Hero Builder's Guidebook (continued)

Alright, let's move on to the next section, which is easily the largest in the book, taking almost half of the page count. This is the Race & Class section. It starts off with some archetype personality traits for each of the core races; dwarves are dour, heart, stalwart and focused, while halflings are quick, sneaky, acquisitive, and aware. Nothing too world-bending here. The next bit gives the ability modifiers for each race, but also includes what those changes actually do for each race, which is a nice touch. For example, the elf has +2 Dex and -2 Con, which gives the character a +1 AC, +1 attack with ranged weapons, and -1 hp per level. Gnomes, meanwhile, have +2 Con and -2 Str, so they get +1 hp per level, -1 attack and damage in melee, and reduced carrying capacity. This is a good way to help new players visualize what the different races will actually look like in game play. Excellent inclusion.

Next we get the race-class combinations. After you've chosen your race, it's time to choose your class. Now, this is radically different from earlier editions, where your race restricted what classes you were allowed to take; dwarves couldn't be wizards, half-orcs couldn't be druids, and gnomes could only be illusionist wizards rather than generalists. In 3rd edition, this was completely eliminated, and any race could be any class. So, this section is quite useful for new players, or even long-time players from older editions who weren't used to the idea of half-orc paladins or dwarf bards.

Each race gets a brief writeup of each class, in alphabetical order, which includes a brief intro, racial advantages and disadvantages for choosing that particular race-class combo, advice on how to set your ability scores, and one or two 'variants' that use the class as a base, but give an opportunity to further define the character. For example, the human barbarian has Young Brave or Castaway as variants. Both have the same basic class abilities, but their personalities will certainly be different, and so will their skills; each variant gives a list of suggested skills as well.

Now, humans were never restricted as to their class except for a few unofficial classes from sources like Dragon magazine that were restricted to demihumans, so there's nothing new in this section for players of human characters, except the variants and the advice. Bards can be jesters or skalds; clerics can be village priests or crusaders; druids can be hedge druids; fighters can be caravan guards, and so on. Of course, you are not obligated to choose any of these variants; they're just suggestions to help give your character a bit of color and guide your skill selections.

It's in the dwarf section that things really get different for older players of earlier editions. Even as the introductory text states that dwarves are suspicious of arcane magic, there's still information on how to play a dwarf wizard or sorcerer. And unlike humans, there are actual racial advantages and disadvantages for dwarves (and other races) due to their ability score adjustments and their special abilities. For example, the dwarf barbarian's racial advantage is his higher Constitution, which gives him extra hit points, while his disadvantage is his tendency to lawful alignment, making barbarians incongruent with the larger dwarven society. Meanwhile, the dwarf bard gets no special racial advantage, but his reduced Charisma is a decided disadvantage for a dwarven bard.

For elves, the weird classes include barbarian and monk. Elf barbarians do have low-light vision to help them maneuver at night, as well as bonuses to Search, Spot and Listen, which helps with hunting. However, they get a Con penalty, which affects not only the barbarian's hit points but also his raging. Meanwhile, the elven monk gets an advantage from his Dex bonus, which raises his Armor Class (always handy when you don't actually wear armor), but again that Con penalty can hurt. Naturally, elven wizards are common, even typical; wizard is, after all, their favored class.

Gnomes are a cross between a dwarf and a halfling, really. But they have that extra-special gnome ability of bonus illusion casting if their Int is at least 10. Gnome paladins are an interesting option; they have a high Con, giving them additional hit points, as well as bonuses to Listen checks and bonuses against illusions. However, they have a lower Str, making their combat ability slightly less. Meanwhile, a gnome sorcerer is a bit of an interesting choice; there are no racial advantages or disadvantages for this combination, and most gnome sorcerers are likely to focus more on illusion and enchantment spells rather than the flashier evocations.

Half-elves are caught in the middle, and are expected to look at the options for the race that raised them. So, a half-elf raised by humans would look at the human section at the beginning for variants, while a half-elf raised in the woods by his elven parent would look to the elf section. Not that complicated.

Half-orcs, on the other hand, are much more complicated. Most of these classes are very, very new to half-orcs, who weren't even included in the core 2nd edition rules anyway. So, while barbarian is the half-orc's favored class, there are plenty of other options available for them that were never open to them before. A half-orc bard would be quite a sight, but since their Int and Cha both have penalties, it's a tough road to hoe. On the other hand, a half-orc paladin gets darkvision and a Str bonus to help in combat, while a Cha penalty affects their paladin special abilities negatively. Of course, I created a half-orc ranger way back to show the changes in the new rules, so you can always look to him as an example if you want.

Finally, there are the halflings. Sneaky and stealthy, they don't typically make good barbarians or paladins, but you can certainly play one if you want to. A halfling fighter actually does get some interesting bonuses since they have small size (which makes them harder to hit and gives them a bonus to hit larger creatures) and an improved Dexterity, which helps with AC and ranged weapon combat. Their Strength is lower, which means they make better ranged fighters than melee. And their small size means some weapons simply aren't available to them. On the other hand, a halfling wizard makes an interesting choice as well. Again, their Dex is their biggest advantage, and there's no disadvantage to being a wizard as a halfling since your Str penalty isn't going to impact you all that much.

And that's it for this section. I can't stress enough how useful this would have been for newcomers to 3rd edition with the different ideas and role-playing hooks for each race-class combination. My only wish for this book was that it should have been released earlier than December; September would have been ideal. Still, it's a handy reference for players.

Next up, we'll finish the book with the remaining sections. See you then.