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Message: <blockquote data-quote="CapnZapp" data-source="post: 5006472" data-attributes="member: 12731">I specifically mean powers that require a new decision point to be added to game where there was none before.Let's assume it is reasonable to say you won't be using Disruptive Strike more than 5% of the time.Then it is (to me) wholly unreasonable to add a mechanism that in 95% of the time just forces the DM to spell out each step of every monster attack with no payoff.I am specifically arguing these kinds of powers should not have been added to the game. They are so few it would be reasonable to implement their effects through far less invasive mechanisms.Combat Challenge does not count, because 1) it's a defining feature of the Fighter class, 2) it's reasonable to expect it to be used almost every round 3) there is some measure of predictability (in that you can expect it to be used often, and sometimes you can even predict which specific monster it's going to be used against), and 4) there is a battle-wide impact, not internal to a single character.A power like Disruptive Strike, on the other hand, only affects the one character having the power. It's "invisible". It won't get used often, and never in the case of a miss. There simply is something fundamentally wrong with its design. It would have been so much simpler if it was balanced on the assumption it was always effective. And besides, using it with no effect sucks beyond belief. Why create a decision point with the assumption information is withheld when that assumption just drags down game speed? And why create a decision point when you -almost by definition- have insufficient data to do more than guess, and why then penalize that guess-work by making the power fizzle in the most unfun way?Contrast to an immediate interrupt that allowed you to make a save to evade an incoming hit (=attack-that-connected). This variant would not involve guess-work. It would not slow down gameplay, because nothing would be ruined by the DM accidentaly or not revealing the to hit values. It would not discourage the DM from smoothing gameplay by revealing to hit figures when that makes things simpler. Cheers,Zapp</blockquote>

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