Keenberg
First Post
Naszir I just read your latest update in which you have
1: Made combat challenge an OA instead of immediate
2: Granted it Wis to hit
3: Granted movement stopping on a hit
3: Allowed the fighter to use it on any adjacent target, regardless of mark
Just talking from my fighter experience here, this is heavily overpowered. Fighters are already one of the best classes in the game. One of the only things stopping them from shutting down the entire enemy team is that combat challenge attacks are limited to once a round. Switching to an OA removes this limitation and powerfully buffs the fighter class. Adding wisdom mods to all these attacks (which fighters make very often) is another powerful buff. Allowing the fighter to do this without marking is just another minor buff on top of that, making an already powerful ability more versatile. Finally the movement stopping with combat challenge attacks now makes it impossible for enemies to escape from you, since even shifting movement is now cancelled. That's 4 significant buffs with no real drawbacks. Its also worth noting that when an adjacent enemy tries to escape or move you get to attack them, so they become marked for free.
I don't know what problem with the system you're trying to address here. Consider the warde. Their niche is being able to shut down multiple enemies, as they can mark (-2 to hit) every adjacent enemy every turn. Your fighter variant gets to completely shut down (free attack, denied movement, -2 to hit) every adjacent enemy every turn. This defender mechanic is strictly better than the warden's.
With my fighter I was only able to shut down large portions of the enemy team occasionally (using encounter powers like 'get over here') and even then could only use combat challenge on one marked enemy. It was still pretty darned effective.
I think the reason that OA and combat challenge are kept separate is that fighters can make as many OAs in a turn as they want, but punishing an enemy for shifting or ignoring a mark is very powerful, so limited to once a turn. There is a lot of strategy to the way a fighter and a monster decide what to do with a turn. The fighter needs to decide which enemy (or enemies) to mark and the monsters need to decide whether to attack the fighter or ignore his marks. I think the balance on the current system is fine.
This is exactly what I was trying to say in my first post, though I lacked a personal example. Thank you for putting it all so poignantly.
Naszir, why exactly is it that you "don't like the 'marking' mechanic that much?" I don't think we ever addressed this issue, which is the real cause of this whole thread. If we can address that, perhaps there will be no need for more rules. In my experience, most new rules create confusion when players are used to the old ones. This complicates the game and slows it down. The only reason I would suggest new rules is if I believe they would help balance the game, and as Erik has demonstrated, your suggestion is taking the fighter's abilities far out of balance. Why would anyone want to be a warden, or a paladin for that matter when they could be a broken fighter?
"Entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily." -William of Ockham
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