Official Rules Updates (March 02, 2010)

[fba827]

For anyone not aware, a recent release of updates/errata/clarifications was posted today:
Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Official Home Page - Article (Official D&D Updates)

After a quick scan through, some of the things that jumped out at me were changes to:

-Righteous Brand (cleric at-will in PHB1)
-Orb of Imposition (wizard implement in PHB1)
-Lasting Frost (paragon feat in PHB1)
-Overlapping Durations (general rule)
-Weapon Expertise and Implement Expertise (feats in PHB2)
-Hide Armor Expertise (feat in Primal Power)
-there were some other changes too, but those are the ones that jumped out at me either because they've come up in my group, were things I considered for my own PCs, or just because they change things that are often heavily discussed...

Several of the changes centered around the same ideas ... some of the scaling bonuses became flat bonuses (i.e. righteous brand and hide armor expertise). Weapon/Implement Expertise became feat bonuses. Things that were penalty to saves became penalties to the 'next save'. and so on.

Overall though, nothing 'ground breaking' (to me) and generally stuff i'm glad they at least continue to look at but overall i'm indifferent to these specific changes.

 

[davethegame]

Some of the changes (orb especially) were a long time coming. However, Student of Caiphon was restricted to Warlock-only powers in this update, which completely changes the Avenger/Warlock/Student of Caiphon in my game. The build was crazy-strong and dealt more damage than the rest of the party combined, but now I'm left trying to work with the player to see what we should do (one of the options, of course, being to ignore the errata.)

 

[fba827]

Some of the changes (orb especially) were a long time coming. However, Student of Caiphon was restricted to Warlock-only powers in this update, which completely changes the Avenger/Warlock/Student of Caiphon in my game. The build was crazy-strong and dealt more damage than the rest of the party combined, but now I'm left trying to work with the player to see what we should do (one of the options, of course, being to ignore the errata.)

You know those Maryland gamers are always trying to work those cheesy combos

 

[the8bitdeity]

I was glad to see Winged Horde get the nerf, since it was strictly better than scorching burst in all aspects in it's previous life.

 

[ForumFerret]

Dave, did your table find that to be "working as intended" with one character doing more damage than the rest of the party combined?

I'd expect to hear some grumbling at my table if that were to happen.

 

[Elric]

Hide Armor Expertise nerfed into near-oblivion.

Orb of Imposition needed to be weakened, but this is too weak. It should have let you impose the penalty to one saving throw, after it was rolled, as a free action.

Divine Miracle was heavily nerfed. I'm surprised they went this far, given how long it had remained at essentially its original level of power. The obvious fix that left it at a high power level was "The first time each encounter you expend your last remaining encounter attack power, regain the use of all of your expended encounter attack powers."

Blood Pulse and Righteous Brand also toned down. No more Blood Pulse combos.

The latest change to the Expertise feats is yet another reminder why they shouldn't have been created in the first place. So long, Nimble Blade. Edit: never mind, Nimble Blade isn't a feat bonus, so it's safe. All future feats that give bonuses to hit will either be huge, scaling feat bonuses or small, obsolete compared to Expertise at higher levels, untyped bonuses.

Dice of Auspicious Fortune from Dragon Magazine will still be an auto-include at high levels in multiples, particularly if you have a few days off to keep using the Daily power until you get good rolls (just don't take an extended rest).

Solitaires got a needed de-powering, though many are rather useless now.

Salve of Power also got corrected de-powered, though I'm surprised they didn't just add something like "you can use only one Salve of Power between extended rests."

Ankhmon's bracers from AV II correctly toned down. Diamond Cincture rendered much weaker as well.

Best list of changes I've seen is here: http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/22584793/The_March_2,_2010_Updates

 

[davethegame]

Dave, did your table find that to be "working as intended" with one character doing more damage than the rest of the party combined?

I'd expect to hear some grumbling at my table if that were to happen.

They took it better than you might expect, actually- this partially has to do with the fact that we're light on Strikers, and many of the other players are pretty minmaxed in their other roles. And let me tell you, combats go much quicker when you have a PC that can regularly dish out over 100 damage in a round

I'm not saying the update wasn't needed- it definitely was- it's just the first time errata has come along in my game that has significantly changed a party member to the point where it isn't easy to adapt and derails his character concept. We just have to figure out how to go forward.

Back on topic, is there any insight into how the _____ Expertise update changes things? I notice there is language in there that states it specifically obsoletes certain feats... any idea which?

 

[JohnnyO]

Grasping Javelin Update

Grasping Javelins got the nerf as well, which is interesting because that just came up at our table last game.

No more pulling an enemy 20 squares to stand next to the barbarian and get beat down.

 

[AlphaAnt]

Back on topic, is there any insight into how the _____ Expertise update changes things? I notice there is language in there that states it specifically obsoletes certain feats... any idea which?

It made anything that provides a Feat Bonus to attack rolls obsolete. This is why changes were made to Hellfire Blood and Draconic Spellcaster, they didn't want popular racial feats to become worthless.

Most other feats that provide feat bonuses either scale at +2/+3/+4 (Hellfire Arcanist) or scale at +1/+2/+3, but also do something else (Feyborn Charm). There's also a lot that have +2 bonuses, but also provide other effects (Diabolic Soul).

Basically, it no longer stacks with all the other feats that scale with level.

EDIT: Lolth's Meat is something that is completely obsolete.

 

[Primal]

Are these changes/revisions going to end up in subsequent printings of the books, or the PDF articles? One of the reasons that has put me off from 4E has been WoTC's reluctance to update the books, which means that you need a pile of printed errata/revisions/rule changes at the table. It may not be a huge pile yet, but in a couple of years it may require a folder of its own.