Yakk
2008-05-30, 02:20 PM
4e seems to have a power damage curve that is pretty tight.
The curve for at-will, per-encounter, and daily abilities is different.
Fighter, level 1:
At will does Stat vs AC for [W]+Stat*[1.5 to 2.0] at level 1, or it has a minor non-damage effect in exchange for some of the Stat*X damage.
Daily at level 1 does as much as 3[W]+Stat damage with a minor side benefit (in the Fighter's case, it is reliable). For a greater side-effect, the attack instead does 2[W]+Stat damage. The side-effect for these powers is quite nice.
Encounter at level 1 does about 2[W]+Stat*[1.0 to 2.0] with a minor side effect. The one that does Stat*2.0 requires two to-hit rolls in sequence to land. Some encounter abilities do 1[W]+Stat damage, but they have a seriously nice side effect (knock prone).
...
Fighter, level 10:
Daily is 3[W]+Strength with a nice side effect. You could probably justify 4[W]+Strength with a downside...
Encounter is 3[W]+Strength with a downside (like -2 to hit, and no side effect), or 2[W]+Strength with a decent side effect, or 1[W]+Strength with really really nice side effects (like a 3 range burst that shifts all enemies near you, and then does a 1[W] burst on them).
...
Fighter, level 20:
Daily is 5[W]+Strength ish
Encounter is 3[W]+Strength ish
At-will upgrades at level 21.
...
Fighter, level 30:
At-will attacks have upgraded to 2[W]+Stat*(1.5 to 2.0) in general.
Encounter is about 4[W]+Strength*(1 to many), with extra nice side effects.
Daily caps out at 7[W]+Strength.
...
Generally, "miss" damage is worth as much as "hit" damage, balance-wise. Hitting multiple targets, both for damage, is worse than hitting one target for all of the damage. Area damage is discounted seriously.
...
So a very rough damage curve for PC powers might look like:
_ 7[W]
D
DDD _ 6[W]
DDDDDD
DDDDDDDD _ 5[W]
DDDDDDDDDDD
DDDDDDDDDDDDE _ 4[W]
DDDDDDDDDDDEEEEEE
DDDDDDDDDDEEEEEEEEEEE _ 3[W]
DDDDDDDDDDDDDEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
DDDDDDDDDEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE _ 2[W]
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWW
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWW _ 1[W]
WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW _ 0[W]
123456789012345678901234567890
1 2 3
in terms of [W]eapon dice. (each die is 2 high on the above table)
Does this line up with the Paladin, Ranger and Rogue?
What about the non-weapon classes?
As an aside, the above curve is roughly:
At Will = 1 + 1*(L/30)^2
Encounter = 2 + 2.5*(L/30)^2
Daily = 3 + 4*(L/30)^2
More work needs to be done to confirm if this is what the Rogue/Ranger/Paladin powers are like, to look in more detail at how the powers actually advance (instead of in 10 level chunks), and to compare with the "spellcasting-type" classes who don't use weapons...
The curve for at-will, per-encounter, and daily abilities is different.
Fighter, level 1:
At will does Stat vs AC for [W]+Stat*[1.5 to 2.0] at level 1, or it has a minor non-damage effect in exchange for some of the Stat*X damage.
Daily at level 1 does as much as 3[W]+Stat damage with a minor side benefit (in the Fighter's case, it is reliable). For a greater side-effect, the attack instead does 2[W]+Stat damage. The side-effect for these powers is quite nice.
Encounter at level 1 does about 2[W]+Stat*[1.0 to 2.0] with a minor side effect. The one that does Stat*2.0 requires two to-hit rolls in sequence to land. Some encounter abilities do 1[W]+Stat damage, but they have a seriously nice side effect (knock prone).
...
Fighter, level 10:
Daily is 3[W]+Strength with a nice side effect. You could probably justify 4[W]+Strength with a downside...
Encounter is 3[W]+Strength with a downside (like -2 to hit, and no side effect), or 2[W]+Strength with a decent side effect, or 1[W]+Strength with really really nice side effects (like a 3 range burst that shifts all enemies near you, and then does a 1[W] burst on them).
...
Fighter, level 20:
Daily is 5[W]+Strength ish
Encounter is 3[W]+Strength ish
At-will upgrades at level 21.
...
Fighter, level 30:
At-will attacks have upgraded to 2[W]+Stat*(1.5 to 2.0) in general.
Encounter is about 4[W]+Strength*(1 to many), with extra nice side effects.
Daily caps out at 7[W]+Strength.
...
Generally, "miss" damage is worth as much as "hit" damage, balance-wise. Hitting multiple targets, both for damage, is worse than hitting one target for all of the damage. Area damage is discounted seriously.
...
So a very rough damage curve for PC powers might look like:
_ 7[W]
D
DDD _ 6[W]
DDDDDD
DDDDDDDD _ 5[W]
DDDDDDDDDDD
DDDDDDDDDDDDE _ 4[W]
DDDDDDDDDDDEEEEEE
DDDDDDDDDDEEEEEEEEEEE _ 3[W]
DDDDDDDDDDDDDEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
DDDDDDDDDEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE _ 2[W]
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWW
EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWW _ 1[W]
WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW
WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW _ 0[W]
123456789012345678901234567890
1 2 3
in terms of [W]eapon dice. (each die is 2 high on the above table)
Does this line up with the Paladin, Ranger and Rogue?
What about the non-weapon classes?
As an aside, the above curve is roughly:
At Will = 1 + 1*(L/30)^2
Encounter = 2 + 2.5*(L/30)^2
Daily = 3 + 4*(L/30)^2
More work needs to be done to confirm if this is what the Rogue/Ranger/Paladin powers are like, to look in more detail at how the powers actually advance (instead of in 10 level chunks), and to compare with the "spellcasting-type" classes who don't use weapons...