Dumb Question re:Dedicated Hero talent

[takyris]

From the SRD:

"Faith: The Dedicated hero has a great deal of faith. It might be faith in self, in a higher power, or in both. This unswerving belief allows the Dedicated hero to add his or her Wisdom modifier to the die roll whenever the hero spends 1 action point to improve the result of an attack roll, skill check, saving throw, or ability check."

Help me out. Why is this better than just spending that action point to get 1d6? In a low-FX campaign, your Wis modifier is almost never going to get higher than +5 -- and by the time your modifier is at +5 (mid-to-high levels, when you've done ability-bumps from level advancement), you're already getting to use the best roll of multiple 1d6's.

Or am I reading this wrong? I'm reading it as:

Spend an action point, and you can add your Wis mod to a roll. (Wis Mod instead of +1d6 from normal action point)

Is it, perhaps:

Spend an action point to increase a roll, and you ALSO add your Wis mod. (+1d6+Wis Mod)

Help? Am I dumb?

 

[dream66_]

the way i understand it... it's +1d6+Wis mod

 

[NekoAli]

When you have Faith, you add your Wisdom bonus when rolling dice from action points. Says so right here "add his or her Wisdom modifier to the die roll". No problems, and pretty nifty ability.

 

[takyris]

Ah.

I. Am. Dumb.

Just wanted to confirm that.

Yep, that's a NICE ability now that I understand it. I just kept looking at it going, "Why would anyone do that? I mean, sure, sometimes it's nice to have a guaranteed +3 rather than having to roll for it, but most of us wouldn't bother taking a talent for it..."

Thanks for the help.

Incidently, since I already started a thread... do people consider the Dedicated Hero overpowered -- or at least at the high end of the power spectrum?

I've been looking at the basic classes trying to break down the power levels. I end up with:

Strong: Weak skills, weak saves, decent defense, BEST attacks, decent hit points

Fast: Decent skills, weak saves, BEST defense, decent attacks, decent hit points

Tough: Weak skills, weak saves, decent defense, decent attacks, BEST hit points

Smart: BEST skills, weak saves, weak defense, weak attacks, weak hit points

Dedicated: Decent skills, BEST saves, decent defense, decent attacks, weak hit points

Charismatic: GOOD skills, BEST saves, weak defense, weak attacks, weak hit points

I guess, now that I've broken it down somewhat, the DedHero really is still the Cleric of d20 Modern. He's not the best at anything -- the BEST saves category is shared with the ChaHero -- but there's only one thing that he's actually BAD at (taking damage). The Smart Hero is weak at everything except skills, where he's king -- but I wouldn't say that the Smart Hero is underpowered...

Dunno. Getting ready to start a campaign. I don't want to make any rules changes, but do you have any suggestions for people playing different classes as to how to make sure you get your money's worth?

 

[JPL]

Dedicated Hero overpowered? I dunno...I think it works.

Smart Hero is the tricky one for me. So many skill points that I don't know what to do with them, and very weak in all the other areas.

As a big fan of Col. John "Hannibal" Smith, I've tried to craft a master tactician with at least three levels of Smart Hero --- with the talents Savant [K:tactics] and Plan. But he ends up so vulnerable compared to the other squad members that it just doesn't work.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

For the Smart Hero: The skills can be really powerful, if your campaign allows it. It is also helpful to choose a good starting occupation, so a Smart Hero can enter a "non-smart" advanced class, like Soldier (defenitely a good idea for Hannibal). And remember to create a good class mix - Strong/Smart can actually work fine (even if you do not emphasize the Melee Abilities of a Strong Hero), and also remember you don`t have to take the highest ability score appropriate for your main character class. This is very useful for Tough and Charismatic Heros, but as an example: A D20 Modern character prefers using ranged weapons. So, it might be a good idea to take a high Dexterity, even if you never want to become Fast Hero. (My Strong/Soldier Character has Dexterity as its highest ability score, not Strength)