Is the Executioner underpowered, not a striker or both? (or am I missing something?)

[Ninja-to]

So I've rolled my supposed Striker and compared it to the other strikers, and I've come to the conclusion: Executioners suck (as Strikers).

Let's be honest, their damage is hurting. Sure they have nice little tricks like shifting back and forth at will, silencing an enemy... the poison is cool but can only be used once per encounter x2.

Where is the damage? 1[w] damage with a dagger? Really? No sneak attack, curse or shroud etc. So they get a 1d10 per encounter, and 2 poisons / extended rest. The strongest power I see is the garrote, which is 2[w]. So... 2d4. Hm. And they need 2 hands to even pull that off.

What am I missing here? I hear people like this class. For the roleplay aspect? As a striker they seem mighty weak. I'm talking damage here. Where is it? If the class didn't say 'Striker' as a role I would be more obliged to think the shifting around and prone attacks etc would mean this class is some kind of controller or defender of some sort. But striker?

Someone point out whatever awesomeness I'm missing here.

 

[Kelvor Ravenstar]

The thing you're missing is the Attack Finesse class feature.

"You can use Dexterity instead of Strength for your melee basic attacks. In addition, once per turn you can deal 1d8 extra damage with a weapon attack using a one-handed weapon, a garrote, a blowgun, or a shortbow. The extra damage increases to 2d8 at 11th level and 3d8 at 21st level."

This is the basic striker feature, which is pretty good. But the consensus I've seen online is that the Executioner isn't that good a striker, but with this feature at least it can perform as good as other strikers in terms of class abilities, but its way lower in powers than most strikers.
The intent, I believe, is that you should be doing basic attacks, except in the not too common situations where your at-will powers are better.

 

[Ninja-to]

The thing you're missing is the Attack Finesse class feature.
This is the basic striker feature, which is pretty good. But the consensus I've seen online is that the Executioner isn't that good a striker, but with this feature at least it can perform as good as other strikers in terms of class abilities, but its way lower in powers than most strikers.
The intent, I believe, is that you should be doing basic attacks, except in the not too common situations where your at-will powers are better.

I knew there was something! Thanks for that. I guess having another party member that grants a lot of basic attacks is where they will shine.

 

[Riastlin]

I knew there was something! Thanks for that. I guess having another party member that grants a lot of basic attacks is where they will shine.

Yeah, buddy up to the warlord and make sure his tankard is always full.

 

[MrMyth]

Also, I wouldn't underestimate Death Attack once you get access to it. While not something you can reliably use, you can certainly take actions with it in mind, and it will crop up more often than you think.

I see the Executioner as a character who unloads a devestating nova strike at the start of combat, and then spends the rest of the fight hunting bloodied enemies or looking for specific opportunities to put his at-wills to good use.

 

[DracoSuave]

Save the encounter power for either a critical or a finishing maneuver. There's no reason to blast it early.

 

[keterys]

I played a 4th level one for a test, and it went quite well. That said, I was able to use the garotte attack every turn (pre-stealth before combat, drow for 2 more rounds of it) and WotC gave it a few extra poisons.

Loved death attack, myself

 

[DracoSuave]

I rather like the garrote attack as well. The at-will that uses it deals 2d4+stuff damage and automatically does 2d4+stuff damage on subsequent rounds. Automatic damage on an at-will of that magnitude is nothing to sneeze at.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I also used an executioner as an npc... effectively 45 damage on level 3... and before anyone could act, the fighter dropped to 0 hp...

So if you do this at the beginning of the combat, you already have done all the striker damage you need... as you basically take one monster out of the fight....

 

[Neverfate]

I pretty much hate the Executioner as a Striker. It fails at it's roll, unless you charge optimize, but even then is outdone by all it's Essentials charging brethren.

It's "striker mechanic" is that it adds 1d8 damage to its weapon attacks and it can base MBAs on Dex.

A Thief can use Dex for MBAs and starts off with a +2 damage to weapon attacks (which eventually increases). It then adds 2d6 extra damage (increased to d8s via feat). And can be charge optimized just as well.

Also, the Thief is more accurate as it has a weapon talent that adds +1 to hit. The backstab Encounter power, while not adding 3d10 initially, improves the chances of hitting. I mention all of this, because hitting is almost always more important. Also, the Thief gains more uses as opposed to higher damage (they gain some extra d6s). But really that's more +3s to hit. In general these are just more effective than a hard to gauge Death Attack (which should have had a cap 5 HP or so higher or at least trigger while adjacent so your allies could gain a benefit).

The poisons are rather weak as well, but I've ranted enough about how much this class disappoints me mechanically (ok... a little bit more).

Honestly, they should just have gotten the "add second ability score to damage" benefit to at least balance it with other classes. Its poisons don't exert the control of other striker/controllers or add enough DPR to stay competitive.

And the classes flavor is easily accomplished by having a Thief multi-classing into the Assassin to pick up the Ki Focus. I'd rather play the even WORSE damaging Original Assassin because that at least has fun flavor.