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Gralamin
2011-03-17, 12:49 PM
How much impact, do you suspect, giving players the powers from their Themes (See Dark Sun) for free, in addition to normal powers, have? Note I would actually give players Power points for the psionic themes.

Personally, I feel as if it might put them at about Level + 2 in power. Which I could definitely deal with in game.

MeeposFire
2011-03-17, 12:57 PM
If you mean giving a character every theme power without having to replace powers it would devalue the at will powers.

Gralamin
2011-03-17, 12:59 PM
If you mean giving a character every theme power without having to replace powers it would devalue the at will powers.

Not as much as you might think. But I've been running a high powered homebrewed gestalt 4e game for over a year, and I see at-wills all the time. Despite everyone having half again as many powers and again as many features.

Mando Knight
2011-03-17, 01:27 PM
Personally, I feel as if it might put them at about Level + 2 in power. Which I could definitely deal with in game.

Probably not that drastic. After all, they still have to abide by the action economy. I'd say maybe level +1.

Kylarra
2011-03-17, 01:52 PM
Yeah I'm inclined to say maybe level +1. More encounter powers to spam encourages pseudo-novas, but it wasn't like those weren't encouraged from the start anyway.

Kurald Galain
2011-03-17, 08:12 PM
How much impact, do you suspect, giving players the powers from their Themes (See Dark Sun) for free,
To be honest, I don't think it's all that much - the reason being that the majority of theme powers are rather lacklustre. It depends on how many fights you do between extended rests, and how many rounds each fight last. If, for example, the answers are 3 and 4 respectively (not unreasonable estimates in 4E) then the impact of these theme powers is going to be pretty low.


I see at-wills all the time. Despite everyone having half again as many powers and again as many features.
That's pretty odd, and it makes me question the power choice of the players involved. With only few exceptions, at-wills shouldn't see play until you run out of encounter powers.

Foeofthelance
2011-03-17, 09:53 PM
To be honest, I don't think it's all that much - the reason being that the majority of theme powers are rather lacklustre. It depends on how many fights you do between extended rests, and how many rounds each fight last. If, for example, the answers are 3 and 4 respectively (not unreasonable estimates in 4E) then the impact of these theme powers is going to be pretty low.

I also doubt it would add too much of a power difference. If it did, bards would be the most broken class in existence, since their ability to take multiple multiclass feats gives them the ability to acquire an extra half dozen or so encounter powers over time by choosing multiclass feats that turn at-will powers into



That's pretty odd, and it makes me question the power choice of the players involved. With only few exceptions, at-wills shouldn't see play until you run out of encounter powers.

That doesn't surprise me at all, actually. My Dragon Soul Sorcerer/Paladin Hybrid rarely uses all of his encounter powers, preferring to use Burning Spray in combination with Divine Challenge and Lightning Breath to establish a "Damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation for his enemies. Its especially destructive against minions, but also tends to be a pain for soldiers and brutes as well, as they rarely have a high enough reflex defense to take such abuse for long.

Mando Knight
2011-03-17, 11:38 PM
That's pretty odd, and it makes me question the power choice of the players involved. With only few exceptions, at-wills shouldn't see play until you run out of encounter powers.
It depends on the build. For example, I've got a Swordmage who uses multi-target Encounters, but if there's nothing else (in range) to target, Booming Blade (or one of his Dailies) is better.

MeeposFire
2011-03-18, 10:04 AM
Some characters love at wills and use their encounters for special situations. For instance some warlocks use their encounters when they need some controller effects but use their at wills for their standard damage attacks. I too had a swordmage with all interrupts and free action encounter attacks. It was effective but I did not always use my encounters. Same with my lazy warlord.