A Paladin Problematic

[Davachido]

I think the VD's big problem is the same that my sorcerer has: typed damage. His aura, zone, and burst are mitigated too easily. Those claws peel off fire resistance, which is neat, but then we're back to the divine challenge saving the day.

Funny thing is, the VD came in at the end of a battle where we'd already used up all of our encounters. I'm not sure if that was a good idea for it, because we cut loose with a daily each and pretty much ruined its day quickly. Don't think it had a round where it wasn't dazed. The pally is just a contributor to the monsters' humiliation, but an excess of free, surgeless has a way of making combat seem pointless, as damage is inflicted and then immediately negated.

So tell me, since it was dazed, why didn't it spend its one action on either expanding its aura (which negates the paladin) or summoning rifts (which again negates the paladin) ...? It would do more damage overall even if some of it was mitigated by resistances. It would sure as hell stop people gaining hitpoints through the mark.

 

[Kerranin]

Five gets you ten that within a year we'll see a feat or item in Dragon Mag that will allow a pally to do exactly this.


This is easy enough for the pally to manage. There's a fighter in the party, so pally just marks and moves away, let's the fighter take the heat. Monster tries to go after pally, fighter stops its movement with AoO.

We generally exclude dragon mag feats/powers by default unless approved by DM. They just aren't play balanced!

Oh and btw, an epic tier creature that only does 41 damage on a crit? I've done that much damage with a heroic tier creature crit before... Might need some correction for MM3-level damage?

 

[Joshua Randall]

My paladin character (14th level) has a Bradaman's weapon, and to be honest, I don't use it all that often. I primarily have it because it's a weapon/implement and because it goes with my mirrored plate armor to give me an item set benefit.

Early in the combat I often don't have a minor action to spare to activate Bradaman's. Late in the combat, I often don't care to activate it.

Example:

Round 1: move, minor action to Challenge, standard action attack.
Round 2: shift into position (move), minor action to dragon(born) breath with Draconic Challenge feat to apply Sanction to enemies, standard action attack.
Round 3: move to next enemy, minor action to Virtue for many temp hp, standard action attack.

You get the idea. Typically I have something better to do with my minor than to set up the ability to Challenge two creatures. Especially with so many ways to Sanction them anyway.

I can see how if the character were a Hospitaler, I might make a more concerted effort to use Bradaman's, though.

 

[Felon]

So tell me, since it was dazed, why didn't it spend its one action on either expanding its aura (which negates the paladin) or summoning rifts (which again negates the paladin) ...? It would do more damage overall even if some of it was mitigated by resistances. It would sure as hell stop people gaining hitpoints through the mark.

He did those things once each. I figured there some limitation on usage. Recharges and such.

I only used the VD as one example a character getting more out of healing than he was taking. It wasn't an epic battle or anything. It died within three or four rounds.

Oh and btw, an epic tier creature that only does 41 damage on a crit? I've done that much damage with a heroic tier creature crit before... Might need some correction for MM3-level damage?

Don't know for sure, but the DM knows about the revised damage charts. It did have two attacks as an at-will standard action, and that was oen of them.

 

[Destil]

I can see how if the character were a Hospitaler, I might make a more concerted effort to use Bradaman's, though.

Having played a hospitaler with a bradamans, I believe I've spent an action point once or twice to fire it off. If I ever go back to him the psionic epic destiny that grants an extra minor each round would be on the short list of things I'd want to take...

 

[Felon]

Latest paladin player's pain-in-the-neck power pick: Discipline the Unruly. Anyone in 5 squares who attacks someone other than the paladin is blinded. Sustain minor.

 

[Herschel]

Daze takes care of that in a hurry. Either that or imobilize.

 

[Ryujin]

Daze takes care of that in a hurry. Either that or imobilize.

... or just spending a round beating the Paladin into the floor.

 

[Joshua Randall]

It's also a level 25 Daily. It's supposed to be awesome.

 

[twilsemail]

Five gets you ten that within a year we'll see a feat or item in Dragon Mag that will allow a pally to do exactly this.

I'm willing to take that bet. I don't think this would ever see a comp. issue of Dragon. The whole point of DS was to allow a paladin a secondary marking effect that wasn't as potent as their primary effect. A Feat that made DS into DC would be OPed even for Dragon content.

Bet your avatar?