Subrace Guide.

[Binkyuk]

This guide is now maintained on the Wiki at http://www.nsrealm.com/ns4wiki/index.php/Subrace_Guide.
This version is out of date


this has probably been done several times, but not recently and not by me, so i figured i'd do one.

the purpose is threefold, to point out subrace gotchas to newbies, to highlight some areas that could be improved, and to encourage some discussion.

first, our subrace implementation:
The altered stats for subraces are done by having a hidden item that gives the positive and negative enchantments required to turn the race's standard traits into the new ones. So for example to make a strongheart halfling (+2dex, -2wis, weapon finesse) from a standard halfling (+2dex, -2str, +1 universal saves) the item gives +2str, -2wis, -1 saves, weapon finesse feat.

The main problem with this comes from the fact that some things rely only on your basic stats, not your enchantment modified ones:
1. feat qualification. a strongheart halfling with strength "23" (21+2) can't take overwhelming crit. on the other hand an earth genasi with dex "11" can take dodge.
2. spellcasting. an aasimar paladin with "14" wisdom can't cast level 3 or 4 spells.
3. skill points. subrace modifications to intelligence will not affect skill points. This is a major drawback for some as unless you're a wizard or assassin (or maybe rogue), intelligence is pretty much useless for any other reason.

Also there's a maximum of +12 overall enchantment allowed by the game engine on any given stat. Normally this isn't a huge problem but in some builds that really max an individual stat it can cause major problems.

On the other hand it's worth noting that the maximum item enchantment is +6, and the bonus from bulls, cats, owls etc is 2-5, for a max of +11. This means that you'll always have a 1/4 chance of wasting 50% of your subrace bonus to a stat at epic levels, but it'll normally remain useful.

This isn't supposed to be a big rant on our subrace implementation (though it would be nice to improve it), it's more so you can understand the implications of each subrace.

As a rough estimate from personal experience your xp gain will be hit by roughly 20-25% per level of ECL.

AASIMAR:

at first glance this seems perfect for making a paladin, but it falls majorly afoul of implementation problems.
The +2 wisdom doesn't count towards spellcasting, so you'll still need to invest 4 points on the character sheet into wisdom, and for paladin there's no other great use for wisdom (maybe a monk multiclass though?).
The +2 cha seems good (paladins can always use more charisma) until you factor in the +12 maximum enchantment. an epic pally will have +6 boost from items, +4 aura of glory and +2 (at least) eagle's splendour. that's +12, so the +2 racial bonus is 100% wasted. even before you get +6 items eagles will normally give you more than +2.

On the plus side, listen and spot are always handy, as are the balanced elemental resistances. ECL2 is probably worth it for the improvements, provided you can use them.

A good race for a minor paladin multiclass where the charisma bonus is still useful, and probably excellent for a cleric with divine might/shield.

Rating: 4/5

TIEFLING:

one of my personal favourites, mostly just because of the awesome darkness (shared with drow). Favoured class rogue stacks wonderfully with darkness provided you can get ultravision from somewhere (helms if nowhere else). +2 dex is normally usable and if you're going for a high dex character you'll probably be pretty much maxing it so non-epic feat qualification isn't usually a problem. for 90% of builds -2 cha is no problem. the balanced elemental resistances are good. hide and MS are handy skills for many builds.
the only major problem is that +2 int is hard to use unless a wizard or assassin, and it doesn't contribute to skill points.
the alignment restriction can be a tiny bit annoying, especially against NPCs with smite evil.

an excellent rogue and assassin. could also make a good wizard but i've not tried it.

rating: 4/5

GITHZERAI:

not tried one of these. ECL3, so a lot to make up for from the start. favoured class monk, but -2 wisdom? +2 dex to balance it out, but still... +2 int difficult to use and no extra skill, -2 str pretty much always hurts unless you're a hard core caster. +2 persuade is totally useless. if you're a monk then the +2 taunt is also useless as all classes with taunt as a class skill are inaccessible to lawful neutral.
The spell resistance is good if you're not a pure or major multiclass monk, but apparently because of engine limits on item based SR it caps at 30ish, so becomes progressively less useful at epic levels.
The +4 ac looks nice until you realise it's deflection. this ability is 72.5% useless, giving an average ac boost of +1.1 ac averaged across levels 1-40, and is 100% useless if you're a wiz/sorc with the level 1 Shield spell.

i can't think of a single build that won't waste a good proportion of the bonus abilities. maybe a dex based rogue or rogue/monk, or possibly a wizard.

rating: 1/5

AIR GENASI:

not tried one of these, but wizard seems an obvious choice - favoured class and stats tilted in that direction. I'm a bit confused by the special ability. gust of wind cast as level 5 *sorc*, so save will be based on charisma, not intelligence. huh?
Quite a bit of lightning gets thrown around in spells and magic weapons so elemental resistance will probably come in handy.
can't complain about +2 reflex, but probably the least useful save of the three.
No extra skill from intelligence.

rating: 3/5

EARTH GENASI:

good fighter type. dex and cha can be dumped, meanwhile str and con very useful. alternatively use the dex penalty to qualify for feats you wouldn't normally and make a WM with dex "11" or dual wield with dex "13".
the barkskin is disappointing because it doesn't scale with level, so it's always +3 nat ac, this will therefore be entirely useless once you get a +3 ac amulet.
you'll have good fort anyway but +2 is always nice to have against death magic.
Not an enormous number of acid based spells but will make acid sheath less scary, and several acid based weapons in sunken isle, so elemental resistance may be somewhat useful.

(imo barkskin should definitely scale with level, it wouldn't be a disproportionate advantage)

rating: 2/5

FIRE GENASI:

not tried one of these. as air genasi speaks 'wizard', this one speaks 'sorc'. The -2 con is a bit nasty compared to air genasi's drains, but no worse than elves live with. the extra save probably makes up.
free flame lash doesn't scale with level. (also someone said they didn't gain xp for kills with it so be careful).
with flame weapon and darkfire and lots of fire based spells, fire is probably the most common element so you should get excellent value from 50% immunity.

rating: 2.5/5

WATER GENASI:

not tried one of these. favoured class monk and opposite to githzerai with +2 wis, but -2 dex - monks need both these stats so a similarly mixed reaction there. +2 con is always good, and no feat qualification problems. the subrace implementation can work for you here with the -2 dex qualifying you for feats you shouldn't, similarly -2 int doesn't impact skill points and is normally a dump stat otherwise.
free slow ability doesn't scale with level.
a *lot* of cold in frost dale, and protection from the (now igms is less devastating) popular ice storm spell, so quite good value elemental resistance.

definitely a good strength based monk in there.

rating: 4/5

DROW:

Another ECL3, so a lot to make up for. This one comes through a lot better than gith' though. The darkness is gold in itself as long as you can get ultravision, which you will if you go cleric, which is favoured class. +2 dex is 'real' as it coincides with standard elf's, as is -2 con. +2 int and +2 cha suggest a good wizard or sorc as well, and cha will help clerics more. +2 int doesn't reflect in skill points.
i've never noticed light sensitivity making much of a difference, though you can see it in action when you go close to a torch (held by player or in the wall) and it actually gets darker rather than lighter. I've never been blinded by a fireball or similar effect.
The SR is good, though if you're a cleric you'll have spell based SR anyway. Again it may cap at 30ish so less useful at epic levels.

An excellent cleric, and an even better dex based one. Also an excellent wiz/sorc, especially as you end up with a wiz/sorc with SR - a spell battling nightmare.

An expensive investment but overall quite worthwhile. Not for the faint hearted though.

rating: 4/5

SUN ELF:

not much to say. more slanted toward wizard than a standard elf, +2 int instead of +2 dex and a minor bonus to casting based skills rather than spot and search. +2 int doesn't increase skill, but that's probably not your main worry if you're maxing int anyway. No advantages to write home about but no ecl or disadvantages either.

rating: 3/5

WILD ELF:

favoured class druid and +2 wis to go with it, though wisdom will give +1 will save to any build. +2 dex is real from elf race, and you'll actually get +2 con over your character sheet selection to make up for the elf -2. -2 cha is almost always dumpable and -2 int doesn't affect skill points and is also almost always dumpable otherwise. the hide and MS skills are good and spot is always handy.
As a druid you'll hit the +12 enchantment limit with owls insight, but this usually happens anyway eventually, it'll just happen 4 levels sooner. No ECL and no great disadvantages.

A natural druid/?/sd to make use of the hide+MS bonus. a good druid in any case. maybe a good cleric/?/sd, but mind the cha hit on domain abilities.

(as a comment this race may be a bit powerful. if you look at other races str, dex and con are considered 'twice as good' as int, wis and cha, but not here)

rating: 5/5

WOOD ELF:

favoured class ranger and skill bonuses to that end. +2 dex is real from elf, as is -2 con. +2 str is good for 90% of builds. -2 int doesn't affect skill, and -2 cha only hurts animal emp for ranger, both are dumpable for 90% of builds. No ECL and no disadvantages.

the skills are very ranger, but the stat bonuses translate well to almost any class.

rating: 5/5

DUERGAR:

-2 cha over a normal dwarf, but if you're going dwarf you probably consider cha a dump stat anyway. +2 con is real from dwarf race.
immunity to poison is okay if you're not monk or druid. not sure what immunity to illusions does (phantasmal killer and wierd immunity?).
the real prize is immunity to paralysis. no hold person, no death attack, no stonehold! nothing to wipe the smile off a druid's face better than realising the fighter without freedom of movement standing in his stonehold and swinging at him is immune to paralysis.
the invisibility is handy for travelling and emergencies, especially as most fighter builds that will use duergar won't have access to it normally. useful if you're going a long way in a hurry and would use a lot of blue powder.
never noticed light sensitivity very much. see drow.
+1 listen and spot for kicks, +4 MS useful for an SD (but then you wouldn't need the invis so much...) and a bit useful for a rogue.

difficult to think of a build that uses absolutely all of the bonus abilities, maybe a ftr/rogue, but overall good value for +2 ECL.

rating: 4/5

GOLD DWARF:

not tried one of these. you'll be slightly more resistant to summons (unless the ac is deflection, haven't tried it) at the cost of dex over charisma. personally i like 12 dex for the ac even on my full plated fighters and i almost never use charisma.

rating: 2/5

STRONGHEART HALFLING:

has weapon finesse feat, but loses the standard halfling dex bonus. interesting. -2 dex from the character sheet value so good for feat qualification there, but +2 str from char sheet value, so bad on that stat - will make o-crit and other epic strength based feats more difficult to get.
you keep the hide and MS bonuses from standard halfling, meanwhile you lose the +1 universal save. no ECL.

with the contradiction of weapon finesse and standard dex, no build exactly leaps out from this, but if you want a shorty fighter but don't want the strength hit then this is probably the one. a good fighter/?/sd, but still probably not a totally awesome strength based character due to the inability to use high damage weapons.

rating: 3/5

GHOSTWISE HALFLING:

not tried this one either.
favoured class barbarian, but there's a gotcha in there. there's +2 str from the character sheet, but +6 from items and +6 from greater rage gives +12, so while raging you'll waste it, fighting at essentially -2 str compared to the same character as human.
otherwise quite nice, no strength hit, bonus dex and a penalty to wisdom, which i consider a good exchange. mind affecting bonus will help fighter types. camouflage a bonus if you can use it.

barbarian will have problems at high levels, and no other class really jumps out. if you ignore favoured class this one probably makes a better fighter/?/sd than strongheart given the dex bonus and camouflage.

rating: 3/5

KENDER:

interesting race, that i also haven't tried.
standard halfling -2 str and +2 dex intact, with -2 wis and +2 cha thrown in. the bonus skills are interesting - with our modified pickpocket the bonus charisma might make for a good 'daylight robber', though i've never tried pickpocketing myself. a hefty taunt bonus will be further improved by good charisma. immunity to fear should be somewhat handy at all levels from early undead to epic dragons
not sure if all this is worth +1 ECL, but it won't exactly break the bank anyway.

a good race for a finesse bard or bard/rogue. puts taunt to work and charisma will boost casting.

there aren't a lot of other classes that use charisma. pally is one (and can taunt) but dex based pallies aren't generally so great (you'll need str 13 to qualify for divine might/shield too) and the immunity to fear will be wasted. clerics can use charisma but the wis penalty pretty much rules them out.

rating: 2.5/5

SVIRFNEBLIN (aka DEEP GNOME):

lose the gnome con bonus and gain +2 dex and +2 wis and drop charisma through the floor. ECL3 so lots to prove.
+2 to all saves is nice, and the hide bonus and +2 dex make this gnome look a bit like a super halfling.
the blur ability is fairly useless as there are many other ways to get as good or better concealment (ghostly visage, imp invis, etc), especially if you're a wizard, as suggested by favoured class.
while it doesn't say it in the description, the +4ac is deflection like githzerai, and so as discussed in githzerai is very disappointing, even more so here as wizard is favoured class and can get +4defl ac at level 1 with the Shield spell.
the SR is good, and goes well with a wizard, as said before a wiz/sorc with SR is a spell battling nightmare, at least until level 20 when the cap of 30ish item based SR kicks in.

with the extra ac a white elephant this isn't a patch on drow for the same ECL.

rating: 2/5

HALF-OGRE:

super strength for a price.
the +4 str is the +2 from half-orc, and another +2 enchantment. the -2 int and -2 cha are inherited from half-orc. another +2 con, -2 dex and -2 wis are enchantment.
-2 dex is good for feat qualification, while +2 str isn't. +2 con is nice.
the biggest problem here is the same one mentioned for ghostwise halflings. +6 str from greater rage and +6 from items gives +12, meaning the +2 subrace bonus will be wasted whenever raging at high levels.
a hefty bonus to taunt, though the penalty to charisma really only makes it a +3 bonus.
the exact formula for discipline checks is a bit of a mystery to me anyway, so i guess i wouldn't notice the -2 penalty. it's actually only -1 from half-orc anyway because of the +2 str.
wis and cha are dump stats for a hard core fighter.

if you ignore favoured class this will make an excellent hard core fighter. maybe take a minor barb multiclass for UD and maxing taunt. the penalties to every other stat make it unsuitable for almost any other build.

rating: 2.5/5

[Myrdyr]

Thanks for this! It confirmed my experience with the subrace system. Perhaps we could get something like the following added to the regular sub-race documentation:

Subrace bonuses to character statistics do not apply to:
1. feat qualification. a strongheart halfling with strength "23" (21+2) can't take overwhelming crit. on the other hand an earth genasi with dex "11" can take dodge.
2. spellcasting. an aasimar paladin with "14" wisdom can't cast level 3 or 4 spells.
3. skill points. subrace modifications to intelligence will not affect skill points. This is a major drawback for some as unless you're a wizard or assassin (or maybe rogue), intelligence is pretty much useless for any other reason

[Kromix]

Also there's a maximum of +12 overall enchantment allowed by the game engine on any given stat. Normally this isn't a huge problem but in some builds that really max an individual stat it can cause major problems.

On the other hand it's worth noting that the maximum item enchantment is +6, and the bonus from bulls, cats, owls etc is 2-5, for a max of +11. This means that you'll always have a 1/4 chance of wasting 50% of your subrace bonus to a stat at epic levels, but it'll normally remain useful.

Leto scrip would help... can modify hard code the bonuses to make them base, not modded... *pokes* *pokes*

it also lets the devs change the actual appearances, and wings, like for plane tuched and such... great for the ecl :/ lol
oh and liek glowing monk eyes for monks above so many lvls
i'm not sure which one is it but i think it's this one...
http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Ot ... ail&id=664

[Myrdyr]

Rumor has it that spell resistance is capped at 32 from the subrace abilty of Githzerai, Drow, and Deep Gnome. Can anyone verify this? Can we get it documented?

[Donan]

http://www.nsrealm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?t=2647

ask and ye shall receive

/edit but sr maxes at 30, forgot about that not 32

[Kromix]

Also there's a maximum of +12 overall enchantment allowed by the game engine on any given stat. Normally this isn't a huge problem but in some builds that really max an individual stat it can cause major problems.

On the other hand it's worth noting that the maximum item enchantment is +6, and the bonus from bulls, cats, owls etc is 2-5, for a max of +11. This means that you'll always have a 1/4 chance of wasting 50% of your subrace bonus to a stat at epic levels, but it'll normally remain useful.

Leto scrip would help... can modify hard code the bonuses to make them base, not modded... *pokes* *pokes*

it also lets the devs change the actual appearances, and wings, like for plane tuched and such... great for the ecl :/ lol
oh and liek glowing monk eyes for monks above so many lvls
i'm not sure which one is it but i think it's this one...
http://nwvault.ign.com/View.php?view=Ot ... ail&id=664

noone cares? lol *poke* *poke* it makes the subrace stats permanent, not modded

[Flailer]

We'd like to - it's a little more complicated and the tools to do it are still questionable...and it'd require a wipe probably. But, it's still being explored.

[P. Fricebottle]

Yeah, I noticed you didn't give any of the halfling subraces a rating over an average 3. You're mainly counting on damage with the strength when thats not the halflings thing. With a dex build, you can get some good barb, sd, or figther builds with high AC. I got a ghostwise barb/rog/sd build that works great. I think strongheart would be more along the lines of 4/5 with a good dex build, after all you get free weapon finesse.

[Binkyuk]

ah. someone *did* read it. from the lack of replies i thought it'd gone unnoticed. anyway...

while i didn't mention it, for comparison the standard species for each race rates about 4/5.

Yeah, I noticed you didn't give any of the halfling subraces a rating over an average 3. ... With a dex build, you can get some good barb, sd, or figther builds with high AC. I got a ghostwise barb/rog/sd build that works great. I think strongheart would be more along the lines of 4/5 with a good dex build, after all you get free weapon finesse.

looking again i'd probably rate ghostwise higher (i was jaded by greater rage not working very well with it), but i stand by my average opinion of strongheart. you get weapon finesse but then you lose the usual halfling dex bonus, which isn't so great. standard or ghostwise halfling is probably better because you get higher dex.

[lougha]

feat qualification. a strongheart halfling with strength "23" (21+2) can't take overwhelming crit. on the other hand an earth genasi with dex "11" can take dodge.

So if this works both ways, will that effect class availability. For instance, the Wood Elf has a -2 to INT. Would a base of 13 (end result 11) still allow you to take expertise? Could you than use WM class with a modified INT of 11? I understand you'd still have to spend the points at creation, but the option would be there right? On first glance I though that a Wood Elf would have to start off with an INT of 15 at creation to be eligable for WM...

Also, the how does the modified CON effect HP bonus?

and last question... I assume that the favored class works as the regular racial favored classes (exp penalty) Is that a safe assumption?


Long Live Neversummer and Long Live [TC]

[Celorn]

feat qualification. a strongheart halfling with strength "23" (21+2) can't take overwhelming crit. on the other hand an earth genasi with dex "11" can take dodge.

So if this works both ways, will that effect class availability. For instance, the Wood Elf has a -2 to INT. Would a base of 13 (end result 11) still allow you to take expertise? Could you than use WM class with a modified INT of 11? I understand you'd still have to spend the points at creation, but the option would be there right? On first glance I though that a Wood Elf would have to start off with an INT of 15 at creation to be eligable for WM...

YES, all stat and skill point adjustments by subraces do NOT effect the base for feats or spells -- so if you have 13 base int, you can take expertise, even if the subrace lowers int by 2, you also get skillpoints based on the 13 int at levelup...

So the negatives don't effect levelup, but the positives DO (in a way) since you need a BASE strength of 23 for OC, and you can't use for example, the Wild elf's + to hide and ms to get shadowdancer earlier than you would normally, nor can you use a subrace +2 to say; wisdom to get higher level cleric spells sooner...

Also, the how does the modified CON effect HP bonus?

and last question... I assume that the favored class works as the regular racial favored classes (exp penalty) Is that a safe assumption?

Long Live Neversummer and Long Live [TC]

Any subrace bonuses DO effect things like CON/HP bonus, spells per day, AB and AC adjustments with DEX, STR and/or WIS (for monk) etc... but they do not effect spell level (another levelup effect) but at the same time you wouldn't want to take a race that has a negative bonus to your spell or ab effective stat unless you had some crazy mutliclass build in mind.

as for the racial favoured classes... you do get a bonus xp for leveling-up your favoured subrace-class, but not sure about penalties...?

[lordvan52681]

No penalties for not picking your favored class, but the bonus for picking is so nice, that not gettingit almost seems like a penalty =P

[lougha]

could someone shead light on how sweet this bonus is? is it flat per level, or % based, and how much?

[Donan]

10%

[Death Dealer1]

thought it was 100 per lvl for favored bonus.