Sacrifice to Caiphon - Overpowered?

[logopolis]

I was flipping through Dragon Magazine 266 (August 2008), and I found this heroic tier feat:

Sacrifice to Caiphon [Warlock]

Prerequisistes: Con 13, warlock
Benefit: When you attack with an encounter power that has targets and you miss all targets, then you can deal damage to yourself equal to the level of the power. If you do, you immediately recover that power.
​

Essentially, you can make any encounter power reliable by taking a fairly small amount of damage. The feat is not restricted to warlock powers, so a multiclass warlock can use it for his main class powers. This feat seems way more powerful that any other heroic tier feat I've seen.

Does this seem pretty overpowered to anyone else as well? Should it be in a different tier? Is the damage enough to keep this feat balanced? Or is there some mitigating factor that makes this feat weaker than it appears at first glance?

 

[xCruelx]

originally, i had the same reaction. But once a took some time to consider it, i was ok with it.

the more targets it has, the less likely it is to be a 100% miss. So in order to actually have a good chance to get the power back, you will be using your AoE power in a less than optimal situation in the first place.

So ya, its a good feat, and I would likely take it. But by no means is it a 'must have'

Cost - a feat slot, and spending one standard action being utterly useless
Benifit - A do over on an AoE encounter power next round.

 

[Mithreinmaethor]

My worry and question is in the wording of it. It uses Targets in the plural instead of Target in the singular.

So does the encounter power you use have to have multiple Targets or does one Target count as Targets?

If its multiple it makes it a little less useful than you might think.

 

[IanArgent]

Enh - I find that encounter powers miss too often for good fun. At-wills you can try again; and most dailies have something happen on a miss. Most encounter powers are an all-or-nothing deal.

 

[logopolis]

So does the encounter power you use have to have multiple Targets or does one Target count as Targets?

It's pretty clear to me that "targets" means "one or more targets"; I don't think it's restricted to AoE attacks. If it meant "two or more targets", the feat would be nearly useless since most warlock powers only affect a single target.

Enh - I find that encounter powers miss too often for good fun. At-wills you can try again; and most dailies have something happen on a miss. Most encounter powers are an all-or-nothing deal.

I agree. Reusing encounter powers at a cost opens some really cool strategic options. My concern is that this feat provides warlocks with powerful combat options that aren't matched by any other class until high levels.

 

[IanArgent]

That's a good point - I expect to see more feats to patch this in the future. (Something like, say:
Divine Recuperation
Prerequisite: Divine Character, Wis 15
Benefit: Spend a Healing Surge and instead of the normal benefit recharge up to 2 expended encounter powers. This can only be done once an encounter.

Another way to do it would be something like Veteran's armor.

 

[James McMurray]

It's definitely powerful. The warlock in our epic campaign uses it almost every encounter. While others are missing with their powers and eventually using At wills, he has much more staying power. Sure, it's a painful hit if he opts to keep a 23rd level power, but Frigid Darkness is only 3rd and gives an enemy an effective -7 to AC and -2 to other defenses for one round.

 

[James McMurray]

The only things that make it too powerful IMO are

1) No other class gets anything like it. If everyone had a "trade resource X to keep a missed encounter power" feat available, it'd be fine.

2) There's no clause in there to prevent temporary hit point abuse. The warlock in the epic game is Star + Fey, but if he were Star + Infernal instead the cost for using the feat would be next to nil a lot of the time, especially for lower level powers like Frigid Darkness and Far Realm Phantasm (steals an action from the enemy and gives a fighter a possible combat Challenge attack, as well as lowering Will defense temporarily).

 

[Brian999]

The only things that make it too powerful IMO are

1) No other class gets anything like it. If everyone had a "trade resource X to keep a missed encounter power" feat available, it'd be fine.

2) There's no clause in there to prevent temporary hit point abuse. The warlock in the epic game is Star + Fey, but if he were Star + Infernal instead the cost for using the feat would be next to nil a lot of the time, especially for lower level powers like Frigid Darkness and Far Realm Phantasm (steals an action from the enemy and gives a fighter a possible combat Challenge attack, as well as lowering Will defense temporarily).

You may not even need to worry about temporary hit points. Dreadful Word is a level one power, but it can be spectacularly useful for Starlocks and their parties, helping to ensure that all the nastiest Will-based attacks (like a powered-up Sleep) consistently hit. The cost to activate the Sacrifice and reuse Dreadful Word if it misses is one measly hit point.

 

[Bold or Stupid]

I like the concept of feat, but find the combination of it and Witchfire a little overpowered (though that may be the feypact additional penalty...)

I'd quite like to see similar feats to for other classes, but I'd fear they would become must have feats (my basic definition of an over powered feat).