Draconic Spellcaster and Flaming Sword

[DracoSuave]

Gah.

Naw, the racial feats are fine. +1 to attack with those attacks is -really- where the meat is, and it then goes on to say 'And at heroic, you don't need Weapon Focus' which saves you a feat for more interesting things.

And a typed +1 to attack just happens to stack with Expertise -anyways- so it's not like these feats are going to be overshadowed by the most likely candidate to take -with- them--they're still +1 above other characters in that sense.

 

[keterys]

And eventually +3 above others. On all their attacks.

Which is cool, right?

 

[Nifft]

It's worth noting that the FAQ doesn't say that, but some people interpret it that way since power's aren't mentioned specifically as being available to someone using a weapon as an implement. It's still pretty divided whenever it comes up on the WotC boards.

Yep. Pretty divided is putting it nicely.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Eldorian]

And eventually +3 above others. On all their attacks.

Which is cool, right?

Holy crap, I just noticed that feat scales. RETARDED design. Man, I don't know how that crap gets through play testing.

 

[SSquirrel]

Why is the feat scaling retarded? If what I have read on other threads is correct, Expertise was a math fix feat. Some people are just giving the beenfit of Expertise at 5 15 and 25 to fix characters and not force everyone to feel the need to pick up Expertise. Feat as math fix isn't an entirely new invention for this edition either.

 

[Obryn]

FWIW, I agree that Draconic Spellcaster is the real problem here. It's an insane feat, especially when combined with a Flaming (or Frost or Mordant or...) Weapon. Specifically, it's the scaling that's the problem; a simple +1 to attacks still makes it a solid feat - powerful, but respectable for a race- and source-specific feat. At epic levels, it becomes an extra +3 to attacks, which is simply insane stacked on top of Expertise.

IIRC, it's an untyped bonus, too, which makes it insani-er.

-O

 

[Ryujin]

Holy crap, I just noticed that feat scales. RETARDED design. Man, I don't know how that crap gets through play testing.

That depends on whether you think that it's an addition to the basic character attack scaling, or a much needed math fix because they screwed up on character attack scaling.

.... but that has been dealt with ad nauseum in other threads.

 

[Turtlejay]

I'm more of the opinion that I hate weapon keywords applying to powers. Using a Cold weapon should not unlock the Wintertouched mess, and using a flaming sword should not make all magical attacks also firey.

I understand that it is RAW to do so, but I don't like it. It opens up too many niche cases and breaks some feats, like this one. Without that interpreatation, this feat only applies to *some* powers.

Fortunately, I have not seen anyone do this yet in game.

Jay

 

[ChaosMage]

Why is the feat scaling retarded? If what I have read on other threads is correct, Expertise was a math fix feat. Some people are just giving the beenfit of Expertise at 5 15 and 25 to fix characters and not force everyone to feel the need to pick up Expertise. Feat as math fix isn't an entirely new invention for this edition either.

That depends on whether you think that it's an addition to the basic character attack scaling, or a much needed math fix because they screwed up on character attack scaling.

.... but that has been dealt with ad nauseum in other threads.

Expertise is the math fix. Draconic Spellcaster is an additional +1-3 bonus that STACKS with expertise, meaning at 25th level dragonborn sorcerers, bards, and warlocks can have +3 to hit more than others in their class- and dragonborn in an int-based arcane class will have +2 to hit more than races with an int bonus.

Warlocks, swordmages, and sorcerers can even do this without an extra feat on Arcane Implement Proficiency, since they can grab either a rod or weapon to change the damage already. Other arcane classes will need a feat to use the rod or one of the weapons to change the type, but two feats for +3 to hit on everything is still a good trade.

 

[Ryujin]

Expertise is the math fix. Draconic Spellcaster is an additional +1-3 bonus that STACKS with expertise, meaning at 25th level dragonborn sorcerers, bards, and warlocks can have +3 to hit more than others in their class- and dragonborn in an int-based arcane class will have +2 to hit more than races with an int bonus.

Warlocks, swordmages, and sorcerers can even do this without an extra feat on Arcane Implement Proficiency, since they can grab either a rod or weapon to change the damage already. Other arcane classes will need a feat to use the rod or one of the weapons to change the type, but two feats for +3 to hit on everything is still a good trade.

Interesting. Of course it stacks; I had missed that.