Mearls talks about how he hates resistances

[Mercule]

One thing I'd meant to add in my previous post is a comment on epic levels, outsiders, and resistences:

I really don't understand why 4e epic foes have lots of arbitrary resistences. Yes, it makes sense that demons are going to be generally harder to harm with elements than, say orcs. And a baseline resistence to most everything made sense in earlier editions where damage scaled in an absolute manner. But, 4e "fixed the math", in part, by scaling relatively. That's why we have minions -- they're just shorthand for critters playing out of their league.

By the time a group reaches epic level, almost everything that isn't a minion (and some things that are) are going to be somewhat resistent to most energy forms, anyway. It should just be assumed to be part of the math. Only include the resistences if they are in someway noteworthy among their peers.

That assumption might also reduce the "grind" factor that seems to be happening in 4e, too.

[Kobold Avenger]

Originally Posted by Tequila Sunrise

Seriously, just once I'd like someone to use rain forests in their example of heat-based monsters, spells or whatever.

I'm aware that deserts are cold at night, but many associate lack of moisture with dryness which means fire.

The area around where I live in the so-called Pacific Northwest of British Columbia and Washington is considered a rain forest as a natural environment, albeit a Temperate rain forest. So I wouldn't necessarily associate rain forest with fire, since there's certainly the non-tropical varieties.

[DaveyJones]

Originally Posted by Kobold Avenger

I'm aware that deserts are cold at night, but many associate lack of moisture with dryness which means fire.

some deserts are not just cold at night. look up the gobi desert.

[infocynic]

Originally Posted by Moniker

I don't use resistances whatsoever.

I add the resistance to Defense values whenever an enemy attempts to use a Power with that specific keyword against the foe.

So resist 10 is almost the same as immune then, and resist 15 effectively is, since there are very few builds that reliably hit on a 5, and even if they could, they now need a 20.

[Obryn]

Originally Posted by DaveyJones

some deserts are not just cold at night. look up the gobi desert.

...and technically Antarctica is a big desert, too. We're not talking reality, though; we're talking tropes.

-O

[Mark]

Is this 4E UA fodder (or even water-testing for the secret 4.5E that has adamantly been denied)?

[Moniker]

Originally Posted by infocynic

So resist 10 is almost the same as immune then, and resist 15 effectively is, since there are very few builds that reliably hit on a 5, and even if they could, they now need a 20.

Precisely; I like the old immunities.

[DaveyJones]

Originally Posted by Mark

Is this 4E UA fodder (or even water-testing for the secret 4.5E that has adamantly been denied)?

that's not canon.

lake geneva convention common article 3 will be a parka, sir.

edit: no frozen water aka snow boarding involved

[xechnao]

Originally Posted by mearls

Simplifying is tougher because it forces you to make changes that are risky. It's hard to simplify an existing system while keeping its foundation. You usually have to junk that foundation and build something new, even if that something is largely based on the old foundation's intent.

Yet, once you have that new foundation, you might find that you can never really understand what you saw in the original in the first place.

mearls I would love to see an indy of yours (not necessarily indy by the forge's standards but at least something not D20)

excuse me for the tangent but I wanted to say this to mike mearls.

[Derren]

Originally Posted by RangerWickett

I had a nasty experience in Red Hand of Doom when one PC's hard core fire mage (fire genasi evoker with all the fire feats possible) was helpless against red dragons. So here's my solution for the themed wizard problem.

Or a even better idea, you do nothing and let the player deal with this situation. After all the character did voluntarily put all "eggs in one basket".
That certainly makes for a much better character development than "My fire mage burns everything"

And I agree that it makes much, much more sense to have fire mages in the artic than frost mages. But I guess this cliché will never die.

[Irda Ranger]

Just some more thoughts ...

I've decided I don't dislike Resistances nearly as much as I dislike Vulnerabilities. I like the idea of the Ice Wizard of the North fighting the Frost Giant with icicles and frozen shackles, and I don't want his allies saying "You know, you'd get an extra 5 damage if you used a Flameburst ..."

Originally Posted by Starfox

Another idea I have is where the environment plays a larger role. Say you are in the arctic. Because everyone's cold resistance is working full-tilt on negating the cold, it is reduced by 5 or 10 points. In an elemental region of flame, fire resistance is reduced by 20.

Shazam! That's awesome. Monsters would be "balanced" with their natural habitats, so that if you encounter a Frost Giant in its polar lair, no particular Resistance (though you better have your own).

Another way to put it might be "Resistance 10 when not in a XX terrain."

-------------

On a related topic, I see lots of feats proposed. I think that's the wrong way to go about it because you've already expended a resource (power selection). Elemental "specialization" should be built into the selection of Powers, because the price you pay is the loss of flexibility. The wizard who doesn't load up on one damage type gets an inherent benefit (flexibility), so there should be an inherent benefit to specialization.

My suggestion is that Elemental Specialization should be an Arcane Power Source class feature. Each class that uses the Arcane Power source just gets benefits automatically (at the cost of lost flexibility) when the load up on one damage type. The Flexible wizard bypasses Resistance by switching to a different power. So we have to give the Elementalist a way to bypass it too, to keep encounters (and PC class builds) balanced.

Here's the thought:

Elemental Mastery (Arcane Power Source Feature)
For each power with an Elemental keyword of a particular type beyond the first power with that keyword, the Arcanist gains Terrainborn 5, Pierce Resistance 5. If you have five or more powers of the same type you gain Terrainwalk (Acid, Fire, Cold, Thunder, Lightning) or ???? (Psychic, Necrotic).

Terrainborn X: You are immune to the first X damage dealt by an environment of the given type.

Pierce Resistance X: You bypass the first X points of damage type resistance.

Terrainwalk: You can walk on terrain of a given type as normal terrain. Cold wizards can walk on snow and ice; Acid wizards on liquids of all sorts; Thunder & Lightning wizards (aka, Storm Wizards) on clouds and mist; Fire wizards on flame and lava.

????: I haven't thought of a good benefit here. Anyone?

Limitation: You can only have one Elemental Mastery at a time and it is always in the Element you have the most Powers keyworded to. If you have 3 Powers with the Fire keyword and 4 with the Acid keyword you are an Acid Master and have no special Fire related abilities.

Exception to the Limitation: If you take a Dual-Mastery Heroic Tier Feats (e.g., Burning Blizzard) you may then have Mastery in both of those damage types if you otherwise qualify for it by power selection.

[Phaezen]

Originally Posted by infocynic

So resist 10 is almost the same as immune then, and resist 15 effectively is, since there are very few builds that reliably hit on a 5, and even if they could, they now need a 20.

How about trying a 5 for 1 conversion, in otherwords 5 points of vulnerability/resistance is equal to a 1 point penalty/bonus in defences?

Phaezen

[Irda Ranger]

Originally Posted by Derren

Or a even better idea, you do nothing and let the player deal with this situation. After all the character did voluntarily put all "eggs in one basket".

Some people like to reward players for building on a theme, rather than punish them for daring to deviate from mix-maxed super-builds.

Originally Posted by Derren

And I agree that it makes much, much more sense to have fire mages in the artic than frost mages. But I guess this cliché will never die.

A cliché? In D&D? Sacre bleu!!

[billd91]

Originally Posted by Irda Ranger

Some people like to reward players for building on a theme, rather than punish them for daring to deviate from mix-maxed super-builds.

Building on a theme is fine, but there is also such a thing as over-building on a theme. In other words, min-maxing too much along a narrow or over-specialized theme. If the only tool you have is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail...

[NMcCoy]

Of course, the new multi-element rules give you a handy way to circumvent resistances. You could easily expect a feat like the following in Arcane Power, I think:

Blazing Light
Paragon Tier
Prerequisite: Dex 13, Cha 13
Benefit: When you use a power that has the fire or the radiant keyword, you can choose to make all damage that power deals fire and radiant damage.