Top 5 Encounter Powers that Need Fixing in 4e

[cdrcjsn]

Here is a short list of encounter powers in 4e that I think need fixing.

#5 Unicorn’s Touch (Arcane Power, Swordmage Utility 6) – This power allows healing without using any healing surges. Surgeless healing isn’t supposed to be that common at these levels, and most healing powers like this at these levels usually only work while bloodied. In actual practice though, the effects are minimal. Being forced to rest due to a lack of healing surges is quite rare and the limitless healing is only able to be done outside of combat. So this power breaks the mechanics, but isn’t really all that broken in terms of character effectiveness, making it the last power on this list.

#4 Storm of Blades (PHB2, Barbarian Attack 13) – You get an attack for each point of your constitution. Barbarians (and the fighters/rangers that MC just to get this power) can afford to have at least an 18 Con by this level to easily get 4 attacks. Any power that allows you to attack the same target multiple times needs to be carefully examined, since the static bonuses you can stack for a single round of attacks can greatly magnify the base power. It is possible to kill a single monster in one round with this power, and it’s better than many of the other encounter powers even up to epic levels.

#3 Righteous Rage of Tempus (PGtF, Channel Divinity Feat) – A minor action to auto crit on your next hit? Seriously, what were they thinking? Compare this to any other feat and you can see the discrepancy in power. If there is a feat that says, “if you hit with your next attack, add 30 points of damage”, it would never be approved, which makes me wonder how this one got through R&D. Whole builds have been created to take advantage of this feat, involving Paladins, Clerics, and Avengers wielding high-crit weapons.

#2 Guileful Switch (Martial Power, Warlord Utility 6) – As a minor action, you switch initiatives with an ally, netting the party an extra set of actions. As a daily power, this would still be good. I’ve seen people MC into the warlord class just to get this power, which immediately rings warning bells in my head. Directing the movement of allies is one of the warlord’s shticks. Now it seems they can manipulate time as well as space. One step closer to becoming a Q I suppose.

#1 Rain of Blows (PHB, Fighter Attack 3) – A potential 4 attacks against a single target and we encounter the same problems as Storm of Blades. Except that this time, it’s a 3rd level power! This is as good as some epic level encounter powers that the Fighter has in terms of dealing damage. Static bonuses can stack to ridiculous amounts, often dwarfing the weapon die, and multiple attacks against the same target exacerbates the discrepancy. If an epic level fighter needs to think twice about replacing a power he got when he was 3rd level, then that power definitely needs to be looked at for balance issues.

What’s in your list of encounter powers that you think need fixing?

[Sinfire Titan]

Cascade of Blades, and any power like it, need to be errataed to match TOme of Battle's Avalanche of Blades (unlimited attacks, but each one after the first takes a -4 penalty and you stop attacking the instant you miss).

[cdrcjsn]

Yeah, I agree. Any power that lets you stack attacks against a single target is unbalanced given the amount of buffs you can stack in a single round of attacks.

[Artanis]

Yeah, I agree. Any power that lets you stack attacks against a single target is unbalanced given the amount of buffs you can stack in a single round of attacks.

No, multiple-attack powers are not imbalanced, for one simple reason: it's the end effect that matters, now how you get there. Yes, multi-attack powers have a fundamental advantage over single-attack powers, but each power must be taken on a case-by-case basis because said powers can (and DO) have other aspects that change their relative strength.

Rain of Blows is not imbalanced because it has multiple attacks. It's imbalanced because the end effect is a stupidly high amount of damage, easily comparable to a level 9 Daily. Anything doing that amount of damage would be imbalanced regardless of how many attacks it takes to do it.

[Decoy Lockbox]

Here is a short list of encounter powers in 4e that I think need fixing.

#5 Unicorn’s Touch (Arcane Power, Swordmage Utility 6) – This power allows healing without using any healing surges. Surgeless healing isn’t supposed to be that common at these levels, and most healing powers like this at these levels usually only work while bloodied. In actual practice though, the effects are minimal. Being forced to rest due to a lack of healing surges is quite rare and the limitless healing is only able to be done outside of combat. So this power breaks the mechanics, but isn’t really all that broken in terms of character effectiveness, making it the last power on this list.

#4 Storm of Blades (PHB2, Barbarian Attack 13) – You get an attack for each point of your constitution. Barbarians (and the fighters/rangers that MC just to get this power) can afford to have at least an 18 Con by this level to easily get 4 attacks. Any power that allows you to attack the same target multiple times needs to be carefully examined, since the static bonuses you can stack for a single round of attacks can greatly magnify the base power. It is possible to kill a single monster in one round with this power, and it’s better than many of the other encounter powers even up to epic levels.

#3 Righteous Rage of Tempus (PGtF, Channel Divinity Feat) – A minor action to auto crit on your next hit? Seriously, what were they thinking? Compare this to any other feat and you can see the discrepancy in power. If there is a feat that says, “if you hit with your next attack, add 30 points of damage”, it would never be approved, which makes me wonder how this one got through R&D. Whole builds have been created to take advantage of this feat, involving Paladins, Clerics, and Avengers wielding high-crit weapons.

#2 Guileful Switch (Martial Power, Warlord Utility 6) – As a minor action, you switch initiatives with an ally, netting the party an extra set of actions. As a daily power, this would still be good. I’ve seen people MC into the warlord class just to get this power, which immediately rings warning bells in my head. Directing the movement of allies is one of the warlord’s shticks. Now it seems they can manipulate time as well as space. One step closer to becoming a Q I suppose.

#1 Rain of Blows (PHB, Fighter Attack 3) – A potential 4 attacks against a single target and we encounter the same problems as Storm of Blades. Except that this time, it’s a 3rd level power! This is as good as some epic level encounter powers that the Fighter has in terms of dealing damage. Static bonuses can stack to ridiculous amounts, often dwarfing the weapon die, and multiple attacks against the same target exacerbates the discrepancy. If an epic level fighter needs to think twice about replacing a power he got when he was 3rd level, then that power definitely needs to be looked at for balance issues.

What’s in your list of encounter powers that you think need fixing?

You misread Unicorn's Touch. It heals equal to your Con+5 (which at this level is probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 7 or 8hp), not a surge. So not only is this not overpowered/busted, its a little weak to be honest.

Both multiattack powers you listed are indeed red flags. Rain of blows is especially egregious. Though my fencer paladin will miss it if he gets nerfed. Lord knows Straladins arent' exactly the best class build, and his main saving grace is his ability to, once per combat, put down some serious hurt via rain of blows. Of course, I was also planning on going Adroit Explorer to use it twice per encounter :smallredface:

[Douglas]

You misread Unicorn's Touch. It heals equal to your Con+5 (which at this level is probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 7 or 8hp), not a surge. So not only is this not overpowered/busted, its a little weak to be honest.
No, he didn't. His point is not that it's based on surge value, his point is that it doesn't use a surge. And it's an encounter power. With no restriction on how high it can heal you. You can use this power once every 5 minutes to heal the entire party to full hp without taking an extended rest or using even a single healing surge or daily ability.

[Malicte]

No, he didn't. His point is not that it's based on surge value, his point is that it doesn't use a surge. And it's an encounter power. With no restriction on how high it can heal you. You can use this power once every 5 minutes to heal the entire party to full hp without taking an extended rest or using even a single healing surge or daily ability.

This is correct. However, even then I'm not sure it's really all that overpowered. It's certainly not even in the same ballpark as the other 4 powers here, in my opinion. There are a lot of situations where you just don't have the opportunity to wait for 5 minutes between each heal. When you do? Yeah, free healing is definitely very spiffy, and if you wait an hour between encounters, you can conceivably run 25 encounters a day and not run dry. I just don't think it's that common, though.

[shadzar]

I only have one I recall, and it will be biased since I only played a warlock, but the one I remember as pretty useless or just something to screw with your group Fey Switch level 6.

Why should you only be able to swap places with an ally? Willing ally at that!

:smallconfused:

I think it should be any target and should target the defenses properly. Willing ally could then negate defenses against it for auto "hit".

[Colmarr]

#3 Righteous Rage of Tempus (PGtF, Channel Divinity Feat) – A minor action to auto crit on your next hit? Seriously, what were they thinking? Compare this to any other feat and you can see the discrepancy in power. If there is a feat that says, “if you hit with your next attack, add 30 points of damage”, it would never be approved, which makes me wonder how this one got through R&D. Whole builds have been created to take advantage of this feat, involving Paladins, Clerics, and Avengers wielding high-crit weapons.

I'm curious, would this still be on your list if it weren't a feat power?

Ie. If Righteous Rage of Tempus were (eg.) Cleric Utility 2 or 6, would you still list it in the top 5?

[NecroRebel]

I'm curious, would this still be on your list if it weren't a feat power?

Ie. If Righteous Rage of Tempus were (eg.) Cleric Utility 2 or 6, would you still list it in the top 5?

I probably wouldn't notice it on my own, but yes, I would. In fact, that case would be even worse, as it would mean anyone could get ahold of it for 2 feats including a Cleric multiclass. That's huge for many people, who wouldn't multiclass otherwise.

Heck, give it to a Rogue with a Graceful weapon (+Dex per plus on a critical hit! That averages more than a Vorpal weapon!) and you've got something more broken than using it in an Avenger's hands, I'd say.

[NPCMook]

I must be missing something... but uhm.. Rain of Blows only allows 2 attacks... Where are you getting 4?

[shadzar]

I must be missing something... but uhm.. Rain of Blows only allows 2 attacks... Where are you getting 4?

one target, two attacks.

then potentially two more with the right weapon.

That is how I understand it by the way it is written.

It could mean you get only one attack, and another if having the right weapon-type.

This is what I understand for looking at it from both ways form another forum.

So...either one attack and the weapon offers an extra attack as a bonus...or....two attack each that would offer extra attack because of the weapon.

:smallconfused:

Seems it may be poorly worded, thus a reason it needs fixing.

[NPCMook]

I read it as One Attack, and the Second Attack is a bonus, but I see what you mean, I believe its poor wording

[Colmarr]

I probably wouldn't notice it on my own, but yes, I would. In fact, that case would be even worse, as it would mean anyone could get ahold of it for 2 feats including a Cleric multiclass. That's huge for many people, who wouldn't multiclass otherwise.

But anyone can currently get it for 2 feats: Cleric Multiclass (worshipping Tempus) and Righteous Rage of Tempus.

At least my way it has the opportunity costs that you lose a utility power.

Edit: Nevermind, I see what you mean. X/Cleric, X/Paladin and X/Avenger multiclasses don't have the Channel Divinity class ability.

[Hal]

#3 Righteous Rage of Tempus (PGtF, Channel Divinity Feat) – A minor action to auto crit on your next hit? Seriously, what were they thinking? Compare this to any other feat and you can see the discrepancy in power. If there is a feat that says, “if you hit with your next attack, add 30 points of damage”, it would never be approved, which makes me wonder how this one got through R&D. Whole builds have been created to take advantage of this feat, involving Paladins, Clerics, and Avengers wielding high-crit weapons.


It gets worse with Adventurer's Vault, which has several enchantments which have the daily power "Gain one additional use of Channel Divinity this encounter." A properly built Avenger or Battle Cleric could burn through a solo boss at ludicrous speed.

[Tengu_temp]

#4 Storm of Blades (PHB2, Barbarian Attack 13) – You get an attack for each point of your constitution. Barbarians (and the fighters/rangers that MC just to get this power) can afford to have at least an 18 Con by this level to easily get 4 attacks. Any power that allows you to attack the same target multiple times needs to be carefully examined, since the static bonuses you can stack for a single round of attacks can greatly magnify the base power. It is possible to kill a single monster in one round with this power, and it’s better than many of the other encounter powers even up to epic levels.


Bear in mind that this power ends the moment one of those attacks misses. Still very powerful for its level.



#1 Rain of Blows (PHB, Fighter Attack 3) – A potential 4 attacks against a single target and we encounter the same problems as Storm of Blades. Except that this time, it’s a 3rd level power! This is as good as some epic level encounter powers that the Fighter has in terms of dealing damage. Static bonuses can stack to ridiculous amounts, often dwarfing the weapon die, and multiple attacks against the same target exacerbates the discrepancy. If an epic level fighter needs to think twice about replacing a power he got when he was 3rd level, then that power definitely needs to be looked at for balance issues.


I'd say that the wording on this power is very confusing - all other multiattack powers have both the "Attack: X vs. Y, two attacks" line and the "Hit: X damage per attack" one - and Rain of Blow lacks the second, which leaves you guessing is this power supposed to attack 2 or 4 times total (assuming all attacks hit).


Cascade of Blades, and any power like it, need to be errataed to match TOme of Battle's Avalanche of Blades (unlimited attacks, but each one after the first takes a -4 penalty and you stop attacking the instant you miss).

Are you aware that Blade Cascade got errata-ed and can't attack more than 5 times now?

[Decoy Lockbox]

This is correct. However, even then I'm not sure it's really all that overpowered. It's certainly not even in the same ballpark as the other 4 powers here, in my opinion. There are a lot of situations where you just don't have the opportunity to wait for 5 minutes between each heal. When you do? Yeah, free healing is definitely very spiffy, and if you wait an hour between encounters, you can conceivably run 25 encounters a day and not run dry. I just don't think it's that common, though.

Oh, I see. So basically this is only useful if, for some reason, you need to do some sort of "dungeon from hell", where you have to, as you said, run through 25 encounters without extended resting. It still woulnd't really work though -- sure, everyone could start the combat with full HP, but if everyone is out of surges, effective in-combat healing won't be available (barring Cure light wounds, etc), and so the fights will be rather difficult to win once the party is out of surges. This seems like one of those weird cases that could come up, but almost certainly won't, and isn't worth bothering with.


I must be missing something... but uhm.. Rain of Blows only allows 2 attacks... Where are you getting 4?

The WotC Character Optimization boards have long debated this point. The current reading is that, due to the indendation in the text, each successful primary attack can spawn a secondary attack if and only if the wielder has DEX >= 15 and is using one of the special Rain of Blows weapons (spear, flail, light blade IIRC). If either of those conditions fail to apply, you simply make two attack rolls.

I think they may even have written a letter to the developers about this, but I can't remember.

[Blackfang108]

#3 Righteous Rage of Tempus (PGtF, Channel Divinity Feat) – A minor action to auto crit on your next hit? Seriously, what were they thinking? Compare this to any other feat and you can see the discrepancy in power. If there is a feat that says, “if you hit with your next attack, add 30 points of damage”, it would never be approved, which makes me wonder how this one got through R&D. Whole builds have been created to take advantage of this feat, involving Paladins, Clerics, and Avengers wielding high-crit weapons.

While it IS a good feat, you're misreading it.

Only your very next attack roll is effected by it. The power specifically says this. "If your next Melee attack before the end of your next turn..." (AFB, so my wording may not be exact.)

It's balanced by:
1.) Being Setting specific (I.E. DM's free to say: Tempus doesn't exist.)
2.) Needing to worship a specific Deity.
3.) Being a Feat
4.) Being Melee only. (Imagine Invokers if it wasn't.)
5.) only giving one attack a chance to autocrit.
6.) being one of three (or more) CDs, with only one of those usable per encounter. (with various caveats.)

[Artanis]

I must be missing something... but uhm.. Rain of Blows only allows 2 attacks... Where are you getting 4?

My impression was that the consensus was that PHB2's clarification regarding indentation probably put it in the four attacks category.



Indentation: When information is indented in a power description, that means the information is contingent on the information directly above it. For example, a “Secondary Attack” entry indented below a “Hit” entry is a reminder that you can make the secondary attack only if you hit with the primary attack.


The way Rain of Blows reads is:

-One target, two attacks
-Hit: Damage
--If you have the right weapon and stats, make a secondary attack
--One target, one attack
--Hit: Damage

So my impression was that the consensus became:
A) This confirmed that it went:
-> Make attack 1
-> If attack 1 hits, make secondary attack 1
-> No matter what the previous stuff does, make attack 2
-> If attack 2 hits, make secondary attack 2
And B) This was stupidly overpowered and needed errata

Of course, I may be am probably wrong regarding what the consensus is/was... :smallwink:

[Malicte]

While it IS a good feat, you're misreading it.

Only your very next attack roll is effected by it. The power specifically says this. "If your next Melee attack before the end of your next turn..." (AFB, so my wording may not be exact.)

It's balanced by:
1.) Being Setting specific (I.E. DM's free to say: Tempus doesn't exist.)
2.) Needing to worship a specific Deity.
3.) Being a Feat
4.) Being Melee only. (Imagine Invokers if it wasn't.)
5.) only giving one attack a chance to autocrit.
6.) being one of three (or more) CDs, with only one of those usable per encounter. (with various caveats.)

It really becomes a problem with characters that can brutally exploit their criticals. For example:
Hybrid Cleric/Barbarian that multiclasses into fighter. They have Rampage, Reckless Attacks, and a (pair of?) rending weapons. Each critical hit they score grants 3 free attacks, and I'm certain I'm missing a few ways to add more. This, as a minor action, grants 3 basic attacks and maxes the damage on the initial attack. Used with an at will, this places it at the level of Rain of Blows. With an encounter or daily, the damage gained is more substantial.

[skywalker]

It really becomes a problem with characters that can brutally exploit their criticals. For example:
Hybrid Cleric/Barbarian that multiclasses into fighter. They have Rampage, Reckless Attacks, and a (pair of?) rending weapons. Each critical hit they score grants 3 free attacks, and I'm certain I'm missing a few ways to add more. This, as a minor action, grants 3 basic attacks and maxes the damage on the initial attack. Used with an at will, this places it at the level of Rain of Blows. With an encounter or daily, the damage gained is more substantial.

You broke everything when you said the word "hybrid."

I personally think the feat was envisioned for clerics and paladins. I understand that battle clerics are respectable in some niches, but clerics and paladins mainly suck when it comes to doing damage. I don't think the writers of FRPG were aware that the crit-king avenger was going to come along this year and use the feat like Rain Man in Vegas.

I also think Unicorn's touch is being overestimated. Technically, it is an encounter power, so technically, you can use it every 5 minutes. But most of the time, who wants to wait an hour to fully heal the party? DMs can easily counter this one by saying "As you're sitting around waiting for the swordmage to touch you, dire bears attack. Now not only are you not healed, but you can't use your healing surges as fast as you want, because you're in combat."

[Alteran]

It's balanced by:
1.) Being Setting specific (I.E. DM's free to say: Tempus doesn't exist.)
2.) Needing to worship a specific Deity.
3.) Being a Feat
4.) Being Melee only. (Imagine Invokers if it wasn't.)
5.) only giving one attack a chance to autocrit.
6.) being one of three (or more) CDs, with only one of those usable per encounter. (with various caveats.)

1. Setting specific doesn't make it balanced. It just means that you can't always use it. When you can use it, it's as unbalanced as ever.

2. That just means people worship Tempus more. It hurts flavour and character depth, but many people are more than willing to throw that away for easy crits.

3. You get plenty of feats. This is one of your best options. Compare it to the other Channel Divinity feats. You'll notice this is one of the few that doesn't suck, and is the only one that's even nearly this powerful.

4. The best strikers are melee strikers. The best crits are probably going to be melee crits as well. You get high-crit weapons and high dice values, higher than most non-weapon attacks get. The fact that weapon (which are usually melee) strikers seem to be balanced around using d8 weapons makes them even more poweful.

5. If you got more chances, it would just be totally broken. As it is now, it's already pretty bad. You pick your best attacks to use with it. There are also plenty of ways to make sure that one attack hits, like action surge, combat advantage, and leaders (especially warlords).

6. There are a few ways to get more CD uses. Regardless of that, this is still by far the best CD option that you'll have.

It's really not balanced. It's not game-wrecking, but there's a reason that people call it "Righteous Cheese of Tempus".

[Exarch]

I've always been under the impression that Rain of Blows hits between 2-3 times.

The initial attack is 2 attacks. The secondary attack only lists making one attack. I'm not sure I see where the fourth is, since there's no clause that states if a blow is struck you make another.

[Arbitrarity]

The secondary attack is triggered off of each of the primary attacks. That is, you make an attack. If it hits, make a secondary. Then, you make a second primary attack. If it hits, make a secondary. (assuming you have light blade, spear, or flail, and dex >= 15)

[Artanis]

I've always been under the impression that Rain of Blows hits between 2-3 times.

The initial attack is 2 attacks. The secondary attack only lists making one attack. I'm not sure I see where the fourth is, since there's no clause that states if a blow is struck you make another.

Many people agreed with you pre-PHB2, and those who didn't agree called for errata (and called quite loudly and often, at that). But like I said, the PHB2 clarified how indentation worked, making it almost certain that the RAW is, indeed, four attacks. So now it's even more in need of errata :smallfrown:

[Stormthorn]

I personally think the feat was envisioned for clerics and paladins.

But how it was envisioned and how the minmaxers use it dont have to be the same.

[Colmarr]

But how it was envisioned and how the minmaxers use it dont have to be the same.

I'm currently playing a cleric of Tempus and will be taking RRoT.

I plan on having Action Surge and trying for Combat Advantage, and up until recently had a warlord in the party for the attack bonus on spending an action point. All of which would have allowed me to get an additional +6 on my normal attack bonus to try to land my Righteous Rage of Tempus attack.

But you know what, at that point RRoT still isn't a problem. Why? Because the difference between 3[W] damage and 3[W] crit damage just isn't that big.

I imagine my "optimisation" of the feat was foreseen and expected by the designers.

It's only the truly perverse combinations of class, multiclass, feat, power and weapon that "break" this feat. And I don't think it's correct to say that the designers should predict and counterract the minmaxers.

[Tengu_temp]

But you know what, at that point RRoT still isn't a problem. Why? Because the difference between 3[W] damage and 3[W] crit damage just isn't that big.


I beg to differ - assuming you're wielding a +1 fullblade/greataxe, the difference between 3[W] damage and 3[W] crit damage is 1d6+36. And that's available on the first level.

[Colmarr]

assuming you're wielding a +1 fullblade/greataxe, the difference between 3[W] damage and 3[W] crit damage is 1d6+36. And that's available on the first level.

How do you figure that?

Normal: 3d12+3 (avg. 26).

Crit: 39 + (high crit?) + magic weapon crit bonus.

So difference is 13 + (high crit?) + magic weapon crit bonus (ignoring stat mod, because it's fixed either way).

And if you do include ability modifiers, the percentage difference (as opposed to the numerical difference) is even less.

But in any event, your example highlights my point. You'll note that I included "weapon" in my list of "perverse combinations" that break the feat.

[Tengu_temp]

Ah yes, my mistake - High Crit bonus dice aren't multiplied by [W]. The actual damage is:

3d12+1 on a non-crit, 20.5 on average
vs
1d12+1d6+37 on a crit, 47 on average

Sure, it takes a high crit weapon for RRoT to show its full strength - but guess what? The (arguably) best two-handed weapon, fullblade, is high crit, and so are many other strong weapons. Also, take note how many class features and feats are there that give you big bonuses whenever you crit - these bonuses are balanced by their unpredictability, but RRoT negates that.

[Gralamin]

Bear in mind that this power ends the moment one of those attacks misses. Still very powerful for its level.

Thats one interpretation. There is also an equally logical reading that only the first one has to hit. There are logical problems with both, but they basically boil down to this:

If all have to hit, then each time you repeat the attack you reset the number of total uses (As thats part of the hit effect). So this keeps going forever until you miss.
If only the first one has to hit, then it should be a secondary attack.

Personally, I think it would be a lot clearer if it was something like...

Hit: 1[W]+Strength modifier damage. Then make a secondary attack.
...Secondary Attack: Strength vs AC
...Secondary Target: Primary target or another creature in reach
...Hit: 1[W]+Strength Modifier damage, repeat the secondary attack.
Special: You can only make a number of secondary attacks with this power equal to your constitution modifier.



I'd say that the wording on this power is very confusing - all other multiattack powers have both the "Attack: X vs. Y, two attacks" line and the "Hit: X damage per attack" one - and Rain of Blow lacks the second, which leaves you guessing is this power supposed to attack 2 or 4 times total (assuming all attacks hit).
Some interpretations say 3 as well. It is horribly worded. Again, I'd honestly just rewrite it to something like

Attack: Strength vs AC, two attacks
Hit: 1[W] + Strength modifier damage per attack.
...Weapon: If you are wielding a light blade, spear, or a flail and have Dexterity 15 or higher you may make a secondary attack. This effect is not per attack.
...Secondary Target: Same or different target
...Secondary Attack: Strength vs AC
...Hit: 1[W]+ Strength modifier damage.


---

Back to the OP

#5 Unicorn’s Touch (Arcane Power, Swordmage Utility 6) – This power allows healing without using any healing surges. Surgeless healing isn’t supposed to be that common at these levels, and most healing powers like this at these levels usually only work while bloodied. In actual practice though, the effects are minimal. Being forced to rest due to a lack of healing surges is quite rare and the limitless healing is only able to be done outside of combat. So this power breaks the mechanics, but isn’t really all that broken in terms of character effectiveness, making it the last power on this list.
A Cleric and Warlord utility 2 is a daily that heals a surge worth without spending one. This isn't broken at all.


#3 Righteous Rage of Tempus (PGtF, Channel Divinity Feat) – A minor action to auto crit on your next hit? Seriously, what were they thinking? Compare this to any other feat and you can see the discrepancy in power. If there is a feat that says, “if you hit with your next attack, add 30 points of damage”, it would never be approved, which makes me wonder how this one got through R&D. Whole builds have been created to take advantage of this feat, involving Paladins, Clerics, and Avengers wielding high-crit weapons.

This feat should be utterly destroyed. This feat is so good that most optimizers would be willing to spend an epic feat on it.



#2 Guileful Switch (Martial Power, Warlord Utility 6) – As a minor action, you switch initiatives with an ally, netting the party an extra set of actions. As a daily power, this would still be good. I’ve seen people MC into the warlord class just to get this power, which immediately rings warning bells in my head. Directing the movement of allies is one of the warlord’s shticks. Now it seems they can manipulate time as well as space. One step closer to becoming a Q I suppose.

This is one of the strongest powers, and with good readying, you can basically double your own actions as well as an allies for that round.

[Artanis]

How do you figure that?

Normal: 3d12+3 (avg. 26).

Crit: 39 + (high crit?) + magic weapon crit bonus.

So difference is 13 + (high crit?) + magic weapon crit bonus (ignoring stat mod, because it's fixed either way).

And if you do include ability modifiers, the percentage difference (as opposed to the numerical difference) is even less.

But in any event, your example highlights my point. You'll note that I included "weapon" in my list of "perverse combinations" that break the feat.
You don't even need Tengu's scenario, just look at the numbers you yourself put. Look at it as a percentage, not a pure number. Dealing an extra 13 damage above average is a 50% boost when that average is 26. It becomes even more when you add the stuff like the magic weapon crit damage. So RRoT basically increases the damage of your next attack by more than 50%, which is like turning an Encounter attack into a Daily.

[cdrcjsn]

I'm curious, would this still be on your list if it weren't a feat power?

Ie. If Righteous Rage of Tempus were (eg.) Cleric Utility 2 or 6, would you still list it in the top 5?

It's roughly equivalent to a Paragon power from an 11th level paragon path, so yes, unless it's also a paragon tier power itself.

But the fact that it's a feat makes it unbalanced. If there was a feat that said, "if you hit on your next attack, deal 30 additional damage" then it would never be approved, but that is essentially what this power does.

[Blackfang108]

6. There are a few ways to get more CD uses. Regardless of that, this is still by far the best CD option that you'll have.

Not by a long shot.

It WAS, granted, but the Avenger's granted extra roll to a party member is even more useful. Even for a Melee Striker.