

Anonymous said...

Tieflings do have the cunning bard build, which uses int and cha... the table is mistaken there.

But in general, the classes in this book used wisdom. That's why dwarves and elves came off so well... they're the races that get a wis bonus. There are a few exceptions, but none that are int/dex... pity the poor eladrin.

Gregor LeBlaque said...

Good catch on the cunning bard build. Not sure what happened there. Fixed.

almuric said...

I did a larger, more all-encompassing matrix. Yours is cleaner, but still, I'll throw it out there:
http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pegXOszCU96uskxlr172jIQ