The Character Builder is a power gamer!

[NMcCoy]

I was fiddling around with various builds in the DDI CB, and noticed something odd with its retraining behavior in a particular situation. Then I took a closer look at the rules elements that had led to that particular outcome, and realized that by RAW it was technically behaving correctly...

Binding Initiate [Multiclass Warlock] Benefit: You gain training in one skill from the binder warlock’s class skills list. You also gain proficiency with rods and wands. Choose a binder pact boon. You gain the at-will attack power and the utility power it grants at 1st level as encounter powers.

Guess what you now have? A 1st-level Warlock encounter power. Which can be retrained to a different 1st-level Warlock encounter power. This is different from all other power-granting multiclass feats, that say "you can use that power once per encounter", and which the CB treats as you'd expect. I expect them to errata this, but in the meantime, enjoy your bonus warlock encounter attack at the cost of a single feat.

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Yeah, I think that interpretation is at best HIGHLY questionable. It says you gain SPECIFIC powers, not any old power. CB might have accidentally not flagged them correctly internally, but I don't think the language of the rule really allows retraining them. I'd be surprised if they bother to issue an errata for that, it is pretty clear IMHO. OTOH they obviously do have a CB bug to fix...

 

[Gaming Tonic]

I have to agree with AbdulAlhazred that is not the spirit. I doubt we will see erratat with that in mind but you never know, report the bug because I am not sure how many other people are going to see it your way and report it. I would love to hear some players argue this, because nobody can argue like a passionate power gamer.

 

[NMcCoy]

Here's what the Rules Compendium has to say on retraining powers:

Retraining can replace a power with another power of the same type: at-will attack power, encounter attack power, daily attack power, or utility power. The new power must have a level, be of the same level as or lower in level than the old power, and come from the same class. [...] Retraining doesn't allow replacing a power that has no level; [...] a power designated as a feature; or a power gained from a paragon path or epic destiny.

Nothing in there stopping this. Same type: encounter, same level: 1, same class: warlock. Likewise, it's possible to retrain a Mage or Bladesinger's free Magic Missile into another wizard at-will, which is very handy for those Bladesingers that want to be more controllery. If there's a bug, I think it's in the feat and the retraining rules themselves, and the character builder is handling RAW correctly.

 

[S'mon]

That's more 'munchkin' than 'powergamer'!