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This grows out of my earlier attempt to design a fighter power that did more damage but created extra risks for attackers. I want powers that feel like defender powers, not striker powers. Here's one that's Dexterity-oriented but might fit the bill. Swordsman's Gambit -- Fighter Attack 1 You...

That seems right. I'd thought of it as more defender-focused because the penalty is supposed to give your enemies an incentive to attack you, not make you a less appealing target. (Compare it to the rogue's riposte at-will, for example.) But now I'm convinced that it's really more of a striker...

The basic idea is that I'd like to design an at-will for fighters that (a) is more damaging than other attacks, but (b) gives them a big defense penalty. That way, they could use the power both as a risky but high-payoff attack (or to finish off weak, low-AC, or otherwise vulnerable enemies) or...

Oh, yeah--definitely. But I'm not sure that this needs to be made explicit: aren't those exactly the powers he'd have if he didn't retrain, and can't you not retrain powers to get higher-level ones? Basically, for more slots, let's take a 23rd-level character, who'd have six encounter powers...

I don't have anything close to a solid sense of balance for the 4e rules yet, so I have no idea whether this would be nifty or broken. Here's the thing. Conceptually I find replacing powers as you get more experienced to be a bit weird, but know it would be bad to give more experienced...

They both look great to me--carefully balanced without being boring. Good job! The Deepwood Sniper is especially cool--I love Patient Shot.

Not even! You can use the way cooler Disruptive Strike with a single melee weapon. You're also pretty much always better off picking another 1st-level encounter power over Shadow Wasp Strike--Evasive Strike is my least favorite 1st-level power, but it's strictly better than Shadow Wasp. edit...

Am I missing something, or is Shadow Wasp Strike really weak for a 3rd-level encounter power? It looks like it does less than lots of 3rd or even 1st level encounter powers: plain old Str/Dex vs. AC, and plain old 2[W] + Str/Dex damage--AND it's limited to your quarry! I really can't think of...

Awesome, thanks--that makes sense. Let's take it up a notch, then. What if he's epic, has Deadly Trickster, and is willing to spend all three rerolls keeping Blade Cascade going as long as possible? (Edited--or, more generally, how does having one or more reroll affect the math?)

Blade Cascade, of course, is a cool ranger Daily 15th power that lets you keep attacking a target, with alternating weapons, until you miss. My question is: given some n-out-of-20 chance of missing (assuming n is the same for either weapon), how many Blade Cascade attacks can a ranger...

That's awesome--great for tieflings, too!

Cool idea! Some thoughts: --) Tieflings got dexterity bonuses in earlier editions, and the tiefling rogue is pretty iconic. So, why not Dex instead of Con? --) Half-elves: why not pair this with the increasingly standard fix: +2 to Cha, +2 to an ability of choice? --) Halflings: halflings seem...

Balance tip: if you do this, also give rangers a damage bonus for off-hand weapons to keep 'em happy. Substantial response: The following image is a reasonable approximation of my considered opinion vis-a-vis dual bastard swords:

Bastard sword's fine. Alternatively, you might go katana : falchion :: bastard sword : greatsword, which would make it a 2d4 versatile high crit one-handed superior weapon. FINALLY there is a place for fast, two-handed katanas if you wanted--they'd be two-handed superior weapons that (a)...

I'd give up plate and go for bastard swords. Less armor, more accuracy, more speed--helps with blade cascade. But that's mostly because I think twin bastard swords are cooler than twin battle axes. YMMV.

So, do 30th-level archmages get all their daily spells functioning as encounter spells? After all, if Shape Magic is an arcane power, it's a spell. Since it's daily, it's a daily spell. If it's a daily spell, then archmages can pick it with Archspell. Then, whenever they can recover an...

Fair enough. But it still seems that all you need is enough consistency to know when the rules model an event in a way that dictates a clear outcome, and when they don't. It seems like most tactical combat situations in 4e fit into the first camp, while other situations might not. They should...

Yep--and thanks for the trenchant analysis and really fascinating examples. The thing to note is that if that realism requires that characters have a chance to die every time they're attacked, they will die if they fight a lot. If you act like a typical D&D character, you get exposed to an...

My first reaction to the new Design & Development article on magic item slots and traditional plusses was common: I thought the expectation was really lame. Here's the quote for context: But, after thinking for a moment I'm really happy with it, because the transparency of the system, and the...

Personally, I'm just bored. This is probably the second-weakest Player's Handbook cover ever, after the super-boring 1995 2e revision. (Compare it to the 3e covers--mysterious! cool!--the first 2e cover--exciting!--or the first 1e cover--fun! lo-fi!