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View Full Version : [4e] attacks w/ Alchemical Items



Ent
2008-10-17, 02:22 PM
Q: Do I add half my level to attack rolls when using alchemical items?

A: No. Page 274 of the Player’s Handbook discusses how to determine the base attack bonus for a power. If it is a power that you know, you add half your level to the attack roll. With an attack roll from an item, like alchemist fire, you would not add half your level because it is not a power that you know.


I've been looking, has there been a discussion here about this? I'm wondering what people think of never improving on the attack rolls for items outside of stat boosts.

Oracle_Hunter
2008-10-17, 02:29 PM
I've been looking, has there been a discussion here about this? I'm wondering what people think of never improving on the attack rolls for items outside of stat boosts.

It's not even that. Most Alchemical Items give you a fixed bonus-to-hit, which means that DEX or STR doesn't matter either.

It's the ultimate Technology Trumps Talent situation... I think it's quite fitting. :smallbiggrin:

It does make Alchemical Items less useful, though.

Kurald Galain
2008-10-17, 02:47 PM
I've been looking, has there been a discussion here about this? I'm wondering what people think of never improving on the attack rolls for items outside of stat boosts.

It's a kludge, resulting from the ludicrous wealth-by-level at higher levels.

The point is that while low-level powers should remain useful for your entire career, cheap potions should not. Therefore, at high levels, you get potions that do the exact same thing, but cost a thousand times as much.

As it stands, very few of the alchemical items are worth anywhere near their price.