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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Yavathol" data-source="post: 4504593" data-attributes="member: 33284">Another Playtest reportI've just come back from an 8th level game.   One of the players had been playing a Warlord but wasn't enjoying it, so the GM surprised her with an alternate build, same character but re-written as a Barbarian. (As a side note, the group now consists of a paladin, a cleric and one of each of the striker classes! - we like kicking out damage!)  I play a melee ranger, and to be honest, I was a little miffed to have some serious competition in the damage dealing stakes!  I don't think the barbarian is overpowered, but going nova and converting her 5th level daily with a Maul to a 8d6+8 damage....wow!!  None of my powers could touch that! The extra basic attack on a melee and extra charge when dropping an enemy are also significant boosts. Finally, I should mention the durability aspect...At 8th level, wearing chainmail and having toughness, she had 80hp (dwarf with 18 con) and an AC of 22.  That was way more hp than the paladin, never mind the ranger (who also has toughness).  She did go down a couple of times, but that's because she charged off on her own, instead of sticking with the group.  The extra 3 temporary hit points when each minion went down certainly helped a bit, and at 9th level her rage will give her DR 8/-.... I'm not saying its overpowered because I'm jealous<img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f631.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":o" title="Eek!    :o"  data-smilie="9"data-shortname=":o" />  but I want to play one now, which may be a better indication that it is very powerful.  In fairness to the ranger though, he has a better Will, more manueverability and I just love my immediate interrupt powers when I get to kill my foe before he can hit me, or then gets -6 to hit if he survives<img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" /> I think on average, the ranger will do more damage, since he rolls twice as many attacks, while the barbarian is more variable - but if she does roll a critical, look out!  The lack of missile capability is also significant, where the ranger can just drop his two bastard swords and pull out his bow, and still use most of his funky powers.  The barbarian is very focused. Comparing to the other two strikers, the rogue is also quite flexible and maneuverable, but sometimes has a hard time getting combat advantage without exposing herself, while the warlock (infernal) is ok, but doesn't seem to kick out quite as much damage.  To be honest, I'm not sure exchanging damage for conditions is really worth it in 4e.  You can prone, slide, daze or whatever a monster as much as you like, but that won't finish the fight.  The only way to do that is to knock down its hit points, so personally, unless you are very tactically proficient I don't think warlock is that sound.  Just my two cents...</blockquote>

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