Designating All Daily Attack Powers as [Reliable]

[Syntallah]

Nothing is more frustrating to my players than getting caught up in a heated moment of a battle, using their minds and tactics, setting up that perfect shot/swing, and...

...rolling a dang 2 with a daily attack power.

So, I am considering designating all daily attack powers with the [Reliable] keyword. This still won't change that massive letdown of the critcal miss, but at least the power is not wasted.

Has anyone had any experience with this? Any foreseeable pitfalls, issues? Pushing this a bit farther, what about designating Encounter powers in the same manner?


Note: to ensure the relevancy of RAW Reliable powers, I would institute a +2 cumulative-per-miss bonus for any power with the [Reliable] keyword out of the books.

 

[Trit One-Ear]

I see your reasoning for this change, and I can't say I think it'd a bad idea. The first problem I foresee are the powers with miss effects built into them, even if that effect is only half-damage. Obviously, these could be exceptions to the new rule, but then they become much less attractive. As much as I hate seeing my players miss with a daily, I'd have to take a careful look at the way dailies are set up before making a change like this.

Trit

 

[Syntallah]

Locutus Zero: Good point. Maybe let players choose between the miss effect and reliable?

That's my plan. If a power misses, I would ask the player: do you want to apply the Miss Effect or consider the power as Reliable, giving you additional chances to hit with it?

 

[Dr_Ruminahui]

It may also have the consequence of making classes with reliable powers feel less valuable... at a minimum, it devalues powers that already have the reliable keyword. Which is only a problem if you have a PC with such powers in your game - if you do, you might want to give powers that are already reliable some other benefit instead, such as being able to reroll one miss.

[added] And yes, its primarily martial characters that have reliable powers, in particular the fighter [/added].

 

[aco175]

It seems more like Essentials, where most powers kick in when you hit, as opposed to before you roll. I think in this aspect Essentials has less 'Daily' powers, but they always hit. I always allowed action point to be used for a reroll. It takes a bit away from the AP being cool, but it also allows you to hit with your cool Daily.

 

[wedgeski]

It seems more like Essentials, where most powers kick in when you hit, as opposed to before you roll. I think in this aspect Essentials has less 'Daily' powers, but they always hit. I always allowed action point to be used for a reroll. It takes a bit away from the AP being cool, but it also allows you to hit with your cool Daily.

Or just give Action Surge as a free feat? I'm considering that one myself.

 

[SensoryThought]

I agree that it devalues powers with the reliable keyword.

Perhaps let people have an alternate mechanic, such as spend an action point to give a missed power the reliable keyword.

 

[Trit One-Ear]

If choosing the path of letting the player decide if they want to use the miss effect, or have the power be reliable, I'd have them decide before they attack. Otherwise, it could become a very opportunistic decision that could easily be abused.

I am a fan however of allowing action points to be used to reroll daily powers (similar to a mechanic in Mutants + Masterminds). Does lessen the excitement/potential of that action point, but keeps the excitement of the daily power.

 

[Syntallah]

I have used the "luck/action/etc" points for years now ever since they were introduced in one of the optional rules books, and love the idea. My players have the option of using an Action point to maximize a die roll. The problem is, 99.99% of the time, that's what they do. They miss a roll, and action point it to make it a hit. They don't use it to get additional actions, there is no cool factor.

We are closing in on the Paragon teir, and there's all sorts of powers and abilities that kick in when you use an action point for an additional action. If things stay as they are now, the players will miss out on a lot because they are going for the 'sure thing' hit.

 

[the Jester]

No daily power is ever wasted. Those that aren't reliable have either a miss or effect (or both!) line. Because of this, I think that making all of them reliable is a bad idea- it just deflavors things and increases the "sameness problem" that so many people already have with 4e powers all feeling alike.

Just my opinion, play how you like!