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Message: <blockquote data-quote="fanboy2000" data-source="post: 4545000" data-attributes="member: 19998">I don't think 4e powers represent an unwieldily pillar of spells. In 3.5 a fighter got 11 class features over 20 levels. At first level they got to choose their class feature from a list of bonus feats, the number of which a 1st level fighter qualified for was 33. This includes feats like cleave which could be qualified for by taking power-atack as a the first level general feat. By contrast, a 4e fighter gets 17 powers over 30 levels. At first level They chose 2 at-will powers from a list of 4, 1 encounter power from a list 4, and 1 daily from a list of 3.In 3.5 a wizard has 46 class features over 20 levels. A wizard will, at 20th, be able to cast 40 spells, have 4 bonus feats, be able to scribe scrolls, and can summon a familiar. At first level though, the wizard only has 6 class features. Three 0 level spells, one 1st level spell, scribe scroll, and summon familiar. The three 0 level spells are chosen from a list of 19, and the one 1st level is chosen from a list of 39.By contrast, a 4e wizards gets 17 powers over 30 levels. Wizards also get 4 non-combat powers, At first level the wizards chose 2 at-wills from a list of 5, 1 encounter from a list of 5, and 1 daily from a list of 4.Given the way powers are selected in 4e, I would say that this is hardly unwieldy. Also, at-will powers, which stay with a PC from 1st to 30th unless the PC retrains, do get better. Many of the fighter’s powers are modeled after fighter bonus feats, not wizard/sorcoror spells. The at-will fighter power, cleave, springs to mind. Recently, I walked three newcomers to 4e (one was a newcomer to rpgs in general) through character creation. One of them was a fighter. He chose his powers and it didn't take very long, the list is short and the powers are well defined. Personally, I don't think that powers are as bad as spells. What think that they replace is the prestige class mechanic. In my experience, few people ever played fighters to 20th level, they typically multiclassed with some of the classes in the 3.5 PHB and then went on to a PrC in some splatbook. So it seems to me that what 4e did, practically, was give people as many choices as they had in 3.5, but unify the mechanism by which people exercised that choice under one mechanic.</blockquote>

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