DMs: What Powers Do PCs Get That You Hate?

[jbear]

I hate my Drow Sorceror's Deep Shroud power. Surrounded by Darkness the entire encounter ... and she can see in the dark ... so -5 to hit her and always trying to find ways to explain why enemies would even bother plus she gains continual CAdv against them! But I love to hate it deep down, otherwise I could get finickity about the RAW interpretation. But she loves it (and so do her team mates ...usually) which is more important than me gnashing my teeth and pulling at my imaginary hair!

 

[Mesh Hong]

I can see this Paladin is probably doing an incredible job of focusing attention on themselves, but considering the main effects don't trigger against enemies that do attack the paladin, are these really all that bad?

admitadely, close bursts etc become pretty bad...

From the monsters point of view yes it really is bad news. It reduces its attack options from the entire group to one person, and if it even thinks of attacking someone else it is blinded and granting combat advantage.

I have had creatures take an opportunity attack and deal about 25 damage to a target, and take about 60 damage themselves and be blinded.

Add in the "everyone gets a free attack on a crit" and I have had a creature miss with an opportunity attack and take well over 150 damage for its trouble.

Like I said I don't HATE it, I like to see my PCs succeed. But it changes the game in a significant way.

 

[Infiniti2000]

I basically don't like any powers that make a bad guy lame. I don't like grind and such powers are generally an attempt to cause grind. So, whenever that happens the bad guys flee and combat typically ends very quickly. A lot of those times, that becomes anticlimactic for the PCs so my players tend to therefore stay away from such powers. As Dr. Jones, Sr. says, "The solution presents itself."

PS. This is why I almost always have the actual BBEG with a good escape route. Not always, just almost always. Eventually, the heroes need to take him down, so he might get backed into a corner. Also, sometimes the players really like it when the BBEG makes a critically bad tactical mistake. I might do it on purpose, I might not, who knows?

 

[darjr]

Egad! The list is long, and growing.

I was just recently schooled by a guy who could really run a controller. That added a long list of powers. Especially used in combos.

Still, the glee on the players faces was nice.

 

[MrMyth]

My party's sorcerer is the only one I really am frustrated by. Draconic Majesty (encounter, 1 round burst 3 zone that gives enemies -7 on attacks), as well as platinum scales (+7 to defenses for one encounter), and sudden scales (+10 to defenses for one attack per encounter) - both of which stack!

 

[Rechan]

I'm speaking for a DM of mine, but I know he hates the Fighter's Combat Superiority. It has shut down more Big Nasty monsters from fleeing than anything else.

Also when the wizard drops Wizard's Fury, the combat is typically over before it starts.

As for me, probably defender lockdowns and anything that prevents a monster from moving/attacking. Namely because I know the monsters are going to die ASAP, so I want to hurt the characters as much as possible to make it challenging. Such as the Pursuing Avenger, since many monsters have "shift away" powers.

I hate it when a monster just doesn't get to pose a threat. That includes missing on all its cool stuff.

Honestly? I hate it when a PC picks a really poor power and then I have to watch them use it, to little or no effect, or not use it at all (which is even worse) until they level up and retrain it.

Then why be so strict with the retrain rules? I have a philosophy that if the player picks something and then realizes how poor it is, then it's only fair to say "Hey, just pick something else after this session." Retraining IMO is useful when "This power/feat is no longer useful to me" or "I'd rather get this new shiny thing than this thing I used to have".

But then, I let a player just switch his class mid-adventure (the character went from an Infernal warlock to a fire-based Sorcerer, while retaining the same background and the RP aspect of the Pact) because he wasn't as satisfied with the warlock.

 

[Holy Bovine]

Exactly what the title says. What powers do pcs get that you hate as a dm?

For me, there are only two powers that I've seen in play that I hate: a cleric power called steel to glass that pretty well shuts down a single bad guy by giving him a horrendous until-end-of-encounter attack penalty, and the damned halfling reroll. Ugh! I hate missing with my best power because of that!

How about you?

For me it is a channel divinity (Bahamut) power that negates a crit. I don't think i have gotten a crit on the party in 20 sessions since the cleric got this! I haven't encountered any other power that annoys me like this one does but

Honestly? I hate it when a PC picks a really poor power and then I have to watch them use it, to little or no effect, or not use it at all (which is even worse) until they level up and retrain it. As a DM I want the players to win and feel good doing it. When they pick up a power I think is awesome and can really single-handedly turn the tide in a fight is when I get the most excited to be the DM.

I totally agree with this and I have relaxed the retraining rules. All I ask the players is to keep to the same race and role.

 

[KarinsDad]

I hate my Drow Sorceror's Deep Shroud power. Surrounded by Darkness the entire encounter ... and she can see in the dark ... so -5 to hit her and always trying to find ways to explain why enemies would even bother plus she gains continual CAdv against them!

This is not as bad as it seems.

First, Darkvision does nothing against Heavily Obscured squares. It only helps vs. dim light or darkness. A Heavy Fog stops darkvision for example. Darkvision is not x-ray vision.

So, an NPC in the square next to the Sorcerer results in a -2 penalty (concealment) to hit by the Sorcerer if the PC is using a ranged or melee attack. And an NPC in a square next to the Sorcerer is only at -2 if using a ranged or melee attack.

It's only whan an NPC is using a ranged attack from more than one square away that the penalty is -5. A burst or blast attack gets no -2 or -5 penalty.

Also:

Vision: You can see 1 square away, but you take a –5 penalty to Perception checks to see or spot things. You can’t see squares farther away.

The Drow can only see in the next square. Sorry, but Deep Shroud effectively blinds the Sorcerer. It allows for no penalty bursts and blasts, but it puts a wall of gloom around the Sorcerer that the Sorcerer cannot see through, even with Darkvision.

A DM could rule that the heavily obscured squares can be seen through with Darkvision, but that's not literal RAW.

 

[Dr_Sage]

Champion of the Order

I feel that most features are balanced, maily becuse they only work agains some targets or on some special situations, but this:

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Certain Justice - Champion of Order level 11 attack: Marked target dazed + weakened until not marked.
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This is one of the few that I really feel its just plain wrong.

I dont oppose powers that force monsters to attack the defender, but this is almost the opposite. It protects the defender from monsters attack, applying 2 important conditions that ends in a "combo" to keep those same 2 conditions on the target all the time. No save, no practical way to avoid/remove it (please dont say that a mighty dragon should needs its minions to push it away from the defender...).

Not to mention it opens doors for a lot of abusive kiting techniques...

Who needs the Avenger for 1 on 1 fights? This paladin would win every "duel" type match with this feature alone.

 

[Aulirophile]

Then why be so strict with the retrain rules? I have a philosophy that if the player picks something and then realizes how poor it is, then it's only fair to say "Hey, just pick something else after this session." Retraining IMO is useful when "This power/feat is no longer useful to me" or "I'd rather get this new shiny thing than this thing I used to have".

Because that fighter never again picked a poor power, he really paid attention to his character and developed it. Good ol' carrot and stick.