Rather than reminding them at the beginning, tell them "Too bad no one was next to my spirit, they'd have gotten X, too." when they've scattered to the four winds. And remember as well that you can put the spirit on top of a medium monster and have everyone in melee still be adjacent.
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Why arn't Controllers Sexy
- Thread starter Thatwackyned
- Start date
Rather than reminding them at the beginning, tell them "Too bad no one was next to my spirit, they'd have gotten X, too." when they've scattered to the four winds. And remember as well that you can put the spirit on top of a medium monster and have everyone in melee still be adjacent.
Dice4Hire
First Post
Well, that is one of the shaman's weaknesses, the close bunch, which allows enemies to pound on the closely grouped party. Bards tend to range their benefits out to 5, and clerics can hit 10 in paragon or 15 in epic. Not sure about Runepriests, but what I have heard is about 5 or so.
If I were playing a shaman, I would be much more likely to move my spirit first, and then do the buff.
If I were playing a shaman, I would be much more likely to move my spirit first, and then do the buff.
LightPhoenix
First Post
The point is though, if the other players don't choose to be next to the SC, there's nothing that can be done about it. In essence, it's a waste of an ability.
I found the same thing with that Warlord encounter power that grants temporary hit points to all adjacent allies at the start of your next turn. It was almost always more beneficial tactically for the allies to not be there to benefit (ie the opportunity cost was too high). I ended up retraining that particular power.
DarkLord Of DForce
First Post
Controllers may not be sexy, but our group sure does appreciate our Goliath Warden Karne. Don't know how many times him and our Bard has synced together for some pretty amazing results.
Our level 13 group was in a tome in a swamp Saturday night, and we were having a lot of problems with an undead group - not because of the group itself, but because of the area. The hallway leading to 1 of 3 rooms filled with creatures was, according to the DM, literally 1 square wide. One Undead foe got in the doorway, with 1 in the next adjacent square in the hall, with an immediate L turn after that. Unfortunately due to initiative, we wound up with our group stacked up in a line in that hallway, blocked, and the ones in front couldn't do any re-arranging. It took multiple rounds to get them out of the way, and our Swordmage and my Avenger up where we could lock on to targets and teleport them into the room, clearing the way into the room. People in front got beat up pretty badly meanwhile.
Our warden buffed his AC using some powers, all the way to 39 - then the Bard popped some daily that gave everyone in the party the highest stats from the group. Righteous stuff, no one was getting hit, and our group was able to manuever around to our advantage without having to worry about OAs because of that.
We like our Warden and our Bard.
Our level 13 group was in a tome in a swamp Saturday night, and we were having a lot of problems with an undead group - not because of the group itself, but because of the area. The hallway leading to 1 of 3 rooms filled with creatures was, according to the DM, literally 1 square wide. One Undead foe got in the doorway, with 1 in the next adjacent square in the hall, with an immediate L turn after that. Unfortunately due to initiative, we wound up with our group stacked up in a line in that hallway, blocked, and the ones in front couldn't do any re-arranging. It took multiple rounds to get them out of the way, and our Swordmage and my Avenger up where we could lock on to targets and teleport them into the room, clearing the way into the room. People in front got beat up pretty badly meanwhile.
Our warden buffed his AC using some powers, all the way to 39 - then the Bard popped some daily that gave everyone in the party the highest stats from the group. Righteous stuff, no one was getting hit, and our group was able to manuever around to our advantage without having to worry about OAs because of that.
We like our Warden and our Bard.
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Fifth Element
Legend
Hmm...you know wardens are defenders, yes?We like our Warden and our Bard.
DarkLord Of DForce
First Post
Yep, but both our bard and warden are M/C'ed into things that make them more controller-like.
Apologies if that reply wasn't close enough to what the OP intended...
Apologies if that reply wasn't close enough to what the OP intended...
Just to add to discussion, the thread about necessity of controllers was made on 4e CharOp board:
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Zaran
Adventurer
I think Controllers are underrated. I have alot of fun playing my wizard. The reason I think why controllers are not as popular is because they do not do alot of damage to one foe. I believe that most everyone likes the tactic of taking down a single foe at a time so they they think spreading damage is detrimental. Then there is the fact that the other roles have access to many area attacks and status effects. This makes the controller probably the easiest role to not have in the party.
Also, and this is just my opinion. I feel like the Wizard, which to me is the poster boy for controllers, is underpowered. Especially when you do not include the Arcane Powers book or feats from the other PHBs. I think people unconsciously noticed this and have written off all controllers.
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Fifth Element
Legend
I see - that wasn't clear from your post.
