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Why the 4th edition leveling system is flawed
I’ve been looking over 4th edition some more, and one thing that struck me is how flawed the leveling system is in this version. This is not an indictment of RPGs that have levels, or anything like that. Rather, it is a complaint against how 4th edition power scales as you level and what abilities are available to you.
Let’s create an example character. For this purpose, it does not matter what his stats are, what alignment he chooses, what skills he has (because you don’t gain any skills as you level, unless you take a feat for it) or what (if any) deity he follows. We’re really only concerned with what powers he has and at what levels he has them.
Because it is my example, we’re going to go with a human fighter.
At 1st level, our human fighter has:
3 at-will powers (2 from being first level, plus a bonus one from being human)
1 encounter attack power
1 daily attack power
Now, the at-will powers do not have a “power level” as they are gained at 1st level, and there are no other “at-will” powers ever given. That is to say, there is not some “at-will” power available at a higher level. Ever.
So, for purposes of this example, we can safely ignore the at-will powers from now on.
The 1 encounter attack power and the 1 daily attack power are both selected from the appropriate 1st level power lists.
Upon gaining 2nd level, our fighter gains a utility power. Because he is only 2nd level, only 2nd level utility powers are available. Therefore, his list of powers looks like this:
1 encounter attack power – 1st level
1 daily attack power – 1st level
1 utility power – 2nd level
Upon gaining 3rd level, our fighter gains another encounter attack power. His list of powers updates to this:
2 encounter attack powers – 1st level, 3rd level
1 daily attack power – 1st level
1 utility power – 2nd level.
Even though there are multiple 3rd level encounter attack powers, our fighter can only choose one of them. The retraining rules do not allow him to swap that 1st level encounter attack power for a second 3rd level encounter attack power. It only allows him to swap that 1st level encounter attack power for a different 1st level encounter attack power.
4th level – no powers added
5th level – gain 1 daily attack power, powers list looks like this:
2 encounter attack powers – 1st level, 3rd level
2 daily attack powers – 1st level, 5th level
1 utility power – 2nd level
6th level – gain 1 utility power
2 encounter attack powers – 1st level, 3rd level
2 daily attack powers – 1st level, 5th level
2 utility powers – 2nd level, 6th level
7th level – gain 1 encounter attack power
3 encounter attack powers – 1st level, 3rd level, 7th level
2 daily attack powers – 1st level, 5th level
2 utility powers – 2nd level, 6th level
8th level – no powers added
9th level – gain 1 daily attack power
3 encounter attack powers – 1st level, 3rd level, 7th level
3 daily attack powers – 1st level, 5th level, 9th level
2 utility powers – 2nd level, 6th level
10th level – gain 1 utility power
3 encounter attack powers – 1st level, 3rd level, 7th level
3 daily attack powers – 1st level, 5th level, 9th level
3 utility powers – 2nd level, 6th level, 10th level
Okay, that is, level-wise, the first third of your career. You’re 10th level, and you have 3 at-will powers (remember them?), 3 encounter attack powers, 3 daily attack powers, and 3 utility powers. While that 9th level daily attack power could be something like Thicket of Blades, which lets you deal triple weapon damage to every enemy adjacent to you, you can only use that once a day. Then you have a 5th level daily power and a 1st level daily power left.
You can’t actually get rid of that 1st level daily power until 15th level. And even then, you haven’t gained any new daily powers by that point, so you still have a power that is 10 levels lower then you (your daily power choices at 15th are from 5th, 9th, and 15th level powers.) The only thing that is going to save this from being a complete crap-fest is that the at-will powers scale a bit. They're generally twice as effective at 11th level as they were at 1st, and three times as effective at 21st as at 1st. But it may not be enough.
I think that once more people (especially in the RPGA playerbase) realize how this works, there’s going to be some very unhappy gamers…. Of course, it also means that every power choice is going to be mix-maxed for effectiveness.
Let’s create an example character. For this purpose, it does not matter what his stats are, what alignment he chooses, what skills he has (because you don’t gain any skills as you level, unless you take a feat for it) or what (if any) deity he follows. We’re really only concerned with what powers he has and at what levels he has them.
Because it is my example, we’re going to go with a human fighter.
At 1st level, our human fighter has:
3 at-will powers (2 from being first level, plus a bonus one from being human)
1 encounter attack power
1 daily attack power
Now, the at-will powers do not have a “power level” as they are gained at 1st level, and there are no other “at-will” powers ever given. That is to say, there is not some “at-will” power available at a higher level. Ever.
So, for purposes of this example, we can safely ignore the at-will powers from now on.
The 1 encounter attack power and the 1 daily attack power are both selected from the appropriate 1st level power lists.
Upon gaining 2nd level, our fighter gains a utility power. Because he is only 2nd level, only 2nd level utility powers are available. Therefore, his list of powers looks like this:
1 encounter attack power – 1st level
1 daily attack power – 1st level
1 utility power – 2nd level
Upon gaining 3rd level, our fighter gains another encounter attack power. His list of powers updates to this:
2 encounter attack powers – 1st level, 3rd level
1 daily attack power – 1st level
1 utility power – 2nd level.
Even though there are multiple 3rd level encounter attack powers, our fighter can only choose one of them. The retraining rules do not allow him to swap that 1st level encounter attack power for a second 3rd level encounter attack power. It only allows him to swap that 1st level encounter attack power for a different 1st level encounter attack power.
4th level – no powers added
5th level – gain 1 daily attack power, powers list looks like this:
2 encounter attack powers – 1st level, 3rd level
2 daily attack powers – 1st level, 5th level
1 utility power – 2nd level
6th level – gain 1 utility power
2 encounter attack powers – 1st level, 3rd level
2 daily attack powers – 1st level, 5th level
2 utility powers – 2nd level, 6th level
7th level – gain 1 encounter attack power
3 encounter attack powers – 1st level, 3rd level, 7th level
2 daily attack powers – 1st level, 5th level
2 utility powers – 2nd level, 6th level
8th level – no powers added
9th level – gain 1 daily attack power
3 encounter attack powers – 1st level, 3rd level, 7th level
3 daily attack powers – 1st level, 5th level, 9th level
2 utility powers – 2nd level, 6th level
10th level – gain 1 utility power
3 encounter attack powers – 1st level, 3rd level, 7th level
3 daily attack powers – 1st level, 5th level, 9th level
3 utility powers – 2nd level, 6th level, 10th level
Okay, that is, level-wise, the first third of your career. You’re 10th level, and you have 3 at-will powers (remember them?), 3 encounter attack powers, 3 daily attack powers, and 3 utility powers. While that 9th level daily attack power could be something like Thicket of Blades, which lets you deal triple weapon damage to every enemy adjacent to you, you can only use that once a day. Then you have a 5th level daily power and a 1st level daily power left.
You can’t actually get rid of that 1st level daily power until 15th level. And even then, you haven’t gained any new daily powers by that point, so you still have a power that is 10 levels lower then you (your daily power choices at 15th are from 5th, 9th, and 15th level powers.) The only thing that is going to save this from being a complete crap-fest is that the at-will powers scale a bit. They're generally twice as effective at 11th level as they were at 1st, and three times as effective at 21st as at 1st. But it may not be enough.
I think that once more people (especially in the RPGA playerbase) realize how this works, there’s going to be some very unhappy gamers…. Of course, it also means that every power choice is going to be mix-maxed for effectiveness.
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