Just asking the question the way you are is breaking my suspension of disbelief.
And for the record, the fighter can attack 1 person/round at range unless he really exerts himself with an action point (please tell me you don't need that fatigue mechanic justifying). In melee a two weapon fighter can normally attack two targets and other people one - unless they have a burst 1 or something very rare like Rain of Blows (or Rain of Steel). Come and Get It being the obvious exception.
The ranger can manage two at range on their standard action and might get an interrupt for a third. The essentials hunter gets effectively a burst 1 rain of arrows at will as their multiattack and no dailies.
It's actually pretty consistent through the whole of heroic.
I don't see why the question is SoD-breaking at all. In prior editions, "How many things can you hit in the next two rounds" had a definite answer that both the player and character knew, and it was consistent: if you could make 1 attack, or 2 attacks, or 3/2 attacks, you could just keep doing that. It might require maneuvers or feats or class features, and it may vary from round to round, but in general if you max is X attacks, you can do that all day. In real life, someone skilled with a weapon can generally tell you how many shots per minute or lunges per 10 seconds or whatever they can manage. In 4e, sometimes the fighter can do 1, sometimes 2, sometimes 3, sometimes "however many are in reach," and the fighter
has no consistent in-world explanation why he can do 1 sometimes and 8 sometimes and only a limited number of times each.
Sweeping Blow hits everything adjacent, 1/encounter. A 3e fighter with Whirlwind Attack, if asked "Can you go up and hit all those goblins?" says "Yes," and if asked "Can you hit that other group of goblins?" says "Yep, right away." A 3e warblade with Mithral Tornado, if asked "Can you go up and hit all those goblins?" says "Yes," and if asked "Can you hit that other group of goblins?" says "Yeah, but I'll need to take a bit of a breather first." A 4e fighter with Sweeping Blow, if asked "Can you go up and hit all those goblins?" says "Yes," and if asked "Can you hit that other group of goblins?" says "No." If asked why, he says "...because?" and that's about it.
3e feats and maneuvers (combat maneuvers and ToB maneuvers) are just things a martial character can
do. You can count on them being able to pull that trick as many times as necessary given at most 1 round's notice. You can plan tactically and strategically around the use of those abilities, as they are consistent, discrete, and known in-game. Not so for 4e exploits.
It doesn't matter if they are divine effects, it's exactly the same:
"Why can't you smite the second demon?"
"I can only smite once per day!"
"Why is that?"
"It's a divine power that can be used only once a day."
"But why only once a day? Your god doesn't want you killing more than one evil thing a day. Is he ok with you dying because you can't use it a second time? Maybe he isn't godly enough to be able to allow you to smite twice a day. Oh, you mean if you get more powerful, you'll be able to smite twice a day, so it isn't a limitation on the power of your god. So, you are just too tired then from using it once that you can't do it again? No? It's 24 hours regardless of how much rest you get. And it's generally measured by the 24 hour period of the world so that if you use 1 smite a minute before midnight you can use another 1 minute after midnight? That makes no sense at all.
And while we're at it, why when you pray for spells does your god only give you 3 of them? Shouldn't he give you as many as you want to better defeat your enemies? You aren't powerful enough to contain 4 spells? How do you become more powerful? BELIEVE harder? And you are able to believe harder by killing people?
I'm telling you, man, this makes no sense at all. At least the Wizard over there makes sense. He simply is too stupid to remember more than 3 spells at a time....but his memory gets better the more he kills people. On second thought, that doesn't make much sense either, does it?
Screw it, let's just kill some monsters."
It makes plenty of sense, because it's internally-consistent. While "It's magic, so it doesn't have to make sense" is a complete copout, "it's magic, so it follows a set of rules that happen to be different from the laws of physics" is valid. You could have to recite the
Iliad while doing cartwheels to cast fireball, and that would be fine (as silly as that would look), as long as wizards know that's what they have to do to cast it and you cast a fireball if and only if you recite the
Iliad while doing cartwheels.
Compare:
Cleric prayer fluff: "Your god will intercede with you X+Y times per day, varying in power, and you must choose these intercessions during morning prayer. Each of the X greater intercession may be called upon once per day, and each of the Y lesser intercessions may be called upon every few minutes."
Cleric prayer mechanics: "Your god grants you X spells per day, divided thusly among prayer levels, and Y spells per encounter, divided thusly among prayer levels. Each spell can be cast once per day or per encounter, as noted."
This may not be how you personally would model divine intervention, but the explanation makes sense in game and the flavor matches the mechanics.
Wizard spell fluff: "You partially cast long and complicated spells to allow you to release them with a moment's notice later; they are complex rituals, and your mind can only hold X+Y spells of various circles at one time, some of which are easier for your mind to encompass than others. Once released, a spell is gone."
Wizard spell mechanics: "You may prepare up to X spells per day, divided thusly among spell levels, and Y spells per encounter, divided thusly among spell levels. Each spell can be cast once per day or per encounter, as noted."
This may not be how you personally would model arcane magic, but the explanation makes sense in game and the flavor matches the mechanics.
Fighter exploit fluff: "You are an accomplished warrior, with many techniques and tricks under your belt. You have become a paragon of combat through endless hours of practice, determination, and your own sheer physical toughness, and have mastered the intricacies of combat with a skill that others simply can't match."
Fighter exploit mechanics: "You have X exploits per day, divided thusly among exploit levels, and Y exploits per encounter, divided thusly among exploit levels. Each exploit can be used once per day or per encounter, as noted."
Whether or not this is how you personally would model martial prowess, the explanation for the mechanics doesn't make sense in game and the flavor doesn't match the mechanics.
Clerics and wizards can talk intelligently in-game about how their spell system works. Fighters cannot do the same with their exploit system.
