Is Fey Step really the best racial power?

[jimtillman]

The extra at-will power humans get will certainly become much more desirable once more at-will powers for each class are published.

people forget that the 1/2 elf racial is not limited by the only 2 classes rule, sure it is limited at the moment but it will only get better as more classes and abilities are added

 

[AtomicPope]

What? That doesn't make any sense. Another at-will power = more options without increased potency = less specialized.

Plus it's a totally crap ability for most classes. At least Action Surge is pretty cool.

Actually it makes perfect sense. Humans get more in-class abilities than any other race. Extra At Will (class) + extra Trained Skill (class) = highly dedicated to a single class. How does that not make sense?

BTW - it's not a "totally crap ability for most classes." Wizards always benefit from an extra At Will. It allows human Warlocks to dip into another pact At Will (which no other race can do) providing greater flexibility. Human rangers, rogues, warlords, and fighters benefit from another At Will because it expands their class abilities giving them At Wills that dip into the other in class builds for free.

This power will improve with each supplement.

 

[Gloombunny]

BTW - it's not a "totally crap ability for most classes." Wizards always benefit from an extra At Will.

Wizards are the main reason I said "most" classes instead of "all". It's a great ability for wizards.

It allows human Warlocks to dip into another pact At Will (which no other race can do) providing greater flexibility.

Useless to feylocks, since the other two at-wills are based on the wrong attribute. Only mildly useful to infernal 'locks; Dire Radiance isn't much better than Hellish Rebuke unless you're fighting undead. Good for starlocks, at least; Eyebite is nice to have.

Human rangers, rogues, warlords, and fighters benefit from another At Will because it expands their class abilities giving them At Wills that dip into the other in class builds for free.

In other words, making them more versatile and less specialized.

This power will improve with each supplement.

It'll improve a little bit as soon as it's possible for every character to actually get an at-will they'll ever use. I doubt it'll ever be very good for most classes, though... the reason why it's so great for wizards is that their at-wills are all very different. For a class like fighter, well... there's just only so much you can do based on a martial melee attack, y'know?

 

[AtomicPope]

In other words, making them more versatile and less specialized.

No. Humans the only race that is narrowly focused to a single class at level one. No other race is Their ability doesn't help any other class except their main class. Hence specialized. Humans get more from one class, Half Elves inherently dip into other classes (not specialized). If it wasn't a class based system I'd agree, but it is a class based system.

'locks - ugh! I really don't like the Star Pact, too inefficient on it's own. Don't get me started

 

[Thanee]

You don't use the halfling power to just dodge a normal hit. You use it to dodge the crit, then if the monster still hits you, you've at least avoided the max damage.

Unless it crits again (as it happened yesterday)... double 20 FTW!

Bye
Thanee

 

[NorthSaber]

Unless it crits again (as it happened yesterday)... double 20 FTW!

Or simply rolls max damage again...

 

[eamon]

I think dilettante is pretty nice. There are enough powers that anyone can find something useful here... It's particularly attractive to have an extra leader ability for defenders just for the heck of it. Wolf pack tactics, Viper's strike, are interesting for a simple melee fighter, furious smash can be brilliant for a charisma focussed paladin (your charisma bonus as power bonus on attack an damage for an ally? yes sir!), and righteous brand absolutely stunning in the hands of a high-str char such as a fighter.

The nice thing about dilettante is that it provides that extra little bit of situational advantage which might very well provide abilities you just can't match easily from your own class, but can cover a dead round in a combat where your primary role just doesn't quite fit in.

 

[Dausuul]

I think dilettante is pretty nice. There are enough powers that anyone can find something useful here... It's particularly attractive to have an extra leader ability for defenders just for the heck of it. Wolf pack tactics, Viper's strike, are interesting for a simple melee fighter, furious smash can be brilliant for a charisma focussed paladin (your charisma bonus as power bonus on attack an damage for an ally? yes sir!), and righteous brand absolutely stunning in the hands of a high-str char such as a fighter.

It goes the other way, too. My half-elf warlord picked up Cleave for his Dilettante power. It comes in very handy for taking out minions.

Overall, I think Elven Accuracy is my favorite racial power, closely followed by Dwarven Resilience, then Fey Step.

 

[clearstream]

Overall, I think Elven Accuracy is my favorite racial power, closely followed by Dwarven Resilience, then Fey Step.

Fey Step: Incredible. Always use it, every encounter and out-of-encounter. It leaps, it levitates, it escapes grabs and restraints, it goes through bars, it makes enemies lose track of where you are. If you aren't using this all the time, you aren't cunning enough by half.

Eladrin Education: Free skill off the skill list = Stealth = the best At-Will attack/defensive modifier in the game that doesn't cost an action. It beats a lot of encounter powers.

Elven Accuracy: Very good. Since it's miss_chance*miss_chance to measure it's efficacy it works well across the range. So while it doesn't add anything new to a PC it does make something you've got work better.

The rest? Meh. Dragon-breath and Dwarven-Resilience amount to an extra attack. Resilience is better since it heals you too. Halfling and Tiefling stuff is simply rubbish. Half-Elf Dilettante will turn out to be good if you buy all the splat books; otherwise not. Human stuff is lacklustre.

-vk

 

[Celtavian]

Fey Step: Incredible. Always use it, every encounter and out-of-encounter. It leaps, it levitates, it escapes grabs and restraints, it goes through bars, it makes enemies lose track of where you are. If you aren't using this all the time, you aren't cunning enough by half.

It does not in anyway state that enemies lose track of you. Where did you read that? Or is that just something you're adding in on assumption?

Explain how you use Fey Step out of Encounters? It's use is once per encounter. Does your DM just let you arbitrarily use it whenever you feel like it? That is not as far as I know the ruling.

So how is it useful out of the encounter? Please. You are way overstating the power of this ability.

For example, let's say you do use it to break restraints. The guards are sitting in the same room, then you get to face a ton of guards with no gear and you don't get to use your Fey Step again because you just started the encounter.

So don't talk up Fey Step when you are using it in a fashion that doesn't coincide with the rules. You get it once per encounter. It is five squares of movement, less than most people can run. You avoid AoOs one time. It might be helpful to set up Combat Advantage for a rogue. But you painting Fey Step as this extremely useful in any situation ability is ridiculous.

One 5 foot square teleport might save you once in a while, then again it might be utterly useless. An elf moving 7 could catch you in a jiffy with 5 square teleport. It is hardly useful in non-combat encounters.

It also isn't useful for going through walls and the like. It isn't 5 squares wherever you want. It's five squares that you know about.

So I'm not getting what you're talking about.