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4th edition review - mechanics and where they went wrong
A not so brief discussion of the mechanics of 4th edition. A book full of fail.
Okay, not a book full, but a lot of the mechanics changes and additions fall flat, especially at higher levels. Here’s a few things I really don’t like.
Your ability score modifiers play a lot less into how you build your character. A high Constitution helps with your first level HPs but has no effect thereafter. Combine that with the fact that all classes get a static number of hit points per level, and it seems lackluster and generic. For example, every level, Wizards gain 4 hit points. Not a d4 + Constitution modifier. Just a straight out 4 hit points. What this leads to is that you start with more hit points at first level, but average out to having less hit points by around 8th-10th level if your character has an above average Constitution. (It also means that if you know the Con score of a PC, you know exactly how many HPs he has.)
Here, I’ll show you. A 3.5 edition fighter with a 16 Constitution would start at 1st level with 13 hit points (maximum value of 1d10 + a Con mod of 3 = 13). That same fighter in 4th edition would start with 31 hit points (15 base + Con score of 16 = 31). Wow, big difference, right? Yes, it is. However, as both characters progress, the 3.5 fighter gains 1d10+3 every level, while the 4th edition fighter gains a static 6 hit points a level. Assuming average gains on that d10 (a five or a six, plus the Con mod of 3), the 3.5 fighter passes the 4th edition fighter in hps at 9th level. It’s only if you have a negative Con mod or a 0 Con mod that you never catch up to the 4th edition values. This change benefits all classes at very low levels, and continue to benefit Wizards for a long time…. Unless you make a Wizard who would normally have a high Con bonus.
Other ability scores are also somewhat less important. A high Intelligence no longer grants extra skill points, because there are no skill points. An average Int Wizard knows exactly the same number of skills as a high Int Wizard. (Now the high Int Wizard is going to be a bit better at those skills that use Int as their stat mod, but it’s not a huge deal, IMAO.) In fact, Wizards (and other arcane casters) no longer need a high Intelligence to cast their spells. Does it help? Sort of. It makes the spells do a little more damage.
One thing this does, however, is de-emphasize min-maxing of your character’s stats. Most defenses use a ‘whichever is higher’ aspect to is. An Example: Fortitude defense adds in your Strength Mod or Constitution Mod, whichever is higher. It’s like that with other defenses too… Reflex is Dex or Int, Will is Wisdom or Charisma. I take that back, really… because people are still going to min-max. If it was a ‘whichever is lower’, people wouldn’t min-max…. nearly as much.
Since I mentioned Defenses, let’s go into that a bit. Just like 3rd edition got rid of the old types of saving throws and went to Fortitude, Reflex, and Will saves, 4th edition mucks with things a bit too. Your Defenses are Armor Class, Fortitude, Reflex, and Will. Now, I know what you’re thinking… hey, all those sound familiar… what did they do?
Well, all Defenses are calculated like this: 1/2 level + Ability modifier + Race modifier + Class modifier + whatever else. (If it’s Armor Class, you add in the Armor value of the armor, but if it’s heavy armor, you no longer count your Dexterity mod. Being quick and nimble means diddly-squat if you’re wearing 40 pounds of iron.)
What does this mean? Well, it means that level plays into all of your Defenses. It also means that you’re going to lose an average of a 10% chance to hit something for every 2 levels it is above you. Also, because Fortitude, Reflex, and Will are Defenses, there are attacks vs. them. A weapon attack might be vs. AC, or it might be vs. Fortitude, for example.
But don’t despair… to confuse things even more, there are still saving throws! Wait, what? Yes, indeed. You see, some attacks have lingering effects (poison, acid, napalm, that kind of thing) that last until the affected creature dies, saves, or the encounter ends (usually by something fleeing for the hills). A saving throw is an unmodified d20. If you roll an 10 or higher, you saved. If you rolled a 9 or less, you didn’t (but you can try again next round). Now, I said unmodified, right? Well, like everything else in D&D, there are a few exceptions. There are a few things that modify saving throws, but if it doesn’t say “saving throw” in the description, it doesn’t count.
Now, I realize all this sounds confusing thus far, but this is actually the simple stuff. Defenses are stats on your character sheet. If you can add numbers and write them down on your character sheet, then you’re done.
What’s confusing (and ultimately the fail part of 4th edition) is skills, powers, and rituals.
Okay, skills first. Each class starts with a certain number of skills. There are a lot less skills in 4th edition then in 3rd edition. But that’s okay, you get a lot less skills too. Each class gets anywhere from zero to two automatic skills. These are things you definitely know as part of your class training (Stealth and Thievery skills for being a Rogue, for example). Some classes get to pick one of two automatic skills (Rangers choose between Nature and Dungeoneering for their automatic skill). Then you pick three or four (depending on class) more skills from your class list. (Humans get one extra skill.) Those are trained skills. Any other skills are untrained.
What’s the difference? Skill checks with trained skills get +5. Skill checks with untrained skills don’t get that +5. (Also, there are certain things you cannot do if you don’t have training in a skill, like using the Arcana skill to detect magic.) That’s it. That is the in-depth skill system. There’s nothing there. Okay, it is good in that they combined a lot of things into a smaller number of skills. And it’s a lot simpler to figure out what your skill check is, as you’re not doing five minutes of math to figure in synergy bonuses (no such thing in 4th edition), cross-class skills, etc. You either know it or you don’t.
Rituals. These are things that used to be spells in 3rd (and earlier) editions. Water Walk? Ritual. Comprehend Languages? Ritual. Cure Disease? Ritual. (And it can kill the person you’re curing.) Rituals take anywhere from 1 minute to 1 hour to cast, and can last for hours, days, or permanently, depending on the ritual. Also, any class can learn them. What’s that? Any class? Yes. However…. Only Clerics and Wizards start with the ability to cast Rituals (and a few rituals already known). Any other class has to take a feat to learn to cast Rituals and certain skills are a must for casting them successfully. So while you can have a Fighter casting Rituals, it’s going to take some doing. Also, there are no item creation feats any more… it’s all in Rituals for everything that can still be made. (There don’t appear to be what we would consider scrolls any more.)
And now, the real downer. Powers.
Powers are the guts of what each class can do. For Martial characters (Fighter, Ranger, Rogue, and Warlord) they’re called Exploits. For Arcane characters (Warlocks and Wizards) they’re called Spells. And for Divine characters (Clerics and Paladins) they’re called Prayers. But they all work pretty much the same.
Each power gives a block of information, telling you what the power does, and what, if anything, it requires to work (nearly all Exploits require a weapon), and how often it can be used.
Powers break down into four basic categories.
At-will: Use as often as you like. These powers are not big and flashy, but they are reliable.
Encounter: Use once per encounter. Must rest five minutes before using again. (A rare few powers are twice or three times per encounter.) These powers have more to them, but you can only use so many of them in a fight before having to resort to the at-will powers.
Daily: Use once per day. Must rest for at least six hours before using again. Most players are going to save these for the boss monsters or if everything goes banana-shaped.
Utility: These are the oddball powers because they can be at-will or encounter or daily, but they are kept as a separate category because they are not direct combat powers. (Mostly.)
Before adding race or class features into this (I’ll explain in a bit), all characters of the same level have the same number of known at-will powers, encounter powers, daily powers, and utility powers. Your Intelligence score does not play into the number of powers you know, nor does any other ability score.
Race and class, however can modify this. Clerics, for example, get a couple extra Encounter powers (class features like turning undead special healing powers). These don’t count against the ones that they can start with at 1st level. They’re bonus powers. Warlocks, on the other hand, have both of their at-will powers chosen for them (one by the fact that they’re a Warlock, and the other by the pact they take.) Fair? No. Tough luck, no one required you to play a Warlock. Some races get an extra Encounter power because of their race. Humans get to pick an extra class based at-will power.
But I said this was the real downer, right? So where’s that come in? Here’s where.
Based on your level, you only know a certain number of at-will powers, encounter powers, daily powers, and utility powers. As you progress from 1st to 30th level, you gain more abilities, and have the option, every level to retrain one power, feat, or skill (but just one, although some levels give you a specific bonus, say to retrain an encounter power in addition to your one pick). But you never really have that many abilities overall, and they don’t seem to scale very well.
Okay, at 1st level, notwithstanding race or class, you have 2 at-will powers, 1 encounter power and 1 daily power, all from the 1st level power lists for your class. The at-will powers are not flashy or powerful, but they’re reliable. The encounter power has some more oomph to it, and the daily power is pretty good for a 1st level character. And at first level, with what you should be fighting, these abilities are quite often, enough to do the job.
But (1) you don’t gain very many new abilities as you level, and (2) they don’t scale well.
At 30th level, the pinnacle of the game, the highest attainable rank of power… you have 2 at-will powers (yep, same number, in fact, they’re probably the same two at-will powers you had at 1st level because there’s no other at-will category powers), 4 encounter powers, 4 daily powers, and 7 utility powers. That’s it. You have 4 special (and probably high level) moves you can break out once per fight, 4 more you can use per day, and 2 “reliable, non flashy” powers. And 7 powers that do things like indirectly affect combat. (You’re not doing damage with them, but maybe you’re healing someone, or moving into position, or gaining some sort of tactical advantage or something.)
There are no feats which give you an extra at-will power (but considering that the only at-will powers for each class are 1st level, this isn’t a big deal), but there are also no feats which grant you extra encounter powers or daily powers. Let me rephrase that, because it’s not accurate. While there are feats which grant new abilities as part of that feat which can be used on an encounter basis or on a daily basis, there is no “Extra Encounter power” feat which adds +1 to the number of powers you can use in an encounter. Likewise, there is no “Extra Daily power” which gives you +1 to the number of powers you can use in a day.
What does this mean? Well, look at your 30th level party. They are probably all tricked out in gear, which is good. That gear is going to give them lots of combat bonuses, stat mods, and so forth, and they’re going to need it. Because the 30th level wizard in the group? He can cast 8 “boomer” spells during an encounter before he’s down to using his reliable, non flashy at-will spells. But wait, if the 30th level wizard is casting high level spells, he should be doing a lot of damage, right?
Well, not as such, no. Meteor Swarm, one of the big bad spells from 3rd edition… does 8d6 + Int mod in damage. Now, by 30th level, it’s possible that the Int mod of the Wizard is +10 or higher, but… 8d6. For a 29th level spell (there are no 30th level spells). And that’s a daily spell. And since the rules for wizards specifically say that they can’t memorize the same spell more than once in a day, that means that they can’t memorize 4 Meteor Swarms. And there’s only 3 29th level daily spells for wizards in the Player’s Guide anyway. Presumably, the same limitation applies to other classes’ powers as well, so Joe Fighter isn’t picking the same power 4 times for his encounter-based powers.
And Wizards actually come out slightly better than the other classes when it comes to their powers. You see, as you progress through levels, you learn new powers. But sometimes, it’s not so much learning new powers, as unlearning (or retraining) old powers into new powers. So, that 1st level encounter power you had at character creation? Eventually, you “forget” how to do that and learn a better power in its’ place. Well, I hear you cry, so what? Why continue using an old, obsolete power? Well, I’m not saying that you have to continue using it, but the idea that you forget it completely and learn something new in its’ place, which in turn will be forgotten for something else as you continue to level… well, that makes no sense. I may not use differential equations any more, but I didn’t remove the chunk of brain it was stored in to learn linear algebra.
Wizards have it slightly better in that they can at least keep all their old spells in their spellbooks. Yes, they might still be limited to a specific number of powers per day, but they can keep all their old powers in their spellbooks on top of learning new ones. All the other spellcasters (both arcane and divine) do not have this option.
Back to power scaling… I pointed out the mighty Wizard Meteor swarm doing piss-all for damage. Well, they specialize in area of effect spells. Perhaps a single-target spell would do more damage? For that, we look to the Warlock. The 29th level Warlock Spell “Hurl through Hell” does 7d10 + Con mod (yes, Con mod), in fire damage, and sends to the target to the Nine Hells briefly (until the end of your next turn). The journey to Hell doesn’t seem to do any extra damage, but when the target returns, it is stunned and prone. However, the damage is, for such a high level spell…. piss-poor. Just off the dice, you’re getting an average of 39 points of damage. Not a whole lot there.
Now, yes, there are things that add to damage. But unless you crit with that spell (yes, you can crit with spells), those extra things don’t mean much. (Side note: The major spellcasting classes, Cleric, Warlock, and Wizard have these things called implements. They are items that can give bonuses. The Cleric one should be familiar. It’s called a holy symbol. Magical versions of these implements can offer bonuses to hit and damage with all spells and/or offer extra bonuses to certain types of spells, but often only when you score a critical hit.) And critical hits do not mean double-damage. They mean maximum damage.
So unless you crit, you’re doing what I consider mediocre damage for what are supposed to be epic level characters. If you crit, you can be doing a lot more. And if all you’re fighting are normal monsters (as in non-elite or non-solo monsters… I’ll explain in a bit), that should be enough. That Meteor Swarm power can affect all monsters in a 5 square by 5 square area. But if you’re fighting a dragon appropriate to your power level?
According to the new Monster Manual, an ancient black dragon is a solo 26th level monster. The solo part means that it’s enough for an entire party on its’ own. (Whereas an elite monster means it’s about twice as tough as a normal monster of the same level.)
This dragon, which is a few levels below our theoretical 30th level party, has 1190 hit points. Now the good news is, its’ damage is mediocre too. The acid breath of this mighty dragon is a whopping 4d8+6 acid damage with ongoing damage of 15 (every turn, until and unless you save, you take another 15 points of damage). Its claw attacks are 1d10+8, and if it bites, it’s 2d8+6 plus ongoing 15.
And none of those attacks are guaranteed to hit. Just like your attacks aren’t guaranteed to hit it. So what happens in combat? Well, at low levels, where no one and nothing has many HPs, combat can be over pretty quickly. But if you’re fighting the mighty ancient dragon here, you’re going to run out of encounter and daily powers before it runs out of hit points. So, failing various gear-based gim-crackery that lets you blast the dragon, the mighty Wizard is going to be throwing Magic Missile at it repeatedly.
All in all, the concept of at-will, encounter, daily and utility powers is interesting, and can be beneficial to games where the martial characters were relegated to saying “I whack the monster with my sword” every round. However, the way they were implemented, and the perception of poor scaling does not help. It is possible that I’m missing ways for these powers to be greatly increased in damage. But as it stands, most of the high-level ones look pretty weak. Honestly, it seems less like “let’s make combat more interesting” and more like “how can we turn D&D back into a tactical miniatures wargame.
I’m more into the game for role-playing, not mini-playing or careful tactical consideration of a battle-mat, so I really think that the mechanics at the heart of the game fell flat.
Okay, not a book full, but a lot of the mechanics changes and additions fall flat, especially at higher levels. Here’s a few things I really don’t like.
Your ability score modifiers play a lot less into how you build your character. A high Constitution helps with your first level HPs but has no effect thereafter. Combine that with the fact that all classes get a static number of hit points per level, and it seems lackluster and generic. For example, every level, Wizards gain 4 hit points. Not a d4 + Constitution modifier. Just a straight out 4 hit points. What this leads to is that you start with more hit points at first level, but average out to having less hit points by around 8th-10th level if your character has an above average Constitution. (It also means that if you know the Con score of a PC, you know exactly how many HPs he has.)
Here, I’ll show you. A 3.5 edition fighter with a 16 Constitution would start at 1st level with 13 hit points (maximum value of 1d10 + a Con mod of 3 = 13). That same fighter in 4th edition would start with 31 hit points (15 base + Con score of 16 = 31). Wow, big difference, right? Yes, it is. However, as both characters progress, the 3.5 fighter gains 1d10+3 every level, while the 4th edition fighter gains a static 6 hit points a level. Assuming average gains on that d10 (a five or a six, plus the Con mod of 3), the 3.5 fighter passes the 4th edition fighter in hps at 9th level. It’s only if you have a negative Con mod or a 0 Con mod that you never catch up to the 4th edition values. This change benefits all classes at very low levels, and continue to benefit Wizards for a long time…. Unless you make a Wizard who would normally have a high Con bonus.
Other ability scores are also somewhat less important. A high Intelligence no longer grants extra skill points, because there are no skill points. An average Int Wizard knows exactly the same number of skills as a high Int Wizard. (Now the high Int Wizard is going to be a bit better at those skills that use Int as their stat mod, but it’s not a huge deal, IMAO.) In fact, Wizards (and other arcane casters) no longer need a high Intelligence to cast their spells. Does it help? Sort of. It makes the spells do a little more damage.
One thing this does, however, is de-emphasize min-maxing of your character’s stats. Most defenses use a ‘whichever is higher’ aspect to is. An Example: Fortitude defense adds in your Strength Mod or Constitution Mod, whichever is higher. It’s like that with other defenses too… Reflex is Dex or Int, Will is Wisdom or Charisma. I take that back, really… because people are still going to min-max. If it was a ‘whichever is lower’, people wouldn’t min-max…. nearly as much.
Since I mentioned Defenses, let’s go into that a bit. Just like 3rd edition got rid of the old types of saving throws and went to Fortitude, Reflex, and Will saves, 4th edition mucks with things a bit too. Your Defenses are Armor Class, Fortitude, Reflex, and Will. Now, I know what you’re thinking… hey, all those sound familiar… what did they do?
Well, all Defenses are calculated like this: 1/2 level + Ability modifier + Race modifier + Class modifier + whatever else. (If it’s Armor Class, you add in the Armor value of the armor, but if it’s heavy armor, you no longer count your Dexterity mod. Being quick and nimble means diddly-squat if you’re wearing 40 pounds of iron.)
What does this mean? Well, it means that level plays into all of your Defenses. It also means that you’re going to lose an average of a 10% chance to hit something for every 2 levels it is above you. Also, because Fortitude, Reflex, and Will are Defenses, there are attacks vs. them. A weapon attack might be vs. AC, or it might be vs. Fortitude, for example.
But don’t despair… to confuse things even more, there are still saving throws! Wait, what? Yes, indeed. You see, some attacks have lingering effects (poison, acid, napalm, that kind of thing) that last until the affected creature dies, saves, or the encounter ends (usually by something fleeing for the hills). A saving throw is an unmodified d20. If you roll an 10 or higher, you saved. If you rolled a 9 or less, you didn’t (but you can try again next round). Now, I said unmodified, right? Well, like everything else in D&D, there are a few exceptions. There are a few things that modify saving throws, but if it doesn’t say “saving throw” in the description, it doesn’t count.
Now, I realize all this sounds confusing thus far, but this is actually the simple stuff. Defenses are stats on your character sheet. If you can add numbers and write them down on your character sheet, then you’re done.
What’s confusing (and ultimately the fail part of 4th edition) is skills, powers, and rituals.
Okay, skills first. Each class starts with a certain number of skills. There are a lot less skills in 4th edition then in 3rd edition. But that’s okay, you get a lot less skills too. Each class gets anywhere from zero to two automatic skills. These are things you definitely know as part of your class training (Stealth and Thievery skills for being a Rogue, for example). Some classes get to pick one of two automatic skills (Rangers choose between Nature and Dungeoneering for their automatic skill). Then you pick three or four (depending on class) more skills from your class list. (Humans get one extra skill.) Those are trained skills. Any other skills are untrained.
What’s the difference? Skill checks with trained skills get +5. Skill checks with untrained skills don’t get that +5. (Also, there are certain things you cannot do if you don’t have training in a skill, like using the Arcana skill to detect magic.) That’s it. That is the in-depth skill system. There’s nothing there. Okay, it is good in that they combined a lot of things into a smaller number of skills. And it’s a lot simpler to figure out what your skill check is, as you’re not doing five minutes of math to figure in synergy bonuses (no such thing in 4th edition), cross-class skills, etc. You either know it or you don’t.
Rituals. These are things that used to be spells in 3rd (and earlier) editions. Water Walk? Ritual. Comprehend Languages? Ritual. Cure Disease? Ritual. (And it can kill the person you’re curing.) Rituals take anywhere from 1 minute to 1 hour to cast, and can last for hours, days, or permanently, depending on the ritual. Also, any class can learn them. What’s that? Any class? Yes. However…. Only Clerics and Wizards start with the ability to cast Rituals (and a few rituals already known). Any other class has to take a feat to learn to cast Rituals and certain skills are a must for casting them successfully. So while you can have a Fighter casting Rituals, it’s going to take some doing. Also, there are no item creation feats any more… it’s all in Rituals for everything that can still be made. (There don’t appear to be what we would consider scrolls any more.)
And now, the real downer. Powers.
Powers are the guts of what each class can do. For Martial characters (Fighter, Ranger, Rogue, and Warlord) they’re called Exploits. For Arcane characters (Warlocks and Wizards) they’re called Spells. And for Divine characters (Clerics and Paladins) they’re called Prayers. But they all work pretty much the same.
Each power gives a block of information, telling you what the power does, and what, if anything, it requires to work (nearly all Exploits require a weapon), and how often it can be used.
Powers break down into four basic categories.
At-will: Use as often as you like. These powers are not big and flashy, but they are reliable.
Encounter: Use once per encounter. Must rest five minutes before using again. (A rare few powers are twice or three times per encounter.) These powers have more to them, but you can only use so many of them in a fight before having to resort to the at-will powers.
Daily: Use once per day. Must rest for at least six hours before using again. Most players are going to save these for the boss monsters or if everything goes banana-shaped.
Utility: These are the oddball powers because they can be at-will or encounter or daily, but they are kept as a separate category because they are not direct combat powers. (Mostly.)
Before adding race or class features into this (I’ll explain in a bit), all characters of the same level have the same number of known at-will powers, encounter powers, daily powers, and utility powers. Your Intelligence score does not play into the number of powers you know, nor does any other ability score.
Race and class, however can modify this. Clerics, for example, get a couple extra Encounter powers (class features like turning undead special healing powers). These don’t count against the ones that they can start with at 1st level. They’re bonus powers. Warlocks, on the other hand, have both of their at-will powers chosen for them (one by the fact that they’re a Warlock, and the other by the pact they take.) Fair? No. Tough luck, no one required you to play a Warlock. Some races get an extra Encounter power because of their race. Humans get to pick an extra class based at-will power.
But I said this was the real downer, right? So where’s that come in? Here’s where.
Based on your level, you only know a certain number of at-will powers, encounter powers, daily powers, and utility powers. As you progress from 1st to 30th level, you gain more abilities, and have the option, every level to retrain one power, feat, or skill (but just one, although some levels give you a specific bonus, say to retrain an encounter power in addition to your one pick). But you never really have that many abilities overall, and they don’t seem to scale very well.
Okay, at 1st level, notwithstanding race or class, you have 2 at-will powers, 1 encounter power and 1 daily power, all from the 1st level power lists for your class. The at-will powers are not flashy or powerful, but they’re reliable. The encounter power has some more oomph to it, and the daily power is pretty good for a 1st level character. And at first level, with what you should be fighting, these abilities are quite often, enough to do the job.
But (1) you don’t gain very many new abilities as you level, and (2) they don’t scale well.
At 30th level, the pinnacle of the game, the highest attainable rank of power… you have 2 at-will powers (yep, same number, in fact, they’re probably the same two at-will powers you had at 1st level because there’s no other at-will category powers), 4 encounter powers, 4 daily powers, and 7 utility powers. That’s it. You have 4 special (and probably high level) moves you can break out once per fight, 4 more you can use per day, and 2 “reliable, non flashy” powers. And 7 powers that do things like indirectly affect combat. (You’re not doing damage with them, but maybe you’re healing someone, or moving into position, or gaining some sort of tactical advantage or something.)
There are no feats which give you an extra at-will power (but considering that the only at-will powers for each class are 1st level, this isn’t a big deal), but there are also no feats which grant you extra encounter powers or daily powers. Let me rephrase that, because it’s not accurate. While there are feats which grant new abilities as part of that feat which can be used on an encounter basis or on a daily basis, there is no “Extra Encounter power” feat which adds +1 to the number of powers you can use in an encounter. Likewise, there is no “Extra Daily power” which gives you +1 to the number of powers you can use in a day.
What does this mean? Well, look at your 30th level party. They are probably all tricked out in gear, which is good. That gear is going to give them lots of combat bonuses, stat mods, and so forth, and they’re going to need it. Because the 30th level wizard in the group? He can cast 8 “boomer” spells during an encounter before he’s down to using his reliable, non flashy at-will spells. But wait, if the 30th level wizard is casting high level spells, he should be doing a lot of damage, right?
Well, not as such, no. Meteor Swarm, one of the big bad spells from 3rd edition… does 8d6 + Int mod in damage. Now, by 30th level, it’s possible that the Int mod of the Wizard is +10 or higher, but… 8d6. For a 29th level spell (there are no 30th level spells). And that’s a daily spell. And since the rules for wizards specifically say that they can’t memorize the same spell more than once in a day, that means that they can’t memorize 4 Meteor Swarms. And there’s only 3 29th level daily spells for wizards in the Player’s Guide anyway. Presumably, the same limitation applies to other classes’ powers as well, so Joe Fighter isn’t picking the same power 4 times for his encounter-based powers.
And Wizards actually come out slightly better than the other classes when it comes to their powers. You see, as you progress through levels, you learn new powers. But sometimes, it’s not so much learning new powers, as unlearning (or retraining) old powers into new powers. So, that 1st level encounter power you had at character creation? Eventually, you “forget” how to do that and learn a better power in its’ place. Well, I hear you cry, so what? Why continue using an old, obsolete power? Well, I’m not saying that you have to continue using it, but the idea that you forget it completely and learn something new in its’ place, which in turn will be forgotten for something else as you continue to level… well, that makes no sense. I may not use differential equations any more, but I didn’t remove the chunk of brain it was stored in to learn linear algebra.
Wizards have it slightly better in that they can at least keep all their old spells in their spellbooks. Yes, they might still be limited to a specific number of powers per day, but they can keep all their old powers in their spellbooks on top of learning new ones. All the other spellcasters (both arcane and divine) do not have this option.
Back to power scaling… I pointed out the mighty Wizard Meteor swarm doing piss-all for damage. Well, they specialize in area of effect spells. Perhaps a single-target spell would do more damage? For that, we look to the Warlock. The 29th level Warlock Spell “Hurl through Hell” does 7d10 + Con mod (yes, Con mod), in fire damage, and sends to the target to the Nine Hells briefly (until the end of your next turn). The journey to Hell doesn’t seem to do any extra damage, but when the target returns, it is stunned and prone. However, the damage is, for such a high level spell…. piss-poor. Just off the dice, you’re getting an average of 39 points of damage. Not a whole lot there.
Now, yes, there are things that add to damage. But unless you crit with that spell (yes, you can crit with spells), those extra things don’t mean much. (Side note: The major spellcasting classes, Cleric, Warlock, and Wizard have these things called implements. They are items that can give bonuses. The Cleric one should be familiar. It’s called a holy symbol. Magical versions of these implements can offer bonuses to hit and damage with all spells and/or offer extra bonuses to certain types of spells, but often only when you score a critical hit.) And critical hits do not mean double-damage. They mean maximum damage.
So unless you crit, you’re doing what I consider mediocre damage for what are supposed to be epic level characters. If you crit, you can be doing a lot more. And if all you’re fighting are normal monsters (as in non-elite or non-solo monsters… I’ll explain in a bit), that should be enough. That Meteor Swarm power can affect all monsters in a 5 square by 5 square area. But if you’re fighting a dragon appropriate to your power level?
According to the new Monster Manual, an ancient black dragon is a solo 26th level monster. The solo part means that it’s enough for an entire party on its’ own. (Whereas an elite monster means it’s about twice as tough as a normal monster of the same level.)
This dragon, which is a few levels below our theoretical 30th level party, has 1190 hit points. Now the good news is, its’ damage is mediocre too. The acid breath of this mighty dragon is a whopping 4d8+6 acid damage with ongoing damage of 15 (every turn, until and unless you save, you take another 15 points of damage). Its claw attacks are 1d10+8, and if it bites, it’s 2d8+6 plus ongoing 15.
And none of those attacks are guaranteed to hit. Just like your attacks aren’t guaranteed to hit it. So what happens in combat? Well, at low levels, where no one and nothing has many HPs, combat can be over pretty quickly. But if you’re fighting the mighty ancient dragon here, you’re going to run out of encounter and daily powers before it runs out of hit points. So, failing various gear-based gim-crackery that lets you blast the dragon, the mighty Wizard is going to be throwing Magic Missile at it repeatedly.
All in all, the concept of at-will, encounter, daily and utility powers is interesting, and can be beneficial to games where the martial characters were relegated to saying “I whack the monster with my sword” every round. However, the way they were implemented, and the perception of poor scaling does not help. It is possible that I’m missing ways for these powers to be greatly increased in damage. But as it stands, most of the high-level ones look pretty weak. Honestly, it seems less like “let’s make combat more interesting” and more like “how can we turn D&D back into a tactical miniatures wargame.
I’m more into the game for role-playing, not mini-playing or careful tactical consideration of a battle-mat, so I really think that the mechanics at the heart of the game fell flat.
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Tim Harris
The Seeker
Time Lord
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