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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Amaroq" data-source="post: 5056051" data-attributes="member: 15470">I'm not sure why everybody thinks this is such an unbalancing power.Okay, my Lvl 3 Goblin Skullcleaver loses his Battleaxe: +6 v AC; 1d10+5 damage. If I assume he is constructed like a player character would be, he was receiving a +2 to hit thanks to his proficiency with the axe. So, disarmed, I'd assume he got: Unarmed attack: +4 v AC; 1d4+5 damage.On the surface, that sounds like a lot, but its only dropping his average hit by 3 points (5.5 becomes 2.5), and reducing his to-hit by 2. That's not .. awful. Sure, it sucks, but it isn't debilitating. If the weapon remains on the battlefield, it even creates an interesting tactical challenge, as the skullcleaver tries to get it back. Alternately, some other monster is likely to have dropped in this battle; the skullcleaver might try to get to their bodies to recover their weapon (putting him back to +6 v AC, and with the appropriate damage-die by weapon.)My Lvl 14 Salamander Lancer is even less effected - he loses his Reach 3 longspear; +18 v AC, 1d12+6 damage, 5 ongoing fire .. but he still has a secondary at-will, the tail lash; +16 v AC, 1d10+6 damage, slide target. Losing his 5 ongoing fire at-will sucks, but his biggest problem is actually the "requires longspear" line of his 5/6 recharge power - which gives him a massive incentive to try and fight his way back to his spear. This doesn't work at all on my Lvl 17 Elder White Dragon solo - his at-wills are Bite and Claw.  . . . I wouldn't be too concerned with the "lose weapon" bit; some quick adjudicating on the DM's part can recalculate the monster's abilities; they should always have access to a d4, and for many monsters, a d6 or a d8 "bite" might be an appropriate response.The disarmed monster can still "Grab", "Bull Rush", and "Aid Another"; it might also take the "Total Defense" standard actions before moving to its weapons and provoking Opportunity Attacks. Not to mention, for many monsters, this might be a good cue to cut and run .. possibly re-arming itself for appearance in a later encounter, possibly setting up a chase scene as the party tries to prevent it from "sounding the alarm". I'd say, good, creative use of the Dominate power, which creates added awesomeness to the scene and less predictable tactics from the monster affected. Great!For key villains, you may want to set in place some villain-specific countermeasures: he has a second similar weapon sheathed or available in the room; there is a weapons rack in the room; he bellows to any of his cohort to give him THEIR weapon; etc. The only place I'd really worry about it is if I had the Big Bad wielding the magic item that the party are trying to recover .. then you have a problem, but one you can always come up with some creative solution to.</blockquote>

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