How you guys balance Features Races from the Advanced Race Guide ?
One of my player wanted to be an Aasimar and it seems pretty more powerful than any core race. Having a +2 for two stats, darkvision, resistance and all that.
Its says you should check with your DM to be sure he's confortable with that. Thing is I'm the DM and not sure how to deal with this.
I'm used to 3.5 and level adjustment was a good hint to know how powerful was a race.
You guys have any advices ?
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Yes and No. It is a Strong Race, specially if combined with Blood of Angels that opens up the variant Aasimars with different ability score bonuses. As DM you could work with the player to bring it more in line if you feel it is too strong.
Could make it humanoid instead (as Native Outsider does give it immunity to a few spells) and make its ability bonus +2 Any as opposed to +2/+2 without a penalty. But in some cases these changes could make the race even more powerful.
A human with Dual Talent will have nothing except for those two +2 but the Aasimar have much more. Anyway, the player accepted my DM's decision (For him, DM is like a god lol) and so, the character will be a core elf :P
In addition, I checked the Advanced Race Guide Race Builder chapter and all core races have from 8 to 11 RP and the Aasimar have 15. I guess that is some kind of hint of their power.
Well, even Humans can have a +2 to two stats, with the Dual Talent alternate racial trait.
Yep, but that's actually pretty much proof that the aasimar are overpowered. The humans give up everything for that. With blood of angels, aasimar just get it. For free. And then a bunch of other goodies.
If you don't allow Blood of Angels material, then the aasimar is mostly balanced, except for some few classes.
Well, even Humans can have a +2 to two stats, with the Dual Talent alternate racial trait.
Yep, but that's actually pretty much proof that the aasimar are overpowered. The humans give up everything for that. With blood of angels, aasimar just get it. For free. And then a bunch of other goodies.
If you don't allow Blood of Angels material, then the aasimar is mostly balanced, except for some few classes.
Personally, I would take it as proof that Dual Talent is a very bad value as a trade-off.
Yep, but that's actually pretty much proof that the aasimar are overpowered.
Not necessarily. The aasimar are forced to take two specific stats, Wisdom and Charisma, as their +2 bonus. Generally speaking, most builds don't utilize both Wisdom and Charisma; its often one or the other in terms of optimization. Humans, on the other hand, can gain a +2 bonus to any two scores that they want.
If you're matching up the two scores to those of the aasimar, yes, the assimar is always going to be on top. But if you're matching them up to get two abilities that the aasimar can't select, such as +2 Strength and +2 Constitution, then it starts to get a little nicer.
Generally speaking, versatility almost always weaker than specialization because a versatile character has more options.
Check out the Subraces section. There's a good sub-race for many, many classes. If nothing else, Archon-born is amazing for just about anyone, as it boosts HP and Fort/Wis.
And then you get things like the Oracle's FCB, combined with Agathion....and things get really good.
I think if the Aasimar had a -2 penalty to an ability score, it would be in line with the other races. As it is, it stands a bit above.
Eh, I wouldn't say Aasimar are too overpowered. Humans getting a bonus feat ranges from slightly worse to slightly better than getting +2 to a stat. They also essentially have +2 to Intelligence for non-Intelligence based classes from the extra skill point. Resistances are nice, but I don't feel they are good enough to make much of a difference. Darkvision on the other hand, is a great boon.
Aasimar resistances are also a bonus that tapers off in usefulness as you level. Five points of resistance is great at level 1, but by level 10 you're hitting the point of "I took 45 points of damage from the lightning bolt instead of 50. Yay."
People also forget the other reason why humans are better than Aasimars: favored class bonuses. Especially for sorcerers. Humans thoroughly outclass almost all of them except the Aasimar Oracle FCB. I'd disallow that one possibly.
Half-elves are better too. They get Paragon Surge and the Human FCBs. They also get access to more racial archetypes.
Elves make better wizards, the most powerful class in the game.
Half-Orcs can be Scarred Witch Doctors.
Aasimars aren't really that much more powerful than any core race. They are adaptable to a build. Like how Azata-blooded Aasimars make better bards than almost any other race. But isn't really the same as saying "I wanna build a rogue therefore I'm going Halfling which is designed to make excellent rogues." They get the -2 to STR but who cares? It doens't really matter. Every race that has a dump stat the isn't CON will be a class that doesn't need it. That's why Dwarves become Clerics instead of Oracles.
The featured races are really not any more powerful than the core race.
For most builds, the Human has them all beat.
I used to think that... Nowadays, I think Half-Orcs and Half-Elves are better than humans for most classes. And Dwarfs are at least as good as human, just not as versatile.
Humans are still damn good for classes that are both feat and skill starved, such as Cleric, Paladin, Summoner* and (to a lesser extent) Druid.
* Although that half-elf FCB is really good.
I find getting anyone to consider a gnome or halfling to be futile. Why oh why do they both get a strength penalty and a charisma bonus? They don't have the correct FCB to make good sorcerers or oracles, I suppose gnome heavens oracles and halfling archer paladins are really good choices, but not all core races are created equal. Dwarf, Elf, Human, Half-Elf and Half-Orc all see some use in our group. Aasimar, Teifling, Catfolk, Drow, Fetchling, Kitsune, Samsaran, Orc and Merfolk all generate interest as well. The hardest part of GMing for many people is losing control of the protagonists, this is just a symptom of that.