Weapon-based at-wills

[Lord Zardoz]

But at least those multiple weapons would MATTER. Right now, if you're a fighter and you find a bow, you're probably better off beating people to death with it than nocking an arrow. There's almost no point in having multiple weapons as is.

With respect to At Wills, and when considering most of the Heroic Tier Encounter and Daily powers, I will concede this point.

But there are powers that have requirements for say, a Heavy Thrown weapon. Or a Shield. Or simply work better with some weapons then they do with others.

In those cases, it may not be a bad idea to have the option of switching weapons to take advantage of that. In addition, some weapons simply have a better Proficiency bonus then others, and there may simply be times when you want that extra +1 to hit instead of the High Crit property.

Finally, due to the simple fact that you might not always be able to close to melee with your target each round, its not a bad idea to give yourself the option of a Basic Ranged attack, even if your a melee focused build.

END COMMUNICATION

 

[Simplicity]

I think that's an awesome idea.

What if 4E had tied powers to weapons and spells instead of classes?

Each weapon would have a tree of powers attached to it, available to anyone with proficiency. You only get so many powers like now, so you pick and choose the weapon(s) you want. Maybe some classes would get extra benefits for using certain weapons - either in the power block or their class features.

Same thing with spells, more or less. You learn a number of spells - don't know what you'd do with the basic spell, maybe some kind of cantrip or ritual - and if you know that spell you can choose Powers that are tied to it. Or you could go more Vancian and make all spells Daily or Encounter.

I'm not sure I'd go all the way and take the encounters/dailies out of the class. It just wouldn't feel like D&D to me if class wasn't the big kid in the playground.

As far as spells go, I'd consider giving wands/staffs/orbs/rods different damage dice just like weapons plus different at-will powers. You want magic missiles? You need to use a wand. Fireball? Everybody can do those...

 

[Spatula]

Basically, weapon focus/specialization.

But... weapon feats still exist?

 

[Asmor]

Wow. That's actually an incredibly cool idea. Weapon-based at-wills, I mean. Why restrict it to weapons, though? You could totally do implement-based at-wills, too. Let's see...

Hammer Smash
Requirement: Must be wielding a hammer
Range: Melee weapon
Target: One creature
Attack: Str vs. Fort
Hit: [W]+Con mod damage and target must make a saving throw. If they fail, they're knocked prone.

Jinx
Requirement: Must be wielding an orb
Range: Ranged 10
Target: One creature
Attack: Int vs. Will
Hit: 1d6+Int mod damage and target takes a -1 penalty to saving throws (save ends).

 

[nightwyrm]

nevermind.

 

[LostSoul]

I'm not sure I'd go all the way and take the encounters/dailies out of the class. It just wouldn't feel like D&D to me if class wasn't the big kid in the playground.

Yeah, good point. I think a mix would be pretty cool.

 

[Simplicity]

Wow. That's actually an incredibly cool idea. Weapon-based at-wills, I mean. Why restrict it to weapons, though? You could totally do implement-based at-wills, too. Let's see...

I agree! I suggested it in the first post.

But really, there's a lot of interesting builds you could make be requirements for these... Especially when you include offhand items

Dual-weapon wielding
Shields
Weapon and implement

... could all have their own at-will powers.

 

[Sadrik]

Perhaps if you start a thread in the house rules section we can tackle some of these powers. Again, great idea. It meshes very well with the concepts in this thread.

 

[Daniel D. Fox]

I am now in the process of defining at-wills by weapon groups. I plan to make two at-wills available with each weapon; one which will be offensive and one which will be defensive (perhaps immediate reactions). The at will powers will be modeled after existing at-wills and have a standardized naming convention as to eliminate confusion on the part of players.

Here is a rough draft of the weapon groups and associated ability. Note that I took the examples from page 77 of the PHB in order to keep some semblance of consistency with the Fighter class, and added a stat governing Slings, Crossbows, Unarmed and Improvised weapons.

Note that I will be eliminating the "strength for thrown/melee, dexterity for ranged" application entirely, instead switching this out to the governing stat. I feel this is perfectly balanced, given that a weapon's at wills are available if you pick up the weapon and are proficient with it (meaning a player could have a virtual bevy of at-will options, particularly amongst the Fighter, hearkening to older editions). It also keeps things simple.

Characters can still lean on their Encounters and Dailies to have their primary core stats gover their to-hit/damage (and likely should pick up weapons that also take advantage of primary stats), but will open up options across all classes for versatility.

I'll crosspost this to the 4e Houserules soon enough, but here's a sneak peak:

Axe - Constitution

Bow - Dexterity

Crossbow - Intelligence

Flail - Dexterity

Hammer - Constitution

Heavy Blade - Dexterity

Improvised - Wisdom

Light Blade - Dexterity

Mace - Constitution

Pick - Constitution

Polearm - Wisdom

Sling - Intelligence

Spear - Dexterity

Staff - Constitution

Unarmed - Strength

 

[Daniel D. Fox]

oops