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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Anax" data-source="post: 4066082" data-attributes="member: 19868">*wince*On the "Artful Dodger" with "Positioning Strike" being able to more easily move a giant than a wizard, from way way back in the thread: Actually, that makes a lot of sense.  This ability is a kind of bluffing ability, not a shoving ability.  You're drawing the enemy off balance and causing them to stumble in a direction you choose.  A wiser opponent will notice that something is amiss and not be drawn off balance to the same degree.On the power of "Piercing Strike": A number of people have noted that because Reflex defense is not going to be as atrophied in most characters as Touch AC was in 3E, this is less powerful than it might otherwise seem.  Someone else pointed out that if Power Attack cannot be used with Piercing Strike for some reason, that removes an additional big chunk of power.  I would suggest that one reason Power Attack might not be usable at the same time as Piercing Strike is that it may be a power rather than a feat.Even if it's not, the most likely explanation for why Piercing Strike won't be used *all the time* is that if you choose to use Piercing Strike, you can't use any other powers that round.  This is a *first level* power.  Chances are pretty good that you'll soon have much better things to do with your time instead of searching for a chink in your enemy's armor... at least until you come up against an enemy who's really heavily armored.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />  Which makes it a good interesting ability, really.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Edit to add an additional thought: It's interesting to note that Stealth and Thievery are listed as both automatic and in the list of class skills.  This fits very well with the idea that you extend your list of class skills when you cross-class, but you do not gain automatic skills.  A fighter who takes rogue levels will be able to use feats to gain access to these skills, but every rogue has them.  That makes a lot of sense on the "what class you are sets the foundation of your character" side of things.  Every rogue knows Stealth (how to move quickly, quietly, and unseen) and Thievery (how to palm something, how to maneuver around a place guarded by devices), and how to fight well with light sneaky weapons.  A fighter who's cross-trained knows some of these things as well, but not all of them.  He's still a fighter, not a rogue.  Likewise, a rogue who's cross-trained as a fighter knows some of the things a fighter knows, but not all of them.  He's still a rogue, not a fighter.I'm looking forward to seeing how to build certain types of characters—I think Wizards probably has a pretty good idea that the fast smart fighter was a popular idea in 3E (although non-optimal mechanically), and I can't imagine they'd turn their back on that.  I think that there will be some real trade-offs now depending on how you build that—starting from a base of a level of Rogue for the skills will no longer be a no-brainer—and that's definitely a good thing.  My hope is that from a base of Rogue you'll be able to build a rogue that has more flexible head-on combat by multiclassing into fighter (but is still at heart a rogue), and that from a base of Fighter you'll be able to build a fighter that has more flexible sneaky combat by multiclassing into rogue.We'll see, in the not too terribly distant future.  <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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