List of Broken Powers

[Mengu]

I think the line between good powers and broken powers is pretty thin. But here are a couple off the top of my head.

Moment of Glory (Cleric - Daily 1) - truly becomes an encounter of glory. It's just about a win button at low levels, and turns into merely a great power at higher levels, better than many level 5 and level 9 powers.

Certain Justice (Champion of Order - Encounter 11) - I think this is the ultimate elite/solo neutering power. Given it's an encounter power, and very accurate, it's IMO pretty broken.

I could list a number of single target multi-attack powers as broken (or at least bent), including twin strike, but in moderate amounts, these powers are actually fine. A twin striking ranger is fine, a fighter with rain of blows is fine, a barbarian with storm of blades is fine. A half-elf (or revenant) Barbarian|Fighter with all three, maybe needs to be moderated. Also in the presence of multi-attackers, buffing powers like Wrath of the Gods (Paladin Utility 6) or the War Chanter AP feature become rather potent.

 

[NewJeffCT]

I was interested in putting together a list of powers which are generally considered broken, or at the minimum, overly bent. Not just potent, but more or less encounter breaking. The purpose of the list is so that myself and other DMs can determine if they want to house rule certain powers before they get introduced into their game and the DM gets sideswiped by them.


Astral Condemnation (Cleric Daily 1)
Consecrated Ground (Cleric Daily 5)
Iron to Glass (Cleric Daily 5)
Cloak of Courage (Cleric Encounter 16)

Interesting - nobody in my group is playing a cleric. The healer is the group shaman. We had a bard before as well, but the guy playing the bard left the group due to a scheduling change... the party had done pretty well healing wise with those two, but may suffer a bit now that the bard is gone.

However, the bard did have a daily that I thought was pretty powerful for a level 1 daily. (I don't have the book with me at work, so I don't recall the name of it) He designated one foe with the power (i.e., a solo or an elite/leader type) and every attack against that designated foe would heal the attacker 5 hit points. From reading the power, it did not matter if the attack hit or missed or if it was melee or ranged. It was just an attack. At lower levels, it has basically negated a lot of the damage my big baddies have dished out... however, I would not call it broken, as 5 hit points becomes pretty small once you clear level 5-6 or so.

 

[Ryujin]

Interesting - nobody in my group is playing a cleric. The healer is the group shaman. We had a bard before as well, but the guy playing the bard left the group due to a scheduling change... the party had done pretty well healing wise with those two, but may suffer a bit now that the bard is gone.

However, the bard did have a daily that I thought was pretty powerful for a level 1 daily. (I don't have the book with me at work, so I don't recall the name of it) He designated one foe with the power (i.e., a solo or an elite/leader type) and every attack against that designated foe would heal the attacker 5 hit points. From reading the power, it did not matter if the attack hit or missed or if it was melee or ranged. It was just an attack. At lower levels, it has basically negated a lot of the damage my big baddies have dished out... however, I would not call it broken, as 5 hit points becomes pretty small once you clear level 5-6 or so.

I think that you're talking about Stirring Shout, which requires a hit and heals CHA mod worth of hp. The effect does persist until the end of the encounter though.

 

[NewJeffCT]

I think that you're talking about Stirring Shout, which requires a hit and heals CHA mod worth of hp. The effect does persist until the end of the encounter though.

thanks - I thought it was attack, but I stand corrected

 

[Pelenor]

I just did a little looking in the compendium and it seems that temp hp disappear after a rest. so if you use this before an encounter the power isn't available during and encounter (so you couldn't use it again) as you haven't rested to recharge it. If you reset to recharge that power you don't have the temp hp until you use it during an encounter.


An extra surge during an encounter doesn't seem a big deal to me. My players seem to need it in the harder encounters and I have started using the damage rules for the new monster yet. (Granted my players don't eek out every little tactical advantage in combat but they what I would say is above average). Now that is just my experience and may or may not hold true for everyone. I'm not the best tactics guy in the world but I do try to take maximum advantage of what the monsters can do so that my explain it.

 

[Kelvor Ravenstar]

Okay, what about Fountain of Flame (Wizard Daily 1), 3d8 damage and creates a damaging zone that lasts until the end of the encounter. Now, I can deal with the damage and zone, but its ENEMIES ONLY damage!
I run Encounters at my local FLGS, and anytime a Wizard busts out this daily the encounter goes from slightly challenging to ridiculously easy. I would prefer if this power was attacks Creatures in burst attack.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

I just did a little looking in the compendium and it seems that temp hp disappear after a rest. so if you use this before an encounter the power isn't available during and encounter (so you couldn't use it again) as you haven't rested to recharge it. If you reset to recharge that power you don't have the temp hp until you use it during an encounter.

The drill is like this: The party starts out the day, cleric uses the power and grants THP, which now last until the end of the next encounter. Encounter, THP go away. Short Rest, power recharges. Cleric uses power again, granting the THP again. Wash rinse and repeat.

Now, there are some situations where this may not work, but in 95% of all cases the party will go into every encounter with a surge worth of THP. There is no time limit on THP except taking a rest dissipates them, but since it is an encounter power it always recharges when the THP go away. There would never ever be a need to use this power in combat and there is no rule stating that powers can't be used out of combat. The only situation that will foil it is one where the party doesn't or can't short rest after an encounter. These types of situations happen, but they are ALWAYS difficult spots to be in and equally reduce the effectiveness of all encounter powers.

An extra surge during an encounter doesn't seem a big deal to me. My players seem to need it in the harder encounters and I have started using the damage rules for the new monster yet. (Granted my players don't eek out every little tactical advantage in combat but they what I would say is above average). Now that is just my experience and may or may not hold true for everyone. I'm not the best tactics guy in the world but I do try to take maximum advantage of what the monsters can do so that my explain it.

The issue is that having a surge worth of free THP is a huge advantage. Over the course of a normal adventuring day it will certainly reduce PC surge loss by a significant amount. In fact with the new higher damage it is actually a better power than it was before. With the old lower damage there was a pretty good chance the party would come through an encounter with less than say a surge worth of damage each. So the THP might on average only save you less than a surge per encounter per character, sometimes a lot less. But if you expect to be taking a surge worth of damage per character in most encounters then effectively the result is the party gets a free surge per character per encounter. This is FAR better than what you can expect from any of the other utility powers at the same level.

Okay, what about Fountain of Flame (Wizard Daily 1), 3d8 damage and creates a damaging zone that lasts until the end of the encounter. Now, I can deal with the damage and zone, but its ENEMIES ONLY damage!
I run Encounters at my local FLGS, and anytime a Wizard busts out this daily the encounter goes from slightly challenging to ridiculously easy. I would prefer if this power was attacks Creatures in burst attack.

Eh, I've never been a huge fan of 'enemies only' damage, especially for zones. That was what was wrong with the original version of GotG as well, and notice they did errata that. Party friendliness can be OK for low damage AoEs, it gives the character a way to avoid friendly fire at the cost of a bit of damage. When applied to zones though it just seems like tactical training wheels to me. Especially when the power in question does high damage. Seems kind of useless to complain about though, I think the design philosophy has basically shifted to "lets not make the players actually work out good tactics so they can use this stuff, lets just make it enemies only" which I think sucks. Dunno if that qualifies the power as bent or not, but if it is then there are quite a few other bent powers out there nowadays that are similar.

 

[Ryujin]

thanks - I thought it was attack, but I stand corrected

It's definitely a good power. I just couldn't pass it up for my Cunning Bard.

 

[Destil]

Certain Justice (Champion of Order - Encounter 11) - I think this is the ultimate elite/solo neutering power. Given it's an encounter power, and very accurate, it's IMO pretty broken.

For what it's worth, Certain Justice is basically a paragon path feature hidden in a power. Not that is can't be overpowering...

 

[Zaran]

Okay, what about Fountain of Flame (Wizard Daily 1), 3d8 damage and creates a damaging zone that lasts until the end of the encounter. Now, I can deal with the damage and zone, but its ENEMIES ONLY damage!
I run Encounters at my local FLGS, and anytime a Wizard busts out this daily the encounter goes from slightly challenging to ridiculously easy. I would prefer if this power was attacks Creatures in burst attack.

Yeah I hate this power. It makes no sense for a zone of elemental fire to be able to select enemies over allies. It goes against the idea that wizards have to watch out for friendly fire.