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I got my hands on the PHB2 today.  There’s too much for me to cover in the whole book, so I’ll be breaking it down into three or four segments.  So far I’ve only really gotten a look at the races and racial paragon paths, so that’s what’s going to be presented here in the first part.  In the second part I’ll look at the character classes, and in the third part I’ll have a look at the background options, feats and everything else.

First, a bit about the artwork on the pages I’ve read.  The cover image is kinda dumb.  I hope that there’s some serious supernatural juju on that axe or it’s going to shatter the moment it hits something harder than humanoid tissue.  Hell, it’ll probably break regardless of what it hits.  The picture on the Character Races introductory page is just awesome.  The pictures used for each of the character race’s individual sections are interesting in that they are very detailed and feature weapon and armor designs that are actually sensible (save for the axe on the goliath’s page) and don’t disgust me outright.  I’ve been very put-off by the weapon designs in the PHB, Adventurer’s Vault and especially that little bit about tiefling weapon designs from the 4e preview books.  If only that axe on the cover were as nice. The art on the pages for the racial Paragon Paths was alright — nothing really stood out to me (except for the image accompanying the Firstborn of Moradin, which is recycled art).

The first thing other than the table of contents is the introductory page.  Skipping that, we see a fluff page for the Primal power source.  I gave it a glance and moved on (it looks nice and fluffy if that’s worth anything to you).  Next up is the Deva.

Devas have some pretty nice racial abilities and bonuses.  The encounter power that lets them add 1d6 to the result of any d20 roll they don’t like is particularly cool (reminds me of using the force in Star Wars SAGA edition — and that game deeply deserves the review I’m going to give it later on).  A good race to consider for your caster-type characters.

Gnomes aren’t too different here than as they were presented in the back of the Monster Manual.  They get to use Ghost Sound as an enounter power and they are considered fey creatures.  Not much has changed here, and most wouldn’t have it any other way.

Hell yeah, the Goliath is back!  … he could be better, really.  The racial bonuses are good enough (+2 STR & CON, +2 Athletics and Nature, +1 Will defense) and the ability to roll twice for Athletics checks (for climb and jump) and take the higher result is nice, but the racial encounter power is anticipatory whereas the two that we’ve seen thus far are reactionary.  It’s a minor action, and it has to be used prior to you taking damage.  The benefit is that you gain 5/10/15 resistance to all damage until the end of your next turn.  If you aren’t targetted or you take no damage during that time you might as well have had no racial encounter power at all.  Taking no damage at all is obviously better than taking reduced damage, but it still feels a little weak compared to the other racial powers in this book.  Other than that, they look great (and they get an awesome racial paragon path, too).  Still, +1 Will defense as a racial feature is pretty awesome.

Half-Orcs look very powerful at first glance.  They get a +2 bonus to speed when charging, like an orc.  They also get +1[w] damage on a hit once per encounter (+1d8 if the triggering attack was not a weapon) and free temporary HP when they get bloodied.  Some of the possible half-orc origin stories they have are pretty damn lame.  A piece of Gruumsh’s essence fell to the world and transformed a bunch of humans into half-orcs.  Right, that’s so much better than orcs raping humans and humans getting their James T. Kirk on.  The possible explanation of human barbarians choosing orcish mates is a good one, though.  Half-Orc is definitely a race to consider.

Shifters are exactly the same as they were in the Monster Manual, which is pretty lame.  Both types of shifter get the same ability score bonuses and skill bonuses as before and the same encounter powers as before.  Goliaths were my pick for “the least-impressive race in PHB2″ up until now; Shifters take that award easily.  As a consolation, they get a truly viscious racial paragon path.

The racial paragon paths are next in the book, and one of the first things mentioned is that half-elves don’t have one.  They instead get the Versatile Master feat, which neatly rounds out this alphabetically-sorted list.

• Adroit Explorer (Human).  All-around solid Paragon path.  If you’ve got a level 7 or lower encounter power that you just wish that you could do twice per encounter, you might want to look into this.  Also, at level 16, you get two action points after an extended rest (rather than 1).
• Ancestral Incarnate (Deva).  Lots of powers that involve specters of a deva’s previous incarnations.  Also nice is the 16th level ability that greatly aids you in ritual casting.
• Bloodfury Savage (Half-Orc).  Do you like to hit things and deal damage?  If you answered “yes,” this paragon path is just the thing for you.  I really shouldn’t have to say much more about this path – it focuses strictly on killing things.
• Fey Beguiler (Gnome).  Get training in a rogue or wizard class skill.  Learn a rogue or wizard utility power.  Additional opportunities to become invisible.  At 16th level, you start rolling twice for stealth checks and taking the better result.  This has all the makings of a short little roguizard.
• Firstborn of Moradin (DWARF).  You are one sturdy dwarf.  You have a 55% chance to turn a crit against you into a normal hit.  You gain a stance at level 12 that grants you tremorsense 10.  Your level 20 power turns you into an unmovable mini-mountain of solid DWARF.  I like this — it’s minimal on damage, maximum on toughness.  Very DWARF.  And yes, DWARF is an acronym (at least, it is now):  Dudes With Amazing Resilience and Facial-hair.
• Halfling Scoundrel (Halfling, obviously).  The level 16 ability grants combat advantage against enemies that miss due to your Second Chance racial ability.  The level 20 power works nicely with the level 16 ability, forcing one enemy to focus on you if no-one else is closer, while granting a +2 bonus to your defenses against its attacks.  The other abilities and powers are all good, too.
• Moonstalker (Shifter). This is just plain nasty.  Almost makes up for the race itself being so lackluster in comparison to the other races in this book.  You get a 1d6 damage bonus against prone enemies (2d6 at level 21 and beyond).  At 16th level, you and your allies that are adjacent to the same prone enemy get a bonus to damage rolls against it equal to your WIS mod.  Your level 20 power includes knocking your enemies prone as an effect.  Expect this paragon path to become the center of many Char-Op discussions.
• Scion of Arkhosia (Dragonborn).  You get wings and can fly (but must land at the end of your turn) by 12th level.  That’s good enough of a reason to like this paragon path, right?  No?  How about overland flight with a speed of 12 at level 16?  Well, if that’s not enough then the additional damage type on Dragon’s Breath at level 11 and several nice Dragon’s Breath powers should entice all you dragon fetishists out there.
• Shiere Knight (Eladrin).  More teleporting, and your level 16 ability gives you a +2 to all defenses whenever you teleport.  The powers are excellent and have a controller feel to them.
• Stoneblessed (Goliath). Your reach increases by 1 at level 11, and at level 16 you add damage equal to 2x your CON modifier on a critical hit.  This triggers my awesome-face reflex.  It doesn’t hurt that the powers are also good.
• Turathi Highborn (Tiefling).  Bonus to damage roll against bloodied enemies equal to 1+CHA modifier, and an additional 2d6 fire damage when you spend an action point to make an attack.  The powers themseleves seem to favor melee characters, save for one that is ranged 10 (but even a melee character can benefit from a ranged 10 power).
• Twilight Guardian (Elf). Bonuses to Perception, Group Awareness and you can ignore concealment when attacking enemies in cover.  When you spend an action point to attack, roll twice and take the better result.  At level 16 you get to ignore difficult terrain.  The powers do respectable damage and have the added benefit of restraining your foes.
• Versatile Master (Half-Elf).  Remember: this is a paragon-tier feat. Your Dilettante power can be used as an at-will power.  If you decide to do some Paragon Multiclassing, you can select 11th, 12th and 20th level powers from any class you’d like, rather than just your second class.  Not bad at all.  Oh, you can regain an encounter power you’ve already spent by using an action point, rather than attacking.

So far it’s pretty solid, with my only real complaint being the halfling paragon path’s level 20 ability.  Where’s the intimidate check involved in that power, or the marking, or the secondary attack vs. will if the first attack hits?  It really needs one of those, rather than “This guy attacks only the halfling because the halfling wants him to.”  As it is, this power makes as much sense as Warrior’s Urging and Come and Get It (more on that later).

I know some of you are distressed that this looks mostly positive thus far, but don’t you worry.  Next up is character classes.  I’ll get to rage about the druid all over again!