Power Lists

[Andrew D. Gable]

Would it unbalance things horribly if I organized 4e powers into a number of Rolemaster-esque lists, similar to the 3e domains? I was thinking of subdividing these into heroic, paragon, and epic tier powers, and making some more powers to round out the number of powers per list. I'm also mulling over making some powers prerequisite for others similar to feat chains as some are improved versions of other powers.

 

[willows]

I'm also mulling over making some powers prerequisite for others similar to feat chains as some are improved versions of other powers.

I can't really imagine an interpretation of 'prerequisite' that makes this better than a terrible idea.

If it means "you must CURRENTLY HAVE all the prerequisites of power X to have power X," then you'll almost certainly be locked into one power chain at any given time, since PCs don't really have that many powers at all. Furthermore, locking PCs into power chains will hamstring their flexibility. It'll make characters dramatically less survivable.

If it means "to learn power X with prereq Y, you must REPLACE Y with X," then you will simply retrain one of your powers to be Y shortly before replacing it. That will lead either to weird hiccups (26th level druids using Frost Flash so they can have Polar Blast at 27) or simple avoidance of powers with prereqs.

 

[Garthanos]

Each class is a list, isnt it? look at the hybrid rules... and if you think of the powers from one of your classes as one of the two lists your character has access to, you may get what I mean. Some classes have powers geared for a build... that build might be seen as one of those lists.

I also agree characters don't have enough powers and there arent quite enough selections to do much with the pre-req idea... say you have to have an acid at will power to do a daily acid power. Pigeon hole character design more than I would like.