D&D 4E Elemental Heroes - Avatar: the Last Airbender 4e

[Siberys]

Skills - yeah, I'll change this.

Earthbender Training - yeah, I was thinking this'd be too good. Making it an encounter power brings it back into line.

Question; should the lithic power target the bender, an ally, or the option of both? Or could I make it sort of like the Shielding Swordmage's power and have it prevent damage...

Glad you like Steady as Stone.

Marking Mechanic - I don't really like the 'ready an action' bit. Stay the Hand is good because it maintains the action economy and prevents poaching - all it's doing is shuffling actions around a bit. As you note, eye of the earthbender punishes the player for doing what he should be doing anyway.

That's not to say I wouldn't change it if there were a better solution, but this one hits all of the design goals - marking, off-turn attacks, nonpoachable, 'solid-feeling' - without being too complex. :/

(As a side note; one reason I think that earthbender's punishment feels off because of the charge allowance. The earthbender should be making the target come to him, not the other way around. Shifting ground isn't significantly better than Aegis of Ensnarement - both put the target next to the defender from a distance. Shifting Ground does lock the target near the bender, but Aegis of Ensnarement allows an attack and is a teleport instead of a pull. It's a wash in that sense.)

I am gonna drop the range on shifting ground and stay the hand to cb5; cb 10 is too extreme. :/

 

[Mengu]

I don't particularly like aegis of ensnarement either. I think it's the worst defender mechanic there is. I wouldn't use that as example of anything, except what not to do.

I don't really have a good solution for you. I'd rather just see a simpler Warden-like defender mechanic, and then focus the encounter powers and maybe even dailies on reactions and waiting tactics.

Also, don't underestimate the power of the ready action. It screws a lot of monsters, to go on their turn. Miss a goblin? Goblin Tactics doesn't work. Many solos and elites have immediate actions against attacks that you can deny by acting on their turn. Many brutes make immediate attacks when bloodied or reduced to 0 hit points, they will be denied when you trigger those conditions. The play style of constantly readying will actually have a lot of advantages, and encourages tactics with allies as well, triggering actions based on their actions when needed.

 

[Siberys]

Re: Ensnarement. Really? I'll admit I'm not an expert with regards to the Swordmage, but I always thought ensnarement was definitely better than assault, and at least as good as shielding; the other two leave the enemy right next to your ally, whereas Ensnarement not only nets you an attack, but gets it far away from your allies.

With Shifting Ground, what I did was to take the Warden's Grasp power and switched a short slide for a long pull. We're just arguing about the punishment mechanic, though - Stay the Hand could work just as easily with a different punishment mechanic. (Idea! See below.)

As for readied actions... What about those can't a free action off-turn attack do? Most OAs will be triggered during the enemies turn, at least if you're party isn't trying to provoke. And you'll note, the EB's class features all trigger off of OAs. Readying could end up 'losing' you a turn, and it's fiddlier than simply using an off-turn attack.

Anyways, here's an idea... What if the EB's punishment mechanic varied by build? I mean, remove shifting ground from Neutral Jing, replace one of the Earthbender Trainings with it, and make new punishment powers to replace the other two. Then we can have our cake and eat it too.

This should illustrate my thought process on Stay the Hand;

Actual		Cost*		Action
---
Standard	Free		Stay the Hand
Move		Move		Move or Utility
Minor		Minor		Steady as Stone or Utility
---
Free		Standard	Attack or Second Wind
Immediate	Immediate	Mark Punishment
Opportunity	Opportunity	Opportunity Attack

*Cost here being the impact of the action as judged by how a
normal character might do things.

I switched the impact and effect of the Standard and Free actions, but otherwise the action economy is exactly the same as before. Just thought it would more clearly illustrate my intent.