Thank you Dice of Doom.
Will work them into the storyline soon.
Races
Like much of 4E, the PHII races have a mix of new (like the Deva) with old (such as Gnomes). No worries.
Deva
The overall idea is alright, a perennially reincarnated being, and the racial abilities are fine. Overall, the race is pretty neat. However… it’s an Int/Wis race, which has strange side effects. It makes them pretty poor Clerics and Paladins, and quite good Wizards: none of this fits the concept of the Deva. Fortunately, they do fit the new PHBII Divine classes a bit better. Unfortunately, the Deva kinda ties you in to a certain roleplaying concept.
Gnome
I like Gnomes: I had a very fun 3.5 Gnome Bard. This 4E version of the Gnome really is very good, and gives them distinguishing abilities to make them unique, and not just a cross between Halflings and Elves. As an advantage, their abilities are perfect for a Bard. Yay!
Goliath
Eh, brute force and survivability. They’re like 1/2 giants, or 1/4 giants, or something. I don’t like the overall concept, and I would wonder whether they’re a bit too powerful. Str/Con plus damage resistance… plus some Athletics rerolls. They seem a bit too perfect for Barbarians.
Half-Orc
I like what they’ve done with Half-Orcs. They’ve given them bonuses to Str and, interestingly, Dex, allowing them to be a bit more versatile in class choice than in previous editions (umm… Barbarian… and… umm…). Their abilities give them a bit of extra survivability and hitting power: this is excellent if you want a Striker with a bit of Defender, or Defender with a bit of Striker. Overall, pretty good, although not really my cup of tea.
Shifter
Now, a race for those who, uh, want to be a lycanthrope? There are two types, with a few similarities: a Wis bonus, and a racial power that aids survivability. The “main” difference between the types is Str or Dex bonus: it just depends on how you want to do things. Obviously the Wis bonus leans towards Divine classes. The Dex/Wis combo was already covered by Elves, but the extra survivability of the Shifter makes it a bit safer to wade into combat. Overall, I think it’s a good addition, allowing a bit more versatility in race options. The thematic issues are good or bad, depending on your view: like the Deva, it ties you in to a particular roleplaying concept.
Overall
The PHBII mostly gives some pretty nice additions to the race pool.
Classes
This is where the fun begins.
Overall comments
Heavy armour is already pretty poor in 4E, and this book makes it worse. Why? Five of the eight classes in this book give you bonuses for not wearing heavy armour. Admittedly, some are casters… anyway, it’s not really good or bad, just interesting.
I’m afraid I simply don’t like the Primal stuff, and I never have… playing a Barbarian or whatever has just never appealed to me. However… I don’t like all the Primal classes equally, so I suppose they’ve done a decent job at making the Power Source unique.
Avenger
Role: Striker
Power Source: Awesome Divine
I love this class. I’m itching for a chance to play one: it looks really fun. For anyone who’s played the Warcraft III expansion, this class is like the Warden:
Not to be confused with the Warden class, later in this book. Heh.
Anyway, what this means is you get to focus on a single target, laugh at their attempts to flee, teleport around the place, and generally have a fun time.
From a design view, I like what they’ve done. They’ve managed to make a Striker that doesn’t use the same method as the 3 PHB classes (extra damage dice). Instead, the Avenger does no extra damage, but can reroll attacks against their chosen target. To balance this, you can only have one chosen target (your “Oath of Emnity” target… Oathed?), and you can’t change this target unless the creature dies, or you use a certain rather handy Level 2 Encounter Utility power to switch it.
Like a lot of classes, they’ve screwed up and made one option better than the other. You can choose Censure of Pursuit or Censure of Retribution, but, well, Pursuit just helps you kill people who run (how often does that happen?), but Retribution gives you free damage against your Oathed target when other creatures hit you. Yeah. You’re either an idiot or a masochist if you choose Pursuit. Retribution isn’t overpowered, Pursuit is just underpowered. Same thing happened with Swordmage Aegises in the Forgotten Realms Players Guide, and, as you will see, Bard does the same. *Sigh*
The Powers have a very nice mix of stuff, with damaging, teleporting, a few defensive things, and a few very cool abilities where you do something nuts, like draw your Oathed target into an epic duel in some pseudo-plane, isolating you from the rest of the combat… probably handy for isolating the Dragon for a turn while your buddies heal and regroup. There’s also several which penalise people who are trying to hit you, but aren’t your Oath target: this could make you a pseudo-defender, if you’ve got the HP to take a few hits.
Paragon Paths fine, but… honestly, what’s with a PP which focuses on a specific weapon (Hammer) when the ENTIRE CLASS has no weapon preferences??? Although… could be excellent for a Dwarven Fighter multiclass.
One thing to note: I was discussing this class with Rupert (editor/contributor) and he pointed out that the roleplaying concept they give you, being a holy assassin, is pretty restrictive. You live only to kill. I’d recommend trying to expand the concept a bit, or redo it, because otherwise the Avenger could be a little… one-track.
[For those of you interested in learning more about the Avenger class, Wil Wheaton played an Avenger in the Penny Arcade campaign podcast recently. You can find it here.]
Barbarian
Role: Striker
Power Source: Bad Hair Primal
Okay, I know Barbarians are all about raging, but every single Daily Attack is a Rage! It just feels overused, and you can’t even have multiple Rages on at the same time. If you need to go nova and blow all your Dailies at once (like, say, you’re fighting a DRAGON), all you can do is expend them for some measly extra damage, which isn’t anywhere near as exciting as the Dailies of some other classes.
Other than that… they’re a Striker, right? So, you’d be wanting some extra damage or hit bonus or something? Nope, they’ve just fiddled with the actual Powers to give some descent damage, with a level 1 Encounter power dealing anything up to 3[W]. The At-Wills are reasonably interesting; although, Devastating Strike seems almost strictly inferior to Howling strike. It uses d8 bonus dice instead of d6s (tiered, so average +1/+2/+3 damage… pretty minor) but if you’re not raging you basically suffer -2 to all Defences, and Howling Strike can be used on a Charge and, if Raging, extends your charge. Huh?
All that said, they’ve done a good job at making the Barbarian more playable than the 3.5 version. Since Rages are initiated with attacks, you no longer waste a turn initiating them, and you no longer have to worry about paperwork for being winded afterwards. Plus, some of the Rages are decently interesting, and your choice of them really will change the character, which is excellent.
Paragon Paths alright, and there’s a Frenzied Berserker one for those who liked that in 3.5 (for the uninitiated, the main feature is an ability to not die when you should).
Not my cup of tea, but, hey, it feels like a Barbarian, which I suppose is the point.
Bard
Role: Leader
Power Source: Magic! Arcane
Yes. Yes yes yes yes yes. Although… what’s with the pictures? (Not that you can see them, but I’ve got the book in front of me.) We have a… Tiefling, a Dragonborn, a seriously-pansy Gnome, and, um, someone who looks like a Fighter with a form of facial rash. The only decent picture is the worried-looking girl under the War Chanter Paragon Path, and she doesn’t look especially Bard-ish. Oh, and it’s a Virtue of Valor Path, which, as you will see, is pointless, since Virtue of Cunning is totally better. *Sigh* Go pick up your 3.5 PHB, leaf to the Bard entry, and look at the cool Gnome. Yeah. Okay, lets continue, with that in your mind.
From the overcomplicated Fighter/Thief/Druid in 1st Edition, to the Roguish-With-A-Wizard-Spell-List in 2nd and 3rd Editions, now in 4th Edition we finally have a Bard which is actually unique. Yay!
Okay. I’ll start with the bad. Firstly, you can choose as many Multiclass Feats as you want… but that’s really not that handy. Better one you throw in a feat which changes Multiclass powers to your stat (umm… either this book or Arcane Power, I can’t remember), and, well, if you are a Half-Elf, but overall pretty meh.
Secondly, the so-called Virtue choice is a non-choice. You can choose either:
- Virtue of Cunning: Slide friends when allies miss them; or
- Virtue of Valor: Give a few Temporary Hitpoints (which half your friends already have, and they don’t stack), every time an enemy is reduced to 0 hp or Bloodied
Guess which happens more often? Thus, guess which is better? Yeah. Sneak peak of my Arcane Power review: the new Bard Virtue in that is even worse, triggering something quite lame only once per encounter.
So, we’ve got a Cunning Bard; fortunately, the stats for that match perfectly for a Gnome, so I’m happy.
That was the bad. Now, the good.
Firstly, we’ve got Bard-specific Rituals, making the class even more unique. You can also perform one ritual per day for free, encouraging their use. We’ve got Wands, so we don’t have to wave our lutes at everyone we’re trying to cast at, and we’ve got some pretty neat Powers.
Unlike, say, the Warlord, the Bard has a good mix of both buffs for your buddies, and debuffs for your foes. Basically, the Bard seems to have nabbed a lot of the neat Enchantment-like stuff that the Wizard lost (although Irresistible Dance no longer Irresistible; go figure). Like with the ever-so-few exclusive Bard spells in 3.5, there’s some neat stuff. They’ve also mixed in some Weapon powers, so the Bard concept of being a pseudo Fighter/Wizard/Rogue is actually right now: you can accomplish something in melee.
As the Paragon Paths… there’s a multiclass-focused one, which is actually pretty need. There’s a Fey-ish one, which looks pretty pansy. There’s a sound and thunder one, which looks silly, and there’s a Virtue of Valor one which is actually pretty good, but you need the Virtue of Valor, and, well, we’ve already established that Cunning is better most of the time. However, with the Racial Paragon Paths, the ability to grab PPs from other classes, and Arcane Power, there are some decent choices for a Cunning Bard, if you look around.
Overall, I like the new Bard, and they’ve done a nice job of making the class finally Unique, and also, for the first time, a truly valuable member of the party (without resorting to cheese).
Druid
Role: Controller
Power Source: Hippy Primal
A far cry from its whompingly overpowered 3.5 incarnation, the Druid is a little confused.
The new Wild Shape ability is, yes, weaker than 3.5’s Wild Shape. So weak, in fact, to be a little dull, and you can’t get creative with it. Now, Wild Shape was a very confusing, requiring some serious errata (along with Polymorph), and was horribly broken, mainly because of Natural Spell: a CORE PHB Feat which allowed them to cast in animal form. Now? Now is different. To do anything more interesting that simply assuming a basic combat form, you have to waste your Power choices on certain Daily Utility powers. Sorry, but sometimes, getting free class features as you level up really is the way to do things. On the bright side, you don’t have to waste a turn to Wild Shape any more.
That said, you now have more things that you can do in Wild Shape, since there are dedicated powers for when you’re in your Beast form. Since you can seamlessly switch between Beast and normal form, as much as you like, this doesn’t really cramp your style. Whether you favour Beast or normal Powers will change how your character plays: all the Powers are Controllery, but the Beast ones have more damage, making you more of a secondary Striker, whilst the regular powers are a bit more Leaderish. Interestingly, there’s occasionally some neat synergy between Powers, encouraging you to switch between the forms and mix up your attacks a bit.
This multi-form thing does help the Druid in being a bit more versatile. This may be particularly useful for smaller parties who can’t really cover all the roles properly. Even in larger parties, different encounters call for different abilities, so it’s pretty neat there, too. In addition, you get 3 At-Wills (from a choice of 8!), exactly one or two having to be Beast Powers. Again, a move which encourages use of the Druid’s real distinguishing feature, Wild Shape.
Naturally, as you would expect, there are Paragon Paths focussed on both Beast abilities and normal ones. They’re pretty general, which is good for ensuring that there’ll be something fine for any character.
Overall, the Druid is pretty nice; like the Bard, the Druid feels a bit more unique in 4E, rather than just being a caster who is also a bear. Quite nice.
Invoker
Role: Controller
Power Source: GOD POWER Divine
Ooh, we start moving into the strange ones.
The Invoker is interesting, although I feel like there’s not much to say on it. It feels a bit like a cross between the Wizard and the Cleric, with maybe a bit of 3.5 Cleric thrown in. Basically, Cleric for those who don’t want to be Leaders.
It’s got some pretty nice Controller abilities, but more ally-helping than the Wizard or Druid. There’s also some nice Conjurations and Summonings, and, although the Wizard does get some of these in Arcane Power, it’s still pretty nice.
Unlike the other two Controllers so far, there isn’t much elemental damage, which is probably a plus. Lots of Radiant damage will probably make the Invoker rock in a campaign with lots of Undead.
I honestly can’t think what else to say. I’m not screaming about it, but, if you liked 3.5 Clerics and don’t like the 4E one, this may be the class for you.
Shaman
Role: Leader
Power Source: Magic Mushrooms Primal
This class is pretty wierd. Basically, you have this Spirit Pet (uh, sorry, Spirit Companion) which runs around, and a LOT of the Powers either need, or get better when, your Companion is next to them. This is pretty interesting… feels a little like the Guild Wars Ritualist, but that’s not necessarily bad.
The Shaman is fragile. Really fragile. Like, AC 12 + ½ level fragile. Fortunately, you can stick at the back and the Spirit Companion can be your proxy. It doesn’t get hurt unless it takes a chunk of damage at once, and, like all Conjurations, it’s immune to Area and Close attacks.
I’m guessing that once you start playing the class there’ll be some skill to ensuring the Spirit Companion is in the right place at the right time. Whilst you can dismiss and resummon it in a single turn, it’ll take 2 Minor Actions to do so. Anything that encourages tactical thinking is good, as far as I’m concerned. There’s probably also a trick to using the basic Healing power: unlike all the other Leaders, it makes the target spend a Healing Surge… but gives the bonus HP to someone else. Good to see differing mechanics, though.
Overall, the Shaman seems to be a pretty decent class for anyone who wants to try something a little different.
Interestingly, I read a suggestion that if you don’t like the thematic idea, there’s some interesting ways to reflavour it. Consider, perhaps, a Dwarven Shaman whose summons the spirits of his ancestors to aid him in battle.
Sorcerer
Role: Striker
Power Source: Yes Arcane
The Sorcerer, being an Arcane Striker, is what some think the Warlock should have been, although such people don’t understand the power of Warlock debuffs. Anyway, they’ve branched away from being the 3.5 Wizard-but-not-quite-and-actually-worse to a unique class: uniqueness is always good.
The Sorcerer has two options, which affect a reasonable amount of stuff, but not as much as I would have liked. You can be either Draconic (meh) or Wild (woo!). Okay, sure, if you like the Draconic stuff, fine, but the Wild options seem like pure FUN. The Draconic stuff seems to give more buff and debuff options, and is more reliable, but who needs reliable? Now, some people will remember the table-rolling nightmare of 2nd Edition Wild Mages, so relax: most of the Wild stuff is merely dependant on whether you roll an even or odd number to hit, plus some strange effects when you roll a 1 or 20.
That aside, there are some fun looking spells. Chromatic Orb is BACK, and better than ever: it’s more like the pre-4E Prismatic Spray, with a random effect, and it’ s only level 1, and a darn good Daily at that. Other that, the Sorcerer is the Wizard for people who want to blast. Unlike 3.5, it’s not horribly inefficient, and there are enough interesting effects from spells to make it more than a dice-rolling contest.
The Wild Mage Paragon Path deserves a special mention, with some more wacky random things, including the first ever “Area burst 1d4″ spell.
Anyway, I like that the Sorcerer has been remade into a unique class which is quite different from its Wizard roots. It has damage, it has crazy random effects, and it has fun. I reckon it’s a good class.
Warden
Role: Defender
Power Source: Primal. Again.
Eh. This class feels… un-unique. Maybe it’s just me, but it just feels like a Defender version of the Barbarian. Instead of the Daily Attacks being Rages, you’ve got Forms, which behave pretty similarly. You can’t even sacrifice a Form for anything (and they don’t stack), so you basically can’t spend multiple Forms in a single Encounter unless you realise you chose the wrong one. Go go Power Swap Feat.
Still, the class does have a few things going for it. The Warden doesn’t really have Defences quite like a Paladin or a Fighter, but has more HP and gets extra rolls to Save from Save Ends effects. Still, I reckon the main thing going for it is the Primal theme, and that’s why people will choose it.
I can’t say much more. I don’t like the Warden, but, some people seem to…
Overall
Some of the new classes are pretty nice (Avenger! Woo!), but I think the PHB’s main strength is the new versions of the old classes. The new unique feel of them is quite good.
