Dark Fury et al - What am I missing?

[Darth_Asparagus]

Hi all,

when I look at some of the feats/powers in 4e (like Dark Fury), I get the impression that a damage +1 or to hit +1 is something like a coveted treasure. I can kinda understand the conservative stance on to hit but taking a feat to get +1 to damage?

I can't put my finger on it but I vaguely recall several instances where a miniscule damage bonus was given (Shadowfell gloves?)

Since some of the solo monsters now have hitpoints in the 100's, would anybody even be remotely interested in 1 damage more or less?

 

[Victim]

+1 is like 10% at lower levels. The bonus upgrades at higher levels (11 and 21).

And many of the damage feats can apply to area or multitarget effects. One damage per round is still not all that great. OTOH, 6 extra damage in a round is pretty nice.

 

[DracoSuave]

Those damage bonuses add up after all.

But, all in all, if your choice is between +1 to hit and +1 to damage, take the plus to hit every time.

 

[themilkman]

Also, there aren't a lot of feats that spellcasters can take to increase their damage-dealing capabilities. Or, to be more accurate, there aren't that many feats that are useful to most spellcaster builds in any way. Weapon feats? Useless. Armor feats? Mostly useless. Racial feats? Depending on your race, maybe useless. Not that many of them anyway. So when faced with a very few other options, +1 damage is not a bad choice.

Maybe PHBII will have some other options that make Dark Fury/Burning Blizzard/Whatnot drop out of usefulness, power creep being what it is.

 

[Rechan]

So when faced with a very few other options, +1 damage is not a bad choice.

Except that you need to strap yourself for stats in order to get them.

I recently tried to make a Feylock. I noticed that most of the Fey warlock powers did psychic damage, so Dark Fury was a tempting choice. However, it had a Wis 13/Con 13 pre-requisit. Since I was putting a 16 in Cha and a 14 in int, I only had a single 13 left over for either Con or Wisdom.

 

[Eldorian]

Except that you need to strap yourself for stats in order to get them.

I recently tried to make a Feylock. I noticed that most of the Fey warlock powers did psychic damage, so Dark Fury was a tempting choice. However, it had a Wis 13/Con 13 pre-requisit. Since I was putting a 16 in Cha and a 14 in int, I only had a single 13 left over for either Con or Wisdom.

I don't quite understand why these feats have those requirements either. I mean, weapon focus does the same thing, is more likely to be applicable to every attack used by the classes which use it, but have no requirements to take. I'm personally considering just dropping the stat requirements from those feats. Also, why the specific damage types are paired as they are doesn't seem to make sense to me. Perhaps a "pick two damage types, from the following list. you gain +1/+2/+3 damage with them" kinda feat would be preferable. I currently believe that the caster classes fall behind the melee types in terms of smart options available to them.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I don't quite understand why these feats have those requirements either. I mean, weapon focus does the same thing, is more likely to be applicable to every attack used by the classes which use it, but have no requirements to take. I'm personally considering just dropping the stat requirements from those feats.

I dropped the stat requirements for those feats and it is working well. I recommend you try it too.

Cheers