Ampersand: Sneak Attack

[hong]

Piercing strike might or might not be too good depending on what the other classes get. Eg, if fighters get an at-will +Nd6 damage attack 1/round, that would be roughly comparable to what the rogue gets. It all depends on what combat style you prefer.

 

[hong]

Also, the reaction to piercing strike seems to be based on how touch attacks work in 3E, where 1) touch AC is often way lower than regular AC; and 2) Power Attack lets you convert that difference into insane damage.

Both of these are unlikely to remain the same in 4E. The equivalent of touch AC is Reflex, which scales with level. I will also bet money that PA will be limited to a specific subset of weapons, which is disjoint with the set that you can piercing strike with. This is based on experience with IH, where sneak attack is limited to "finesse weapons" and Power Attack limited to "power weapons".

 

[nerfherder]

I don't think I'm going to get in trouble for posting this, but back about a year ago the rules didn't have suggested builds. Each class' powers were just laid out for them. While players might have discovered builds "organically," it actually ended up being extremely overwhelming when creating a character. Not just for new players, but for veteran game designers and editors. I remember sitting down to create a rogue and thinking, "Man, what powers should I pick?"

Sounds like me trying to create a Champions character!

I like the suggested builds, and I like the Talent trees in SWSE. It helps me overcome my natural indecisiveness.

 

[frankthedm]

Both of these are unlikely to remain the same in 4E. The equivalent of touch AC is Reflex, which scales with level. I will also bet money that PA will be limited to a specific subset of weapons, which is disjoint with the set that you can piercing strike with. This is based on experience with IH, where sneak attack is limited to "finesse weapons" and Power Attack limited to "power weapons".

IF power attack is even 'in' 4e. Given what has been shown of 4E, the unquantifiable damage of a sliding scale power attack does not seem like something that will get in.

 

[Sammael]

Didn't one of the designers confirm Power Attack in 4E? It will be a fighter power, and deal +1d6 damage or something...

 

[frankthedm]

Didn't one of the designers confirm Power Attack in 4E? It will be a fighter power, and deal +1d6 damage or something...

But could the fighter keep taking the penalty over and over for another bonus die? That's the open ended-ness I do not think wotc will let in.

 

[Klaus]

Weapon Proficiencies: Dagger, hand crossbow, shuriken, sling, short sword

Hello, ninja.

 

[WhatGravitas]

Both of these are unlikely to remain the same in 4E. The equivalent of touch AC is Reflex, which scales with level. I will also bet money that PA will be limited to a specific subset of weapons, which is disjoint with the set that you can piercing strike with. This is based on experience with IH, where sneak attack is limited to "finesse weapons" and Power Attack limited to "power weapons".

Not only that - the power is only truly useful against heavily armoured opponents. And if an opponent is heavily armoured, it's probably very defender-like. Which means lots of HP, which makes it hard to kill in the first place, so you gonna need it!

Additionally, a defender may whack you back very hard, so a power allowing you to move around (in-and-out of the defender's reach) may be more helpful - with Deft Strike, you can make a poor man's Spring attack, with Piercing Strike, you either stand close to the defender or only attack every other round.

Cheers, LT.

 

[fnwc]

I can only make conjecture based upon the available evidence.

Definitions of conjecture on the Web:

* speculation: a hypothesis that has been formed by speculating or conjecturing (usually with little hard evidence); "speculations about the outcome ...
* guess: a message expressing an opinion based on incomplete evidence
* reasoning that involves the formation of conclusions from incomplete evidence
* speculate: to believe especially on uncertain or tentative grounds; "Scientists supposed that large dinosaurs lived in swamps"

 

[AllisterH]

Some comments.

1. I don't think the Healing surge line indicates how many times you can use it per (encounter/day) but how many HP you get back as another poster mentioned. Reason why I suspect this is that we are still thinking 3.x with regard to the word MODIFIER.

Look at the monster examples and the "modifier" next to the actual ability score always has the half-level already included in. You no longer seem to actually NEED the ability score modifier a la 3.x. Thu's the actual 4E ability modifier formula is

Thus, Modifer = (Actual Ability Score - 10)/2 + (0.5*level)

Healing Surge, I'm willing to bet, is either once a day or once per encounter and they're are abilites/talents/feats/powers that grant you another healing surge.


2. Similarly, I don't think Weapon proficiencies mean the same thing as they did in previous editions. Remember, they talked about how Weapon Choice is more interesting/fun? I suspect weapons are stated more along the lines of Positioning Strike where everyone can use the weapon but if you are proficient with it, you have more options.

As well, since we know that they retooled the math, as another poster mentioned, I suspect that being proficient in a weapon only grants a bonus to hit. Thus, a 10th level rogue has a +5 BAB with ALL weapons and a (+1 or +2, +5 is way to high on the math end IMHO) bonus when using a weapon that she is proficient in.

I think the same thing probably applies to the Armour proficiency as well.