Sigurd13
First Post
Second time revising and writing this post! Decided to make it a separate post because it hits on a point that's central to the design philosophy of the system.
If I understand your suggestion... instead of requiring a minor action be spent after each use, you are suggesting that alt fire be like a toggle- when it's off, the alt fire modes can't be used. When alt fire is 'active,' then the alt fire modes are available with the caveat that class powers can't be used. For simplicity sake, I'm going to assume you mean class weapon attack powers (it doesn't make sense that a cleric couldn't use healing powers, or implement attack powers while in alt fire mode).
If that's essentially the gist of what you mean, then first let me point out that you can't use class powers in conjunction with alt fire powers as is. Most powers are Standard Action (except Long Burst) and thus are powers in and of themselves. This makes it impossible to use their properties as part of any other attack. So excluding normal attack powers while in 'alt fire mode' isn't saying anything new. It certainly isn't a new penalty.
For reference, let’s pare down the systems to these short rules:
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Reload
Minor action with each use- further penalized by inability to attack if not Reloaded.
Alt Fire Toggle
Minor action to toggle over. No further penalties.
Minor action to toggle back. No further penalties.
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The thing I'd fear most under your system is combat becoming too unbalanced and compartmentalized. The alt fire modes are pretty powerful- essentially giving any character the ability to use area/close AOE attacks AT WILL, much like a controller can. Not only does it infringe on the controller's role, but more importantly it allows a party to do a lot more damage to large groups of monsters. Most at will powers only do [1w] to one monster. So imagine an entire party spamming alt fire into a cluster of monsters. BIG DAMAGE.
This seems like it would make certain encounters WAY too easy, for example, combat involving:
- Swarms
- Lots of minions
- Soldiers, Brutes and other melee units all clustered around a Leader's aura
- Tight spaces, or limited mobility dungeons
The rest of the time, I would think characters would tend to;
1) Avoid using alt fire because it’s too cumbersome to spend two minor actions to switch over and back to exploit two monsters being near each other
2.)Just use the alt powers all the time. After all, it costs nothing to use and they’d be ready to attack en masse without having to toggle over. Combat tactics might devolve into ‘spray and pray.’
Any of these scenarios would be bad in my book. So to balance the power and effectiveness of the alt fire powers, it seemed fair to require an extra action.
This gives the player’s decision weight because that same action could have gone to Divine Challenge, Healing Word, Hunter's Quarry, or Warlock's Mark. It might have gone to a dwarf's second wind, or the use of a healing potion. Maybe it prevented the rogue from using 'Hide in Plain Sight.' Maybe the player decides to go ahead and use the minor action to do something OTHER than Reload and loses the ability to make opportunity attacks or attack powers that can be used as immediate reactions. And so on.
This mechanic forces tactical choices, preventing monotony AND it limits the use of these powers, preventing over use. And at the end of the day, the price of a minor action is pretty reasonable, making the alt fire mode accessible.
If you’re still not certain whether the players will recognize the tactical aspect of this mechanic, just wait until the first time the Fighter doesn’t Reload the same round s/he uses Spray. Losing the ability to make opportunity attacks (and thus, mark or tank effectively) will make for a very quick lesson learned.
I may just be quibbling over nothing. After all, the system has still not been play tested. But I’ve been burned by being too lenient in the past. And it is always much easier to start conservatively and then ease up on the rules than it is to start lenient and get stricter to reign in your game.
Try both and let me know what seems to work!
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