D&D 4E Top 5 Encounter Powers That Need Fixing in 4e

[Mengu]

You'd be _amazed_ how many Avengers with +2 Vicious Fullblades and RRoT there are in LFR.

I hear there is a factory of them in Impiltur. On the entry side there are three separate lines for Devas, Elves, and Others. On the exit, they are handed their Fullblades and walk off to battle.

 

[Herschel]

This isn't so much a crit dependant power as much as it is one that gets you a crit more often. If all 5 players had this power you'd see several crits per encounter.

If the Rogue, Swordmage, Fighter, Warlord, etc. want to spend points/feats to multiclass to get it then they lose something elsewhere.

 

[Wrathamon]

If the Rogue, Swordmage, Fighter, Warlord, etc. want to spend points/feats to multiclass to get it then they lose something elsewhere.

no one is disputing this... they are saying the trade off isnt balanced. That what they are losing they are gaining more with these powers/feats

I think the tempus is an overpowered feat - wotc has said in the past they toss a couple of spells in that are broken to help sell books... i think this is that feat.

But, on the positive the list of things that people feel are "broken" is very small.

we have two very similar powers that grant multiple hits
a healing abusive ability
couple magic item abilities that people feel are a bit unbalancing in conjunction with other abilities
stunning solo monsters
and a initiative changing ability

really, that's it? well this topic is really about encounter powers, and we really only have a couple mentioned.

I

 

[Caliban]

I hear there is a factory of them in Impiltur. On the entry side there are three separate lines for Devas, Elves, and Others. On the exit, they are handed their Fullblades and walk off to battle.

Between all the avengers, clerics, and invokers (and a few orb wizards)who call impiltur their home, it's a wonder there are any devils left there.

 

[cdrcjsn]

But, on the positive the list of things that people feel are "broken" is very small.

Make no mistake, I love the fact that the number of things that are unbalanced are so few that I cut off the list of encounter powers at 5 because I couldn't think of 10. I could add a couple more to that list, but not 5 more.

 

[Fundin Strongarm]

If the Rogue, Swordmage, Fighter, Warlord, etc. want to spend points/feats to multiclass to get it then they lose something elsewhere.

Sure. But if the party is made up of Clerics, Paladins, Avengers and Invokers they really aren't giving up much at all, are they? Besides, you need the Channel Divinity Class Feature to take the feat that allows the power -- which you can't get via multiclassing by the classes you mentioned.

But the point isn't whether someone multiclassing to get RRoT, Rain of Blows, Guileful Switch, Storm of Blades, [insert your own overpowered power here], etc. is getting the best bang for their buck, is it? The point is whether those powers are overpowered/broken.

 

[Cadfan]

I think the tempus is an overpowered feat - wotc has said in the past they toss a couple of spells in that are broken to help sell books... i think this is that feat.

Really now?

 

[Kordeth]

I think you're missing the point here. If UT was fixed, you didn't have to come up with fixes to the starvation rules.

UT isn't the thing you take issue with, it's surgeless healing. UT is just the most obvious example because it's an encounter power.

Mass cure light wounds is a cleric utility 10 that heals your healing surge value at no cost to you. Even a 30th-level wizard with an average Con will heal more per use of this power than starvation takes away in a day (30th-level wizard with Con 10 heals 34 hp per surge, loses 30 per day from starvation).

In other words, the point is: why not fix the problem (unlimited surgeless healing) at its root?

Because surgeless healing is a solid tactical design choice that really only creates a problem in this one limited edge case (yes, theoretically a party could use UT to never spend a healing surge, but it requires so much time taking short rests that it's no more feasible than "do one encounter then retreat and extended rest").

The starvation rules are what's wonky here--heck, there's not even a rule that says a starving character doesn't wake up from an extended rest fully healed, so UT isn't even needed to survive forever without food! Even if that rule were in place, the fact that hp by level doesn't scale the same way any more means you're left with 1st-level characters who can survive a month after they lose their last healing surge (since they take 1 point of damage a day) and 30th-level uber-warriors who keel over after a week (taking 30 points of damage per day).

 

[Ulorian - Agent of Chaos]

wotc has said in the past they toss a couple of spells in that are broken to help sell books...I

I've never seen anything like that; link please.

 

[Wrathamon]

Really now?

Yep

I believe it was an interview with one of the designers of Races of the Dragon about Mighty Wallop the spell being too powerful and they said something to that extent.