Ranged combat, or the lack of....

[Spatula]

I hardly expect every character to be a ranged specialist..but why can't every class have at least 1 at will usable at range?

*shrug* Most classes do have a ranged at-will. It's only the Fighter, Paladin, and Warlord that don't. Granted, that's 1/2 of your group.

But it seems to me that your players would have ways to deal with the dragon, without even getting into using the environment. An exclusively fey power warlock could teleport onto the dragon and switch places with the fighter or warlord (Fey Switch), or slide it closer (Curse of the Dark Dream). The Githyanki can fly the fighter or warlord up onto the dragon (Telekinetic Leap) and probably do other useful stuff.

 

[Moon-Lancer]

how is this different from 3.5 where a dragon could fly and breath fire every 3 rounds or so?

 

[Ravingdork]

I have a ranger in my party who wouldn't hesitate to climb a tall tree and then jump on the dragon as it flies by.

In fact, he did just that! Used per round Acrobatic checks to see if he could maintain his footing, and the dragon would attempt to grab and throw him off every once in a while.

It was fun.

 

[Gort]

how is this different from 3.5 where a dragon could fly and breath fire every 3 rounds or so?

And use spells the rest of the time. And swoop by, pick up a party member, and drop them off a cliff, without provoking AoOs.

But regardless, the sins of 3rd ed do not excuse those of 4th ed. That said, this is not one of them. Your warlords, fighters and paladins should have javelins, so they can attack from range. They should also do their damnedest to bring the dragon down by knocking it prone. (not always possible, but athletics checks and terrain can help)

I don't think anyone would take your suggested at-will. It's simply not as ubiquitous as something like cleave or tide of iron.

 

[That One Guy]

I'll concur with Gort.

I'll add let them hear about the dragon and its tactics in advance so they can purchase appropriate equipment and possibly gain a level to power swap. But... yeah... flying is difficult for melee parties.

 

[Gort]

One other thing - see this as an opportunity for your warlock and wizard to really shine, as opposed to an opportunity for your fighter and warlord to suck. They can throw their javelins when they must use ranged combat, same way as your warlock and wizard can stab with their daggers when they must use melee combat.

 

[outsider]

same way as your warlock and wizard can stab with their daggers when they must use melee combat.

I don't think that this happens very often in 4th edition at all. In Thunderwave you've got an at will close spell(close spells don't provoke Opportunity Attacks). Unless you're in a situation where you've got a monster in melee range and there's no way you can shift a square so that you won't catch an ally in the burst 3 aoe, there's no reason to use melee at all as a wizard.

In an optimal party, somebody should have a way to bring down flyers. Putting a flyer in prone status will make it fall. A flying creature also has to move at least 2 squares to maintain flight(unless it has the hover property). That means any stun or immobilization effect will also make them fall. Once it's down, a fighter should be able to keep it down for a while with any luck. Here's the powers I found that can bring down a flyer:

Command(Cleric 3)
Enthrall(Cleric 17)
Sacred Word(Cleric 25)
Knockdown Shot(Ranger 13)
Pinning Strike(Ranger 13)
Confounding Arrows(Ranger 15)
Great Ram Arrow(Ranger 19)
Walking Wounded(Rogue 5)
Steel Entrapment(Rogue 23)
Immobilizing Strike(Rogue 23)
Perfect Strike(Rogue 27)
Dread Star(Warlock 1)
Infernal Moon Curse(Warlock 7)
Iron Spike of Dis(Warlock 9)
Tendrils of Thuban(Warlock 15)
Thorns of Venom(Warlock 23)
Tartarean Tomb(Warlock 25)
Thirteen Baleful Stars(Warlock 25)
Hurl Through Hell(Warlock 29)
Icy Terrain(Wizard 1)
Icy Rays(Wizard 3)
Web(Wizard 5)
Spectral Ram(Wizard 7)
Ice Storm(Wizard 9)
Mesmeric Hold(Wizard 13)
Blast of Cold(Wizard 15)
Crushing Titan's Fist(Wizard 17)
Ice Tomb(Wizard 17)
Evard's Black Tentacles(Wizard 19)
Thunderclap(Wizard 23)
Necrotic Web(Wizard 25)
Elemental Maw(Wizard 25)
Prismatic Spray(Wizard 25)
Forcecage(Wizard 27)
Greater Ice Storm(Wizard 29)
Legion's Hold(Wizard 29)

The above list is just ranged stuns, prones, and immobilizes. There's also enemy teleports, and probably other ways of pulling this off.

It's probably worth multiclassing to pick a power like one of the above up if you are melee, especially if you're a fighter. Melee rogues and rangers would be wise to dip into their ranged powers just enough to get a power or two to bring down flyers. I haven't specifically checked, but I suspect there is at least one power for every attribute other than strength up there. Just multiclass based off of your secondary attribute and grab a prone/immob/stun or two.

Or wait for Martial Power, where I'd expect we'll see some powers for heavy thrown that'll do the job.

 

[babinro]

I'm hoping Martial Power brings out some options so people can build more versatile characters should they choose to. In the meantime that list of skills vs flying creatures should come in handy.

 

[Ahglock]

Assuming you're ignoring terrain, of course. I remember a fight in one of the Dragon magazine modules that takes place in a very muddy town square in a downpour, which is difficult terrain virtually everywhere. This effectively doubles the range of missile weapons as it takes twice as long to reach them.

In any case, being able to shoot someone at 225 feet distance as though they were standing five feet away is ridiculous enough for me. Bowfire really isn't that accurate against single man-sized targets.

True, but when there is difficult terrain there is also frequently cover, so it takes twice as long to get there but they miss twice as often. I don't really see this as an issue though, except in the sense that one of the selling points of 4e is your character always gets to do cool things and not just to basic attacks. Since this problem with 3e was never a problem in my games, it is a non-issue in 4e.

 

[Milambus]

Javelin + rope = make-shift harpoon. Then a STR, Athletics, etc check to pull the dragon to the ground. Or alternatively to climb up the rope.