D&D 4E 4e Ranger: New God of Damage? Armor Splinter + Blade Cascade + High Wisdom Ranger

[Kaffis]

If you only miss on a 1, the half-life of this tactic is about 13 attacks.

If you miss on a 2, the half-life is a little under 7 attacks.

If you miss on a 3, the half-life is around 4.5.

If you miss on a 4, the half-life is less than 3.5.

That's not rounds of attacks, it's just plain attacks. Half-life means "50% of Rangers will be done by now". Of course, it's possible to keep going forever, but it's quite unlikely.

Cap it at 20 attacks (10 pairs of attacks), if you want. You're unlikely to see it come into play, and therefore it shouldn't hurt the actual damage much, if at all.

Cheers, -- N

Heck, if you're really concerned about this (or other AC reduction/to-hit bonus combos), house rule that blade cascade will always miss on a 2, and suddenly it's mostly in-line with other similar dailies.

Ta-da! It doesn't affect lucky streaks of hits with "normal" to-hit chances (like, say, limiting it to 4 attacks might), because they'd be missing on that 2 anyways. Yet it reins in the likelihood (and certainly the reliability) of those 15-hit streaks.

If you're feeling really fiesty, you can go for misses on a 3, but that might be a bit harsh; this is clearly supposed to be a potentially high damaging attack.

 

[Mirtek]

I still don't see that your average player is going to build this ranger at level one, and take him through 29 levels this way.

Well, first of all he only needs to take him to level 15, not 30.

Second, there is no need to build him "this way", as "this way" is the natural way to build a ranger. It doesn't rely on anything that is not a normal primary/secondary ranger stat anyway.

 

[Majoru Oakheart]

I can say from having tested this with an actual character that it was quite a bit less than broken. However, I didn't attempt a couple of the ideas that people here have been suggesting as I didn't see them on my read through the book.

I went for an equal build of Str/Dex in order to not be hit since I was going to be in melee all the time. I was testing at level 15. I had 20 Str, 18 Dex. I wanted to have some Wis as well for some of my skills, so I couldn't go too high on either Str or Dex.

I was using Throw Caution to the Wind, the encounter ability from Stormwarden to give me +2 to hit, then took Nimble Blade in order to get +1 to hit when I had CA. So, I'd get into flanking position, activate TCTTW and attack with +5 to my normal attack roll. I once hit 4 times, but that's the most I've done.

 

[JesterPoet]

Well, first of all he only needs to take him to level 15, not 30.

Second, there is no need to build him "this way", as "this way" is the natural way to build a ranger. It doesn't rely on anything that is not a normal primary/secondary ranger stat anyway.

Your first point is correct, and was a mistake by me. Still, there's a helluva lot of playtime between level 1 and level 15.

I'm not so sure I'm in agreement on your second point, though. You still have to make some sacrifices to be able to maximize this ability. (Though I don't have the books, so I could be wrong on this as well, but I don't think I am).

Either way you're looking at someone who is twinking out their character, and if that's the case, that person needs to pay their dues through the low levels.

 

[Sitara]

There ought to be a ranged version of this, say Storm of Shafts or something.
That ofcourse will be balanced by need of arrows. Though OTOH it can be done from range. I forsee this power in an upcoming supplement. (at which point I shall sue)

 

[KevinF]

I realy don't see blade cascade as broken - its a level 15 daily power. If your level 15+ ranger spends an encounter power, an action point, and a daily power, and manages to avoid rolling badly even once, they should be able to lay the smackdown on a single target.

If a first level fighter rolls well on brute strike its almost a one shot kill against most opponents, so I don't see how this is any different?

Yeah, blade cascade is an awesome power, but hey, its a level 15 daily power for a "striker" type character, it should be one of the most awesome damage doing attacks in the game.

But remember it doesn't inflict any kind of condition on the target, and the amount of damage in each attack is good, but not awesome. If the damage from each attack is something like 2D8 + 10, they'll average 19 points per hit and need to make somewhere between 5-10 consecutive successful attacks to slay the kinds of creatures they'd face at that level. So, if you can make 10 good rolls in a row, good for you. For me, I'm just happy when I don't make 5 bad rolls in a row.

 

[Njall]

Really, guys.
Dealing a lot of damage is one thing.
Killing solo monsters outright does not qualify as just "dealing a ton of damage", it qualifies as "one shotting".

I'm fine with a high level ranger dealing a crapton of damage, as long as his damage output is somewhat comparable to what other strikers can accomplish.
I don't think I've seen someone come up with a potential one-shotter such as this one using another striker ( correct me if I'm wrong ).
Thus, if this power alone is enough to make 30th level powers pale in comparison, it's not balanced, period.
Sure, you may need an extra character to help you with this combo, but the game is balanced around the assumption that you'll be playing in a party anyway.
Now, I'm not sure, but from what people have posted, most daily powers are not designed with the intent of killing anything in range.
Their purpose is to make combat more interesting.
Bladecascading the BBEG in 1 round is not what I'd call "interesting", personally. YMMV.

 

[Duelpersonality]

Well, looking at level 15 attack powers for the other strikers, Blade Cascade does seem to be the prime damage dealing ability, maybe. Thirsting Maw (Warlock (Infernal) Attack 15) could potentially deal infinite damage, but stacking penalties onto a monster's saving throw is going to be a bit trickier (admittedly, I haven't looked for any ability that does that yet, so it could be easier or even impossible). Fireswarm (Warlock (Infernal) Attack 15) could also deal infinite damage, and that allows an attack roll vs. Fort defense. Edit: Forgot to mention, both these abilities require multiple rounds, so Blade Cascade has them beat there easily.

The only rogue power at level 15 that competes is Slaying Strike, which (with proper feat selection and a bloodied target granting combat advantage) can deal 8d8+Dex mod+Str mod in a single attack. Because this requires a bloodied target (only 6d8+Dex mod normally) it isn't going to be a one-shotter.

If we're pushing it all the way to level 30, I think Assassin's Point is a pretty strong contender to match. Properly set up, AP can do 17d8+Dex mod damage (and potentially 12d12 more on a crit). Not quite the 40d10+ possiblity out of Blade Cascade, but easier to reach the optimized point (only requires a couple of feats).

 

[Mirtek]

I'm not so sure I'm in agreement on your second point, though. You still have to make some sacrifices to be able to maximize this ability. (Though I don't have the books, so I could be wrong on this as well, but I don't think I am).

Either way you're looking at someone who is twinking out their character, and if that's the case, that person needs to pay their dues through the low levels.

I don't see anything in this that requires special twinking out. The relevant abilities are Str/Wis/Dex (or maybe it's Str/Dex/Wis, can't find the thread where people were talking about the primary/secondary/tertiary stats for the different classes/builds) and these are exactly the standard TWF Ranger stats. That's like saying a fighter who has to max Str to get something in his late career is twinking out his character and needs to pay his due through the low levels. It's just the stat needs to take anyway

 

[Korgoth]

Looks like the CharOp boys have taken this one to its logical (?) conclusion:

http://forums.gleemax.com/showthread.php?t=1040811