Class Acts: Fighter

[Kzach]

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.aspx?x=dnd/drcact/20091201

Ooh, I like articles with a strong theme to them like this one. The new at-wills are pretty amazing and I can already see dwarf lovers going nana over the Con-based and axe-based benefits.

I love that they gave some love to shield bearers too. All these bloody whirly-twirly fighters and big-weapon fighters were giving shields a bad name. I like my defenders to be DEFENDERY! It's just not natural for them not to have a shield

The weapon swapping idea is a very cool one but I'm now caught with too many choices for at-wills and not enough at-will slots. There needs to be some sort of mechanic to increase how many at-wills you can get, like perhaps allowing you to change an encounter slot to an at-will slot.

 

[LightPhoenix]

I think the weapon-swap powers are neat in theory. However, the way I see them working in practice is that a character sticks to one weapon that they have a significant bonus with, and generally ignore the rest.

I could see a Ranger with multi-class getting a significant benefit from these powers.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Dungeons & Dragons Roleplaying Game Official Home Page - Article (Class Acts: Fighter)

Ooh, I like articles with a strong theme to them like this one. The new at-wills are pretty amazing and I can already see dwarf lovers going nana over the Con-based and axe-based benefits.

I love that they gave some love to shield bearers too. All these bloody whirly-twirly fighters and big-weapon fighters were giving shields a bad name. I like my defenders to be DEFENDERY! It's just not natural for them not to have a shield

The weapon swapping idea is a very cool one but I'm now caught with too many choices for at-wills and not enough at-will slots. There needs to be some sort of mechanic to increase how many at-wills you can get, like perhaps allowing you to change an encounter slot to an at-will slot.

I think the Heavy Blade benefits are a little weak. And no light blade benefits at all?

The new feat is neat since it allows you to round of your ranged attacks - even if you have a weaker magic weapon for ranged combat, at least you get extra damage and attack bonus like with your regular weapon.

What I wonder is: Does Ki Focus work for fighter powers when you multiclass into Assassin or Monk and gain access to Ki Focus implements? That could be very good way to become a versatile weapon master.

 

[Mentat55]

I think the weapon-swap powers are neat in theory. However, the way I see them working in practice is that a character sticks to one weapon that they have a significant bonus with, and generally ignore the rest.

I could see a Ranger with multi-class getting a significant benefit from these powers.

I think that is why they included the feat Weapon Master, which lets you apply Weapon Focus and Weapon Expertise to all weapons you are proficient in. It does not address the weapon-specific feats, of course, like Hammer Rhythm, Scimitar Dance, and Polearm Gamble, or the epic Mastery feats, so the weapon-swapping might slow down in paragon and stop by epic, depending.

The biggest problem would be having all those magic weapons -- Dynamic weapons would probably make a lot of sense. Or weapons with multiple descriptors, like khopeshes, glaives, and halberds.

 

[Starfox]

The physics of the image on the first page of the excerpt is very confusing - what exactly is happening? The fighter appears to be be in the downward part of a jump, using the added impact to add to the power of her hammer. But the orc is reeling as if from an earlier uppercut blow. Did she just kick him? Another interpretation is that she hit him with an upswing of the hammer and is now coming in for a downswing, but that does not fit with her legs at all.

I find a lot of the 4E artwork is like this, and my artist friends complain even more - the compositions are just random montages, not thought-out action sequences.

And yes, the article text is pretty nice - the Weapon Master's moves seem good enough even without the (mostly useless) ability to change weapons.

 

[Kzach]

And yes, the article text is pretty nice - the Weapon Master's moves seem good enough even without the (mostly useless) ability to change weapons.

Not entirely useless. It's essentially Quickdraw for free. Plus it seems to be one of those things that doesn't look that great on paper but in play, proves to be invaluable.

I could envisage a situation where keeping something at polearm's reach would be very handy, and switching up to an axe for more damage against a lower AC foe, and then switching again to a mace to push them about, etc. all in the one encounter.

 

[Celebrim]

There needs to be some sort of mechanic to increase how many at-wills you can get, like perhaps allowing you to change an encounter slot to an at-will slot.

That you'd even want to do this indicates to me that the power creep has gone from being a trickle to a tsunami.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

That you'd even want to do this indicates to me that the power creep has gone from being a trickle to a tsunami.

How come?

 

[Rechan]

Or weapons with multiple descriptors, like khopeshes, glaives, and halberds.

In such a circumstance, would both effects on the power apply, or just one?

 

[Njall]

That you'd even want to do this indicates to me that the power creep has gone from being a trickle to a tsunami.

"Power Creep" means that the latest powers are generally better than the older powers. In which case, people just swap their old powers for the new shinies and don't look back.
The fact that he wants both his old powers and the new powers indicates:
1) that the former and the latter are roughly equal in power and
2)that he wants his character to be more versatile.

2) is just a personal preference, and 1) means that there's little to no power creep.
At least, that's what logic seems to dictate in this instance.
It'd be interesting if you could share your POV in this case, because I'm not seeing how you're going from "someone would like to have more At-Wills" to "Power creep is steadily increasing".