Blackguard Design & Development is up.

[Argyle King]

Contrary to what others have said, I actually think the at-will has potential to be very good. You attack one creature and then gain combat advantage against "the first enemy you attack before the end of your next turn."

So I could hit one enemy and then gain combat advantage against somebody else if I really wanted.

If I use Ferocious Strike and follow it up with a burst or blast attack, would I get CA against everyone I hit since they would all be the first enemies I had attacked before the end of my next turn?

 

[Aegeri]

Contrary to what others have said, I actually think the at-will has potential to be very good. You attack one creature and then gain combat advantage against "the first enemy you attack before the end of your next turn."

Or you could take any of a number of superior feats (that given your reliance on CA you'll probably want to take anyway) and have CA with *almost* everything you do. That's sort of the problem with it . I would far rather have CA every attack (or as close to that as possible) than have to rely on hitting with a poor at-will power, then hoping I have an AP or things don't change significantly by my next turn to use it. I'd rather just be able to get CA against the target I want and hit them in the face without any of the rigmarole (as well as employ my striker feature that relies on CA as much as possible every combat).

If I use Ferocious Strike and follow it up with a burst or blast attack, would I get CA against everyone I hit since they would all be the first enemies I had attacked before the end of my next turn?

No, because a burst of a blast attack is multiple individual attacks against each enemy. You would gain CA only on the first attack - not all of them. Though at the same time, this is very ambiguous by RAW and could be read the other way.

 

[Argyle King]

Or you could take any of a number of superior feats (that given your reliance on CA you'll probably want to take anyway) and have CA with *almost* everything you do. That's sort of the problem with it . I would far rather have CA every attack (or as close to that as possible) than have to rely on hitting with a poor at-will power, then hoping I have an AP or things don't change significantly by my next turn to use it. I'd rather just be able to get CA against the target I want and hit them in the face without any of the rigmarole (as well as employ my striker feature that relies on CA as much as possible every combat).

No, because a burst of a blast attack is multiple individual attacks against each enemy. You would gain CA only on the first attack - not all of them. Though at the same time, this is very ambiguous by RAW and could be read the other way.

I do agree that I would prefer to have CA most of the time and in a way which is less situational; however, as someone who enjoys multiclassing, I can see few ways I could make use of the Blackguard power.

I'm undecided how I feel it would work when combined with area attack powers. On one hand I can see it being clarified that you'd have to choose which creature to use the CA against. However, the paragon path power listed later which hits multiple targets seems like it is virtually custom made for being used after the at-will. If there's only one attack roll involved, I don't see why the CA wouldn't apply to all targets.

 

[Aegeri]

It's not one attack roll: It's multiple attack rolls and one damage roll. The power also explicitly states it is the first enemy you attack - you can't magically get a plural out of that. At the same time, I'm only allowing some ambiguity because it might interact with other powers in a strange way, but I'm almost 100% confident that it would only grant CA against the first enemy targeted. On the other hand if it is meant to work with bursts/blasts then it should be errata'ed/clarified as this would make it substantially more useful (as opposed to pretty crap as it is now).

 

[Argyle King]

As far as I can tell, Proof of Domination only has one attack roll and hits multiple targets.


Target: Each Creature In Burst

Attack: Str vs Fort


Also, what stops a Dragonborn from being a Blackguard? I could see Ferocious Strike being followed by a breath weapon being a good tactic.

It's also possible to pick this power up by using the PHB1 half-elf.

 

[Aegeri]

As far as I can tell, Proof of Domination only has one attack roll and hits multiple targets.

I'm confused. If it attacks multiple targets, it makes multiple attack rolls. Not one. You make 1 attack roll per enemy you are attacking in the burst, so what you are claiming it does, doesn't work at all. So you only get the CA on the first enemy you attack in the burst by RAW. Do you think you only roll once for an attack for all enemies in a burst/blast attack? Because that's a really strange ruling and now how area/close attacks work at all.

Also, what stops a Dragonborn from being a Blackguard? I could see Ferocious Strike being followed by a breath weapon being a good tactic.

That also doesn't work, because you only get the bonus on the first enemy you attack - not all of them.

It's also possible to pick this power up by using the PHB1 half-elf.

Why on earth would you want to when you could take twin strike?

Edit: Going to quote the rules here,

Multiple Attack Rolls but One Damage Roll: When you make a close attack, you make a separate attack roll against each target in the area of effect, but you make a single damage roll that affects all the targets.

So I have no idea where you get this "One attack roll" thing from, because it's not how these attacks work (Area bursts have the same wording btw, I only quoted the close rules for simplicity).

 

[Argyle King]

I wasn't aware you made separate attack rolls for each target. I've honestly never seen it played that way.

I was under the impression you only made one attack roll unless the power specified otherwise.

As such, I was wrong.

 

[Aegeri]

Have you been playing under some weird houserule? I know that for large combats, sometimes people will simplify large area/burst powers into 1 roll (for ease of use). But that's definitely not the way they work.

 

[Argyle King]

Have you been playing under some weird houserule? I know that for large combats, sometimes people will simplify large area/burst powers into 1 roll (for ease of use). But that's definitely not the way they work.

That's the way the rules were explained to me when I learned to play 4E.

 

[Aegeri]

Someone got that really really wrong then Looks like they confused the multiple attacks and one damage roll part.