Post by Josiah on Sept 11, 2011 7:23:52 GMT -9
4.0 is the system that I have the most experience with. While not technically my first edition, it was the first edition I really got to play a lot with. That said, the game is still unbalanced in a few places, so unless further information is presented to make me change my mind, there are a few adjustments I like to house rule in my personal 4.0 campaigns.
Races
Half-Elves gain the Versatile Master feat in the heroic tier automatically. Half-Elves have always been underpowered, and even with the errata on their racial stats, this remains true. The Versatile Master feat finally gives them something nice, and gives people a reason to play them.
Minotaurs retain their Oversized racial ability from the Monster Manual. They're seven foot tall beast made mostly of muscle. Even if they're not Large size per se, why wouldn't they be able to wield bigger weapons than a human?
Kobolds can be a player race - yes, this includes Shifty. I like to think Dexterity is their primary racial adjustment, with Constitution or Charisma as their secondary racial adjustment. Charisma allows them to make good Chaos Sorcerers, and one of their early monster templates was even called the Wild Mage.
Classes
Clerics who take Healer's Lore gain Plate Armor Proficiency (and thus, Scale Armor Proficiency as well). They're a close-range mostly-melee class and their armor is crap. The Battle Cleric's Lore is a much better option, though I think the +2 shield bonus is supposed to apply to Reflex (like all other shield bonuses) and not just AC.
Shamans can apply their extra healing from Healing Spirit to an additional ally, or to the original target. At low levels, healing three or six points of damage is absolutely pitiful in all situations save death - and seriously, if they're dying, I think they need more than a d6. The split nature of this power only becomes useful in the mid-paragon to epic tier.
Warlock Curse damage is equal to the Rogue's Sneak Attack damage: 2d6 in heroic, 3d6 in paragon, 5d6 in epic. Warlocks are the weakest of all the Strikers, and while they also tend to have slightly better defenses, this helps bring them a little closer up to snuff. Hexblades are a different story.
Any class with a fixed-stat companion can apply their feat and/or item (not the specifically named 'feat' or 'item') riders to their AC and damage to their pet's AC and damage. Beastmaster Rangers are the weakest of all the Rangers because so much damage comes from feats and magic items that don't cross over from master to beast, to say nothing of all the additional status effects that can be attached. I *think* they do take into account proficiency, half-level and enhancement bonuses though. Sentinels, while not meant to be strikers, face the same problem. This does not include summons.
Races
Half-Elves gain the Versatile Master feat in the heroic tier automatically. Half-Elves have always been underpowered, and even with the errata on their racial stats, this remains true. The Versatile Master feat finally gives them something nice, and gives people a reason to play them.
Minotaurs retain their Oversized racial ability from the Monster Manual. They're seven foot tall beast made mostly of muscle. Even if they're not Large size per se, why wouldn't they be able to wield bigger weapons than a human?
Kobolds can be a player race - yes, this includes Shifty. I like to think Dexterity is their primary racial adjustment, with Constitution or Charisma as their secondary racial adjustment. Charisma allows them to make good Chaos Sorcerers, and one of their early monster templates was even called the Wild Mage.
Classes
Clerics who take Healer's Lore gain Plate Armor Proficiency (and thus, Scale Armor Proficiency as well). They're a close-range mostly-melee class and their armor is crap. The Battle Cleric's Lore is a much better option, though I think the +2 shield bonus is supposed to apply to Reflex (like all other shield bonuses) and not just AC.
Shamans can apply their extra healing from Healing Spirit to an additional ally, or to the original target. At low levels, healing three or six points of damage is absolutely pitiful in all situations save death - and seriously, if they're dying, I think they need more than a d6. The split nature of this power only becomes useful in the mid-paragon to epic tier.
Warlock Curse damage is equal to the Rogue's Sneak Attack damage: 2d6 in heroic, 3d6 in paragon, 5d6 in epic. Warlocks are the weakest of all the Strikers, and while they also tend to have slightly better defenses, this helps bring them a little closer up to snuff. Hexblades are a different story.
Any class with a fixed-stat companion can apply their feat and/or item (not the specifically named 'feat' or 'item') riders to their AC and damage to their pet's AC and damage. Beastmaster Rangers are the weakest of all the Rangers because so much damage comes from feats and magic items that don't cross over from master to beast, to say nothing of all the additional status effects that can be attached. I *think* they do take into account proficiency, half-level and enhancement bonuses though. Sentinels, while not meant to be strikers, face the same problem. This does not include summons.