4th edition D&D is the spice of life #1

As I prepare for my first game of 4th D&D as a player I have a small problem. I have no damn idea who or what to be.

This is very alien to me as previous incarnations were simple choose a non-elf, non-1/2ling and only try a gnome one time. That was simple. Then it was a matter of what non wizard character did I want to be (minus the few times as a diabolical necromancer).

This new edition has a plethora of character races beyond the usual and even more classes. Now there were several classes in 2nd edition, but they were just a tiny twist on the established fighter,mage,cleric and thief.

I can now roll up anything from the know and typical fantasy races or I can go all crazy and throw out a minotaur, goliath, deva, shardmind, shifter ( Even though they are all trash and trouble. I learned that from True Blood), tri-kreen, drow ( for all you Drizzt fanboys) and the list just keeps going.

Then there are the classes and now there are descent differences between what seem to see similar classes. A fighter is a fighter, but a warlord is a completely different type of fighter. Wizards,sorcerers and warlocks are all spellslingers, but their mechanics are very different.

What does all this mean? Well that , for me, 4th D&D is the definition of spice o' life....a lot of variety.





I have narrowed my race choices down to a few, after that I have to grab a class and have a trio that have my interest. Still I need a race first, then I'll pick my battlefield job.

HUMAN

The default and easy choice. There is nothing snazzy here. It is the easiest to play since I am one. They also get a few nice perks right out of the door: a bonus feat and a few ability score buffs are what jump out at me.

1/2 ELF

Sure this goes against my usual zero elf policy, but I see it as half-human. Positive thinking right there in action yo! The ability to choose one at-will power from any class to use as an encounter power is very interesting. It also leads to some cool tactics and combos.

TIEFLING

Now it starts to get interesting. Would I like to play a demon? Not really, but some sort of demon spawn? This has Ian!!! written all over it. Strangely their ability scores have buffs to charisma and that bothers me, since I always see that stat as the "I'm pretty!" score. I guess it is more influence, speaking and leadership over looks for these 1/2 demon guys. A demon spawned character might be a bit too much to try, but it might be fun.

WARFORGED

Who doesn't want to be a robot? Well now you can roll one up....in a fantasy setting. Now these are metal, organic an magical constructs, not true robots. Still they are viable and usual be as a race. Thank the Ebberon setting for them. An official killbot for a character does appeal. However, it might be difficult to work in why I'm around and besides killing all humans (and making chili) what would I do? A hard race to try and role play, but possible coolness factor of 11 for sure.

VAMPIRE
No just shitting you people. There was a time and place for this to be great, but sadly that was about 20 years ago. Way too fan boy here and I don't want any "sparkle" comments please.

REVENANT

Now here is the chance to play the undead that I want. My favorite race to use when I was in Azeroth and now I could roll one in D&D. Sure I'm not alive, but I'll at least look like it. You have to think more Crow (without the face paint,soundtrack and sadness) and less Walking Dead. I see more of a Legacy of Kain (a fantastic PS1 game and huge influence for me) and less gothy lameness. Plus it would be easy to play depending on the class. A very possible choice here for sure.

These are my big choice's for a character race. Now I can narrow it down a bit more when I roll some dice for stats and then a choice might be a bit easier. Well then I just have to pick a class.............